WebCT VistaPowerLinks Reporting

InterfacesJohn Hallett

Senior Product ManagerWebCT, Inc.

John.Hallett@WebCT.com

Overview

• WebCT contains vast amounts of data

• Prior to WebCT Vista, this data was stored in a distributed, flat file database

• This made correlation and detailed data analysis almost impossible

Overview

• WebCT Vista introduced an SQL database server

• With that, detailed analysis became possible, but there was still a problem

Overview

• The Vista data schema is not exactly “intuitive”

• The DB is designed for functionality and performance, not for data extraction

• Relevant information can be spread out among many, many tables

• And the table schema can change from version to version

Overview

• The Vista Reporting Interfaces solve these problems by abstracting away from direct DB access

• The result is a set of “safe” database views containing the most relevant data all in one place

Why is this important?

Why is this important?

Why is this important?

Why is this important?

Why is this important?

Why is this important?

Why is this important?

Why is this important?

Details

• The Vista Reporting Interfaces provide seven tables

• 5 are live views, 2 are extracts

Details

• RPT_PERSON• Contains information on users:

– IDs (Login, person, and IMS)– Name (First, last, prefix, suffix)– Active/Inactive flag

Details

• RPT_LEARNING_CONTEXT• Contains information on LCs (E.g.

Course):– IDs (LC, Parent and IMS)– Name, type, # of childern– Start/end dates, last archived date, templates– # of members, path

Details

• RPT_LEARNING_CONTEXT_SIZE• Adds up data size in a given LC

– ID – Size of templates– Size of non-template files

Details

• RPT_MEMBER• Contains information on

memberships (enrollments):– Three columns: Person, LC, Role

Details

• RPT_TEMPLATE• Contains information on template

contents:– ID– Counts of all major Learning Objects in use

(quiz, questions, assignments, discussions, etc)

Details

• RPT_TRACKING• All tracked events

– User, LC, event type, time, dwell time, target name

• This can be a very large table• Unlike the tracking tool itself, tracked

events are not filtered by role (so it is possible to see designer actions)

Details

• RPT_GRADEBOOK• All grades, every student, every

course• Calculated columns are presented

as a formula

Details

• RPT_TEMPLATE and RPT_LEARNING_CONTEXT_SIZE are extracts, and must be scheduled via the UI

Details

It all comes together

It all comes together

Vista Enrollment by Department

It all comes together

Vista Tool Usage by Department

It all comes together

Average Final Grade vs Vista

Sessions

Questions?

Thank you

For more info, please contact me:

John Hallett

Senior Product Manager

WebCT, Inc

John.Hallett@WebCT.com