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 translation, in 2023 we finished.  In this article we refer to the English version  »en.lntwww.de«,  whose homepage can be seen in the graphic.

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. Registration is not necessary and no system requirements are needed.
2. »LNTwww« uses the free server-based software  »MediaWiki«,  just like »Wikipedia«, the best-known free encyclopedia.
3. The link  »Book Collection«  takes you to the nine courses, which are here referred to as »books«, and to the collection »Biographies and Bibliographies«.
4. The link  »Exercises«  takes you to a list of the about  $640$  exercises in all books  $(3100$ subtasks$)$,  each with a detailed sample solution.
5. You can access  $\approx30$  German–language learning videos via the link  »Videos«.  These are offered grouped according to the individual courses.
6. Via the link  »Applets«  you also have access to  $24$  English–language HTML5/JavaScript applets and some older shockwave flash 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 36 semester hours per week of lectures and exercises.

Design and structure of LNTwww

»LNTwww» has a book structure. Each »course« corresponds to a »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 appears with the nine textbooks as well as the book »Biographies and Bibliographies«.

$(2)$  After selecting the  »Information Theory course«,  its  »start page« appears with links to four main chapters and to exercises, multimedia elements and literature.

$(3)$  We now select the first main chapter  »Entropy of Discrete Sources«  and of this in turn the first subchapter  »Discrete Memoryless Sources«  with eight sections.

$(4)$  This exemplary subchapter explains the procedure for calculating the entropy of binary and non-binary sources.  As in conventional mathematical and technical literature, the facts are illustrated by texts, models, graphs, diagrams, equations and derivations.

$(5)$  The last two sections of each subchapter are exercises and references to the topic covered.

Periodic signal  $x_{\rm P}(t)$  and  $x_{\rm P}\hspace{0.01cm}'(t)$  and its line spectra However, multimedia elements are also used.

Periodic signal  $x_{\rm P}(t)$  and  $x_{\rm P}\hspace{0.01cm}'(t)$  and its line spectra