Development of an Education Portal for Online Learning

Summary

A British university wanted to introduce distance learning to cut costs and reach more students, and needed a web application to automate its educational processes — including tests and exams — and support online communication between students and academic staff. Starting with assessment-test modules under a tight pilot deadline and only a few use cases to go on, INNERLUXES used a two-phase iterative approach backed by full documentation, delivering the solution ahead of schedule and saving part of the budget.

About the Client

The Client is a British university renowned for high educational standards and a large pool of both domestic and international students.

A Distance-Learning Pilot With Tight Deadlines and Few Requirements

The Client wanted to introduce distance learning to minimize expenses and make education available to more students, and a web-oriented software solution was required. The distance-learning application was expected to automate all educational processes, including tests and exams, and to facilitate online communication between students and academic staff. The Client decided to start with the modules for creating, running, and managing assessment tests, and chose INNERLUXES for a pilot project with tough deadlines. The university provided no functional requirements documentation beyond several use cases, yet the modules had to have a scalable architecture, localization tools, and a clear design.

A Two-Phase Iterative Build Backed by Documentation

To meet the deadlines, INNERLUXES proposed an iterative approach in two phases:

• Phase 1 — implemented the most important functionality, test creation and execution; the web application's user interface was developed and joined into a single solution while the core functionality was still in progress, and functional, technical, and QA documentation was created in parallel to ensure every requirement was captured and the build stayed fast and clear. The internal demo on the Client's site was passed successfully.
• Phase 2 — extended the functionality with a feedback-analysis module and implemented the remaining requirements, such as further test creation and statistics analysis, in line with the architecture designed in the first phase.

Delivered Ahead of Schedule and Under Budget

• INNERLUXES developed the web application and helped the Client meet its internal deadlines.
• Thanks to a clear architecture backed by a full set of project documentation, the final version was delivered ahead of schedule, saving part of the project budget.
• INNERLUXES continues to maintain the product, adding online training and certification features, and the Client now collaborates with other universities using the software.

Technologies and Tools

C#, ASP.NET, Ajax, ADO.NET, MS SQL Server, Flash.