Indexing and searching learning objects in a Peer-to-Peer network

In this paper, we explore the idea of using Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks as advanced educational tools. A P2P network can disseminate complex learning objects that act as anchors for creating collaborative learning communities. The goal is to create collaborative spaces of learners with similar interests to exchange knowledge, opinions, and experience so that they can learn, understand, and help/teach each other. The use of the P2P technology for disseminating learning objects requires extending current P2P systems with a support for precise indexing and searching. In this way, potential learners can easily find and choose relevant objects. The present paper describes the design of an indexing and searching scheme for disseminating complex mutable SCORM learning objects over BitTorrent.