Sakai Content Integration Strategies

Dan McCallumSakai Winter Conference, Dec 7, 2006

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1. The Content Problem

2. Transformative Integrations

3. Proxied Integrations

4. Conclusions

The Content Problem

The Content Problem

• Can Sakai deliver content bundled in Archive Format ABC? How do I move my content from System X to Sakai?

• What kind of content?

• Are we talking about content, functionality or both? What about system state?

• Validity of a content integration solution is context-specific

• Migration and Integration – distinct concepts

Transformative Integrations

Transformative Integrations

• Characterized by:

– Mapping external content onto Sakai-native data

structures

– One-time or periodic data synchronization;

offline/batch file processing

– Content delivery via Sakai-native tools and UIs

– XML “packages”

Transformative Integrations

• Appropriate when:

– Migrating users and/or content from another LMS

to Sakai

– Acceptable delivery tooling already exists in the

LMS

– Content does not change rapidly or can be

completely owned by the LMS

– Loose centralized content hosting requirements

Transformative Integration Example:Sakai Archives

Sakai Archives

• Site-oriented import/export using legacy Sakai XML schema.

• Primarily intended for intra-Sakai content reuse rather than cross-platform data interchange

• Support varies from service to service – can be difficult to predict import/export symmetry

• Recently added configurable service and role filters

Sakai Archives Pro/Con

• External content packages could be transformed to Sakai-native archives

• Relatively low risk: maximizes re-use of existing archive consumption code

• Archive schema itself is unpublished (except in Java code); widespread adoption unlikely

• What would a more robust archive service entail? Enter Zach Thomas and the MIG group…

Transformative Integration Example:ImportService

ImportService

• An architecture for format-agnostic inbound

content package handling

• Implementations parse, validate and import

data feeds to Sakai-native objects.

• Development tracked by Migration WG

(http://bugs.sakaiproject.org/confluence/displ

ay/MIG/Home)

ImportService

• Separation of concerns:

– Decouples data interchange formats from core Sakai services and entities

– Decouples object import operations from core Sakai service interfaces

• Fine-grained extensibility

• Flexible deployment/configuration model

• IMS and vendor-specific interchange formats

– Sakai native archive and IMS Common Cartridge 1.0 parsers in trunk

– Bb 5.5, 6, Web CT CE parsers available in contrib

Image courtesy of Mark Norton (http://bugs.sakaiproject.org/confluence/display/MIG/Archive+Service)

ImportService – Improvements?

• Plug-in auto-registration

• Export

• Error handling, rollback

• Automated tests

• ‘Dry run’ mode

• Published archive format support document

• UI-configurable IMS parsing

Transformative Integration Example:Melete

Melete CP Support – Upsides

• Demonstrable LAMS integration via IMS CP

(http://bugs.sakaiproject.org/confluence/displ

ay/MIG/Melete+and+LAMS)

• Straightforward UI

• Easily reusable content -- Unicon has used

Melete IMS CP for replicating Sakai training

materials across multiple Sites

Melete CP Support – Downsides

• Limited support for inlined exams, complex sequencing, meta-data…

• No content change synchronization workflow

• Silo-ed infrastructure: IMS CP de/serialization implementation not easily reused by other Sakai services

• Vendor CP profiles not supported architecturally (WebCT CP support via out-of-band XML transforms)

Transformative Integration Example:Samigo

Samigo

• Traditionally, QTI import/export embedded

exclusively in the tool and its services

• Sakai 2.3 distro includes a ‘SamigoHandler’

which can be registered with the

ImportService for consumption of inbound

QTI documents.

• UC Davis recently added question pool import

to the UI. (2.1.x, 2.4)

Transformative Integration Example:OCW

OCW

• Ambitious content export project, focused on Sakai->eduCommons integration

• OCW sites are generated from IMS CPs

• Theoretically, this architecture should overlap with the abstract Import/Export model above

• The overhead associated with OCW export illustrates some of the drawbacks of transformative migration – moving data between delivery engines comes at a price.

Proxied Integrations

Proxied Integrations

• Characterized by:

– Aggregated content delivery rather than content

ownership.

– Delegation to best-of-breed rather than tight

integration

– Application-to-application interaction rather than

periodic data synchronization

– Sakai as portal rather than applications suite

– Messaging rather than packaging

Proxied Integrations

• Appropriate when:

– Content requires sophisticated delivery tooling which is not tightly integrated with Sakai.

– Data transformation/synchronization is prohibitively complex and/or adds little value

– Content already available in convenient, standards-based, LMS-agnostic, feature- and meta-data-rich, online environment (e.g. a digital repository)

– Scalability/up-time considerations recommend distributed tool deployments

Proxied Integration Example:WebContent

WebContent

• Simplest application “integration” strategy

• Sakai authZ and context may not map well

• Potentially disruptive user experience

• iframes can be annoying (XSS JavaScript errors, erratic back-button behaviors)

• Wisconsin’s JSR-168 version of CWebProxy might be a candidate alternative to iframes

• uPortal implementors (MUN, Yale, Chico, Johns Hopkins) have been successful with heavy use of the WebProxy channel

Proxied Integration Example:RSS

RSS

• Sakai ships with an RSS reader tool (aka “News”)

• If external data can be published as an RSS feed, Sakai users can access it.

• Simple, well understood technology

• Appropriate when external content conforms conceptually to a ‘feed’ model.

• Delegates delivery of “heavy weight” content objects to external systems

• Sakai as a portal-style dashboard onto enterprise application events (registrar add/drop reminders?), course-specific content feeds, etc.

Proxied Integration Example:Direct External Links/SSO Gateways

Direct External Links/SSO Gateways

• Provide users with a value-added links from a Sakai

context to an external application

• Another low-complexity alternative to data

synchronization or full-blown application integration

• Rutgers LinkTool formalizes this approach – helps

pass context and authZ assertions to external

applications

• Lightweight Sakai-Elluminate integration has been

demonstrated with this approach

Virtual Content Hosting

Virtual Content Hosting

• Enhance Sakai content hosting capabilities to transparently expose externally-maintained data

• Provide virtualized fine-grained views onto complex, coarse grained content blobs.

• Register content handlers or launchers to present users with the appropriate delivery environment, e.g. a SCORM player connected to a tracker service.

• Sakai architecture plug: CHS implementation is completely swappable. (Highly) motivated institutions can always reinvent CHS to support their specific needs.

Virtual Content Hosting Examples

• See Ian Boston’s proposed architecture on the Sakai

wiki

• Portland State University elected to host some

content in Hive during WebCT-Sakai migration

• Non-CHS variations also possible. Yale wrapped a

thin authZ enforcement tool around legacy Classes

web content.

Virtual Content Hosting – Upsides

• Reduces risk of data transforms

• Allows for arbitrary resource re-use (i.e.

content need not be mapped to ‘canonical

Sakai entities’)

• Ensures long-term course content

accessibility and portability

• Leverages investments in dedicated digital

content repositories.

Virtual Content Hosting – Downsides

• Potential latency problems

• Complex configuration

• Searchability?

• CHS bottlenecking?

Distributed Tooling

Distributed Tooling

• Sakai tooling acts as (hopefully) lightweight facades encapsulating interactive access to external applications and data.

• A Sakai tool renders distributed application responses in a Sakai-appropriate fashion.

• IMS TIF (Tool Interoperability Framework) and WSRP – may or may not be viable in the short term

• Sakai-LAMS distributed integration has been demonstrated with lightweight web services

• Cambridge FlowTalk: highly sophisticated distributed tool integration w/ custom wire protocol

Distributed Tooling – Upsides

• From TIF literature: "Most tools/applications

are NOT going to be ported into … Sakai...

and/or Blackboard... and/or WebCT.“

• LMS scalability and uptime enhanced by

distributed computing load, memory footprint

and data storage requirements

• Allows for consistent user experience across

a range of best-of-breed tools

Distributed Tooling – Downsides

• Latency

• Development, deployment and support

complexity

• Unproven standards

Conclusions

Modes of Integration

Transformative Proxied

Migrate Integrate

Own Aggregate

Import/Export Query

Producer/Consumer Peers

Data Applications

Synchronize Delegate

Local Distributed

Application Portal

Packages Messages

Destination Gateway

Summary and Conclusions

• Major advances in Sakai content import/export for v2.3, 2.4 Should reduce historical barriers to Sakai adoption.

• Migration is great, but…

• Can we actually deliver more value to users by treating Sakai as a portal or dashboard rather than a destination?

• Distributed tooling can expose arbitrary best-of-breed apps to Sakai while potentially addressing scalability issues

• You may not need heavy-weight remoting technologies and standards (TIF, WSRP) to implement distributed tooling or expose already web-enabled content

• What about library content? Integration can have highly specialized requirements. Anticipate some flavor of virtualized content hosting-based integration.

Dan McCallumdmccallum@unicon.net

www.unicon.nethttp://www.unicon.net/support_1089.html

Questions?