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OpenSyllabus : Model-based Electronic Syllabi . Jacques Raynauld Chair of teaching and learning technologies for management education HEC Montréal. OpenSyllabus . Confluence Contrib:. Objectives of the presentation.
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OpenSyllabus : Model-based Electronic Syllabi Jacques Raynauld Chair of teaching and learning technologies for management education HEC Montréal 8th Sakai Conference
OpenSyllabus 8th Sakai Conference
Confluence Contrib: Objectives of the presentation • Demo of a successful template for structured syllabi currently used since 2004 at HEC Montreal • How a publishing module can manage • multiple sections • public and private access to course material • production performance • archives. • Get some feedback on our OpenSyllabus project vs current Syllabus/Resources tools 8th Sakai Conference
Outline • 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 8th Sakai Conference
Large business school part of the University of Montreal campus 12 000 students 250 career professors 500 adjuncts 4 000 full time undergraduate students Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise Campus Solutions ThinkPad program in 1997 8th 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 8th 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 8th Sakai Conference
Sample syllabus 1. Course title and contact information 4. Course requirements (evaluation) 2. Required text 3. Course description and objectives 8th Sakai Conference
Sample syllabus 7. Schedule of readings, assignments, due date 5. Grading 6. College policies 8th 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 8th 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 8th 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 (faculty and staff) • … with a common student interface • Offer a sophisticated security environment with private … and public access to educational resources • Support teaching to numerous sections • Trilingual (French, English, Spanish) User –Centered Approach 8th Sakai Conference
http://zonecours.hec.ca 8th Sakai Conference
http://zonecours.hec.ca 8th Sakai Conference
Document type Document Internal document (html) Hyperlink Exercise Citations Presentation News Theme key words Description Reading lists Resources used in class Objectives Miscellaneous resources Case studies Assignments News Exercices Tools OpenSyllabus key words Template is flexible 8th Sakai Conference
Open Syllabus/Zone Cours • Covers 95%* of the 965 Fall 2006 section-courses with three levels of access * Migration by students + staff help 8th Sakai Conference
Z course Architecture I Sect 1 Sect 2 Resources repository Syllabus Syllabus ABC1 ABC1 ABC3 ABC2 L1 L1 ABC2 DEF1 L2 L2 ABC3 DEF1 8th Sakai Conference
Architecture II : Editing/Publishing • Publication • XML (merge sections) • XSLT • Documents (ppt, doc, etc.) are copied to the publishing database • HTML pages (public, students) are stored in the publishing database /Export 8th Sakai Conference
Architecture: 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 course 8th Sakai Conference
An easy to use approach to editing 8th 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 reserved key words Deposit resources directly within the syllabus Publishing/Export (XML) Merge global and sections information Public and private versions of the syllabi Syllabus vs OpenSyllabus (tentative) 8th Sakai Conference
Open Syllabus in Sakai • HEC Montréal wants to keep ZoneCours/OpenSyllabus but seeks an integrative CMS tool • HEC Montréal and the University of Montréal with Sakai Québec (CRIM) are interested to develop OpenSyllabus in Sakai • It is feasable …. we have a proof of concept • Is there an interest for Open Syllabus in the Sakai community? 8th Sakai Conference
Confluence Contrib: Questions - Comments OpenSyllabus value proposition : • for the instructor : guidance and simplicity • for the students : easy navigation and clarity • for the community : unique location for university syllabi jacques.raynauld@hec.ca sacha.lepetre@crim.ca http://zonecours.hec.ca 8th 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. 8th Sakai Conference