www.Epsilen.com

What is Epsilen?


What is Epsilen? Epsilen places social networking and ePortfolios in the center of global eLearning, creating a totally new environment for the next generation of learners and professionals. Current Epsilen users describe Epsilen as an academic "MySpace" or "FaceBook," connecting peers to share knowledge and exchange objects. Epsilen is a comprehensive software package that provides wide-ranging tools and services that students and professionals need for their day-to-day learning, teaching, networking, and collaboration. The Epsilen suite includes ePortfolios, Learning Matrix, a Global Learning System (GLS), Group Collaboration, Object Sharing and repository, Blogs, WIKI, Messaging, Resume, Social and Professional Networking, and much more...How does Epsilen work?Epsilen members’ collections (files, courses, etc.) and data are securely stored in a remote central database accessible from school, home, work, or anywhere via the Internet. An Epsilen member has total control for sharing his personal portfolio and collections with schoolmates, teachers, or potential employers, as well as social and professional groups. Additionally, each Epsilen member has a personal Web site (ePortfolio) with a lifelong Web address (URL). Upon sign-in, an Epsilen member may access any of a number of internal application software packages and tools. Within the Epsilen Environment is an ePortfolio management software package where members can create and maintain personal ePortfolios and Web sites, where teachers can use the Global Learning System (GLS) to deliver course content online so students receive complementary learning material and can interact with classmates outside the classroom, and where members can use the extensive resume and career builder software to create resumes or curriculum vitae (CV) and produce career portfolios. Finally, the networking software built into the Epsilen Environment can intuitively connect students, faculty, and professionals according to their academic, professional, and social communities.Picture a mature Epsilen environment where a faculty member can automatically determine how many professors from other schools throughout the world are teaching the same course or are sharing relevant learning objects. This may initiate new opportunities for the research and professional community within the same interest group. Imagine an online environment where students can participate in various global learning groups beyond those just within their campus, and envision those students dynamically learning about potential job opportunities matched with their academic and career interests as they share their ePortfolios for job placement throughout the world.Other Epsilen Benefit$The Epsilen design is also based on a new economic model that offers a cost-effective solution for school administrators seeking to reduce the increasing costs of IT services. Using the Epsilen hosted model, schools are no longer required to maintain local computer servers to host software nor retain numerous technical experts for day-to-day technical support. Indeed, Epsilen offers many tools within one package -- a package that substantially cuts the combined cost of software otherwise obtained separately from various vendors. Using the Epsilen hybrid open source model, Epsilen can interface with the campus Student Information System databases for dynamic creation and maintenance of member accounts, ePortfolios, and course accounts. Major software tools available within the Epsilen Environment As illustrated in Figure 1, the software packages within the Epsilen Environment include:
A complete ePortfolio management system to support creation of various personal and institutional ePortfolio sites, including student learning ePortfolios, faculty ePortfolios, career ePortfolios, and alumni and professional ePortfolios.
An easy-to-use Global Learning System (GLS) that provides course authoring and course Web site creation for some or all campus courses. Epsilen GLS can be used to complement a lecture-based course or to offer an online distance learning course.
Professional networking for interaction and collaboration with academic and professional peers across the global community, just as Facebook (facebook.com) similarly and successfully offers social networking and entertainment among college students.
A lifelong repository space where student and faculty members can create and store learning and professional outcomes in electronic format (academic papers, creative arts, etc.). Students may wish to share their collection with potential employers while faculty members may want to have it reviewed and rated by peers for tenure or promotion needs.
An internal email system with unique and smart functionality. More and more students are switching from their campus email accounts to commercial email accounts such as Gmail and Hotmail, and with Epsilen they will soon learn the importance and desirability of upgraded services that the cost-effective internal Epsilen email system offers, such as automatically blocking junk or spam email messages.
A personal intelligent agent, called Pomegranate Agent, which Epsilen provides to each user. The Pomegranate agent is another internal built-in software component within the Epsilen Environment that makes it smart and intuitive, with capabilities to think, to reason, to act and react intelligently according to a member’s personal interests and past performance. You can think of Epsilen with its Pomegranate Agent as your own personal administrative assistant helping you with your day-to-day business activities. Epsilen HistoryEpsilen is the result of six years of research and development activities at the CyberLab, Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI. Epsilen is being proposed as a new model and software framework for the next generation of lifelong learners and professionals. Free beta accounts are available at www.Epsilen.com. Limited institutional licensing is available to colleges and universities through the Indiana University Office of Technology transfer before expected commercialization of Epsilen Inc. in 2007. For more information, please contact Professor Ali Jafari, Epsilen PI and Architect (email: jafari@iupui.edu; phone: 317.274.4565; ePortfolio: http://jafari.iupui.Epsilen.com). Epsilen is a copyrighted product and registered trademark, Trustees of Indiana University, 2000-2007. For more information, please visit www.Epsilen.com.