"Mentoring Session" - an E-Learning Scenario Based on Reverse AJAX Architecture

A Learning Management System (LMS) is a software package that supports a number of so-called
Learning Scenarios. Each learning scenario provides a certain way of accessing training materials,
exchange with data and communication between students and teachers. Normally, the process of ELearning
is student-guided. Thus, teachers provide a structured collection of training materials of
different types; and students access the materials by means of an Internet browser. Thus, students
learn particular topics, check their knowledge, and apply their theoretical knowledge for solving
practical tasks by means of browsing. The order in which the training materials and applications are
accessed is defined by the particular student. This procedure is often called a free-hand browsing. In
some training situations, students need assistance in finding most relevant materials and defining a
particular order of accessing such materials. This is especially true in case of so-called problemoriented
learning and learning on a working place. In this case, learners confront a particular problem
and solving that problem requires an access to a small portion of the training materials available from
the e-learning application.
In this paper, we present an innovative scenario for such a problem-oriented learning called a
"Mentoring Session". The method is based on the concept of an online session where a
teacher/mentor selects relevant training resources from a repository, provides an explanation and
shares the screen with a number of learners. Learners, in turn, may ask questions online and get
explanations that are available for all participants.
Implementation of such functionality is essentially based on modern HTML5 event model and socalled
reverse AJAX architecture where local browsers process events that are broadcasted from the
server.
The goal of this paper is to describe the "Mentoring Session" scenario; and present architecture,
implementation and practical application of this scenario.