A Comprehensive WebCT A Comprehensive WebCT Integration SystemIntegration System

• Rob Phillips– Teaching and Learning Centre,

Murdoch University

• James Strong– NetSpot

• Onno Benschop– ITmaze

• Mark Hallam– WebCiTe

HistoryHistory

• 1998: Adoption of WebCT at Murdoch

• 1999-00: Murdoch Online Mainstreaming Project– to establish WebCT as a mission-critical

application– to integrate WebCT with other

University systems

Murdoch Online Mainstreaming Murdoch Online Mainstreaming Project ObjectivesProject Objectives

• 9,600 (of ~12,000) students now use WebCT• ~255 units in WebCT• WebCT is integrated with other corporate

systems– Callista student records system– Concept 1 human resources system– Murdoch’s own MAIS authentication and

identification system

WebCTManWebCTMan

• Integration achieved through WebCTMan• Middleware WebCT management application

– mySQL database– suite of operator tools and data transfer scripts

• Collates student and staff information from multiple sources

• Enables the flow of students in and out of WebCT

OverviewOverview

• Conceptual issues around Murdoch’s implementation of WebCT

• Design and Functionality of the system

• Demonstration

ConceptualConceptual IssuesIssues

• Course categories• Parent IDs• Unit offerings• Course Naming

CategoriesCategories

• Murdoch has four teaching ‘divisions’• One WebCT Category for each division• When a course is in use, it’s available through:

– the Course Listing screen– MyWebCT

• When a course is in not in use:– in hidden category (Under Development)– not visible to students

ParentParent IDsIDs

• Each category has an associated globalID, known as a “parent ID”

• The parent ID is owned by the WebCT team– assigned as the primary designer– allows access to all courses – enables quality assurance

• Teaching staff are shared access designers

Unit OfferingsUnit Offerings

• Units are offered flexibly at Murdoch– at different campuses/ locations

– externally, internally and/or online

– in different teaching periods (semester, trimester…)

• Callista uses the concept of a Unit Offering

Administrative IssuesAdministrative Issues

• Managing cohorts is an issue– whole cohort in one WebCT course?

– different cohorts in different courses?

• Managing semester breaks– when to remove students?

Course Naming Policy Course Naming Policy

• A WebCT course exists for each offering of a unit in a distinct teaching period

• Naming convention– A123s1: Unit A123 offered in semester 1

– A123t3: Unit A123 offered in trimester 3

OverviewOverview

• Conceptual issues around Murdoch’s implementation of WebCT

• Design and Functionality of the system

• Demonstration

enrol in

provides data for

provides data for

map to

populate

map to

Callistastudent DB

Students Unit offerings

WebCT courses

Global Database

Course database

Course database

Course database

Central systems

WebCTMan

WebCT

OverviewOverview of of WebCTManWebCTMan

CallistaCallista IntegrationIntegration

enrol in

provides data for

provides data for

map to

Callistastudent DB

Students Unit offerings

WebCT courses

Central systems

WebCTMan

Course MappingCourse Mapping

– demo

Course Mapping SummaryCourse Mapping Summary

• Students can be allocated to WebCT courses in any way desired

• Non-Callista students can be added manually– e.g. first-year students at Murdoch’s

partner institution in Malaysia

• Student details from multiple sources combined in one place

WebCT IntegrationWebCT Integration

enrol in

map to

populate

map toStudents Unit offerings

WebCT courses

Global Database

Course database

Course database

Course database

WebCTMan

WebCT

Course StatusCourse Status

• which WebCT courses should be populated with students?– e.g. students enrol early but the unit lecturer

isn’t ready for them to use WebCT

• Concept of course status – active– static– inactive

Active CoursesActive Courses

WebCT Man

Callista

Callista UploadCallista Upload

WebCTglobal DB

WebCTcourse DB

PopulatePopulate

• Courses being used by students

• Data updated daily

CallistaCallista UploadUpload

• Perl script loads data into WebCTMan daily

• Get all active unit offerings• Get all students in Callista who are

enrolled in these unit offerings• For each student:

– Add or update student details– Get student’s unit offerings from Callista and

update these in WebCTMan

Populate into WebCTPopulate into WebCT• Perl script loads data into WebCT daily• Get all students in WebCTMan• For each student:

– Look up courses for this student– For each active or static course:

• Make up WebCT API call to add or update global database

• Check for orphans and reconnect• Update personal details in each course

database

Static CoursesStatic Courses

• Stop getting Callista data for this course

• Enrolment data not updated

• If student in any active course then personal data updated

WebCT Man

Callista

WebCTglobal DB

WebCTcourse DB

PopulatePopulate

InactiveInactive CoursesCourses• Students’ enrolments records

are deleted for that course in WebCTMan

• The API call to WebCT for that student will not contain that course

• The student will be orphaned • The course data remains, but

students cannot access it

WebCT Man

Callista

WebCTglobal DB

WebCTcourse DB

Course Status InterfaceCourse Status Interface

• demo

Integration with Other SystemsIntegration with Other Systems

enrol in map to

provides data for

provides data for

map to

are synchronised

with

populate

Callistastudent DB

Students Unit offerings

WebCT courses

Global Database

Course database

Course database

Course database

Central systems

WebCTMan

WebCT

have roles in

provides data for

populate

WebCT courses

Global Database

Concept 1Staff DB

Staff

propagatespasswords to

Global Database

MAISauthentication

WebCTMan Admin. InterfaceWebCTMan Admin. Interface

• With the addition of staff data, WebCTMan had the potential to fully manage WebCT– circumventing the Administrator Interface

– adding more functionality to manage staff and courses

– demo

Wrap UpWrap Up

• Conceptual issues around Murdoch’s implementation of WebCT

• Design and Functionality of the system

• Demonstration

SummarySummary

• WebCTMan – Comprehensively integrates WebCT

with other systems– Provides extra administrative

functionality • allows for management of students,

courses and staff roles

– Authoritative source of data which controls how WebCT behaves

Major FeaturesMajor Features

• Parent IDs - primary designers of categories– facilitates the management of multiple

client groups on the one server.

• Unit Offerings - many-to-many mapping between unit offerings and WebCT courses

• Course Status - active, static and inactive courses

Wider ApplicationWider Application

• Applicable to other WebCT installations?

• Multiple WebCT installations hosted on a single server

• Enables migration away from WebCT– if the feature/cost nexus indicates that

another system is preferable

Questions??Questions??

• Rob Phillips– Murdoch

• James Strong– NetSpot

• Onno Benschop– ITmaze

• Mark Hallam– WebCiTe

• Software design

• Automation scripting

• Admin. Interface

• WebCT internals