EDEN 2.0 Student Services System

MoodleMoot SavannahSavannah, Georgia USA | 10 February 2006

Jim Farmer and Justin E. Tilton

instructional media + magic, inc.

Randy Timmons

Sigma Systems Inc.

i n s t r u c t i o n a l m e d i a + m a g i c, i n c.

In the beginning

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Objectives

• Provide administrative services—Eden modules—to support Moodle as an enterprise learning system. (Moodle partner Bryan Williams)

• Enable Moodle to also interoperate with library systems and information services, and other commercial software.

• And, through open standards, reduce enterprise software maintenance costs.

And facilitate the ability to use remote services—”Software as a service”—for any combination of remote and local services.

Mark Resmer, eCollege 2002

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Strategy

• Rewrite needed “modules” of Eden using emerging industry architecture.• “Loosely coupled” using messaging with XML

and SOAP.

• Use DSML directory, Shibboleth and SAML authentication, XACML authorization from the Georgetown University Interoperability Center

• Comply with higher education data standards.• JISC UK, DEST AU, SURF NL; PESC, SIF

• Release those modules as open source

• Provide Level 3 technical support

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Background

• A meeting: October 2005

Bryan Williams

Jim Farmer

Justin Tilton

Jon Allen

Randy Timmons

Customers are asking for a

administrative solution

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Some Eden background

• Designed in the 1990s—20 years later than contemporary designs—using course, not term, as the design metaphor.

• Designed for on-line use by faculty and administrators, but not, at that time, students.

• High performance – sub-second response for the 141,000 student Los Rios Community College District.

• Implemented in nine universities and colleges.

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History

• Developed by Bill Collard at Wyndgate Ltd.

• Software and servicing acquired by Sigma Systems Inc. in 1993 when Wyndgate itself was acquired by venture capitalists because of its blood center support software.

• Support discontinued in 2005 as many of the users implemented suites.

• One of the few systems to have supported open standards during this period. im+m provided technical specification support during development.

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Context for the Learning Environment

MIS

General Logistics

Support

VLE/LMS

Library

Portal

WSRPEnrollment

Results

Scott Wilson, Joint Information Systems Council, 18 Nov 2002

How it would look nowincorporating current technology from

instructional media + magic, inc. and Sigma Systems inc.

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Presentations

• View of the same data—text from the message—would depend upon “role.”

• Ability to add, change, or delete depends upon authorization.

• Access to a module or a collection of modules—a “tab”—depends upon authorization (by group).

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Student view of grades

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Teacher view of grades

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Parent view of grades

In the U.S. for students under 18 or with student permission

How it will be developed

with other projects

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Enterprise information services

Directory

Authentication

AuthorizationAdministration (ERP)

Virtual Learning Environment(Learning Management System)

Library

PortalInterface

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Eden and Eden DesignCurrent Redesigned

Directory

Bio Bio Supplement

Authentication

Groups and Permissions

eBusiness logging

Recruiting

Admissions

Registration

Student Records Academic Record

Transcript Transcript

Academic Services

Student Accounts Receivable Student Accounts Receivable

Payment Application

Financial Aid Financial Aid

Institutional Loans

Attendance Attendance

Housing Housing

Admissions

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Eden and Eden 2.0

Proposed Project From Other Projects

DirectoryBio Supplement

AuthenticationGroups and Permissions

eBusiness loggingRecruiting

AdmissionsRegistration

Academic RecordTranscript

Academic Services

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Expected partners

From Other Projects Project Lead

Directory Georgetown University

Authentication Georgetown UniversityGroups and Permissions Columbia University

eBusiness logging ESUP Portail

Academic Services Oxford University

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Development sequence

Proposed Project From Other Projects

Directory 1Bio Supplement 7

Authentication 4Groups and Permissions 3

eBusiness logging 6Recruiting

AdmissionsRegistration 2

Academic Record 5Transcript 8

Academic Services 9

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Interoperability

• To meet service level criteria: Real-time exchange of data

• To improve data management (and reduce “reconciliation”), have a single authoritative store and set of edit rules, but multiple presentations according to process and context (e.g. role).

• To reduce the effect of changing one system on another – “Loose coupling” using Web Services messages with common data model.

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Messaging

• Based on Apache Software Foundation’s Axis implementation in Java and Web Services implementation in PHP 5 (University of Wisconsin experience)

• Incorporating levels of security depending upon

• Whether all modules are installed in a secure network

• Whether federation is required because of consortia or contractual requirements for access to services

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Open Source Administrative Initiatives

• Financial systems – Kuali, Indiana University, University of Hawaii, Michigan State University

• Electronic portfolios – OSP, Indiana University

• Student Services System – Indiana University, University of British Columbia, Georgetown University, San Joaquin Delta Community College (California) [Planning project]

• Interoperability – Georgetown University, University of Hull (UK)

Enterprise portals

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Denison University

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CalPoly San Luis Obispo

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CalPoly San Luis Obispo

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Jon’s Sakai-like layout

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The enterprise portal

Enterprise Portal

(aggregation and presentation)

Enterprise Integration Bus

Fin

an

ce

Learn

ing a

nd

Rese

arc

h

En

vir

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men

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Ed

en

Work

flow

Secu

rity

Available portlets

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With portlets

PortalFramework

Portaldatabase

College announcements

Regional library

Learning system

Administration

WSRP

JSR 168

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RSS version 1.0 channel

In-line HTML

Streaming Audio and Video

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Library search portlets – Roles

The interface changes according to the ‘role’ of the current account.

Student Administrator

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uPortal and MIT Open Courseware

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uPortal and MIT Open Courseware

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eTranscript

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The Meteor channel

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Lessons from Meteor

• Using SOAP messaging over the Internet, the average transaction—query, database lookup, response—is from 20 to 80 milliseconds.

• Using Shibboleth and encryption, there has been no security breach since it began.

• Traffic has been growing since 2001 implementation to several hundred thousands of transactions a day.

• Meteor is in use at hundreds of installations each day, most not knowing how it works.

im+m developed the prototype.

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eBusiness Web services architecture

• XML “tagged” data contenteXtensible Markup Language

• SOAP data transportSimple Object Access Protocol

• XSL transformations for presentationeXtensible stylesheet language

• XML Digital Signaturefor Server Authentication

• UDDI/WSDL directory servicesUniversal Description, Discovery, and Integration,and Web Services Description Language

The End

Jim Farmer

JXF @ immagic.com

JXF @ UMich.edu

More on portals

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With portlets

uPortalFramework

uPortaldatabase

Portlet A

Portlet B

Portlet C

Portlet D

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Historical progression of use

Aggregation of publicly available information

+

Integration with administrative systems (as portlets)

+

Integration with library systems (as portlets)

+

Integration with learning systems ?

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Jon’s view – Dynamic layout

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Why uPortal?

• Differentiation for higher education

• Industry and higher education (JISC), services

• Multimedia-rich portlets

• Internationalization of portal and content

• Distributed, aggregated layout (with priorities)

• Definition and implementation of portlet “context”

• Cost/performance

More on architecture

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The new enterprise architecture

Chief Business Officer

Chief Academic

Officer

Chief Information

Officer

ERPFinanceHuman

ResourcesFacilities

Virtual Learning

Environment

Virtual Research

Environment

Library

ITInfrastructure

Chief Marketing

Officer

CRM

Core

instructio

nal m

edia + m

agic

instructio

nal m

edia + m

agic

uPortal a

ndJA

-SIG

JA-SIG Web Services model

SOAP Business Message SOAP Business Message

University Service Provider

ScenarioUser: Student, staff, or facultyAccess Provider: University PortalData Provider: Agency Web Server

SIS

Portal

Web ServerUser App Server

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Meteor XML Request message

>>(Tue Jan 09 11:50:58 EST 2001) Processing SOAP request...

<SOAP-ENV:Envelope xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/1999/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/1999/XMLSchema-instance"> <SOAP-ENV:Body> <ns1:getLoanHistory SOAP-ENV:encodingStyle="http://xml.apache.org/xml-soap/literalxml" xmlns:ns1="urn:ifx-loan-server"> <IFXRequestEl> <IFX> <SaisSvcRq> <RqUID/> <SPName>gov.studentclearinghouse</SPName> <LoanHistoryRq> <CustId> <SPName>gov.ssa</SPName> <CustPermId>448377707</CustPermId> </CustId> <DateOfBirth>1980-09-03</DateOfBirth> </LoanHistoryRq> </SaisSvcRq> </IFX> </IFXRequestEl> </ns1:getLoanHistory> </SOAP-ENV:Body></SOAP-ENV:Envelope>

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Meteor XML Response message [1]

Launching query ...

>>(Tue Jan 09 11:50:59 EST 2001) Sending SOAP response...

<SOAP-ENV:Envelope xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/1999/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/1999/XMLSchema-instance"> <SOAP-ENV:Body> <ns1:getLoanHistoryResponse SOAP-ENV:encodingStyle="http://xml.apache.org/xml-soap/literalxml" xmlns:ns1="urn:ifx-loan-server"> <return> <IFX> <SaisSvcRs> <Status> <StatusCode>0</StatusCode> <Severity>Info</Severity> <StatusDesc>Successfull Retrieval</StatusDesc> </Status> <RqUID/> <SPName>gov.studentclearinghouse</SPName> <LoanHistoryRs> <CustId> <SPName>gov.ssa</SPName> <CustPermId>448377707</CustPermId> </CustId> <CustName> <FirstName>Sue</FirstName> <MiddleName>B</MiddleName> <LastName>Smith</LastName> </CustName>

continued

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Meteor XML Response message [2]

<CustInformation> <DateOfBirth>1980-09-03</DateOfBirth> <PreviousPermId> </PreviousPermId> <FormerLastName/> </CustInformation> <StudentStatus> <CurrentlyEnrolled>Y</CurrentlyEnrolled> </StudentStatus> <LoanInformation> <LenderIdType>OPEID</LenderIdType> <LenderId>824607</LenderId> <LenderName>Oklahoma Student Loan Authority</LenderName> <SchoolIdType>OPEID</SchoolIdType> <SchoolId>003152</SchoolId> <SchoolBranch>00</SchoolBranch> <SchoolName>University of Central Oklahoma</SchoolName> <InformationSourceIdType>OPEID</InformationSourceIdType> <InformationSourceId>824607</InformationSourceId> <InformationSourceName>Oklahoma Student Loan Authority</InformationSourceName> <InformationSourceDate>2000-09-30</InformationSourceDate> </LoanInformation>

continued

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Meteor XML Response message [3]

<LoanInformation> <LenderIdType>OPEID</LenderIdType> <LenderId>809063</LenderId> <LenderName>Bank of Oklahoma</LenderName> <SchoolIdType>OPEID</SchoolIdType> <SchoolId>003152</SchoolId> <SchoolBranch>00</SchoolBranch> <SchoolName>University of Central Oklahoma</SchoolName> <InformationSourceIdType>OPEID</InformationSourceIdType> <InformationSourceId>809063</InformationSourceId> <InformationSourceName>Bank of Oklahoma</InformationSourceName> <InformationSourceDate>2000-11-12</InformationSourceDate> </LoanInformation> <LoanInformation> <LenderIdType>OPEID</LenderIdType> <LenderId>831163</LenderId> <LenderName>First Oklahoma bank &amp; Trust</LenderName> <SchoolIdType>OPEID</SchoolIdType> <SchoolId>003152</SchoolId> <SchoolBranch>00</SchoolBranch> <SchoolName>University of Central Oklahoma</SchoolName> <InformationSourceIdType>OPEID</InformationSourceIdType> <InformationSourceId>831163</InformationSourceId> <InformationSourceName>First Oklahoma Bank &amp; Trust</InformationSourceName> <InformationSourceDate>2000-10-16</InformationSourceDate> </LoanInformation> </LoanHistoryRs> </SaisSvcRs> </IFX> </return> </ns1:getLoanHistoryResponse> </SOAP-ENV:Body> </SOAP-ENV:Envelope>

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Managed Learning Environment

MIS

General Logistics

Support

VLE/LMS

Library

Portal

WSRPEnrollment

Results

Scott Wilson, Joint Information Systems Council, 18 Nov 2002

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Enterprise information standards

Directory

Authentication

AuthorizationAdministration (ERP)

Virtual Learning Environment(Learning Management System)

Library

PortalInterfac

e

EduPerson, HR-XML

SAML, ShibbolethXACML

HR-XML,PESC

NISO

IMS

WSRP,RSS

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Components architecture

“Software has become so big that no company can do everything alone anymore.” “… the industry must adopt standards that would enable a variety of different software vendors to provide the parts needed to quickly build a sophisticated software system.”

Hasso Plattner, CEO SAP AG at the JavaOne Conference in San Francisco, March 2002, as reported by Reuters,

“Software's future is in components, SAP chief says,” March 27, 2002

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Aut

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ervi

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ER

P

Lib

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Decomposition of legacy systems

Common Solutions Group, September 19, 2002

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Reconstructed legacy systems

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ER

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Common Solutions Group, September 19, 2002

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A Web service is

• An exchange of XML business messages

• using SOAP compliant data transport,

• described by WSDL,

• listed in a UDDI directory of services,

• for a remotely authenticated user (using WS-Security and SAML),

and, for most,

• presented using XSL transformations (XSLT)

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Request, response model

Application

M

Service 1

Application

E

Service 1

Application

M

Service 2

Request

Response

Alternative responseusing WS-Addressing

(e.g. errors requiring special handling)

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Select Transcript View

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eTranscript

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Or Build Custom View

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Get Transcript

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Prototype protocol

Request transcript using descriptive information

List of students or error

Request transcript using identifier

Transcript (XML message + local XSLT)

Request printable transcript using identifier

PDF file + (official only) digital signature

Data ProviderSchool staff or authorized student

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SOAP message format

WS-Routing

WS-Reliability

WS-Security

SAML Assertions

XML Encryption

XML Transcript

With California extension

XML Encryption

WS-Security

SAML Assertions

XML Transcript

With California extension

Header

Body

As proposed HTTPS With SMTP

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Higher Education IT: Context

• IT budgets typically reduced 10 to 20% for the second consecutive year.

• Sharp increases in software licenses

• Three new federally mandated systems using different architectures.

• Increasingly heterogeneous hardware/software

• Student expectations driving priorities: portals, wireless, broadband, on-line administrative systems

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Directory standards

• EDUCAUSE EduPerson Objects + “Best practices” representations

• Explicit in OASIS xNAL, xAL, xCIL, xCRL

• Implicit in Common Record, SEVIS, Meteor, and CommonLine; PESC transcript and admissions

• Explicit in HR-XML (implementation confirmed by key ERP vendors)

• Implicit in IMS Enterprise

• Implicit in SIF (K-12)

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Use of SAML Assertions

• Internet 2 Shibboleth (journal access)

• Meteor (student loan data)

• eTranscript (student records)

• Liberty Alliance (federated authentication)

Shouldn’t the assertions be standardized for higher education?

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SAML Assertion

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University of British Columbia