(by Jolee West, May 2006)
As use of online resources like Blackboard, eRes, and the media database increases on campus, the need for a centralized digital repository, or content server, is growing. By creating a central repository, we can streamline the campus file systems heavily used in teaching. Integrating a content server with Blackboard will address a number of vexing problems inherent in Blackboard, and at the same time integrate the disparate file systems currently in use on campus, for example, the /media and /openmedia storage on condor, course spaces on dragon, and eRes.
File management problems in Blackboard stem from there being no internal repository for documents, even on a course-independent basis (as is found in WebCT). Here are some of the issues in detail:
[Editorial Note: Bb now has a feature that allows the user to copy a document or folder from one course to another without re-uploading.]
[Editorial Note: Bb now has a feature that allows the user to copy a document or folder from one course to another without re-uploading. However, an instructor must be an instructor in any course to which a file or folder will be copied.]
The ideal content server would integrate with Blackboard, provide a means for instructors to reference documents in multiple courses, provide access to other instructors or groups of students, and allow the user to edit the document on the server.
Most would agree that the many file systems on campus are becoming burdensome, both to those who administer them and to students and instructors. An ideal content server would permit granular permissions to be assigned at various levels, by the ITS staff, then by users themselves. Thus, an instructor would be able to share a file with students by way of Blackboard, but also provide another instructor with access to that file (perhaps read-only access). Librarians could create discipline-specific and course-specific areas where instructors and students could access information through Blackboard or directly through the content server when Blackboard is not in use. Instructors could store their media files on the content server and set permissions on files themselves to allow browsing by Wesleyan users only, or provide world access. This would integrate the currently split media directories on condor.
We are collecting scenarios to illustrate how users currently use the file server Dragon, the web server condor.wesleyan.edu, fileshare, and Blackboard. The exercise will provide us with a richer understanding of how people use the systems, with the intent of improving them and the types of services they provide.
Here is an example scenario:
I set up a dropbox on Dragon for one of my courses for the students to submit homework assignments. They can drag a file into the folder, but cannot read any files there except their own. My TAs and I have full access to this space, however. We can read, change, or delete any files in it.
**Please feel free to submit your own scenarios to the UseScenarios page. *
Please post your evaluation comments on the Evaluations page.
Xerox: http://docushare.xerox.com/products/literature.html
Xythos: http://www.xythos.com/home/xythos/products/enterprise_document_management_suite.html
WebDrive: (WebDAV client for Windows): http://www.webdrive.com/products/webdrive/index.html
(attended by Jolee)
A discussion of functionality they are working on for future releases. Next release, late summer.