texas rangers to the rescue: turning your vle into an exam centre

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Texas Rangers to the Rescue: turning your VLE into an exam centre Sven Gladines & Herwig Stulens KU Leuven - Belgium

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Page 1: Texas Rangers to the rescue: turning your VLE into an exam centre

Texas Rangers to the Rescue: turning your VLE into an exam centre

Sven Gladines & Herwig StulensKU Leuven - Belgium

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Overview

• Introduction• What's this presentation about?• Why a Blackboard exam setup?• Requirements instructor & student view• Under the hood• Live demo

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Texas Rangers

Sven Gladines• KU Leuven since 2008• Software architect• Java developer

o B2 developmento SIS/Campus integration

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Herwig Stulens• KU Leuven since 2008• Business consultant

(customer support Bb & QMP)

Texas Rangers

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KU Leuven & Toledo

• Self-hosted since 2001• Learn April 2014 release• 10 app-server (RHEL 6/HP)• 2 CPU / 48 GB RAM

• 1 DB-server (Oracle/HP)• 4 CPU

• Storage• SAN / NetApp cluster

• Netscaler

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KU Leuven & Toledo

• 6.5 (Java) developers• 3.5 Bb-customer support

• 1 MOOC @ edX (e-psychology)

• KU Leuven Association• 1 university• ±13 colleges • + adult/evening education

• 38K active courses• 9K active community’s• 121K "active" users

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Toledo Exams Advanced System

Change the interface and the behaviour of your

Blackboard system for specific use cases (mobile,

exams,...)

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High Level - How it works?

1. Create a new entrance to your Bb-system, f.i. x.blackboard2. Associate a specific CSS & javascript (js) with this entrance

All x.blackboard pages will have their own stylesheet and specific behaviour

(For more details, see further "Under the hood")

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Example 1

Netscaler

url:

• The same environment• Different requirements

• Different layout (CSS)• Different behaviour (js)

https://blackboard.kuleuven.be

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Example 2

Netscaler

• The same environment• Different requirements

• Different layout (CSS)• Different behaviour (js)

url: https://m.blackboard.kuleuven.be

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Example 3

Netscaler

• The same environment• Different requirements

• Different layout (CSS)• Different behaviour (js)

url: https://x.blackboard.kuleuven.be

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Background - Why an exam setup?

• In Belgium, an instructor organises exams him/herself Online or traditional is instructor's choice

• General trend towards (automatically scored) online examsWhy?• Reuse of formative test material• Growing number of legal disputes

( shift to less questionable multiple choice-tests)

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• Student still has access to course material, personal CMS space, file exchange (group), collaborate, …

• "Accidents" with course setup: test feedback, my grades, material remains available after exam, backup, ...

• Hard to inform everybody about possible pitfalls• Standard Bb offers too many features

Online? Alright, let's

use our Blackboard Possible problems

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Requirements student side

In the context of online examinations, which changes

are necessary?(cfr. standard Bb-functionality)

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1. Extremely large top bar, brightly coloured with clear indication of student name, number and picture.(important for authentication & for proctor surveillance)

Portal page

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2. Only 1 module is present: My Examsi.e. list of x-courses with available membership (mostly only 1)(for closed exams, all student memberships are set to unavailable)

Portal page

(x-course = exam course)

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3. Disclaimer:• avoid "unintended" access to an exam• inform student about logging• inform how to finalize?

(Accepting the disclaimer , generates a course entry record; see further in "under the hood")

4. Bilingual instructions & warnings

Entry to the exam

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5. Entry point = Read me first instructions

The x-course

6. Simplified interface:• no tabs• no logout button• ...

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7. Make an official submission

Finalize

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8. After submission, the x-course membership becomes unavailable student no longer has access to the x-course

Finalize

9. Submission receipt is mailed

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Requirements instructor side

In the context of online examinations, which changes

are necessary?(cfr. standard Bb-functionality)

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Requirements instructor side

1. Specific documentation focussed on online examination:• preparations to do beforehand• preferred test settings• decimal/thousand separator• testing with the preview user• backup scenario• ...

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• Instructors have an extra module to create x-courses• All x-courses are based on a highly tuned template course

Simplify

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All the documentation is part of the x-courseWhat to do before, during and after the exam?Info about the student point of view…

Simplify

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Requirements instructor side

2. Make it easier, hide all unnecessary tools:no fora, no wiki's...

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There are only 2 tools available: contacts and groups, no my grades, no email...

Simplify

Only 4 buttons to add content

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Requirements instructor side

3. Make it safer: • tweak test settings

o no force completion o no self-assessment options...

• assignment behavior (turn off Crocodoc)• availability grade center columns, turn off my grades tool, ...

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Why exclude Crocodoc service?• hard to exclude (pc room)• university policy about distribution of exam material

Assignments

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Requirements instructor side

4. Enhance tracking: keep a finger on the pulse with an online dashboard:• status• (multiple) start time(s)• end time• (multiple) IP address(es)• other Bb-sessions?• exam progress (in development)• group membership

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Under the hood

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The address bar

SIMPLE URL, but distinguished from VLE• VLE:• blackboard.kuleuven.be

• Exam:• x.blackboard.kuleuven.be

• Add DNS entry• Add new host to HTTPS CERTIFICATE

url: https://x.blackboard.kuleuven.be

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Login

SEPARATE LOGIN

SHIBBOLETH CONFIGURATION• Add "application"• application bound to "x." hostname

login

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LOOK & FEEL

? SPECIFIC LOOK & FEEL

Blackboard Learn’s "Brands & Themes"• CREATE BRAND• Bind it to hostname "x.blackboard.kuleuven.be"

• CREATE THEME• Assign theme to brand• theme.css• theme.js

login

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• SPECIFIC COLOR PALETTE• High(er) contrast• Soft Colors

• SIMPLE INTERFACE• Simple widgets• Reduce "cognitive overhead" : hide stuff that isn’t needed

• VISIBLE INTERFACE (Surveilling)• Very large top bar• Large names and account ID• Picture (via B2, Bb avatar not used)

THEME.CSS

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THEME.JS

• FURTHER REDUCE COMPLEXITY• Hide unnecessary elements : Remove from DOM tree

• SUPPORT REQUIREMENTS FOR ENVIRONMENT• Show disclaimer upon entry ("I have read and understood")• Inject "Finalize"-button in x-course menu• Blocking of certain URL’s• …

• To use this, we altered Blackboard’s page template• Inject reference to theme.js in HTML <head> tag

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PORTAL PAGE

PORTAL PAGE PER "ENVIRONMENT"

• LOADBALANCER (NETSCALER) REDIRECT RULESIf x.blackboard.kuleuven.be and not logged in, then:• redirect to: /webapps/portal/…/tabs/tabAction?tab_tab_group_id=_313_1If m.blackboard.kuleuven.be and not logged in, then:• Redirect to /webapps/portal/…/tabs/tabAction?tab_tab_group_id=_230_1

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PORTAL PAGE EXAMS

EXTREMELY SIMPLE PORTAL PAGE• 1 module for students ("My Exams")• 2 modules for instructors ("My Exams" & "Create New Exam")• Portal page depending on "environment"

• Blackboard’s TAB GROUP & TAB• MODULES

• "My Exams" for everyone• "Create New Exam" only for specific institution role "xcourse-admin"

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PROCTORING & TRACKING

? ENABLE TRACKING & PROCTORING• Timing: start time, end time• IP address• Access to learning environment• Student progress

• WEB SERVICE (BUILDING BLOCK)• Collect data & log events

• DASHBOARD• Visualize data at a glance

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AND MORE …

? SUPPORT SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS• Send confirmation email upon finalisation• Automatically block access upon finalisation• Make x-course unavailable when last student has finished• Simplify access control for proctors• …

• WEB SERVICE• Business logic & feed back to dashboard

• DASHBOARD• Dynamic buttons for block/allow

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WEB SERVICE

REST

DB

Java

• Building block• JAVA 7

• Third party libraries: Spring, Hibernate, …• Blackboard API’s• Toledo dependencies: utility libraries, API’s …

• 2 DB tables • Tracking data• Events log

• REST API• AJAX (get/post/put)• JSON objects• Decoupling: web frontend - Java backend

• Built with Maven 2

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DASHBOARD

Javascript

Ajax

HTML• Building Block

• HTML 5• Twitter Bootstrap (Web GUI framework)• Awesome Font (fonts & icons)

• Javascript• jQuery• Underscore.js (JS utilities)• Backbone.js (Ajax framework)• Marionette.js• Moment.js ( date/time )• Noty ( notifications )

• Built with GRUNT

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Time for demo1. Surf to:

http://bit.ly/1Oe21AM(change name of demo user & submit)

2. Next go to:toledo.kuleuven.be/english/exam(wait a few seconds and continue)

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Questions?

please go ahead orsend us an email at [email protected]

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