SSRI online First experiences in a three-years course degree offered in e-learning at the University of Milan

This paper is aimed at presenting SSRI online: an e-learning initiative started at the University of Milan (Italy) for the academic year 2004/05. The initiative consisted in offering an already existing three-years academic degree course (“laurea in Sicurezza dei Sistemi e delle Reti Informatiche SSRI”: a post-bachelor course on security of computer systems and networks) not only in the “traditional” way (mainly based on classroom lectures and labs) but also online. Main aspects discussed in the following sections are: • the players of the initiative and their roles; • the adopted teaching model; • the technological solutions identified and/or implemented to support the initiative; • the characteristics of the student population choosing SSRI online; • the first results obtained after almost one year. 1. SSRI online: why and who The University of Milan has a significant experience in the usage of technologies for supporting teaching. Main player in this arena is an inter-departmental center (CTU) devoted to study and apply multimedia-based methodologies and technologies to teaching. During the last four years, CTU produced more than 300 e-learning modules complementing traditional lectures, and made available to students through a web platform (ARIEL) completely designed and implemented by CTU itself. Previous experiences at the University of Milan had been carried out, mainly by the computer science and technology departments, using synchronous virtual classes to give lectures to remote students and making video recording of lectures to offer asynchronous support to students occasionally missing classroom activities. However, all these previous experiences were designed to “support” traditional teaching, not intended as a “substitute” for it. Students working full time or living far away from Milan were supposed to integrate the elearning material whit books, notes from colleagues, etc., without explicit help from the university. Besides adopting a novel approach to e-learning, the SSRI course – launched in 2003 – is the first and unique threeyears university course centered on ICT Security available in Italy. This uniqueness makes the course interesting for students spread over the overall country, and for this reason it became an ideal candidate for an e-learning version. A further aspect making SSRI an ideal candidate for adopting e-learning was the fact that “traditional” version of it (i.e., the location were classes are given) is hosted at a campus located in Crema, a small town 40 km. Southeast of Milan, where the Information Technology Department is situated. While the location provides a nice and quite environment for students going to the Campus, the geographical distance and limited public transportation make it not easily reachable. An online version of SSRI would have then be interesting also for students living in Milan but having difficulties in reaching Crema (no highway from Milan to Crema, time-consuming public transportations, traffic jam, ...). Based on the observation above, and willing to experience a initiative completely online, one year ago the University of Milan decided to activate SSRI online, involving in the initiative: • the Department of Information Technologies in Crema, providing the courses and whose professors 1 Full professor, responsible for online version of SSRI 2 CTU director 3 Full professor, president of the University commission for ICT strategies 4 Full professor, president of the SSRI didactical coordination council 5 CTU project manager for SSRI online 6 Full professor, 1 year teacher in SSRI online agreed to: o re-design their lectures for the online version; o identify and train tutors for online interaction with students; o overview online learning and make examinations; • the inter-departmental center CTU, devoted to: o identify the best suited teaching model; o identify the technological tools allowing the production of the online version of SSRI; o drive the production of the online material, to ensure quality and homogeneity among the various courses; o implement and manage the platform offering SSRI online; o provide process tutoring (daily interaction with students, closely monitoring the student s’ progresses, etc.); o handle – in conjunction with the student secretariat in Crema – all the logistics aspects. To support the design of the didactical model and of the online material, the university team has been complemented by consultants from Isvor Knowledge System, a company specialized in the production of e-learning courses.