Distance education using a local mass storage device

This paper presents a distance learning application under development at the University of Ljubljana as a part of the ACTS AC-018 SMASH (Storage for Multimedia Applications Systems in the Home) project. The application is based on WWW and Java programming language and serves as a general framework for development of courses on different topics. All the courseware is stored in what could be called a digital library, and is used as a basis for creating courses on specific topics. The application can be readily used over a high bandwidth network connection. The problem is, however, that learners usually do not have high bandwidth network connections to their homes. We are therefore investigating the possibility of using a local mass storage device at the learner´s site. The purpose of this paper is to present the basic idea and the concept of a distance learning application, where such a local mass storage device is used to store all of the courseware data locally at the learner´s machine.