Download - Admin sites
Using a Hierarchy of Sites to Help Decentralise Administration
Dr Adam Marshall, The University of Oxford
Topics• Overview of Oxford IT support model• Challenges• Approach• Hierarchy• Managing access• Administration sites• Issues• Future initiatives
March 2010 2European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
Oxford UniversityFirst of all, some gratuitous photos of …
March 2010 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain.. 3
http://www.flickr.com/photos/oobrien/8908633/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/james7/2854302338
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marc_smith/4161801314
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kshathriya/2274225022
THE OXFORD IT MODELI will now talk about …
March 2010 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain.. 8
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fernando/36759033
THE LAY OF THE LAND
There are 704 IT support staff:38 colleges 6 permanent private halls7 Divisions (4 academic)193 departments20,000 students18,000 staff
March 2010 10European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
SAKAI SUPPORT
Small central team (3 people)‘WebLearn’ Service manager; Learning technologist / trainer; Developer
Each unit has IT support staff (ITSS)Each unit has Sakai administrators
Called ‘Local WebLearn Coordinators’Create / setup / manage sitesFirst line of support
March 2010 11European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
CHALLENGESNow it’s time to hear about …
March 2010 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain.. 12
http://www.flickr.com/photos/urtica/333048846/
REQUIREMENTS
A hierarchy of sitesAccess for ‘large groups’Local coordinators have ‘admin’ rightsLocal coordinators can delegate rights
March 2010 14European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
LOCAL COORDINATORS MUST
Be able to create new & copy existing sitesPlace and move sites in the hierarchyGrant create rights to othersHave access to all a unit’s sitesAssign visit rights to:
.auth, .anon, ‘all staff’, ‘all students’, ….
Not do anything too dangerous!
March 2010 15European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
APPROACHTime to explain our …
March 2010 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain.. 16
http://www.flickr.com/photos/matt_hintsa/2585707263/
WHAT WE DIDProject sites onlyArranged in hierarchyAdministration Sites (Cf Admin Workspace)
One per unitParticipants have reduced ‘admin’ rightsDifferent roles
Improved ‘Manage Access’ page
March 2010 18European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
HIERARCHYThis is a hard word to spell …
March 2010 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain.. 19
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25802865@N08/3178448986/
OXFORD HIERARCHY
March 2010 21European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
Welcome Page
Division
Department
Module
IMPLEMENTATIONUsed hierarchy service from EvaluationsOverlay hierarchy over pool of sitesNo inheritanceOnly display sites user can visit
.auth / .anon sites can be in hierarchy
Use tabs as ‘breadcrumb trail’New ‘hierarchy box’ under ‘tool list’New ‘manage box’ under ‘hierarchy box’
March 2010 22European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
WELCOME PAGE
NAVIGATION
March 2010 24European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
Welcome Page Division Department
Breadcrumb trail
TOOLSCreate siteBring site (a site can be in > 1 place)Arrange (remove, swap)Need:
Move / remove treeCopy tree‘Primary location’‘Sync instances’ – same sub-sites everywhere
March 2010 25European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
ISSUESMy Workspace is sidelinedUsers expect inheritance (like our old VLE)Users want ‘Search under here’‘Active sites’ list has no contextNavigation if parent site is not visibleCan’t actually delete sites
Since no record is kept: too dangerous!
March 2010 26European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
SUPPLEMENTARY TOOLSFind sites with ‘and visit’ patch‘Search all my sites’ optionGrey-out unpublished sitesImproved access management (see later)Administration sites plus tools (see later)
March 2010 27European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
FIND SITES TOOL
March 2010 28European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
MANAGING ACCESSNow some information about …
March 2010 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain.. 29
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10413717@N08/2804363062/
REQUIREMENTSEasy assignment of .auth & .anon: ‘site.visit’
But prevent dangerous .anon
LDAP integration‘All Staff’ & ‘All students’: ‘site.visit’Find sites (site-browser) tool‘Auto-join’ patch (would be good!)Reusable internal & ad-hoc groups (coming)
March 2010 31European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
SITE INFO: MANAGE ACCESS
March 2010 32European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
SITE INFO: ADD PARTICIPANTS
March 2010 33European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
ADMINISTRATION SITESThe moment you’ve all been waiting for …
March 2010 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain.. 34
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikesm/2463776436/
REQUIREMENTS
Administrator powers but,SimplerSaferConstrained
Create sitesManage hierarchy‘Administrator’ access to unit’s hierarchyA second level with less rights‘Auditor’ access
HOW ADMIN SITES WORK
Are said to manage other sitesHave three roles:
Admin (Local WebLearn Coordinators)Create sites in unit’s area Visit admin site & add othersAutomatically have ‘maintain’ rights is all managed sites
Member (Lecturers / Administration staff)Create sites where maintainer
Audit (Internal / External auditors)Visit and read rights
Admin Sites have dedicated tool: Site List
CREATING A SITE
ADMIN SITES MANAGING PROJECT SITES
March 2010 39European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
Welcome Page
Division
Department
Module
= Admin site
= Project site
SITE LIST AND ROLES
ADMIN SITE ROLES
March 2010 41European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
Division
Department
Module
= Admin site
= Project siteMember
Admin
Audit
Barbie: http://www.flickr.com/photos/34281632@N03/4060738088/
Mr Potato Head: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tinker-tailor/4264780554/
Action man: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tinker-tailor/4264099802/in/set-72157623183566430/
Maintain
Can ‘maintain’ all sitesCan create new sites
Can create sites
where maintainer
Can browse all sites
MANAGEMENT
We have drafted guidelinesUsers must request ‘Admin Site’ Sign to say “guidelines have been read”We keep public list of Local Coordinators
ISSUESAnd finally …
March 2010 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain.. 43
http://www.flickr.com/photos/escapevelocity/2939147834
USERS CAUSE MOST PROBLEMS!
March 2010 45European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
COMMON PROBLEMSUsers don’t read guidelines/documentationMisunderstandings
A user gave .anon access to admin site. This made all managed sites .anon too. Whoops!
Departments don’t formulate a policyNo coherent approach – confused studentsToo many sub-sitesToo few sub-sites!
IN SUMMARY
Users like what we’ve doneBut old VLE (Bodington) had same featuresSeems to work well
Lots of user education neededNeed more toolsMerging process is very difficult (use Git)
Sakai 3 – arrgghh!!
FUTURE INITIATIVESLet us now gaze into our crystal ball …
March 2010 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain.. 48
Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/circulating/2238715683/
WHAT’S NEXT? (1)
Smartphone interfaceUses JSON / SDATA & oAuthInformation summaryTutorial sign-up (Yale)
Oxford podcastsNews tool with media player & feed browser
March 2010 50European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
WHAT’S NEXT? (2)
Groups store integrationCentrally stored ad-hoc groups Will replace internal groups
Evaluations toolExtend Turnitin supportSharepoint & Exchange interoperability!
March 2010 51European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..