new features for old tools in sakai raúl e. mengod lópez universidad politécnica de valencia...

New Features For Old Tools in Sakai

Raúl E. Mengod López

Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (Spain)


Raúl E. Mengod López

Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (Spain)

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Overview

• Introduction• About UPV• Samigo• Melete• Sections• Wiki• Site Setup• FCK Editor

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Valencia, a place to visit

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Main Campus (Vera)

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About UPV

• Universidad Politécnica Valencia (UPV)– Public academic institution since 1971– Official and non-official studies– Graduate and Post–Graduate studies

• The UPV in numbers– 4 Campuses– 15 Colleges– 40 Research centers– 40 Official Degrees– 20 post graduate studies– 40.000 Students– 2.600 Teachers– 1.400 Staff

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Sakai in the UPV• Full production System in 2006/2007

– 5 servers– Oracle Database v 9.2– Integrated with SSO– Integrated with enrollment system– 4.000 sites per year– 40.000 students

• Running 2.4.x version– Customized to university requirements– A split branch from sakai 2.4.x maintenance branch– Many changes to the code, i18n, etc…

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Sakai in the UPV

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Why modifying Sakai

• Spanish universities are different??• Some of the use cases in sakai are not suitable for

us. (ex: site creation) • Integration with other local applications• Lots of users means lots of different use cases• More experience using the platform means more

request or new ideas• Many features requested by users• Some mandatory features (multi-language)

=> MANY LOCAL CHANGES

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Samigo: Discount Question

• Multiple Choice Questions are widely used• Instructors try to avoid random answer from

students• Subtract points if student fails question• Negative grade in question• Allow student to leave question empty

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• Authoring Assessment: new discount box

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Samigo: Discount Question• Authoring Assessment called DiscountQuestion

– Create 2 questions with 2 possible answers.– 3 Points for each question

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• Taking the Assessment.– 1 correct answer– 1 wrong answer

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• Grading the Assessment.– The score for that Assessment (DiscountQuestion) is 2 points– 3 point for the first (right) question– -1 point for the second (wrong) question– The score will never be bellow 0

..

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Samigo: Discount Question• Now students can always clear the answer• New link to do so

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• This feature is also updated when the assessment is created from a pool.

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• Status– Tested in Production– Developed in java– Embeded in sakai code– Available to be merged– Waiting for stanford

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Samigo: Submit Warning

• Students some times go too fast• Don’t pay attention to the last question in an

assessment.• Sometimes after submitting the assessment

they want to modify something

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• Warning when the assessment starts

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• Warning before submitting– If they click ‘Return’ they will return to the previous page.

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Samigo: Submit Warning• Confirmation page of the submission

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• Status– Tested in Production– Developed in java– Embeded in sakai code– Available to be merged– Minor change– Waiting for stanford

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Samigo: Share Question pools

• Question Pools belong to Instructors• Assessments belongs to Sites • Only the owner of the pool is able to modify

an assessment created with a pool• Is common for the Instructors in the same

subject work together to make the question pools

• Sometimes pools are created by a TA

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• The Big Question– Who should access shared pools?– Instructors in the same Site?– Instructor in the same Subject?– Instructors in the same Department

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• Our Approach– Let the Instructor decide with who wants to share

their pools– Select which pools to share– Grant access individually to other Instructors in the

Site

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• Add Share Action to Pools Page

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• You can add or revoke access selecting the check boxes.• You are not allowed to revoke access to yourself.• Only the owner can share their pools.

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• The new Battery appears with the rest of the personal batteries

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• The questions pool can not be deleted by the granted teacher.

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• Status– Tested in Production– Samigo has already the structure to store this– Pool selection page is inside sakai– Pool share page is out of sakai– It could be included easily but needs some coding

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Melete: Printable Version

• Many students prefer to have a hardcopy of the material to study.

• Use of browser print action is uncomfortable• It is needed a way to print all the sections in

one module at the same time.

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Melete: Printable Version• Show the complete module in one click

..

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• Status– Tested in production– New feature available in melete 2.5.– Available in July

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Melete: Import from Syllabus

• UPV is using a different Syllabus• External application • More complex than syllabus• Built to fit the requirements of the Bologna

process

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• New Option in manage page to import Structure

• Creates the structure Modules and Sections• Doesn’t create any content

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• The same structure is created in melete

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• Status– Tested in production– Feature only useful for our syllabus application– Import Structure is not standard– Could be extended to import from other

applications implementing or using a standard interface (Syllabus or Opensyllabus)

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Sections: Open date for Sign Up

• Different categories of sections (Free Categories)• Sites with many sections (>40)• Sites with many students (>800)• Lecture sections provided from SIS• Lab sections not always provided from SIS

– Instructors organize groups after enrollment– Before sakai it was a nightmare

practicas.flv

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• Initial Use Case: Allow Student Auto Enrollment in Lab sections– Instructor uncheck section options

– Instructor creates/modify Lab sections– New Announcement to Student

• On DATE D at Time T lab enrollment will be open

– Instructor will have to check section options at Open Date

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• Initial Use Case: Allow Student Sign Up in Lab sections– 10 min before open time students start to access– Overview page takes about 3 sec– Tool has already uncheck the sign up option and students

can’r doo anything– Student refresh page– The system starts to overload– The load is too high that the Instructor cannot access to

change the section options– Students go on trying after Open time– The system collapses

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• SAK-13021 Overview page generates too many queries leading to performance issues.– BUG Is close for 2.5– Patch available for 2.4– New feature added in UPV

• Control system load before process request• Add new Open Date/Time in section options

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• New Use Case: Allow Student Sign Up in Lab sections– Instructor sets Open Date for Sign Up– Instructor creates/modifies lab sections– Students cannot access the tool until the open date

• Response time very fast

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• Status– Tested in production– Useful feature for Instructors– Only used at the beginning of the Term– SAK-13021 fixes the performance problems– New feature not implemented in sakai

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Site Info: Fake Student

• Feature requested: View site as Student– Some tools already have this feature– It is not possible to see the complete site as

student

• Create a User for Test– New user created in site (fake student)– Instructor can access the site using the userid and

password given on creation.

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• Feature included in Site Setup Tool (Edit Site Information)• Instructor can activate it themselves

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• Status– Tested in production– Highly used– Need to be a different tool (Site Info is not the right

place for this feature)– Waiting for community feedback

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Wiki: Shared rwiki

• Sites are associated with subjects• Subjects are grouped in Knowledge Areas• Need to have the same wiki for all the sites in

the same Area

• Sakai Hierarchy is necessary…

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Wiki: Shared rwiki

• New Shared Wiki Tool– Same code as Wiki tool– Shown as a different tool in site– The real wiki is in other site

• Changes in Wiki Tool– sharedwiki parameter in site to control the real

location of wiki– Change the permission control of the shared wiki

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Wiki: Shared rwiki

• Status– Piloting– Good

• It is not a spin-off tool from wiki

– Bad• It is necessary to create a master wiki

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FCK Editor: Change to Advance Editor

• Melete tool is enable in our university• Sferyx Editor has been purchased and

deployed• Sferyx has a good Equation Editor• Technical University• Need to have formulas in all sakai text areas

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• Sferyx vs FckEditor– Sferyx

• More powerful• Equation Editor included• Heavy (Java applet)• Only available in Melete

– FCK Editor• Less powerful• No equation editor• Light (JavaScript)• Available in all edit areas of sakai

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• Open FCK and create Text• New button in Sferyx

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• Sferyx editor appear with the text• Create a new Equation

.

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• Save to FCK– Images are uploaded to /private/sferyx

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• Status– Piloting– Only for expert users– Includes changes in FCK code and many parts of

sakai.– New /private/sferyx branch in resources

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Questions?

[email protected]

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Spain: Euro 2008 UEFA Champion

Thank You!!!!!

new features for old tools in sakai raúl e. mengod lópez universidad politécnica de valencia...

Documents

discount questionsamigo

discount questiongrading

discount questiontaking

discount questionstatustested

assessment startssamigo

assessment discountquestion

new discount boxsamigo

discount questionnow