Reflections on CMS deployment at the University of York Richard Walker VLE Project Leader Wayne Britcliffe Digital Learning Resources Manager 14 November 2005

Agenda From context to CMS deployment –York’s vision & requirements Use cases, policy and practice Development requirements –Issues for discussion

York’s Context Founded in 1963 Currently students and over 30 academic departments and research centres Rapid expansion planned –new campus (Heslington East) Devolved rather than centralised teaching / admin culture Grass-roots e-learning experience, not evenly distributed Previously no central e-learning provision, but TIDC grants to support local innovation

E-learning objectives embedded within Learning & Teaching Strategy: Provision of student-centred approaches to learning - addressing issues of diversity through flexible and varied modes of study Provision of flexible approaches to teaching and assessment The need to grow sustainably both in terms of increasing student numbers and in terms of the needs of education, training, research and employment Exploring the possibility of developing more flexible programme structures and modes of delivery (both campus-based and remote)

Key milestones in VLE deployment Full availability of system slated for following an incremental rollout. LMS/CMS and Community Gateway to be rolled out simultaneously Procurement of full Academic Suite December 2004 Installation of system / consultancy engagement Jan 2005 CMS consultancy engagement May 2005 Launch of prototype projects Summer 2005 Approval of VLE guidance policy by University Teaching Committee November 2005 Launch of first round of pilot projects (x21) Jan – July 2006

York’s vision for the VLE (LMS/CMS) A flexible online environment for learning and teaching content, which enables collaboration and sharing amongst students, staff and their departments Promotion of student -centred learning through sharing work in a collaborative setting and by providing searchable learning resources Fostering online collaboration between departments, academics and students Increasing efficiency and continuity (avoidance of replication, reuse of learning objects) Central management of technical resource and hardware infrastructure, while allowing for the delegated management of content at the department, academic and student level Goals

York’s requirements for the CMS Storage point for all teaching and learning related content (not general storage for web content) Support delegated management of content at the department, academic and student level Support for development of high value content (accessible / searchable) Support for resource discovery (DC metadata/searchable) Tools to support import /export of entire directories of files of content Standards compliant – for packaging and import /export of LTOs (SCORM 2004)

CMS engagement (May 2005) Use cases focused on: –Developing and storing content for live modules (uploading content; sharing content in a published format; linking from a module to published content) –Categorizing and creating searchable High Quality Content (Reviewing and publishing high value LTOs within Learning Objects Catalogue) to make widely re-usable content easy to access by all to showcase exemplar materials –Using Academic Suite as a delivery mechanism for PDPs

Use case : York’s approach All content delivered through VLE must be stored in CMS departmental folders & linked to from the LMS (file store quotas consistent with this approach) All ‘live’ content must be accessible to all staff – read access to all users. Staff required to complete general metadata field establishing authorship /content description Peers encouraged to redeploy / modify LTOs All ‘live’ content must be retained within departmental folders – only minor editing permitting to ‘live’ objects (no deletion / change of location) Departments free to manage own file store within VLE

Course Development Procedure

Use case : Key functionality Institution Roles: implemented to delegate content management (i.e. Department Administrators will have full management permissions to the Department Content area; staff roles created for management of subsidiary folders) Workflow mechanism: collaborative developments & notification functionality Comments: collaborative developments / discussion forum on a per file basis Pass functionality: for those without log-in credentials

Use case : Functionality left “off” E-Reserves (existing Library solution for access to copyrighted resources) Versioning (a precautionary file store measure) Library Content –Library is represented by its own module tab at York PDPs currently off –Working party exploring range of solutions

VLE Policy statement : Summary CMS as permanent repository for teaching & learning resources Redeployment encouraged –With acknowledgement to author Open access to published content folders Shared IPR between University and staff –Reuse for both parties High value objects –Reviewed and updated with suitable recognition for academic contributors

Development issues Modification / customisation of metadata forms as part of basic Sys Admin Bb functionality –User-definable pop-ups for controlled keyword lists –Mandatory /suggested metadata entry fields (taking account of licensing / CLA requirements) Metadata child inheritance for materials uploaded using web folder functionality (designated fields e.g. author/date) SCORM compliance for import/export of LTOs Automated checking of links made to CMS from LMS Customisation of CMS search tools to use metadata effectively Storage of test / survey questions and attached media

Future challenges Collaboration and interoperability between institutions Import / export of LTOs (for repurposing) between institutional repositories (SCORM 2004) Opportunities related to Bb/Web CT merger for content sharing and programme development Standards compliance –packaging and exporting of LTOs CLA – copyright management and reporting

Many thanks for your attention Richard Walker Wayne Britcliffe : :