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Drupal for Higher Education and Virtual Learning

Gabriel Dragomir
Gabriel Dragomir

This document discusses using Drupal to build a virtual learning platform for higher education. It describes how Fedora Commons can be used to create large repositories for storing learning objects and metadata. Islandora and the Fedora REST API module provide Drupal integrations for Fedora Commons. BigBlueButton can be used for video conferencing. Together these open source tools can be used to develop a flexible, scalable virtual learning application within a Drupal framework.

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Drupal for Virtual Learning And Higher Education
Next generation virtual learning Most Virtual Learning solutions include at least the following: - a repository of learning objects: various resources used to build a course or a training - an infrastructure for communication: email, chat, videoconferencing
Next generation virtual learning Usually we get fast and scalable solution for these reqs: - from proprietary platforms - $$$$$ - building up our own meshup solutions using open source technologies
The challenge A typical modern university VLE: Must accomodate tens of thousands of users Must store hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of objects (not necessarily documents) together with semantic metadata Must deliver content over the net distance learning, online courses Must integrate with academic regulations, has special workflows Must have excellent community features
Drupal Drupal is a solution already implemented in many universities Stands out as a higly flexible framework Is a platform for social web applications Semantic web ready
Next generation virtual learning Recent solutions: Open Source, well financed, large support communities Some examples: Fedora Commons: http://www.fedora-commons.org/ An application providing the infrastructure to create huge repositories Cornell University, DuraSpace Foundation BigBlueButton: http://bigbluebutton.org/ A university oriented videoconferencing server based on several open source technologies (Flex, Asterisk, Red5 etc.)
Here comes the juice Fedora Commons and Drupal Islandora: a set of Drupal modules developed at Robertson Library at the University of Prince Edward Island: http://islandora.ca Fedora REST Api: a module developed by Don Gourley at Digital Humanities Observatory BigBlueButton and Drupal: http://drupal.org/project/bbb - sanduhrs from erdfisch.de. Still in development, but doing the job
What can we do with them? Develop a Drupal based virtual leaning application for higher education or corporate training. FEDORA COMMONS: Create huge repositories with thematic and semantically organized collections of resources: - we're talking about millions of objects: documents, images, complex objects (several pdfs + images + xls files + whatever you need to store) - store metadata, develop controlled vocabularies for your collections - index and search with Apache Solr - get objects from the repostory into Drupal and do whatever you want with them
What can we do with them? Develop a Drupal based virtual leaning application for higher education or corporate training. BigBlueButton - Get 100 people together and do a videoconference delivering a training with full duplex communication and high quality VOIP - Broadcast whatever course materials you have and share desktops - Have user roles in the events: moderators, participants etc. - in the near future: record conferences
A platform for creating large archives (repositories) We can store, access (with access policies) and manage any kind of resources It is extensible, it provides a set of APIs for developing tools, ingesting and retrieving data It is open source and has a big and growing community
http://encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org
http://dho.ie/drapier/ - Drupal and FC
Some technical details FC is implemented by using Java services (Tomcat) Everything is a data object Each data object can have datastreams A datastream holds digital content or metadata about the data object Each data object may implement various relationships to any number of other objects
Some technical details Each data object is represented by a XML file FC manages the XML: stores data about How to find components of the object (datastreams) The history of object's alterations Access and use policies, checksums The whole deployment can be restored from a backup of these XML files
Digital objects - basic components PID: A persistent, unique identifier for the object. Object Properties: A set of system-defined descriptive properties that are necessary to manage and track the object in the repository. Datastream(s): The element in a Fedora digital object that represents a content item: eg. Dublin Core metadata, high- res image, low-res image etc.
FOXML: a simple XML format that directly expresses the Fedora Digital Object Model Each data object is represented by a FOXML file FOXML files are also used to ingest or export objects The schema reflects the basic structure of a digital object
<digitalObject PID="uniqueID"> <!-- there are a set of core object properties --> <objectProperties> <property/> <property/> ... </objectProperties> <!-- there can be zero or more datastreams --> <datastream> <datastreamVersion/> <datastreamVersion/> ... </datastream> </digitalObject>
Fedora Commons has a steap learning curve, just like Drupal Detailed documentation on: http://www.fedora-commons.org
FC is a toolkit for building repositories Needs some serious development effort to build the data models It is easier to work with it by using some of the front-ends Islandora: a front end based on Drupal Fedora REST Api: an implementation of FC API's allowing for custom development of FC front-ends and data consuming applications based on Drupal
Islandora Provides a basic front end to FC (there is still a lot of work to be done at FC level to create a new repository) Provides authentication and roles based on Drupal user tables Allows the creation of views from FC collections (no UI, just XSLT templates) Allows the ingestion of new objects into collection Integrates Apache SOLR search
Islandora Demo using Islandora VirtualBox appliance Download it from: http://islandora.ca Local IP: 192.168.56.101 OpenSolaris: root/opensolaris Islandora: admin/demo
Islandora Pros Almost out of the box solution It is pretty versatile for searching, browsing and ingesting new objects It is a very good starting point for developing FC based applications with Drupal Cons Does not store anything in Drupal tables, it just links to records. There is not so much integration with other Drupal modules like CCK, Taxonomy, Views Does not fully implement FC APIs, so extenting is an issue
Fedora REST API module More Drupal like approach contributed a few weeks ago Developed by Don Gourley Digital Humanities Observatory, Ireland Still as CVS project application, I hope it will get on: http://drupal.org/node/793616 Provides a full implementation of FC APIs, unlike a similar Drupal CVS application: http://drupal.org/node/771670
Fedora REST API module What it does: Provides an interface to access all FC REST methods (more details in a moment) Implements a content type fedora objectfor representing a digital object from FC Hook implementations for mapping any digital object to Drupal nodes Admin interface for mass importing of objects from FC collections Basic tools for developing a fully integrated interface to DC: Workflows User access Taxonomies, CCK etc
Fedora REST API module Two main Fedora Commons APIs API-A: Fedora Access fulfill a client's request for dissemination Methods for repository access, object access (find, get history, get profile), datastream (retrieve actual content or metadata) etc. API-M: Fedora Manage Create, modify, delete objects or components of digital objects Manage datastreams, relationships and objects Fedora REST API exposes a subset of API-A and API-M as a RESTful Web Service
Fedora REST API module A live implementation: http://dho.ie/drapier/ A local demo with FC demo collection some basic functions Check Don's Git workspace: http://github.com/dongourley/fedora_rest
Delivering training BigBlueButton
BigBlueButton http://drupal.org/project/bbb Content type to hold session/conference schedule Implements BBB API: meeting intiation, status, joining, reports
Solutions for a large scale app Repository: Fedora Commons Repository front end: Drupal based front end for Fedora Commons Islandora/Fedora REST API Indexing and search: Apache Solr Video conferencing: Big Blue Button Virtual Learning Platform: Drupal

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Drupal for Higher Education and Virtual Learning

  • 1. Drupal for Virtual Learning And Higher Education
  • 2. Next generation virtual learning Most Virtual Learning solutions include at least the following: - a repository of learning objects: various resources used to build a course or a training - an infrastructure for communication: email, chat, videoconferencing
  • 3. Next generation virtual learning Usually we get fast and scalable solution for these reqs: - from proprietary platforms - $$$$$ - building up our own meshup solutions using open source technologies
  • 4. The challenge A typical modern university VLE: Must accomodate tens of thousands of users Must store hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of objects (not necessarily documents) together with semantic metadata Must deliver content over the net distance learning, online courses Must integrate with academic regulations, has special workflows Must have excellent community features
  • 5. Drupal Drupal is a solution already implemented in many universities Stands out as a higly flexible framework Is a platform for social web applications Semantic web ready
  • 6. Next generation virtual learning Recent solutions: Open Source, well financed, large support communities Some examples: Fedora Commons: http://www.fedora-commons.org/ An application providing the infrastructure to create huge repositories Cornell University, DuraSpace Foundation BigBlueButton: http://bigbluebutton.org/ A university oriented videoconferencing server based on several open source technologies (Flex, Asterisk, Red5 etc.)
  • 7. Here comes the juice Fedora Commons and Drupal Islandora: a set of Drupal modules developed at Robertson Library at the University of Prince Edward Island: http://islandora.ca Fedora REST Api: a module developed by Don Gourley at Digital Humanities Observatory BigBlueButton and Drupal: http://drupal.org/project/bbb - sanduhrs from erdfisch.de. Still in development, but doing the job
  • 8. What can we do with them? Develop a Drupal based virtual leaning application for higher education or corporate training. FEDORA COMMONS: Create huge repositories with thematic and semantically organized collections of resources: - we're talking about millions of objects: documents, images, complex objects (several pdfs + images + xls files + whatever you need to store) - store metadata, develop controlled vocabularies for your collections - index and search with Apache Solr - get objects from the repostory into Drupal and do whatever you want with them
  • 9. What can we do with them? Develop a Drupal based virtual leaning application for higher education or corporate training. BigBlueButton - Get 100 people together and do a videoconference delivering a training with full duplex communication and high quality VOIP - Broadcast whatever course materials you have and share desktops - Have user roles in the events: moderators, participants etc. - in the near future: record conferences
  • 10. A platform for creating large archives (repositories) We can store, access (with access policies) and manage any kind of resources It is extensible, it provides a set of APIs for developing tools, ingesting and retrieving data It is open source and has a big and growing community
  • 13. Some technical details FC is implemented by using Java services (Tomcat) Everything is a data object Each data object can have datastreams A datastream holds digital content or metadata about the data object Each data object may implement various relationships to any number of other objects
  • 14. Some technical details Each data object is represented by a XML file FC manages the XML: stores data about How to find components of the object (datastreams) The history of object's alterations Access and use policies, checksums The whole deployment can be restored from a backup of these XML files
  • 15. Digital objects - basic components PID: A persistent, unique identifier for the object. Object Properties: A set of system-defined descriptive properties that are necessary to manage and track the object in the repository. Datastream(s): The element in a Fedora digital object that represents a content item: eg. Dublin Core metadata, high- res image, low-res image etc.
  • 16. FOXML: a simple XML format that directly expresses the Fedora Digital Object Model Each data object is represented by a FOXML file FOXML files are also used to ingest or export objects The schema reflects the basic structure of a digital object
  • 17. <digitalObject PID="uniqueID"> <!-- there are a set of core object properties --> <objectProperties> <property/> <property/> ... </objectProperties> <!-- there can be zero or more datastreams --> <datastream> <datastreamVersion/> <datastreamVersion/> ... </datastream> </digitalObject>
  • 18. Fedora Commons has a steap learning curve, just like Drupal Detailed documentation on: http://www.fedora-commons.org
  • 19. FC is a toolkit for building repositories Needs some serious development effort to build the data models It is easier to work with it by using some of the front-ends Islandora: a front end based on Drupal Fedora REST Api: an implementation of FC API's allowing for custom development of FC front-ends and data consuming applications based on Drupal
  • 20. Islandora Provides a basic front end to FC (there is still a lot of work to be done at FC level to create a new repository) Provides authentication and roles based on Drupal user tables Allows the creation of views from FC collections (no UI, just XSLT templates) Allows the ingestion of new objects into collection Integrates Apache SOLR search
  • 21. Islandora Demo using Islandora VirtualBox appliance Download it from: http://islandora.ca Local IP: 192.168.56.101 OpenSolaris: root/opensolaris Islandora: admin/demo
  • 22. Islandora Pros Almost out of the box solution It is pretty versatile for searching, browsing and ingesting new objects It is a very good starting point for developing FC based applications with Drupal Cons Does not store anything in Drupal tables, it just links to records. There is not so much integration with other Drupal modules like CCK, Taxonomy, Views Does not fully implement FC APIs, so extenting is an issue
  • 23. Fedora REST API module More Drupal like approach contributed a few weeks ago Developed by Don Gourley Digital Humanities Observatory, Ireland Still as CVS project application, I hope it will get on: http://drupal.org/node/793616 Provides a full implementation of FC APIs, unlike a similar Drupal CVS application: http://drupal.org/node/771670
  • 24. Fedora REST API module What it does: Provides an interface to access all FC REST methods (more details in a moment) Implements a content type fedora objectfor representing a digital object from FC Hook implementations for mapping any digital object to Drupal nodes Admin interface for mass importing of objects from FC collections Basic tools for developing a fully integrated interface to DC: Workflows User access Taxonomies, CCK etc
  • 25. Fedora REST API module Two main Fedora Commons APIs API-A: Fedora Access fulfill a client's request for dissemination Methods for repository access, object access (find, get history, get profile), datastream (retrieve actual content or metadata) etc. API-M: Fedora Manage Create, modify, delete objects or components of digital objects Manage datastreams, relationships and objects Fedora REST API exposes a subset of API-A and API-M as a RESTful Web Service
  • 26. Fedora REST API module A live implementation: http://dho.ie/drapier/ A local demo with FC demo collection some basic functions Check Don's Git workspace: http://github.com/dongourley/fedora_rest
  • 27. Delivering training BigBlueButton
  • 28. BigBlueButton http://drupal.org/project/bbb Content type to hold session/conference schedule Implements BBB API: meeting intiation, status, joining, reports
  • 29. Solutions for a large scale app Repository: Fedora Commons Repository front end: Drupal based front end for Fedora Commons Islandora/Fedora REST API Indexing and search: Apache Solr Video conferencing: Big Blue Button Virtual Learning Platform: Drupal