Integrated High-Workload Services for E-Learning

Abstract

E-learning platforms are valuable tools to support and enhance the learning and teaching process during online classes. Even though these platforms are already well-known and have been widely used for a long time, transitioning to fully online activities with a large number of users can lead to an exponential growth in resource usage. Moreover, the availability of these platforms becomes critical since the learning activities cannot be interrupted, and the vital information (assignments, grades, and shared resources) cannot be lost. Thus, the system administrators must implement a scalable solution to accommodate many users and activities. Determining the most suitable architecture is a non-trivial task that must consider the various tools, services, and interconnect options that are available. This paper presents our approach to setting up an integrated high-workload e-learning setup used for online classes in University Politehnica of Bucharest and can be used as a reference by other universities. The e-learning platform must accommodate around 35000 users and 11000 courses; thus, its management is not trivial. In this paper we present our approach to integrating all the services necessary for a responsive online platform and to automating e-learning management operations such as class creation and user course enrolments. Moreover, we present our testing methodology and the deployment of the proposed architecture, as well as the results we have obtained in production, especially during the time when all teaching activities were performed using online platforms.