status 2008 ian d. thompson [email protected] ©university of strathclyde 2008
TRANSCRIPT
• in-house VLE project started in 1998• initially one developer (Ian Thompson)
• development contributions from• Tim Plumridge (SIPBS)• Ian Thurlbeck (STAMS) • Fraser Murray (Mathematics/ P&A Chemistry)• additional modules e.g. CIS student projects
SPIDERSPIDER
Usage of SPIDERUsage of SPIDER
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
Academic session
SPIDER - class growth
Classes 1 30 60 100 120 350 430 706 900 1010
98-99 99-00 00-01 01-02 02-03 03-04 04-05 05-06 06-07 07-08
Usage of SPIDERUsage of SPIDER
06-07 includes ~2000 alumni accounts
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
Academic session
SPIDER - user growth
Users 120 400 1000 2000 2200 4100 7200 11000 17000 22000
98-99 99-00 00-01 01-02 02-03 03-04 04-05 05-06 06-07 07-08
Table 1: Class and user growth since inception in 1998
* estimate, as true figures not availablea includes alumni accounts
Usage of SPIDERUsage of SPIDER
Session 98-99 99-00 00-01 01-02 02-03 03-04 04-05 05-06 06-07 07-08
Users 120 400* 1000 2000 2200* 4100 7200 11000a 17000a 22000a
Classes 1 30* 60 100 120* 350 430 706 900 1010
08-09
26,249a
1149
Usage of SPIDERUsage of SPIDER
Faculty of Science• used by all departments• organised in 7 “clusters”, ~800 staff• used to support admin and research in addition to teaching
Business School 1 cluster: economics, since 2003
• MSc Economic Management & Policy• MSc International and Financial Economics• 37 staff, ~300 students (inc alumni)
Education• 3 clusters (education, CAS, SCA)• PDP, questionnaires, classes for 2200+ students, 109 staff since 04-05
Usage of SPIDERUsage of SPIDER
Chemical engineering• ePDP for ~300 students (17 staff users) since 2004
LASS• cluster providing ePDP for all new ug since 05-06• approx 1800 students, 22 staff
• Law School • from session 06-07• approx 145 staff and 2000 students• 3rd biggest cluster (by usage) after pharmacy and bioscience
• Psychology• migrated from webCT to use in 07-08• 31 staff, 380 students
Usage of SPIDERUsage of SPIDER
Geogsoc• Geography and Sociology currently testing with 1 class (2 staff, 36 students)
Modern languages showing some interest
‘Other’• students/staff not affiliated to any of the above• 47 staff, ~2700 students• central departments, service teaching
Usage of SPIDERUsage of SPIDER
Monthly usage - term time ~1.5 to 2M+ page visits* per month, ~50-110,000 per day
• typically 4-7,500+ different users/ month• 9,315 users in semester 1, 2006-07• 10,005 users in semester 1, 2007-08• 10,246 users in semester 2, 2007-08
• 8,200 so far in Oct 2008 alone
* page visit - single page request by user, rather than “hits” - a single page request will generate many hits (one for HTML + each image or other media) - SPIDER gets 5M+ ‘hits’ a week
SPIDER hardwareSPIDER hardware
Primary server* Dual Xeon 3GHz CPU 2Gb RAM, RAID 5 ~90Gb SCSI ~£3,500 in 2004
Mirror server x2 PIII 800MHz, 1Gb RAM, RAID 5 ~60Gb SCSI rsync + MySQL slaves
Development server PII 533MHz, 512Mb RAM, 10Gb HD
* just ordered new Quad Core Xeon, 8GB RAM, 0.8Tb Raid 5 system (~£2k), will use iSCSI storage (shared with SIPBS file server) and offsite mirror in Royal College by end 2008/ Q1 2009
Typical VLE
class class classclass
is in class
learner
controls
tutor
VLE structureVLE structure
SPIDER
cluster
department
class class class class
SPIDER
cluster 2
department
class class class
can view
department
is in class
learner
tutor
belongs to
canview
cluster 3
department
class class class
cluster 4
department
class class class
department
class class
profileclasses, groupsexam & quiz resultsprogressePDP...
VLE structureVLE structure
SPIDER “clusters” structureSPIDER “clusters” structure
• model university structure of degrees, departments and classes
• provide control & communication at• course/ programme level (cluster)• department level• class level
• allow customisation
SPIDER managementSPIDER management
each cluster has own admin(s)• one or more academic/technical/computing/administrative staff• 11 user groups - flexible administration
• distributed/ shared• “central”/ individual(s) • mix of both to suit departmental needs
after training local expertise• first line help & advice
+ help from other admins/ developers
Class/ cluster content controlClass/ cluster content control
Editor, sub-admin and admins manage content at cluster level
“Class editor” user• any (staff) user can control one (or more) classes’:
• content• exam returns• class lists
open access to any class*• curiosity/ general interest• learner revision• view good practice/ staff peer review• no problems with late registration• class list is stored independently
* option to limit access to class list/ staff if required
SPIDER classesSPIDER classes
session tabs• groups class material by academic session (e.g. 2005-06)
• auto-archiving of materials
• student access for revision
• session tab access can be restricted to students on class list for matching session e.g. only allow revision students to access solutions
SPIDER classesSPIDER classes
student “object” allows SPIDER to provide class
independent:• information to staff• tools for students (+ staff)
examples• counsellees tool student profile
• performance monitoring/ tracking - EWS• ePDP• myCounsellor• attendance register• blogs• non-class groups
User objectUser object
Any staff user can post news items• appear on home page (+class page if relevant)
• +/- email copy - replaces email lists for many depts• target any combination of 1 or more class(es), year(s), cluster• user can filter news “feeds”• moves to archive after 7 days or once “marked read” by user
Private messaging• appears in users private message space• +/- email copy• staff can target individuals, counsellees or sub groups of counsellees, user input list or
any ‘group’ they own/belong to • students can message each other via groups/ discussions
News/ communicationNews/ communication
EWSEWS
Early Warning System• Uses myCounsellees tool• Staff can quickly view student progress/results• Indication of poor performance
Remedial action can be taken early
DevelopmentDevelopmentSPIDER is an in-house system
• we own the core code• built to meet our needs/ teaching style• customisation to meet the needs of our users• flexible• rapid bug fixing/ tweaks• modular code
• cluster specific tools• anyone can contribute developments/ new tools/ ideas
• not just for teaching• dept web sites, radiation records, asset register, lab stocks, document
store….
Addresses
http://spider.science.strath.ac.uk
Development serverhttp://spider-dev.pharmacy.strath.ac.uk
Ian Thompson
x2969 [email protected]