Your Logo Here From Student One to Blackboard A Snapshot of SCU Practices Presented by Schelly Gardner & Roger Murphy, Southern Cross University, NSW.

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From Student One to Blackboard

A Snapshot of SCU Practices

Presented by Schelly Gardner & Roger Murphy,Southern Cross University, NSW

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Session Objectives

– Show how user driven business rules were built into the Bb6 snapshot process to maintain integration with the SCU portal

– Show how SCU snapshot process was developed to manage site creation and access for more than just learning sites

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Session Objectives (cont.)• Innovation

– Integrating the snapshot with SCU portal to display Bb sites organised by site type, eg learning sites, information sites

• Results/Outcomes– Demonstrate how SCU snapshot, using an

extensive list of Data Source Key’s, is used to deliver Bb sites with the SCU portal, organised by site type

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Session Outline• About SCU• System configuration • ‘Pre-snapshot’ with BBCI 4.11 • Transition to BB6 and current Snapshot

process• Bb Integration SCU built portal• Ongoing issues• Future goals

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About SCU• Small, multi-campus regional university based on

the NSW north coast– Distinct students in learning sites about 10,700 – Enrolment instances at about 25,000– Academic staff approx 640 – Total learning sites about 1300 with about 50% actively used in

teaching

• Overlapping Teaching PeriodsSemesters 1 and 2 Trimesters A, B and CAsian Semesters 1 and 2 Asian Trimesters A, B and CSummer Schools Research Periods

• With Blackboard since 2000, starting with Bb CourseInfo 4 then to Bb 6 in Dec 2003

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Current Configuration

• Blackboard Learning System Only– Release 6.3.1.424 on high availability

architecture – Oracle 9.2.06– Linux, Red Hat Enterprise 3– In-House built portal using Kerberos

authentication• Staff, Students and Non-Standard Accounts

• Student Record System – Student One Version 3.2

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How we began

BBCI 4.11 - 2000 until Dec 2003

• Developed ‘pre-snapshot’ process (MS Access) to manipulate data from Student System (Student One) and manage site creation and site access

• Based on solid foundation of business rules – One learning site for each unit offered by the University – Managed student access to learning sites– Managed student access to school, course and information

based sites• Developed SCU portal which was integrated with BBCI

using course categories to group sites by type• Developed ‘Self Service Centre’ for support to staff to

manage site access requests and view student enrolments

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How we began, (cont.)

BBCI 4.11 - from 2000 until Dec 2003• Very Manual Administration

– Site creation managed with batch files– Copied content for lecturers to newly created

sites from previous teaching sites– Opened and closed site access based on

specified dates and teaching period– Archived sites at specified dates

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Our objectives for transition

• Objectives - BB6 snapshot controller– Maintain and build on existing process – Maintain portal integration and ability to group

sites by category/type– Automate

• Site creation and site access requirements

• ‘Specialised’ site access requests

• Archiving process

• Management of an increasing number of exceptions and variations to the rules

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Snapshot Controller vs Tool• Snapshot Controller is defined by

Institution’s:– Bb Version – Student record system– Authentication method– Infrastructure design– Business rules

• Snapshot Tool updates Bb database with text files created by the Controller

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Snapshot Controller (cont.)

• Bbsnap database – Receives data from Student and Kerberos

systems– Oracle procedures (snapshot controller)

• Manipulate data from source data tables using support tables

• Exports data to text files on App Server– Blackboard Snapshot Tool updates the Blackboard Database

• Extensive use of Data Source Keys (DSK)– An identifier within Bb that identifies a subset of data– Used by Admin for the management of these subsets of data– Used to organise Bb sites on SCU portals

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PK1 BATCH_UID DESCRIPTION• 149 USERS Blackboard Users• 150 FLEXIBLE Flexible Study Periods• 151 TESTING Testing/Demonstration• 152 TEMPLATES Templates• 153 WORKGROUPS Workgroups• 154 INFORMATION School/Course Information• 346 SCHOOL_INFO School Based Information Sites• 347 COURSE_INFO Course Based Information Sites• 157 PAST_STUDY Past Study Periods - Student Access• 206 CPD CPD units and enrolments• 286 ARCHIVED_2004 2004 units and enrolments• 267 UNITS_2005_1 Semester 1 Units 2005• 309 UNITS_2005_2 Semester 2 Units 2005• 307 UNITS_2005_B Trimester B Units 2005• 308 UNITS_2005_C Trimester C Units 2005• 310 UNITS_2005_AT1 Asian Trimester 1 Units 2005• 311 UNITS_2005_AT2 Asian Trimester 2 Units 2005• 314 UNITS_2005_AS2 Asian Semester 1 Units 2005• 315 UNITS_2005_SS Summer School Units 2005• 316 ENROL_2005_A Trimester A Enrolments 2005• 317 ENROL_2005_B Trimester B Enrolments 2005• 318 ENROL_2005_C Trimester C Enrolments 2005• 319 ENROL_2005_1 Semester 1 Enrolments 2005• 320 ENROL_2005_2 Semester 2 Enrolments 2005

SCU Data Source Keys (DSK)

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Snapshot Process‘Text files’

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• Data Source Key = USERS– Our users DSK is much the same as everyone else –

staff, students and nonstandard

– Extensive use of nonstandard accounts to allow for staff industry partners, guest lecturers and students in industry and professional development programs access to Blackboard sites.

Snapshot Process (cont.)‘Users’

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Data Source Key = UNITS_YYYY_X– Created with unit title and teaching period

• Eg ACC00123-2005-2, ACC00123-2005-2-HK

– Created from templates for each School

– Sites Merged by default• All availabilities and locations merged into a single site

– Except for sites as per pre-defined support tables

• Unavailable by default, awaiting academic input

Snapshot Process (cont.) ‘Learning Sites’

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– Data Source Key = INFORMATION– Based on academic program, not driven by teaching

period • School Based Sites• Course Based Sites• Information Sites

‘Others’– Archives – Past Study Periods – Flexible– Workgroups– Testing

Snapshot process (cont.) ‘Information Sites’

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– Learning Sites• Based on student’s enrolment against a unit availability• Data Source Key = ENROL_2005_2… ENROL_2005_AS2

– Course Based Sites• Based on student’s admission to a course• Enrolled in COURSE_INFO DSK

– School Based Sites• Based on student’s enrolment in a unit associated with a

School• Enrolled in SCHOOL_INFO DSK

– Information Sites• Based on academic requirements• Enrolled in INFORMATION DSK

Snapshot Process (cont.) ‘Enrolments’

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School Based Sites

Unit Code Student_ID

Course Code Student_ID

School Unit CodeStudent_ID

Learning Sites

Course Based Sites

Snapshot Process (cont.) ‘Data Sets’

• Therefore creating enrolments using the following data sets

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Snapshot Process (cont.) ‘Tables’

Bbsnap Database Support Tables

• For Learning Sites– Enrolment_Exceptions– Merge_rules– Location_Codes– Study_periods– Site_template

• For Information Sites– Course_based_sites– School_based_sites– Information_based_sites

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Snapshot Process (cont.)‘Data flow’

Student One

Database BBSNAP Database

(Snapshot (Snapshot Source Supportdata tables) data tables)Kerberos

Database

SCUSnapshot Controller

Blackboard Application

Server(Snapshot

tool)

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SCU Built Student Portal • Using DSK’s, provides links to sites in sections, eg Learning Sites, Information Sites, Past Study Periods

• Sites not yet available to students are displayed and identified by icon

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SCU Built Student Portal

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Ongoing Issues• Automate staff access to sites

– Need to get reliable staff teaching data from student system

– Reinstate ‘Self Service Centre’ to manage transitional period and then only nonstandard sites

• Server clean-up at end of each teaching period– Identifying unused sites for removal– Identify and clean up of nonstandard site access

(CPD, past study periods)– Archiving cycle - when to move sites off server

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Future Goals

• Revamp and reinstate ‘Self Service Centre’ – With access from within a link in the

control panel

• Move to a combined snapshot and event driven snapshot process

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Summary

• IF YOU ONLY REMEMBER 1 THING:– Solid business rules built into the snapshot

process can be used to simplify and automate management of user expectations and requirements

• Follow up Contacts:– Schelly Gardner [email protected]– Roger Murphy [email protected]– Earl Whittaker (portal) [email protected]– Guy Waugh (unix) [email protected]

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Questions?