PAPER

DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF AN OFFLINE LEARNING SYSTEM IN COLLEGE TEACHING

Development and Application of an Offline

Learning System in College Teaching
http://dx.doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v10i5.4794

Xiaoyan Zhong
Hunan First Normal University, Changsha, China

Abstract—With the improvement of science and technology ars add curriculum education about healthy lifestyles in
and the popularization of the internet, offline teaching and the offline teaching content as well as teaching methods
multimedia teaching are standing out compared to tradi- that are closely related to daily life. There is also corre-
tional teaching. This paper summarizes the design content sponding curriculum content for students of different
and requirements of physical education teaching in an of- ages/grades. Generally speaking, American college physi-
fline learning system, designs the framework and core mod- cal education teaching has formed a complete offline
ule for offline teaching according to the requirements of a learning system.
college physical education curriculum, and finally designs
Steedman et al. [5] suggests that the Japanese mobile
the offline learning system for the physical education cur-
internet has become popular and that its multimedia-
riculum. This system can meet students’ offline learning
assisted teaching is also relatively sound. At present, Jap-
requirements and, in some aspects, is compatible with an
anese college physical education teaching is set in accord-
online learning mode based on SCORM standards. Empiri-
ance with different time brackets and age groups. Students
cal study of the system’s operation and application proves
that an offline learning system for a physical education
with sufficient time may select multiple curricula or con-
curriculum has significant teaching effects. tent for age groups they are interested in. Furthermore,
Japan’s offline physical education teaching allows stu-
Index Terms—offline learning, system, development, college dents to study the content of a chapter several times. This
physical education ensures full utilization of fragmented time.
Hills et al. [6] points out that modernization of the theo-
retical foundation of physical education in the near future
I. INTRODUCTION will not just save common resources such as classrooms
With the improvement of science and technology and but will also contribute to relieving the pressure of insuffi-
the popularization of the internet, colleges and universities cient professional teachers in physical education. Franko
nationwide are starting to adopt multimedia teaching on a et al. [7] proposes that the combination of physical educa-
large scale. Compared with a traditional teaching mode, tion teaching and independent study via the internet can
network multimedia teaching is characterized as saving extend learning the content and effectively relieve many
teaching resources and making it more convenient for practical problems such as large differences in physical
students to acquire knowledge [1]. But online-based mul- quality and different learning needs.
timedia teaching has a fatal defect; that is, students cannot Development of offline learning seeks to adapt the
learn when they cannot connect to the campus network. mode of teaching modern physical education, solve the
Additionally, when all students study online at the same shortage of teacher resources in colleges, and meet the
time, it is necessary to have a large bandwidth [2]. Thus, different requirements for teaching content to students
bandwidth can also be a limiting factor. So, it is very im- with diverse physical quality. However, the development
portant to develop and research long-distance and offline and application of offline learning systems are just in the
multimedia teaching modes and systems for colleges. initial stage. There are still shortcomings in some aspects.
An offline learning system is a type of client procedure Thus, designing an offline teaching system that can com-
that can allow users to study courses using their personal bine physical education teaching content and methods has
computer as well as allow faculty to track and record their feasibility and practical application value. This paper
learning. Students can download encrypted teaching presents a new offline learning platform for college-level
course material and achieve real-time learning by in- physical education based on a compatible B/S structure
stalling an offline learning system. Students’ learning and SCORM standard from the perspective of system
schedule and assignment completion are automatically development and tests its application effect.
recorded by the system. After they finish, they need to
upload their work to the main platform of the system to II. DEVELOPMENT OF OFFLINE LEARNING SYSTEM
have their information recorded [3]. An offline learning system has the following property
With regard to the development and application of an requirements: (1) the working performance of the system
offline learning system in physical education teaching, is stable with good compatibility, and the operating envi-
some researchers [4] point out that the offline teaching ronment of the system should satisfy the configuration of
mode adopted in America teaches physical education by most computers with good compatibility; (2) it should
level and grades offline learning content based on students have data recording and tracking functions; and (3) it
being at different levels and needing different teaching should have a data encryption function. Since an offline
methods for different content. Numerous American schol- learning system allows use of an external network to log

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DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF AN OFFLINE LEARNING SYSTEM IN COLLEGE TEACHING

in, once encrypted files are disclosed, all curriculum as- list, the courseware playing records, the students’ learning
signments, learning content and examinations will lose schedule records, etc.
significance. The development of an offline learning sys- (5) Learning schedule synchronization sub-system: The
tem includes two parts. 1) The system architecture and learning schedule synchronization sub-system is a plat-
framework mode. The system architecture pattern decides form to achieve unification of the offline learning sched-
the way the system operates. This study adopted a B/S- ule and the online learning schedule and a synchronous
based design. 2) The sub-module design of the system’s update of data.
core. Each function of the system is designed in various
(6) Client software installation and update sub-system:
modules with different functions in the client for the con-
The offline learning platform installation and update sub-
venience of backstage operation and management. The
system installs and updates the client software.
following is the offline learning system structure chart.
(See Figure 1). (7) USB flash disk automatic detection sub-system:
This sub-system detects the position suitable for
A. Offline learning system module courseware information storage in the computer or on a
Students learn physical education curriculum in the of- USB flash disk and sends the results to the system. In
view of the difference between an offline system and an
fline state. The database of the offline system has the
inline system, the system designed for this project had to
ability to record students’ learning schedules in real time.
meet uniformity, convenience, and compatibility.
When the learning in a stage is over, the students need to
upload the learning content and schedule to the main plat- B. Architecture pattern of offline learning system
form so they can continue to learn the next time. Offline
sub-systems in this system include a teaching content The system architecture of the offline learning platform
integration sub-system, an encryption and packaging sub- adopts a multi-layer architecture. The B/S structure forms
system, a user identification authentication sub-system, an a 3-tier structure. Under such a structure, the users’ work
offline learning package downloading and installation interface is achieved through the external browser, and a
sub-system, an offline learning sub-system, a learning very small part is achieved in the browser. Data storage
schedule recording sub-system, and an offline learning for the whole backstage adopts the SQLServer database
client software installation and update sub-system as well and XML as its media.
as a USB flash disk automatic detection sub-system. 1) EXT-JS technology
(1) Courseware integration sub-system: This system is Ext-JS is an RCP (rich client platform) AJAX applica-
used to analyze and intensively classify streaming media tion written with Javascript. It is used to establish the front
files in the offline teaching content. end user interface of the B/S architecture application pro-
(2) Courseware encryption and packaging sub-system: gram. It is unrelated to the backstage technology. For the
This system is used to achieve encryption and packaging application programs developed by Ext, Component is the
of the offline teaching courseware. highest-level abstract and is directly used by the users. Ext
(3) Offline learning package downloading and installa- Element is a bottom-layer API that can be called by Ext or
tion sub-system: This sub-system is used to automatically a custom component. DOM is an original API defined by
form the offline learning package, including the offline W3C standards. Ext achieves page effect in Ext through
courseware package and schedule file, to offer automatic the operating DOM. The Corresponding Element of Com-
detection and downloading functions of the offline learn- ponent can be gained through visiting the attribute of
ing package and to switch the learning state. The loading Component, and the DOM object can be gained through
sub-system mainly includes the offline courseware pack- visiting the DOM attribute of Element. In addition, we can
age and its corresponding learning schedule information. also acquire the Component and Ext Element as well as
the DOM node through shortcut methods of Ext class,
(4) Offline learning sub-system: The offline learning such as getCmp, get and getDom.
sub-system facilitates the users’ learning of the
courseware. The system generally includes the courseware
Assessment criteria

Teacher Student
Notice Course introduction Teaching purpose

Land Course construction Course conten Learning resources ourse notes

Home page Personal page Homework 

 
  
Video
!
Course ranking Test Questions extbooks

Course display Coach 

 
resources

ajor tudent assessment


 
 assessment

Figure 1. Offline learning system structure

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DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF AN OFFLINE LEARNING SYSTEM IN COLLEGE TEACHING

2) ASP.Net technology
ASP.Net is expanded technology of the ASP. Due to
the simple application of ASP and excellent customization
ability, it has become a hot development tool of Web
server application programs. Its working principle is that it
provides developers with a series of OOP Web application
program models. Control of these models operates in the
Web server, transforms the user interface into an HTML
format, and sends it to the browser. An ASP.Net program
is compiled during its first operation. The operating effi-
ciency is much better than that of an ASP program. Com-
pared with other Web development technology, it has the
following features and advantages: easy to generate, com-
patible with scripting language, object-oriented, and easy
to protect its object-orientation.
This system adopts Ext-JS technology for the system’s Figure 2. Log-in interface of offline learning system
front end design and applies ASP.Net technology to trans-
form the Web application program model. The system courseware content based on SCORM standards. Other
design adopts OOT, and the client adopts an IE6.0 or offline teaching systems do not have such functions.
above browser. Visual Studio 2008 (C#) and EXT-JS
serve as the front-end development tools. JavaScript III. APPLICATION OF OFFLINE LEARNING SYSTEM IN
serves as the major programming language. The database COLLEGE PHYSICAL EDUCATION TEACHING
selects MSSQL2005. In the design and development pro-
cess, the suitable object and application range of the sys- A. Experimental objects
tem strive to reach strong flexibility, high network securi- For the study, 120 college students were selected at
ty, and a friendly user experience. random, including 60 boys and 60 girls. Sixty students in
Class 1 were selected for the experimental group, and 60
C. Design of core sub-system of offline learning students in Class 2 were selected for the control group.
1) Log-in interface exhibition of offline system (see One hundred twenty questionnaires were issued; 112
Figure 2). completed questionnaires were collected, 22 in the exper-
imental group and 57 in the control group. Students in
This interface is the log-in interface of the offline learning experimental group used offline teaching to learn the
system. Interface design content includes user name, physical education curriculum, while the students in the
password, and user identity. The design of the “identity control group applied an online teaching platform.
information” aims to specify the users’ identity and limits Knowledge content and teaching arrangement were the
authority to prevent users with different limits of authority same for the two groups (one semester and 56 class hours
from operating beyond their limits of authority. in total).
1) Exhibition of offline learning system interface (see
Figure 3) B. Learning outcome evaluation methodology
This interface is the main interface of the offline learn- The experiment comprehensively evaluated the influ-
ing system. The interface includes several sub-interfaces. ence of the offline learning system platform on the learn-
Each sub-interface consists of one or more modules in the ing effects of students taking physical education as an
system design. This interface can present the students’ elective course from two aspects: (1) final test perfor-
curriculum selection information, learning state, schedule, mance of the physical education curriculum from data
daily questions, and assignments. Additionally, the largest obtained through examination and (2) learning self-
advantage of this system is that it can be compatible with efficacy. A learning self-efficacy scale prepared by Bian
Yufang was used for this investigation.

Figure 3. Learning interface of offline learning system

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DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF AN OFFLINE LEARNING SYSTEM IN COLLEGE TEACHING

Statistical method data were analyzed with an statistical significance (t=0.766, P=0.446). After the inter-
SPSS15.0 software package. Quantitative data were ex- vention, the experimental group’s learning self-efficacy
pressed with mean ± standard deviation (±s). Quantitative score significantly increased compared to before the inter-
data of the two groups were compared with t-tests. An vention. The difference has no statistical significance
after and before intervention, intra-group comparison was (P=0.329). The difference in the learning self-efficacy
conducted with paired t-tests. Qualitative data were ex- scores of the two groups before and after the intervention
pressed with case number and constituent ratio. Inter- have statistical significance (t=11.096, P<0.001). See
group comparison of the two groups of qualitative data Table III for details.
adopted a chi-square test or rank sum test (orderly data).
P<0.05 means the difference has statistical significance. IV. CONCLUSIONS
C. Experimental results and analysis Based on the features of the offline learning system,
this project developed an offline teaching software plat-
It is seen in Table 1 that before the intervention, the form for college-level physical education. During the
gender, age, physical education results at the end of the design and development of this system, this project adopt-
last semester, class leader situation, and household econ- ed a structural pattern based on Ext-JS and ASP.NET.
omy of the two groups had no statistical significance Relevant programs were modified according to SCORM
(P>0.05). This means the baseline information of the two standards, creating a physical education system that is
groups has comparability. compatible with other online and offline learning plat-
Before the intervention, the physical education results forms. The experiment proves that an offline teaching
difference of the experimental and control groups had no mode can enhance students’ learning. The results of the
statistical significance (t=1.406, P=0.163). After interven- students using the offline learning platform are higher than
tion, the physical education result of both groups im- those using an online teaching platform.
proved. The difference has statistical significance, com- This empirical study on an offline learning platform
pared with the result before the intervention (P<0.05). The shows the students using the offline learning platform
improvement value of the physical education results in the performed significantly better than the students who did
experimental group is larger than that of control group. not use the offline learning platform in terms of self-
The difference has statistical significance efficacy and final comprehensive examination results.
(t=4.590!P<0.001). See Table II for details. This indicates that offline learning platform has a good
Before the intervention, the scores of the learning self- effect on self-efficacy and skill mastery for college stu-
efficacy of the experimental and control groups had no dents.

TABLE I.
COMPARISON OF BASELINE INFORMATION OF TWO GROUPS

Item Experimental group(n=55) Control group(n=57) t/z/c2 P

Male 37(67.3%) 36(63.2%) 0.27 0.600
Gender
Female 18(32.7%) 21(36.8%)
Age 19±3 19±4 0.127 0.899
Physical education result at the end of the last semester 78.3±7.0 76.3±8.0 1.406 0.163
No 47(85.5) 48(84.2) 0.034 0.854
Class leader situation
Yes 8(14.5) 9(15.8)
Very good 9(16.4) 12(21.1) 0.104 0.917
Good 30(54.5) 27(47.4)
Household economy
General 11(20.0) 12(21.1)
Very poor 5(9.1) 6(10.5)

TABLE II.
ENGLISH TEST RESULT OF EXPERIMENTAL GROUP AND CONTROL GROUP AFTER EXPERIMENT

Before interven- Difference value Intra-group com- Inter-group comparison of dif-

Group tion After intervention parison ference value
Experimental group 78.3±7.0 85.4±7.6 7.1±4.3 P<0.001 t=4.590
Control group 76.3±8.0 79.8±8.1 3.5±4.0 P=0.023 P<0.001

TABLE III.
COMPARISON OF CHANGES IN LEARNING SELF-EFFICACY BEFORE AND AFTER INTERVENTION

After interven- Difference value Intra-group com- Inter-group comparison of

Group Before intervention tion parison difference value
Experimental group 4.32±0.75 5.12±0.71 0.80±0.37 P<0.001 t=11.096
Control group 4.21±0.77 4.35±0.74 0.14±0.25 P=0.329 P<0.001

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AUTHORS
[4] Uluda! G., Kiraz B., Etaner-Uyar A."., Özcan E., “A hybrid
multi-population framework for dynamic environments combining Xiaoyan Zhong (Corresponding author) is a lecturer in
online and offline learning,” Soft Computing, vol. 17, no. 12, pp. Physical Education Institute, Hunan First Normal Univer-
2327-2348, August 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00500-013- sity, Changsha 410205, China. Her research interests
1094-7
include college physical education and offline education
[5] Steedman M, Abouammoh M, Sharma S., “Multimedia learning
tools for teaching undergraduate ophthalmology: results of a ran-
([email protected])
domized clinical study,” Canadian Journal of Ophthalmology, vol.
Submitted 08 June 2015. Published as resubmitted by the author 30
October 2015.

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