Architectural pattern to improve the definition and implementation of eLearning ecosystems

Abstract

Knowledge management within companies and institutions is one of the main problems when defining and developing new solutions to improve information systems. Currently, information systems have evolved into technological ecosystems that are a set of different components related to each other through information flows in a physical environment that supports these flows, where users are part of the ecosystem. Particularly, during the last several years, the Open Source software has been used to develop these technological solutions. The aim of this paper is to formalize an architectural pattern to support the right description and implementation of eLearning ecosystems. The theoretical basis has been provided in previous works by using a comparative analysis of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of several real case studies developed in different contexts. The problems detected through the previous analysis have been modelled using the Business Process Model and Notation. Next, the pattern has been formalized with the Service-oriented architecture Modelling Language. Finally, the pattern has been tested in a real context, namely, an institutional development for the Spanish Public Administration, which has demonstrated that the pattern works properly. As a result, we have obtained a set of Business Process Model and Notation diagrams that provide a high abstraction level for the main detected problems in eLearning ecosystems. We have also obtained an architectural pattern composed of several layers and a set of external elements that provides a solution to these problems.