A workflow-based architecture for E-learning in the Grid

Effective E-learning distributed environments should promote high cooperation. Workflow techniques can certainly contribute to such effectiveness as the creation and delivery of learning contents are typically accomplished by groups of individuals executing specific and predefined sequences of activities. Reusable learning objects (RLO or LO) also play an important role in this context as learning content is broken into smaller parts to facilitate deployment and execution assignment. Additionally, some LO may require high levels of computation as in the case of simulations in hemodynamics in a fluid mechanics course. In order to cope with such an application, we envisioned a workflow-based learning management system (LMS) using Web services as the communication infrastructure allied to the computational power of the Grid.