Current version: Open eClass 2.4: (availability has begun since in 06-30-2011)

Number of downloads of older versions

• Open eClass 2.3: 804 downloads (from 04-15-2010 till today)
• Open eClass 2.2: 387 downloads (from 09-30-2009 till today)
• Open eClass 2.1: 418 downloads (from 10-10-2008 till today)
• GUnet eClass 2.0: 288 downloads (from 06-04-2007 till today)
• GUnet eClass 1.7: 246 downloads (from 03-19-2007 ill today)
• GUnet eClass 1.6: 440 downloads (from 11-22-2005 till 28-02-2007)
  
• GUnet eClass 1.5: 372 downloads (from 01-17-2005 till 31-10-2005)
  
• GUnet eClass 1.4: 279 downloads (from 06-12-2004 till 24-12-2004)
  
• GUnet eClass 1.3.1: 220 downloads (from 11-26-2003 till 7-6-2004)
  
• GUnet eClass 1.3: 111 downloads (from 10-20-2003 till 11-26-2003)
  
• GUnet eClass 1.2: 202 downloads (from 9-4-2003 till 10-20-2003)
  
• GUnet eClass 1.0.1 & 1.0.2: 119 downloads (from 02-13-2003 till 9-4-2003)

Basic Characteristics

Basic platform characteristics are:

1. distinct user roles

2. distinct course categories

3. easy course creation and use

4. structured course presentation

User Roles

The user teacher has a central role, being responsible for the creation and administration of electronic courses. Teacher accounts are created by the platform administrators, on demand or after an on-line request. They can create an unlimited number of courses, contact student users registered to them, upload educational materials (texts, images, presentations, video, assignments, exercises, etc.), and create discussion forums where course participants can interact.

The user student can register to courses making an open registration, access educational materials, and participate in working groups, discussion forums and exercises. Student accounts can be created either automatically, by allowing open registration of new users, or by the platform administrators themselves after an on-line request.

Finally, the administrator has general control over the platform. Administrators can create and administer user accounts and courses and monitor the server and database operation.

Course Categories

Open courses are publicly accessible, even by visitors without a user account.

Registration based restricted courses are accessible to platform users that are registered to them. This means that these courses are open to everyone having an account.

Finally, closed courses are only accessible to users after a course teacher allows access to their account by registering them to the course.

Functionality & Features

The eCourse is the core part of the Open eClass platform. Each eCourse is an autonomous entity which integrates a number of learning tools. More specifically, each eCourse consists of the following learning tools - components which can be enabled and maintained by the teachers:

1. Agenda: presents crucial course events in time order (lectures, meetings, etc)

2. Documents: educational materials available to students (documents, presentations, images and other files)

3. Announcements concerning the course; they can be optionally e-mailed to students

4. Forums, where students can participate in conversation groups and exchange opinions about the course

5. Working Groups, open or closed, consist of users registered to the course (students and teachers)

6. Links on the web to resources relevant to the course

7. Student Assignments, where students can submit work done in response to assignments set forward by the teacher

8. Self-evaluation Exercises created by the teacher, allowing students to practice and test their knowledge

9. Course Description: presents information about course goals, structure, teachers in charge, etc.

10. Video, where recorded lectures or other videos can be presented to students, either as video files stored on the platform or as links to a video-on-demand server

11. Learning Path allows teachers to organize their educational material and students to follow a sequence of learning activity steps (SCORM 2004)

12. Wiki: a system for course participants to collaborate on documents, allowing everyone to edit document pages while maintaining full history of changes

13. Tele Conference, combining real-time on-line conversations, video transmission, presentations, and message exchange

14. Questionnaires, which can be used for polls and learning profile surveys

15. Drop Box: a file exchange area for students and teachers

16. Course Administration Tools, allowing teachers to configure course information (title, keywords, etc.), control eCourse access settings, renew or delete the eCourse, manage registered users, view usage statistics and activate / deactivate eCourse learning tools.