Walking the Talk Building a Support Site with Community System Tools Wayne Britcliffe, Cathy Colless & Wendy Fountain Durham 2007
Support Site (The First Attempt) § Organisation/Community module created § Great resources and content – Guide finder born etc. § Big launch and promotion – Workshops – Lunch meetings § Disappointingly very little discernible traffic
What was felt to be the main problem? § Authentication – Potential Yorkshare users would actually already need to know how to login to Yorkshare – If they know how to login they would then need to find the support module – We need to keep ALL staff enrolled in the module § Other reasons – Limited presentation options for focus on transient or key support information – Limits our ability to easily “showcase” good practice examples – Useful content is more “buried”
Considered Website Instead § Pros § Cons § No authentication barrier § Content already in Blackboard § Complete design control § Guilt pangs – we should practice what we preach § We already had web space that needed attention § Content easier to index § Would require “skills” to maintain and also to develop new content
Our Solution – The Second Attempt § Build the support site with the community portal tools… Key § § § Reasons Can set up with no authentication barrier Can expose content already developed in Yorkshare Easy for any team member to update Uses tools we expect academic staff to use Able to make it the “gate way” into Yorkshare proper
Branding multiple unauthenticated sites § We wanted a site separate from the default student login page… § Existing student login page http: //vle. york. ac. uk § New staff support site http: //vlesupport. york. ac. uk
Enabling direct access is a pre-requisite § BB offers a choice of two login approaches § Direct access is a two stage login § Any users connecting to server is logged into Blackboard as the user “guest” automatically. § User initiates a second login with personal username and password
Direct access login process – § Classic login page – no login has occurred § Enabling direct access triggers a series of automated page redirects that login with the credentials: – Username: Guest – Password: Guest § Community System content displayed § User has an active session and a primary institutional role faster than the eye can see
Institutional Roles Background Stuff § Different users can have different institution roles § This is why the portal tabs and modules look different for different users
This is what the system Looks like when a student member logs in
This is what the system Looks like when a staff member logs in
vle. york. ac. uk
vlesupport. york. ac. uk
What makes the two login pages different ? § Tempting to assume that the two addresses point at two different web sites § The two address both point at exactly the same site § The DNS entry for both hostnames is exactly the same § The two pages are different because the user has a different institutional role § Huh! What user ? What Institutional Role ?
The guest user is logged in ! (and has an institutional role) § Counter-intuitive to consider user roles before a user is logged § “Guest” is logged § By default a guest user has the role of guest § But the role can be manipulated !
Manipulating the institutional role (of the Guest User) § Manipulating the primary institutional role of Guest user is the key to branding multiple hostnames § A hostname (url) can be configured to manipulate the institutional role of the guest user logged in § When setting up a new brand, you indicate an institutional role to override the default role of guest user § This is how the user role is manipulated
Step 1 - Register a DNS address § Ask your friendly DNS manager to register the hostname for the new site in the DNS (e. g. vlesupport. york. ac. uk ) § Point the DNS entry at Bb server
Step 2 - Create a New Institutional Role
Step 3 - Create a brand to manipulate the role Not this one ! This controls the brand after login
Step 4 - Associate the Role with a the Brand § Mange Brands - Option 7 § This option manipulates the institutional role of the user GUEST for this brand
Done - the brand is live (but no tabs have been created) § The DNS entry is pointing to the Blackboard server § Direct access login is enabled to automatically login the user “Guest” § A brand is associated with the newly registered hostname (url) § The brand is configured to override the default primary institutional role of the guest user to with the role vlesupport_guest § Because no tabs or modules have been setup with permissions for the role vlesupport_guest (yet) nothing will be displayed
Common to the configuration of all the tabs: availability to vlesupport_guest institutional role
Tab Setup § We used 4 type of Tabs: Module Tabs: – Double Column – Single Column Link Tabs: – Link to CMS Content – Link to Course Content We didn’t use any Tool tabs
Single & Double Column Module Tabs § Classic tab layout § Not much to say here § Column no. cannot change
Link Tabs to Course Content § Obtain link with “Right click” copy shortcut on the link to the content area within the site
The module must allow guest access to the content § Course without Guest access granted – access denied error § The course must have Guest access enabled at four levels § Yep. . four different places !
Tab Linked to HTML file stored in the CMS § Obtain link with “right click” copy shortcut on the link to the item in the Content System § Add Public permissions to the item
Example of a CMS Link Tab
After tabs comes modules § We used only three portal module types: – HTML – URL – Channel § Didn’t use any of the gimmicky types § URL and channel tabs used extensively in many tricky ways
Examples of HTML Modules § The simplest type of module § Used for the simple static content on the site § Biggest barrier is the VTBE which has inexcusably bad manners
URL Module Types § Bb server fetches page COPY once an hour § Stores a copy of the page on the Bb server § Can be useful in subverting the VTBE § If URL is a dynamic page (eg php or Coldfusion) the script will run each hour when the page copy occurs § Dynamic content
URL Module - Random Content Rotation § Our module showcase contains leader interviews § Random rotation to keep Home tab changing § Coldfusion application to randomly spotlight one leader profile
Hidden Content Areas in 20+ Showcased Modules
The Coldfusion Script on the CF Web Server § We used Coldfusion (could just as easily be PHP, Perl or other) § CF Script contains SQL that retrieves data from BB database § Script contains a random record selection criteria
SQL selects a random record § select § DBMS_RANDOM. value(0, 199), § § § ccdeptimg. main_data ccdeptimg, § § ccleader. main_data ccleader, substr(ccquote. main_data, 10, INSTR(ccquote. main_data, 'ANSWER: ', 1, 1)-10) quest, substr(ccquote. main_data, INSTR(ccquote. main_data, 'ANSWER: ', 1, 1)+9, 300) answ, ccportrait. main_data ccportrait from bb_bb 60. course_main cm, bb_bb 60. course_contents ccart, bb_bb 60. course_contents ccdeptimg, bb_bb 60. course_contents ccleader, bb_bb 60. course_contents ccquote, bb_bb 60. course_contents ccportrait where ccart. crsmain_pk 1(+) = cm. pk 1 and ccdeptimg. parent_pk 1(+) = ccart. pk 1 and ccquote. parent_pk 1 = ccart. pk 1 and ccart. title = 'Showcase Artifacts' and ccleader. parent_pk 1 = ccart. pk 1 and ccportrait. parent_pk 1(+) = and ccdeptimg. title(+) = 'Spotlight Dept Image' and ccleader. title(+) = 'Leader’ and ccquote. title(+) = 'Spotlight Quotation' and ccportrait. title(+) = 'Spotlight Portrait' Order by 1
Configure the URL Module § Updates once each hour § Selects a new profile to spotlight randomly § Checkbox will force an immediate update
An example of random rotation § The Coldfusion script selects the first record returned by the SQL and slots the content into an html template
Using the Channel Modules § Campus LX Blogs and Podcasts produce an RSS feed § We setup channels for these feeds – Give the site a more dynamic feel § FAQ’s maintained in Blogs – Easy to maintain the lists
Campus LX Suite Blogs § Created an account to be “owner” of the Blogs – “Latest News” Blog – FAQ Blogs § The Expo tool allows us to expose Blogs outside a module § Makes the feed public § BUT does not actually share the Blog
Set Blog Permissions § Share view permissions with vlesupport_guest portal role § Note: This is changing in new version of Expo!
Set Portal Channel and Modules § Create a channel for each Blog § Change the hostname!
Channel sorting problem § Known issue with BB Portal Channels § Programmer forgot the Order By statement § Newest post does not appear at top § Breaking news in the wrong order – useless § Fix available via Global Services (££) § Probably worth the cost to keep news breaking on site
Graphics tricks : The top frame § Logo included in Background graphic § Completely transparent banner image pushes standard icons to centre
Graphics tricks : Portlets Content in HTML Modules is wrapped in a padded <DIV> to avoid the cramped look All graphics are stored in the CMS with Public Permissions applied
Site Usage Stats § Steadily increased for first 2 -3 months § 750 to over a 1000 distinct visits (sessions) per week § Lots of interest from around the globe on how the community system has been used & positive comments on site design
Questions
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