An e-learning project for Communications Engineering - LNTwww

$\text{Gerhard Kramer}$  and  $\text{Günter Söder}$
The e-learning project »LNTwww« offered by the  »TUM Institute for Communications Engineering«  provides nine online courses on the subjects of »Communications Engineering«  $\rm (CE)$  and  »Information and Communication Technology«  $\text{(I&C)}$.  The target group of our online offer are students of these or similar disciplines as well as practicing engineers and scientists.

The German version  »www.LNTwww.de«  was created between 2001–2021.  At the beginning of corona  $($2020$)$ we started the English version, which has been finalized in 2023.  In the following we refer to this version  »en.lntwww.de« ,  whose homepage can be seen in the graphic below.

Screenshot of the English version  »www.LNTwww.de«.  Note:
(1)  LNTwww is acronym of the German term »Lerntutorial für NachrichtenTechnik im world wide web«.
(2)  LNT also stands for the German name »Lehrstuhl für NachrichtenTechnik« of our chair.

Here are some features of our e-learning platform:

1. »LNTwww« is freely accessible $($no need for registration$)$. No specific system requirements.
2. »LNTwww« uses the free server-based software  »MediaWiki«,  just like »Wikipedia«, the best-known free encyclopedia.
3. The  »Book Collection« link takes you to the nine courses $($which are referred to as »books«$)$ and to the collection »Biographies and Bibliographies«.
4. The  »Exercises«  link takes you to a list with a total of around  $640$  exercises and  $3100$  subtasks $($each with detailed sample solution$)$.
5. About thirty learning videos $($in German language$)$ can get accessed via the  »Videos«  link. These are grouped according to the individual courses.
6. Via the  »Applets«  link you have access to around thirty applets based on HTML5/JavaScript and some older shockwave flash $($SWF$)$ applets.

Other important project features are summarized in the file »About LNTwww«  $($red marked link$)$,  among others:

• »The didactic concept of LNTwww«:   These rules from 2001 still apply, although »LNTwww« has had to be continuously adapted to developments on the Internet.

• »Content and scope of LNTwww«:   Our online offer corresponds to conventional courses with a total of thirty-six semester hours per week of lectures and exercises.

LNTwww Design and Structure

»LNTwww« has a book structure. Each »course« corresponds to an own »book« that can be selected via »Book Collection«.

• Each book is divided into several  »main chapters«, 
• each main chapter is divided into several  »chapters«,  and
• each chapter comprises several  »sections«.

$\text{Example A:}$  To illustrate these statements, here is an example of how to use »LNTwww«:

1. After pressing the  »Book Collection«  button, a selection screen will appear with the nine course-books as well as the book »Biographies and Bibliographies«.
2. By selecting the book  »Information Theory«,  its "start page" will appear with links to the four main chapters and to the corresponding sub-chapters. Furthermore, beside a brief book summary and bibliographical references, links to exercises and to multimedia elements are part of this information page.
3. We now select the first main chapter  »Entropy of Discrete Sources«  and of this in turn the first sub-chapter  »Discrete Memoryless Sources«.  This exemplary sub-chapter explains in eight sections the procedure for calculating the entropy of binary and non-binary sources.
4. As in conventional mathematical and technical literature, the facts are illustrated by texts, models, graphs, diagrams, equations and derivations. The last two sections of each sub-chapter contain exercises and references to the topic covered.

LNTwww Exercises

The core elements of our didactic concept are »exercises«. We believe that the sensible use of »LNTwww« by a user with previous knowledge should be to work first on the exercises related to his actual learning area and only jump to the corresponding theory section when required.

All exercises have a similar structure:

• Each exercise consists of the »exercise description« and several  »subtasks«. An exercise will only get valued as solved if all subtasks are completed correctly.

• For each exercise, a detailed »sample solution« exists, sometimes with an indication to different solution paths.

• The »exercise types« used are:

1. »Single Choice»   ⇒   only one of the  $n$  given answers is correct;
        ⇒   Check Box for alternative answers:  ${\huge\circ}$
2. »Multiple Choice«   ⇒   of the  $n$  given answers, between zero and  $n$  answers can be correct;
        ⇒   Check Box for alternative answers:  $\square$
3. »Arithmetic Task«   ⇒   numerical value query,  possibly with sign;
       small deviations  $($usually  $\pm 3\%)$  are allowed when checking real-valued results.

• We distinguish between  »exercises«  $($e.g.  »Exercise 1.1»$)$  and  »additional exercises«  $($e.g.  »Exercise 1.1Z«$)$.

1. If you were able to solve all exercises of a chapter without any problems,  we believe that you are familiar with the content of the entire chapter. 
2. If you have solved one exercise incorrectly,  you should also work on the following,  usually somewhat easier additional exercise.

$\text{Example B:}$  The  $58$  exercises/additional exercises of the first book can be accessed via the link  »Signal Representation: Exercises«. 

• From there,  we move on to the individual exercises,  e.g. to  »Exercise 1.1: Music Signals«.  This relatively simple exercise consists of

1.   one »Single Choice«   ⇒   subtask  (1),
2.   two »Multiple Choice«   ⇒   subtasks  (2),  (3),  and
3.   one »Arithmetic Task« with two real-valued computational queries   ⇒   subtask  (4).

• However,  most of our exercises are not that easy.  Although MediaWiki also calls an arithmetic task  »quiz«,  answering them is usually much more difficult than in the numerous quiz shows on TV.   Because: 

1.   There are no predetermined answers in an arithmetic task,  and moreover:
2.   Integrals often have to be solved beforehand,  such as in  »Exercise 4.4: Two-dimensional Gaussian probabilty density function«.

• We recommend:  First print the exercise   ⇒   »printable version«  and solve the exercise  offline  before checking  online.

LNTwww Applets

Working with applets in a virtual environment has a similar function to laboratories in mathematical and engineering sciences face-to-face courses:   Supplementing lectures and exercises through independent work by the students on the topic covered.

Starting from the  »Applet«  button on the homepage, another click takes you to the »Alphabetic list of all HTML5/JS applets $($English language$)$«. All these twenty-four applets have the same structure:

• The »applet description page« on MediaWiki level provides all information about the theoretical background as well as the purpose and handling of the application.

• The HTML5/JavaScript program with graphical user interface takes over the parameter input and the display of the calculated diagrams and numerical results.

• The most important part of an applet is the »questionnaire«, which guides the user through the program. The user has to solve various tasks along the way:
      Predict and evaluate results, optimize parameters, etc.

$\text{Example C:}$  The didactic significance of applets will be demonstrated by applet no. 10:  »Eye Pattern and Worst-Case Error Probability«.  We will not go into the detailed explanation of the theoretical background in the »applet description page« here. Just this much:  The »eye diagram« is a proven digital signal transmission tool for quantifying the influence of line dispersion on the quality characteristic »error probability«.

• By pressing »Open applet in new Tab«, the graphical program interface appears, which allows to choose from four coding options and three basic transmission pulse options. Depending on the setting, further parameter values $($as cutoff frequency, rolloff factor, ...$)$ can get determined.   This means that the program offers a large number of setting options. However, not every setting brings the user a relevant learning success and even fewer lead to a so-called "aha effect".

• It was task of the program developers to formulate the »questionnaire» in the lower section $($in this example 14 exercises$)$ and the associated solutions in such a way that the learning success is as great as possible for as many users as possible. A top 10% student naturally has the opportunity to use the applet to set himself tasks that go beyond our questionnaire and thus to delve very deeply into the material presented.

• This applet serves the clarification of difficult facts. Exercise (1), for example, illustrates the step-by-step construction of the eye diagram from the binary symbol sequence for a Gaussian pulse, and Exercise (10) shows the »Overall View« of the eye diagram of a quaternary Nyquist system with rolloff factor $r_f=0.5$.

LNTwww Learning Videos

The realization of a learning video required a lot of individual steps:  Writing the script and texts   ⇒   Creating a set of slides by gradually adapting the content   ⇒   Voicing texts and audio editing   ⇒   Combining texts and images to a coherent video stream.

All our learning videos $($created between 2003–2015$)$ are available in German language.  By assuming that the users of the English version also have sufficient knowledge of German language to understand the content of the video sequences, we did not spend any extra effort in time consuming translation activities.

Please note the following points when using the learning videos:

• The link  »Videos«  on the homepage provides a list of all thirty-one learning videos, grouped according to the nine courses. Some videos are part for multiple courses.
• After selecting the desired learning video,  a wiki description page appears with a short content description and the user interface.
• From here you can start the video in  »mp4«  or  »ogv«  format.  The browser will search for the appropriate format.
• Each video part can get started by a single click and paused by another click.
• The videos can can get used in conjunction with many browsers  $($Firefox, Chrome, Safari, ...$)$  as well as with smartphones and tablets.  The playback speed can get changed:  Firefox offers a submenu after right-clicking on the video.  For the use with Google Chrome the plugin  »Video Speed Controller« need to get installed.

$\text{Example D:}$  We'll take a look at the three-part learning video  »Der AWGN-Kanal«.  Here you can see the corresponding »video description page« on MediaWiki level. 

At the end of this file you will find the English title »The AWGN Channel « and the English summary:

    $\text{Part 1}$   $($duration 5:59$)$:   $\text{Preliminary remarks}$     $($Common channel models regarding media,  operational equipment,  interference/noise$)$

    $\text{Part 2}$   $($duration 5:14$)$:   $\text{Properties}$  $($additive, white, Gaussian distributed$)$   $\text{and characteristics}$  $($PSD, PDF, variance, standard deviation/rms$)$

    $\text{Part 3}$   $($duration 6:13$)$:   $\text{Calculation/simulation of BER}$  $($bit error rate$)$   $\text{and SNR}$  $($signal-to-noise ratio$)$  $\text{for the optimal binary system}$

LNTwww Glossary

Due to the fact that our e–learning project was first conceived in German and the wish for an English version came much later on,  the assignment of a  »formula sign«   to the relevant  »designation«  is not quite easy, e.g.   carrier frequency  $f_{\rm T}$,  equivalent low-pass transmitted signal  $s_{\rm TP}(t)$,  threshold value  $E$.

The link  »Glossary«  on the homepage can help in this context with the following alphabetically ordered entries:

  »Formula sign«   ⇒   »German designation«   ⇒   »English designation«

The file »Glossary« is self-explanatory. A few explanations are available under the last menu item  »Some remarks to the Glossary«.

$\text{Example E:}$  In this file you will find the following entries:

  $f_{\rm T}$   ⇒   Trägerfrequenz   ⇒   carrier frequency

  $s_{\rm TP}(t)$   ⇒   äquivalentes Tiefpass–Sendesignal   ⇒   equivalent low-pass transmitted signal

  $ E$   ⇒   $(1)$ Schwellenwert,  $(2)$ Energie   ⇒   $(1)$ threshold value,  $(2)$ energy

From the context,  the decision for  »threshold value«  or  »energy«  should be easy.

Final Remarks

Described is our e-learning project »LNTwww«, which began in 2001 and was finished in 2023 with the completion of the English version. The intention of this article is to make this learning offer on the subject of »Communications Engineering« a little better known in the university community.

It is difficult to determine the exact number of users for our concept, as there is no fixed entry point. Rather, many paths lead to our platform and you can move around it for different lengths of time. Based on a number of indicators $($not explained in detail here$)$, we currently expect at least ten thousand (longer) hits per year for the German version. Nine months after completion, we are not yet able to provide a reliable number for the English version.

The comments from our students $($in personal discussions$)$ and other users $($via e-mail$)$ were quite positive, which is why we tackled the English translation in 2020. However, it cannot be denied that we had expected euphoric rather than benevolent criticism.

Noch zu überarbeiten

Nun ein Blick auf die weltweite Entwicklung von »e-Learning« seit 1999, als dieser Begriff von Elliott Masie zum ersten Mal auf einer Konferenz erwähnt wurde.

Erwähnt werden soll auch, dass seit 2012 führende Universitäten aus den USA unter dem Oberbegrif MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) verschiedene Software-Plattformen für E-Learning im Internet anbieten. „Massive“ soll darauf hinweisen, dass es sehr viele Kurse zu verschiedenen MINT-Themen (Mathematik, Informatik, Naturwissenschaften, Technik) gibt, und diese von sehr vielen Personen genutzt werden. Die bekanntesten E-Learning-Portale sind: Die Plattform „edX“ wurde ursprünglich von Professoren der Harvard University und dem MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) gegründet. Sie haben nach eigenen Angaben derzeit ca. 20 Millionen Nutzer und eine Auswahl von nahezu 2000 Kursen. Der Marktführer „coursera“ – eine Gründung der Stanford University – gibt mit nahezu 40 Millionen Nutzern und mehr als 3000 zur Verfügung stehenden Kursen noch höhere Werte an.

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank all professors, research assistants and more than fifty students involved in the development of »LNTwww«. These persons are listed by name in the »Impressum»,  separated by book,  as well as the basic materials for the respective first versions.

The English translation $($2020–2023$)$ by working students was coordinated by Javier García Gómez, Tasnád Kernetzky and Benedikt Leible. This work was financially supported by the faculty and the university.