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OpenSyllabus : Model-based Electronic Syllabi in Sakai . Jacques Raynauld Chair of teaching and learning technologies for management education HEC Montréal. Outline. Main objective of the presentation HEC Montréal and the origins of the project Syllabi : a universal gateway to learning
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OpenSyllabus : Model-based Electronic Syllabi in Sakai Jacques Raynauld Chair of teaching and learning technologies for management education HEC Montréal Sakai Conference
Outline • Main objective of the presentation • HEC Montréal and the origins of the project • Syllabi : a universal gateway to learning • OpenSyllabus / Zone Cours : a model-based approach • A tour of the actual interface • System architecture : editing/publishing • An easy to use approach to editing • Syllabus vs OpenSyllabus • OpenSyllabus project in Sakai Sakai Conference
Large business school part of the University of Montreal campus 12 000 students 250 career professors 500 adjuncts 4 000 undergraduate students Laptop program in 1997 Sakai Conference
Origins of the project • Learning material disseminated in various course web sites … • … using diverse technologies (Frontpage, MacroMedia, Netscape Composer, etc.) • Very confusing for the staff, the students and the public Sakai Conference
Origins of the project • Course web sites are very similar to syllabi • Syllabi are an universal gateway to teaching and learning in universities • Universities usullay provide very structured syllabi guidelines to foster best practices • For example, English 101 : college writing I Sakai Conference
Sample syllabus 1. Course title and contact information 4. Course requirements (evaluation) 2. Required text 3. Course description and objectives Sakai Conference
Sample syllabus 7. Schedule of readings, assignments, due date 5. Grading 6. College policies Sakai Conference
Contact information Objectives Requirements Grading College policies Schedule of readings, due date Hyperlinks Documents to download (pdf, ppt, doc, etc.) Problems Etc. Syllabi are structured documents Paper Web Sakai Conference
Electronic syllabus • Lack of structure and help to design a course syllabus in current CMS • Duplication : information of the syllabus (pdf) is often repeated in the web environment and on administrative pages • Syllabi are not easily available (often hidden behind login) • Efficiency loss for faculty, students and staff Sakai Conference
Open Syllabus (Zone Cours) A system to edit and publish electronic syllabi • Model based • Consolidate all previous course web sites in one … • …easy to use platform • … with a common student interface • Offer a sophisticated security environment with private … and public access • Support teaching to numerous sections Sakai Conference
http://zonecours.hec.ca Sakai Conference
Document type Document Internal document (html) Hyperlink Exercise Bibliography Presentation News Session key words Description Objectives Miscellaneous resources Case studies Assignments News Exercices Reading lists Tools Resources used in class OpenSyllabus key words Sakai Conference
Open Syllabus/Zone Cours • Covers 95% of the 965 Fall 2006 section-courses with three levels of access Sakai Conference
Architecture : Editing/Publishing • Publication • XML (merge sections) • XSLT • Documents (ppt, doc) are copied to the publishing database • HTML pages (public, students) are stored in the publishing database Sakai Conference
Architecture: Editing/publishing • Highly scalable, fast and robust portal • One stop : integrate the administrative environment with the course delivery environment • Offer a sophisticated security environment with private … and public access • Merge seamlessly the material secific to a course and it sections • Publishing database is an archive of all courses Sakai Conference
An easy to use approach to editing Sakai Conference
Free html page Can attach documents but going through the resource tool is probably better Some security on syllabus elements A structured template with section names and reserved key words Deposit resources directly within the syllabus Publishing (XML) Merge global and sections information Public and private versions of the syllabi Syllabus vs OpenSyllabus (tentative) Sakai Conference
Open Syllabus in Sakai • HEC Montréal wants to keep ZoneCours/OpenSyllabus but seeks an integrative tool • HEC Montréal and the University of Montréal with Sakai Québec (CRIM) are interested to develop OpenSyllabus/Sakai • It is feasable …. we have a prototype • Is there an interest for Open Syllabus in the Sakai community? • Suggestions or questions Sakai Conference
Summary OpenSyllabus added values • for the instructor : guidance and simplicity • for the students : easy navigation and clarity • for the community : unique location for university syllabi Sakai Conference
Open Syllabus : Model-based electronic syllabi in Sakai Jacques RaynaulHEC Montréal • Syllabi, either in paper or electronic format (PDF or HTML), are a universal gateway to teaching and learning in universities. They give information on the course objectives (for prospective students and the public in general) while providing specific guidance to registered students (course material, readings by themes or weeks, assessment, etc.). However, syllabi are not always easily accessible to students or the general public. Vocabulary and interfaces used are not always standardized which needlessly complicates the students’ navigation. Instructors are often required to duplicate numerous elements in the official syllabi as well as in the CMS used. • To provide a solution to these problems, HEC Montreal has developed and launched Zone Cours or Open Syllabus, an easy to use web based tool to create and publish both simple and elaborate syllabi including web links and electronic documents; it offers a centralized and unified interface with standardized vocabulary for easy navigation by the students and the general public. Launched in the Fall 2004 term, the system is currently used in more than 95% of the courses offered at HEC Montreal. • In this session, we briefly present Zone Cours structure and functionalities and then report on a Sakai prototype that could be seen as a model-based version of the syllabus module currently available in release 2.4. Sakai Conference