The technical side of Portals and ePortfolios Bonnie Ferguson Michael Wilcox.

The technical side of Portals and ePortfolios

Bonnie Ferguson

Michael Wilcox

Introductions

Michael Wilcox

Web Development Unit ManagerCanterbury Christ Church University

Bonnie Ferguson

Computing OfficerUniversity of Kent

Audience…

Plan

Overview ........................... 10 mins

Making the portal work.......... 30 mins

Questions and discussion........ 10 mins

Password Overload Syndrome

What is a Portal?

Portal definitions

General:

“ a gateway to news, information and external links usually on a single topic or subject, but they can be broad in nature.”

Personal:

“ Web portals are sites that typically provide personalized capabilities to their visitors.”

What is an ePortfolio?

ePortfolio definition

“ a portfolio based on electronic media and services. It consists of a personal digital record containing information such as a collection of artifacts or evidence demonstrating what one knows and can do.”

Student’s first day

Register with institution, ID card

Computer account

Email account

Library account

Athens account

VLE account

Making the portal work

Bonnie Ferguson

Five topics:

What should be included in a portal?

Installation

Technical considerations

Authentication

Lessons Learned

AuthenticationTechnicalInstallationWhat to include? Lessons

What should be included in a portal?

JISC funded research at Hull University

What do other Universities include?

Brainstormed ideas


What do users want?

Searches

Library services

Teaching materials/VLEs

Update personal details

Library and internet alerts

Email

Handbooks

Deadline alerts

Reading lists

Campus news

Review your marks

Career information


University of Hull survey April 2003557 individuals, focus groups and interviewswww.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/downloads/stakereq.pdf

Brainstormed ideas

Communicate with tutors

Store information

PDP (Personal Development Planning)

Announcements

Library functions

Blackboard


List for each group


User Group uPortal resources

Guest with no login links to relevant educational resources

Access to HE (South Kent College)

File storage accessible off-campus

Communicate with tutor electronically

Library links

PDP (Personal Development Planning)

ePortfolio

Announcements from tutors

Foundation Degree (Canterbury College)

All above plus:Athens systems like BIDS

PGCE Module (CCCU) All above plus:Blackboard or other VLE

Integration options

Simple

Complex

Web Services

Portlet

XML/XSLT

WebProxy

iFrame


How to implement

User Group uPortal resources Method

Guest with no login

links to relevant educational resources

iFrames

Access to HE (South Kent College)

File storage accessible off-campus Briefcase portlet or PETAL

Communicate with tutor electronically

Progress or PETAL

Library links iFrames with search

PDP (Personal Development Planning) PETAL or Progress

ePortfolio PETAL

Announcements from tutors Announcements portlet

Foundation Degree

All above plus:Athens systems like BIDS

iFrame

PGCE Module CCCU

All above plus:Blackboard or other VLE

iFrame


Installation


ServerSun SolarisJava 1.5

MySQL

uPortal

Apache HTTP server

Browser

Apache Tomcat

Installation Problems

Version conflicts between JDK, Tomcat and uPortal and Petal

Briefcase was not compatible with the current version of uPortal

Progress platform conflicts

User database ‘permission leakage’


PETAL

Installation problems

Problems with changing hierarchy

Publishing bug

Accessibility and usability issues


Authentication

Wanted Single Sign-on

Looked at 5 options

Balance between complex setup and easier maintenance


1. Default Authentication

uPortal

System 1

User databas

e

User database

System 3

User databas

e

System 4

(uses uPortal database)

System 2

(uses uPortal database)

System 5

User databas

e


2. Local LDAP Authentication


uPortal

LDAP User database

System 4System 2System 1 System 3 System 5

3. Local LDAP with SSO

uPortal

LDAP User database

System 4System 2System 1 System 3 System 5


Single sign-on (LDAP)

4. Distributed users databases with SSO


uPortal

System 4

System 2

System 1

System 3

System 5

Single sign-on (LDAP)

Existing Medway configuration

Greenwich subdomain

Novel user database

Medway Resource Domain

Active Directory

CCCU subdomain

Active Directory

Kent subdomain

Active Directory

Novell Client

One way trust relationships with 3 subdomains

5. Shibboleth


Image from www.switch.ch/aai

Number of users

Cost

Simpler options 1-2

More complex options 4 - 5

Cost of authentication options


Lessons Learned

Single Sign-on

Avoid iFrames with authenticated systems

Test on student systems (800x600 display)

Test systems thoroughly before adoption

Open Source software


Future developments

JISC will move SSO funding from Athens to Shibboleth after July 2008

KUSP project

New Sun Portlet specification JSR-286

Portlet Bridges for PHP, Servlets, Perl, etc.

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/shibboleth.html

http://www.kent.ac.uk/is/kusp

Any questions?

www.kent.ac.uk/is/plpp

[email protected]

[email protected]

The technical side of Portals and ePortfolios Bonnie Ferguson Michael Wilcox.

Documents

Transcript of The technical side of Portals and ePortfolios Bonnie Ferguson Michael Wilcox.