Purpose of the platform

In the context of this project, the platform serves as a scalable and user-friendly solution for organizing and sharing educational materials. Its key objectives include:

• Centralized content management: Providing a unified repository for study materials, reducing duplication and improving access.

• Collaboration: Enabling educators and learners to co-author, co-create, and manage content collaboratively.

• Ease of use: Ensuring that both technical and non-technical users can navigate and utilize the platform efficiently.

• Secure access: Protecting sensitive data through role-based permissions and secure authentication mechanisms.

By leveraging BookStack, the platform facilitates a seamless flow of knowledge between educators and students, while its modular design allows for future adaptability.

In this project, the TET platform has been tailored to serve as a structured digital repository, supporting the evolving textbook concept. Its intuitive organization and collaborative tools make it an effective resource for both teaching staff and students. To ensure optimal usability, security, and adaptability, the platform has been customized to meet the following objectives.

Structural and organizational customizations

Customized Course Hierarchy - BookStack naturally organizes content into Shelves, Books, Chapters, and Pages, but in TET, these elements have been aligned with educational workflows:

• Shelves → Topics (e.g., Mechatronics, Manufacturing Engineering, Data-Driven System Engineering).

• Books → Courses, which are curated learning materials.

• Chapters and Pages provide modular structuring of courses for easy navigation and content breakdown.

Predefined topics (Shelves) - Instead of an open-ended approach, topics (shelves) are fixed, with only administrators having the ability to modify them.

Role-based content creation restrictions - Unlike standard BookStack, where users can create books freely, in TET:

• Only teachers can create courses (books).

• Students can contribute by adding pages (if permissions allow), but they cannot create courses or chapters.

User Access and Permissions

Enhanced role-based access control - While BookStack supports user roles, TET has stricter permission structures, ensuring:

• Teachers can create and manage courses, set permissions, and approve student contributions.

• Students can contribute only to pages but do not have rights to create or delete major course structures (courses and chapter).

• Admins oversee the entire platform, including modifying topics (shelves) and managing user accounts.

Secure authentication and institutional access - The TET platform restricts registration to users from partner institutions, requiring a valid institutional email. General email domains (e.g., Gmail, Yahoo) are discouraged.

Content Creation and Collaboration

Guided content creation workflow - Unlike generic BookStack usage, the TET platform provides a defined workflow for:

• Planning course structures (aligning topics and courses).

• Content contribution by multiple users (teacher-led or collaborative).

• Publishing and reviewing through page revisions.

Commenting system for collaboration - BookStack allows page editing, but in TET, the commenting feature is emphasized to:

• Enable teachers and students to suggest edits and improvements.

• Facilitate collaborative discussions within course materials.

Content review and approval - The owner of a course (teacher) has the right to approve, modify, or delete student contributions, ensuring content relevance and quality.

Customization for Educational Use

Language and accessibility considerations - While BookStack supports basic multilingual UI adjustments, TET ensures:

• Localized content adaptation for different educational contexts.

• A clean, accessible design that works on desktop and mobile devices.