Blackboard Building Blocks Introduction to Building Blocks Saturday, August 15, 2015 Daniel Cane, Senior Vice President R&D

Topics What are Building Blocks Goals of Building Blocks Types of Building Blocks Building Blocks Program Components Developers Community Building Blocks Roadmap

What are Blackboard Building Blocks? Blackboard Building Blocks (B 2 ) is the underlying architecture that enables the Blackboard platform to easily integrate educational web-based tools and content that meet institution-specific, discipline- specific or accessibility needs.

Blackboard Building Blocks It is NOT just a set of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) It is a complete framework for extending the Blackboard Platforms, integrating new components, and interoperating with other applications. It is a robust program for facilitating the development of enhancements to the Blackboard platforms.

Building Blocks Across Products

“Operating Environment” Blackboard Building Blocks Content Mgt Content Authoring Communication Collaboration Content Assessment Security Library Systems Homegrown Applications Back Office Systems

Goals of Building Blocks For Students and Instructors Access to a wide range of discipline specific, pedagogically specific, and more engaging content and applications.

Goals of Building Blocks For System Administrators Creation of new breeds of applications to aid in the deployment management and operation of the Blackboard Platforms. Integration of other tools, applications, and services under a common platform.

Goals of Building Blocks For Developers Create an extensible platform which can be used to create exciting new applications, integrate existing tools, and extend the core modules on top of a common, easy to learn, platform.

Goals of Building Blocks For Partners Create a marketplace for 3 rd party application developers and consultants for their products and services.

Goals of Building Blocks For the CIO, CFO Enhance the ROI for Blackboard and other applications which can be integrated together to increase utilization.

Goals of Building Blocks For Blackboard Extend the value proposition for our clients far beyond what we as a single company can provide.

Types of Building Blocks Extend Existing Blackboard Functionality Add New Functionality into Blackboard Integrate 3 rd party applications with Blackboard Integrate Blackboard with “Back-office” SIS and Authentication Systems Create and Consume XML-Based Web Services Provide and Render portal modules, portlets, and RSS Channels Integrate with the Blackboard Transaction System … and MORE!

Types of Building Blocks Building Blocks which extend the existing functionality within Blackboard –Example: Adding a new content type and handler to the content engine such as a WYSIWYG Editor Blackboard Platform Building Blocks Manager JAVASQL Application Content Engine Text Images Multimedia WYSIWYG

Types of Building Blocks, contd. Building Blocks which add new functionality to Blackboard and take advantage of the Blackboard platforms “machinery” to run. –Example: Adding a new tool such as the dictionary / thesaurus tool to Blackboard. Blackboard Platform Building Blocks Manager JAVASQL Application Dict / Thes Dictionary/Thesaurus

Types of Building Blocks, contd. Building Blocks which integrate a third party application with Blackboard –Example: Adding a new assessment engine to Blackboard Blackboard Platform Building Blocks Manager JAVASQL Application Gradebook Integration Agent Bb Assessment C++ 3 rd Party Assessment Engine SQL Integration Agent

Types of Building Blocks, contd. Integration Agents which integrates Blackboard with Back-office ERP systems such SIS system as well as authentication systems such as LDAP and Kerberos. Blackboard Platform Building Blocks Manager JAVASQL Application ERP Integration Agent SIS SystemLDAP Authentication Agent Application

Types of Building Blocks, contd. Integration agents or Building Blocks which interoperate with XML based Web Services. Blackboard Platform Building Blocks Manager JAVASQL Application Web Service Application

Types of Building Blocks, contd. Building Blocks which add new modules to the portal. –Example: adding a portal module which allows students and faculty to preview the menu at the dining halls. Blackboard Platform Building Blocks Manager JAVASQL Portal Module New Module New Portal Module

Types of Building Blocks, contd. Transaction System Integration agents or Building Blocks which enable interoperability across campus system and hardware via their ID card. –Example: Adding an integration with the Bb Transaction System to integrate a 3 rd party dining service system. Blackboard Platform Building Blocks Manager JAVASQL Application Agent Application $$

Building Blocks Program Components Building Blocks Web Sites Product Add-Ons “Tab” Learn about Building Blocks Building Blocks Catalog Featured Building Blocks Community Links Developers “Tab” Building Blocks Software Developers Kit (SDK) Documentation Sample Code

Building Blocks Program Components Blackboard Developer Network (BbDN) Developer Tab Bb Developer License Communities, Knowledge Base, Code Snippets, White Papers, Beta Software “Blackboard Enabled” Logo Program

Product Add-ons

Product Add-ons – B2 Catalog

Product Add-ons - Community

Developers

Developers – Code Samples

Developer - Documentation Documentation Application Framework Extension Developer Guide Extension Interfaces Module Developer Guide Extension Migration Guide Blackboard API Reference (JAVADoc) Blackboard API FAQ

Developer – Building Agents

Developer – Submit Building Block

Blackboard Developers Network

Developer Network Highlights Access to a large community of expert Blackboard developers and administrators Latest Blackboard Software Pre-release access to upcoming versions Additional documentation and code not available on public site

Active Community

Growing Community Outside of Bb

“Blackboard Enabled” Logo Program Look for the Logo! Independent Compatibility Testing –Conducted by Quality Partners Assurance of safety, reliability, quality

Building Blocks Roadmap Where have we been? Where are we today? Where are we going tomorrow?

Where have we been… Blackboard 5.5Release 6 1 st Generation of Building Blocks 1 st Release of APIs which included content, user, announcement, and others 1 st Release of the Building Block Manager which facilitated the deployment of building blocks UI hooks were student centric or content related Blackboard and the development community learned much. 2 nd Generation of Building Blocks APIs are made consistent and simplified. New APIs are added. 2 nd Release of the Building Block Manager enhances management; adds security. Additional UI hooks added throughout the platforms. New hooks for instructors and administrators available. Portal APIs and “Back Office” APIs are added

Where are we today? Over 500 Institutions are using Building Blocks Over 3,000 extensions have been downloaded from the catalog

3 rd Party Partners 3 rd Party Tools and Services Instant Messaging PDA Synchronization Enhanced Assessment Engines Enhanced Collaboration Engines Enhanced Handheld Support Enhanced Content Management Enhanced Content Handling Mathematical & Scientific Notation Content Management Portal Technologies Content … and Much, Much More!

Where are we going? Next ReleaseThe Future Addition of.NET based APIs which allow Building Blocks to be developed on any of the CLR supported languages. Additional UI hooks extend the integration capabilities to almost every area within the control panels. Enhanced Module support helps preserve customizations to those modules when they are updated. Event Based API System New classes of APIs such as reporting APIs UI and Building Block hooks into other elements of Blackboard such as “List Pages”, “Textboxes”, and “Browse Buttons”

Thank You Demos to Follow >

Building Blocks Manager Heart of the Blackboard Platform Technology that enables integration and interoperability with the Blackboard e-Education Suite Designed to readily allow data exchange between Blackboard and external systems. Controls security, permissions, and availability Manages the “launch points” within the UI Handles deployment and tracking Technical implementation may vary across Blackboard’s Platform Suite

Building Blocks Manager Blackboard Platform (LS/TS/CP) DB File System Content Gradebook Announcements User Course Membership Calendar Persistence Plugin Security Session TagLib (UI) Building Blocks Manager API Wrappers & Convenience Methods Data Integrity Enforcement User Interface Hooks / Availability Context Passing Security & Manifest Controls Deployment & Tracking

Building Blocks Manager

Integration Agents The software or specification that connects the Building Blocks Manager to the third party system, tool or content. Examples: –SIS System Agent PeopleSoft, Datatel, SCT –Authentication Agent LDAP, Kerberos, Active Directory –Third Party Applications and Hardware Instant Messaging, WYSIWYG Editors, Assessment Engines, Content Management Systems, Library Systems, NCR Registers, etc.. –XML-based Web Services