9/24/2001 OKI Tool Developers © MIT 2000 1

Principles and CriteriaPrinciples and Criteria

Michael D. Barker

The MIT Educational Media Creation Center

September 2001

9/24/2001 2OKI Tool Developers © MIT 2001

PrinciplesPrinciples

Design for the future And more then Or (Solve the General

first, then worry about exceptions) Separate solutions (phases, layers, and

alternatives)

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How Do You Answer the How Do You Answer the Question?Question?

How can we provide web-based support for educational initiatives across the Institute?

Scalable (both large and small) Sustainable (at least 5 years!) Security, Privacy, Intellectual Property Integrate with existing systems Provide strong pedagogical support

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Some Criteria (1)Some Criteria (1)

Usable: designed to help the user accomplish what they want to do, quickly and easily, with a minimum of frustration

Scalable: supports both large and small uses Sustainable: designed for service and

maintenance, largely by non-technical staff Stable: designed for minimum downtime Secure: uses appropriate authentication,

authorization, and security methods

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Some Criteria (2)Some Criteria (2) Protects privacy: individuals are not identified

more than necessary Open: provides ways to interface with external

systems Accessible: provides support for alternative access Supportable: has administrative, support,

operations, and future development "built in" Supports future improvements: has been designed

for change, both in addition of content, small corrections and large enhancements

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WorksheetWorksheet

Usable Scalable Sustainable Stable Secure

Privacy Open interfaces Accessibility Supportable Designed for Change

API:__________________________

Notes: _________________________________________

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

9/24/2001 7OKI Tool Developers © MIT 2001

You Can Reach Us...You Can Reach Us...

Michael Barker– mbarker@mit.edu

– 617/253-0119

Vijay Kumar– vkumar@mit.edu

– 617/253-8004

Phillip D. Long– longpd@mit.edu

– 617/252-4038

Jeff Merriman– birdland@mit.edu

– 617/252-4039

OKI website: http://web.mit.edu/oki

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Additional MaterialsAdditional Materials

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Scalable Scalable Scalable: must be able to handle expected

loads Scalable: must be designed and tested for

handling large growth (e.g. 1,000 courses per year, 10,000 students)

Scalable: must not impose unnecessary overhead when used with small classes

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Sustainable Sustainable Designed for service and maintenance

largely by course administrators Revision control Separation of operational systems from

development and test systems Usability testing Documentation and Team Reviews

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SecuritySecurity Authentication: identify individual users Authorization: control over access to

resources, functions, and privileges Copyright and Intellectual Property

issues

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PrivacyPrivacy Provide method to inform students of

how personal information will be used. Provide method to see what privileges

user roles have for a class Provide methods for identification (e.g.

alias or nickname) Provide ways to encrypt information

where desirable

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StabilityStability Continuous operation (24x7) Minimal downtime

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UsabilityUsability

designed to help the user accomplish what he or she wants to accomplish, quickly and easily, with a minimum of frustration.

Single logon Limited use of technical terminology

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AccessibilityAccessibility

designed for use with screen readers and plain text browsers

Text transcripts, alt text tagging Large font options Closed captioning

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Open InterfacesOpen Interfaces

Provide ways to easily create and manage interfaces to external systems such as:

  SIS/Registrar Library reserves Online electronic thesis repository ("ethesis"?) Online classes managed by other departments Legal systems (e.g. for managing copyrights) Older online classes which will be imported into this system External logging systems Other do-it-yourself or off-the-shelf software Classes at other institutions

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Other RequirementsOther Requirements Logging Flexibility Customizable "look and feel" Sharable content  Ability to provide "headline"-style

information, and summaries, for use by portals.