A distance learning application based on a digital library of courseware

This paper presents a distance learning application currently under development at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia. The basic idea of the application is to join learning materials on various topics and written by many teachers in a digital library of courseware. Such a digital library provides a basis for creating courses on specific topics. Our application is based on the WWW and the Java programming language and can be readily used over a high bandwidth network connection. The problem is, however, that most students usually do not have high bandwidth network connections to their homes. A possible solution to this problem arose from University of Ljubljana’s co-operation in the ACTS AC-018 SMASH (Storage for Multimedia Applications Systems in the Home) project. The goal of this project is to develop a mass storage device for home usage, that can hold 13 GB (or even more) of data. It uses a linear tape drive coupled with a hard disk used for caching data from tape. If the digital library were stored on such a tape, tapes could be distributed to students, and students could use the application at their homes without the need for a network connection. We are developing an interface to the mass storage device to make this possible.