Fronter is a virtual learning environment

The Today portal automatically gathers all information relevant to each user. Information from all rooms where the user has access is displayed on the Today portal. This may include news, new documents, assignments, hand-ins and discussion contributions.

Fronter has an installed client for reading and writing e-mail messages. E-mail can be sent directly from within Fronter, and is integrated with the contact database. This means that you can easily send an e- mail to groups of members. The E-mail client supports all types of e-mail servers (POP3 and IMAP). Fronter offers a web-based e-mail client through which all personal e-mail accounts can be configured. This makes it possible to read external e-mail directly within Fronter.

The RSS reader allows the user to collect a stream of information from his or her favourite sources on the Internet. The streams can be displayed on the Today portal.

All users have a resources tool in their personal room where they can store various types of documents and files. Content is organised in a file structure and only the individual user has access rights.

As long as the user has access to the internet, work can be stored and uploaded into resources. This means a user always has access to the latest version of their work.

The storage capacity of resources folder can be set by the administrator (capacity can vary according to the user group).

Each individual user has his/her own portfolio within Fronter. The portfolio contains all work/activities that the user has completed or produced, including all documents and contributions, results from all hand-ins, tests, etc.

Statistics in portfolio tool give an overview of all activities, progress (results from tests and courses), and all hand-ins. Users will only have access to see their own work and activities.

Portfolio assessment is a methodology used for both learning and assessment. A key goal is to increase awareness of the learning process as a whole.

Visual mail is an internal messaging system for the younger users. Students can send messages to their classmates by selecting their friend's image from a list of their classmates.

To send a message, the user clicks on the recipient's picture. The primary Text editor will appear with 3 options – to send a text message, record a message, or draw a picture. An inbox and outbox are available in Visual mail, and the administrator has access to see all messages which are sent within his/her organization.

Users can collect and edit their external blogs directly from within Fronter. The user can read and write articles directly in his or her external blogs, provided that they support the Meta Weblog standard. All articles that the user has produced on his or her external blogs will be displayed in the Portfolio tool. In this way, all blog articles are gathered in one place and are available for later assessment.

Meeting is a personal real-time collaboration and web conferencing solution you can access from your personal Fronter toolbar to connect you and two others. Features include:

• Full-duplex audio
• Interactive whiteboard
• Chat
• Application or desktop sharing
• Synchronised notes
• Web tour
• File transfer
• High-resolution video

Participants in your personal Meeting can be Fronter users or external participants. External participants receive an e-mail notification if invited to attend a Meeting session, while Fronter users receive an internal message through Fronter.

Stickies is an internal messaging system for sending messages between users (one-to-one) and for distribution of messages among users (one-to-many).

It is possible to send messages from the member list in a public room, from the search function within the contact database, or directly from the e-mail tool. The recipient will find the message in a separate inbox for stickies. You can also choose to have these messages displayed directly on the Today portal.

Students and teachers can navigate to their different classrooms by selecting a room's image on their Today portal. When a room owner creates a room, he/she can select an image to represent the activities taking place in the room. The room owner can choose one of Fronter's predefined images, or upload their own.

All users in Fronter have their own personal To-do list. This tool is integrated with the Calendar. Here you can specify a task with a deadline or time limit, resources and linked content. All tasks can be displayed on the Today portal for the user to see when they first log in.

Tasks can be linked to specified Activities and projects have a progress indicator. This can be used as a work-flow tool.

In the hand-in folder teachers can upload assignments where students hand in their work individually or as a group. The teacher can then correct, comment and assign grades.

The teacher creating the hand–in has the ability to specify:

• Timeframe
• Hand-in reminders/notifications
• Correction format
• Links to learning goals
• File hand-in type
• Anonymous hand-in delivery

With the test tool, a user can create and answer digital tests, choosing from a variety of different formats.

Tests can be assessed manually where teachers add in comments and then assign grades. It is also possible for tests with multiple choice format to be graded automatically and results immediately passed on to the students.

Statistics and standard reports will be generated on the basis of all test results. You will find these reports both in the Portfolio tool as well as under the statistics tab in the drop-down menu of the test.

The test tool supports the standard IMS Questions and Test. This makes it possible to import tests, surveys, etc from other sources.

With the learning path, users can generate different learning objects and presentation pages, presenting them in a defined sequence. This sequence can have many different branches, depending on subject direction and student response.

With this tool, the users are able to produce, use, reuse and share learning resources. Learning paths can be built based on texts, pictures, links, sound and video.

By introducing tests within a learning path, the teacher can create a path where the student can progress to a new page only when mastering a certain section and achieving certain results.

Students can also generate content using this tool, either individually or in collaboration with classmates. The students can individually create their own presentation pages which can then be combined into a learning path for a group presentation.

With Fronter's Individual Learning Plan (ILP), teachers and students can specify personal learning goals, areas for improvement, document progress and results - all in a quick and simple format.

The ILP tool gives the teacher a full overview of a student's activities and plans.

This overview includes:

• A list of completed teacher student conversations
• Assessment form
• Learning goals

Learning goals that are directly linked to the curriculum can be imported and registered in Fronter. All goals will be connected to a matrix that indicates the criteria needed to achieve the goals they are aiming for. Students are able to comment on their progress, and their goals will appear in their individual ILP.

The question database is a central repository for questions generated in the test tool or uploaded from external sources. The questions can be classified according to the level of difficulty, subject, themes, and statistic functions.

Questions stored in the database can be used by all that have access rights to the room where the tool is found. Statistics from database questions will be accumulated in order to compare results received by different students.

Courses following international standards (IMS, SCORM or AICC) can be integrated into Fronter. The e-learning content can be accessed in two ways. Either it can be stored in Fronter, or a password protected link can be established to the website where it is published. A list of third party content providers that support this integration is available from Fronter.

The result matrix provides a total overview of the results from all hand-ins and tests (horizontal) for all users in a room (vertical). With this tool the teacher can access an instant summary of all work completed, with the grades received by all students.

There is a direct link from the Result matrix to the individual hand-ins and test statistics.

With the sound recorder you can record and store sound files directly in the Resources and Pages.

Sound files can be used to give instructions to younger learners, facilitate language course instruction, and help in collaboration with pod casting.

Sound files can be created and stored on Fronter, without having to be downloaded or stored on the user's local hard drive.

You can link to external streaming servers and make the multimedia file available via Fronter.

You can insert a video clip within a learning path, as well as embed videos in the page tool and articles. This means that videos found on web pages such as youtube.com, can be integrated into Fronter's tools and displayed.

In the video tool the user can also add an address to an external IP-camera and watch the video.

This is a separate tool for searches carried out in external content databases. It is available through the Search and Retrieve Web services-standard (SRW). Through this search, users can explore a variety of pre-arranged content providers for learning resources and content. The resources can be uploaded and stored in a Fronter room. Administrators define which schools have access to which content providers.

With a unique username and password, parents or guardians of students can be given a login to Fronter and access specified areas, tools and information. This access is decided by the school, and can include the following:

• Parents can access their child's portfolio, absence and Individual Learning plan records, to better monitor their child's progress, participation and behaviour at school
• Parents can also access different rooms, where they can take part in discussions, access school information, and complete school surveys and tests

With the messaging tool, users with 'write' access in a room may publish messages to all other members in a room. Members in this room will be able to see these messages on their Today portal and in the room where it was published.

The message tool is designed to communicate short messages to large groups. The message can be expanded by using the text editor, and images or other media added. Pictures, external links, internal links, icons etc, can make the message more colourful and attractive.

Document is a tool for producing text documents with one or several authors (also known as the Fronter document), designed for process oriented writing.

A user can create parts of a document and then invite other members to contribute and/or comment directly in the document. The text can be edited based on the comments, and the revised text can be commented on again. The author can lock certain paragraphs in the document when they are completed.

There is full version throughout the life cycle of the document. The author can at any time store a new version and retrieve older versions at a later stage.

Included in the Document tool is an editor. It includes all the most common functions found in a regular text editor and is supported in Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari web browsers.

The editor supports 'right clicking' of the mouse for editing, insertion of flash elements, video and sound, as well as a filter for copying text from Word. The Word filter will remove unwanted formatting codes in the text transferred into Fronter.

A Primary design version of the new CK Editor is available for younger users, where buttons are enlarged, and only the most commonly used functionality is shown.

Forum with multiple functionality

In Discussion the answers are grouped under themes or topics when they are published. All members are able to answer all other contributions. This tool is well suited for open discussions with many members.

Conversation is the simplest form of discussion. All contributions are listed below one another as in an ordinary conversation. This tool is suited for simple discussions with a small number of members.

Debate is a type of discussion where members categorise their contribution according to a predefined list of standpoints. This tool allows the users to get an overview of the different arguments under discussion, and easily see which arguments/standpoints are more prominent.

Brainstorm is a type of discussion where ideas/contributions, are placed as notes on a blank page. This tool is well suited for discussions involving creative input, as all contributions are anonymous.

Hotseat is a Q&A discussion forum that allows all members to ask questions, but only one member, or a specific group of members, to give answers. This tool is suited for panel debates where many questions are asked and directed towards one or a limited number of individuals.

All users can generate their own private contact list within Fronter. These contacts can be organised in a group structure, and are part of a private domain.

The contact database is integrated with the e-mail client as well as the internal messaging system. The user will have access to their private contacts as well as all shared contacts.

Chat is a real-time communication text tool available in a Fronter room. It is possible to add several chat tools (channels) in one room so that one group may have a separate chat from another group. A user may only be active in one 'chat' at a time.

The whole chat sequence will be logged for later purposes or made available for those that could not participate in the chat when it took place.

All users in Fronter have their own personal calendar. The calendar is available in their personal toolbar, and can be shared with other users.

Some of the features included in Calendar:

• Four calendar views - Day, Week, Month and Year
• Appointment creation – with links to public Fronter rooms
• Define appointment parameters e.g. number of repetitions, frequency, and duration
• Search calendar for specific users to check their availability
• Invite external users for a meeting with automatic registration of participation
• Colour code appointments, creating an overview that is easier to read
• Create internal links to documents within the Resources

The Voting tool can be accessed from a presentation page, or within a learning path. All members can quickly note their feedback on a subject or topic. The author will define a title, a question and a selection of answers. When the members complete a vote, the results can be made available immediately and presented in a diagram.

With Activity folders, Fronter combines Resources with widely used theory and practice for project management.

Project folders representing different activities can be set up and automatically represented on a Gantt diagram. Graphically displayed on a timeline, project folders with resources can be linked directly to the activity, and access customised.

The main advantage of this tool is that project managers do not have to set up and maintain two structures; activities and folders.

Add the Liveroom to any room in the Fronter building, providing access to live online lecture sessions for all room members. With Liveroom, you can schedule a time for all members of a room to attend an online class/lecture.

Members can listen to a lecture, while watching an on-screen demonstration of the lecture content.

Features include:

• Unlimited number of participants
• Full-duplex audio
• Shared whiteboard
• Interactive text chat
• Advanced moderator tools

Page is a tool for creating documents with several elements, and a complex layout.

You can insert text, links, discussions, surveys, videos, flash movies, and other content elements such as place holders. You can easily create new place holders and move them freely around the page. A page can be set to replace the default start page of a room, giving the owner of a room full flexibility to create an appealing entrance to a course or subject.

The Frontpage functions as a start page for a room and its purpose is to make the room content more easily accessible to the users. Room owners use the Frontpage to create their own 'look and feel' for their course or subject. Resources, articles, tests, hand-ins and forums can be linked to directly from the Frontpage. This way, users don't have to search for content, but can be directed to content from the Frontpage.

This tool completes a full text search of all content in the Resources that the user can access. The search will exclude content that is password protected. Room names, folders and items are included in the search, as well as content of Word, Power Point, Excel, Pdf and Open Office documents.

Users can create links in the Resources. The collection of links is searchable and can be organised into folders. The users can create a link collection available to all members as a shared resource, or customise access and create a personal links collection.

The News tool allows you to publish news messages to all members in a room.

A news article consists of a header, abstract, text paragraphs and images. The members will see the news article displayed on their Today portal, as well as inside the room where the article was published.

Each news article can be given a publishing and expiry date.

This tool displays the overall summary of activity in a room. It includes information about a user's progress on an activity, linked to hand-ins and tests.

Anybody who stores an object within Fronter will have access to statistics about the object e.g. who has clicked on the object, and when.

A useful application of this functionality is how a teacher can see whether a student has opened a posted assignment or a file. Furthermore you can see who has read a contribution in a discussion forum.

With Open-Edit-Save (OES) the user can open uploaded files in their source application (i.e. Word documents in MS Word) directly in Fronter. Changes can be made in the source application, and when closing, the changes are automatically saved in Fronter.

By using OES, the user does not have to download the file to the hard drive while working on the document and then upload it to Fronter again when they are finished. This whole process takes place automatically.

The same functionality can be used to create new documents in external source applications directly from Fronter; New-Edit-Save.

Fronter is structured in the same way as your physical school building. Both are built up and divided into rooms. Your Fronter building consists of Rooms which are furnished with Tools.

A Room can be used for many things e.g. a classroom, a teaching room, a course, a group room, an information room, a library, a common room or a meeting room.

The room owner will furnish the room with the necessary tools required to empower the activity in the room. The list of tools in the room can be changed according to changing needs.

The room creator can set the room as 'public.' This means that Fronter users who are not members of the room may see a description of the room and apply for membership.

Rooms can be imported and exported based on the IMS Content Packaging specifications. Room structure, tools and information will be imported or exported excluding room members. Rooms can also be copied in an installation to share with fellow teachers.

The organisational units are Fronter's way of building up the structure of the platform or virtual school building. Each organisational unit is seen as a node in the organisation map consisting of 'nodes', 'corridors' and 'groups'.

The structure of the organisational units in Fronter reflects the real structure of the organisation. The rights and the settings are adapted to local needs and the possibilities are virtually limitless. The organisational structure is the backbone of the Fronter installation.

This tool defines where and when users can access different parts of the Fronter installation. It is possible to have different rights and roles in different parts of the installation.

Room rights Glossary:

Owner: Maximum access - Administrator in the room

Delete: The user can delete, write and read content in a room. This is typically given to a trainer, teacher or tutor.

Write: The user can write and read content in a room. This is typically given to the student or the member of a course.

Read: This is the lowest right which is often given to guests who will not be making contributions in the room.

Group rights

No access: The user can only view his/her personal contact card. They have no access to fellow member details.

View contacts: The user can see members' contact information, as well as search for other members in the contact register. The user may also create personal contacts and add these to his/her list of friends. These contacts will not be able to log in and they are not visible to other users. Personal contacts are equivalent to contacts in an address book.

Contact creator: The user can create new contacts. Only users with access to these parts of the installation will be able to see these contacts.

Administrator: The user can create new contacts which can be added into existing groups and given the right to log into Fronter. The contact administrator may also create new contact groups.

Note: Additional group rights are available, connected to specific tools and modules. E.g. Absence, Survey and Individual Learning Plan. These must be turned on individually by the administrator.

Fronter can be customised with settings specified for the entire Fronter installation.

There are a number of settings that can be specified on a local level. This means that two organisation units (i.e. two schools) in the same installation can have one or several different settings.

Examples of local settings:

• Storage capacity
• Design Toolbar position
• Templates for Webfronter
• Appointment types in the Calendar
• Connect aliases to a master e-mail domain
• Logo
• Standard contact card picture
• Contact card-access
• Learning goals

All rooms in Fronter have a Member list and the room owner can invite new members to join. The members can be granted different rights depending on their role in the room, e.g. read, write, delete and owner.

Reports consist of a graphical overview of all activity in Fronter - number of total visits, number of total visits in rooms, number of read documents, links etc. The administrator can filter the statistics to show activity for a given time period.

The statistics can be exported as text-statistics to a text editor. From the editor, the user can copy the result into MS Excel or a SPSS-tool for further processing.

Over time, a very large database will be created in Fronter. To increase database speed and simplify administration, it is necessary to undergo an effective clean-up of 'expired' users and empty user groups.

With Database clean-up, top level administrators can access users that have not logged into Fronter after a certain date, and were created before a certain date. The result can be processed and evaluated. Empty groups can also be retrieved and deleted.

Fronter has its own 'tool-sensitive' help system. By selecting the Help button, the user will automatically be directed to the help files describing the tool that is currently in use.

User documentation is available in html and pdf format. Fronter users will also have access to a comprehensive list of online e-learning courses. These courses guide users through the basic tools and functions in Fronter.

Language support is currently available in the following languages: English, German, French, Norwegian (Bokmål and Nynorsk), Sami, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Finnish, Danish, Swedish, Japanese, Korean, Icelandic, Irish Gaelic, Slovak, Brazialian Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Czech, Turkish and Arabic.

Users can switch between languages while logged into Fronter, by altering a personal setting found next to their name on the Today Portal. The default language is set from the login page when the user first enters their username and password.

By adding your own user-defined tools, you can create direct links to external content and sources. This tool will appear on the room toolbar.

Alternatively, the user can insert direct links within a Room to content of special interest to the user. As with other tools, the user can name the button and limit the access according to his/her wishes.