The document discusses Oxford University's hierarchy of Sakai sites to help decentralize administration. It outlines the challenges of managing many sites across different departments and colleges. The approach taken was to create administration sites for each department and college with reduced administrator rights. These administration sites allow local coordinators to manage the hierarchy and access for their unit's sites. Issues addressed include users not following guidelines and confusion over the hierarchy. Future initiatives discussed include mobile interfaces and improved group management tools.
1. Using a Hierarchy of Sites to Help Decentralise Administration Dr Adam Marshall, The University of Oxford
2. Topics Overview of Oxford IT support model Challenges Approach Hierarchy Managing access Administration sites Issues Future initiatives March 2010 2 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
3. First of all, some gratuitous photos of … Oxford University March 2010 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain.. 3
10. The lay of the land There are 704 IT support staff: 38 colleges 6 permanent private halls 7 Divisions (4 academic) 193 departments 20,000 students 18,000 staff March 2010 10 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
11. Sakai support Small central team (3 people) ‘WebLearn’ Service manager; Learning technologist / trainer; Developer Each unit has IT support staff (ITSS) Each unit has Sakai administrators Called ‘Local WebLearn Coordinators’ Create / setup / manage sites First line of support March 2010 11 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
12. Now it’s time to hear about … Challenges March 2010 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain.. 12
14. Requirements A hierarchy of sites Access for ‘large groups’ Local coordinators have ‘admin’ rights Local coordinators can delegate rights March 2010 14 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
15. Local Coordinators Must Be able to create new & copy existing sites Place and move sites in the hierarchy Grant create rights to others Have access to all a unit’s sites Assign visit rights to: .auth, .anon, ‘all staff’, ‘all students’, …. Not do anything too dangerous! March 2010 15 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
16. Time to explain our … Approach March 2010 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain.. 16
18. What we did Project sites only Arranged in hierarchy Administration Sites (Cf Admin Workspace) One per unit Participants have reduced ‘admin’ rights Different roles Improved ‘Manage Access’ page March 2010 18 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
19. This is a hard word to spell … Hierarchy March 2010 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain.. 19
21. Oxford Hierarchy Welcome Page Division Department Module March 2010 21 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
22. Implementation Used hierarchy service from Evaluations Overlay hierarchy over pool of sites No inheritance Only display sites user can visit .auth / .anon sites can be in hierarchy Use tabs as ‘breadcrumb trail’ New ‘hierarchy box’ under ‘tool list’ New ‘manage box’ under ‘hierarchy box’ March 2010 22 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
24. Navigation Welcome Page Division Department Breadcrumb trail March 2010 24 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
25. Tools Create site Bring site (a site can be in > 1 place) Arrange (remove, swap) Need: Move / remove tree Copy tree ‘Primary location’ ‘Sync instances’ – same sub-sites everywhere March 2010 25 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
26. Issues My Workspace is sidelined Users expect inheritance (like our old VLE) Users want ‘Search under here’ ‘Active sites’ list has no context Navigation if parent site is not visible Can’t actually delete sites Since no record is kept: too dangerous! March 2010 26 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
27. Supplementary Tools Find sites with ‘and visit’ patch ‘Search all my sites’ option Grey-out unpublished sites Improved access management (see later) Administration sites plus tools (see later) March 2010 27 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
28. Find Sites Tool March 2010 28 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
29. Now some information about … Managing Access March 2010 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain.. 29
36. Requirements Administrator powers but, Simpler Safer Constrained Create sites Manage hierarchy ‘Administrator’ access to unit’s hierarchy A second level with less rights ‘Auditor’ access
37. How Admin Sites Work Are said to manage other sites Have three roles: Admin (Local WebLearn Coordinators) Create sites in unit’s area Visit admin site & add others Automatically have ‘maintain’ rights is all managed sites Member (Lecturers / Administration staff) Create sites where maintainer Audit (Internal / External auditors) Visit and read rights Admin Sites have dedicated tool: Site List
41. Admin Site Roles Admin Can ‘maintain’ all sites Can create new sites = Project site Member = Admin site Can create sites where maintainer Audit Division Can browse all sites Department Module Maintain European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain.. Barbie: http://www.flickr.com/photos/34281632@N03/4060738088/ March 2010 41 Mr Potato Head: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tinker-tailor/4264780554/ Action man: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tinker-tailor/4264099802/in/set-72157623183566430/
42. Management We have drafted guidelines Users must request ‘Admin Site’ Sign to say “guidelines have been read” We keep public list of Local Coordinators
43. And finally … Issues March 2010 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain.. 43
45. Users Cause Most Problems! March 2010 45 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
46. Common Problems Users don’t read guidelines/documentation Misunderstandings A user gave .anon access to admin site. This made all managed sites .anon too. Whoops! Departments don’t formulate a policy No coherent approach – confused students Too many sub-sites Too few sub-sites!
47. In Summary Users like what we’ve done But old VLE (Bodington) had same features Seems to work well Lots of user education needed Need more tools Merging process is very difficult (use Git) Sakai 3 – arrgghh!!
48. Let us now gaze into our crystal ball … Future initiatives March 2010 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain.. 48
50. What’s Next? (1) Smartphone interface Uses JSON / SDATA & oAuth Information summary Tutorial sign-up (Yale) Oxford podcasts News tool with media player & feed browser March 2010 50 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..
51. What’s Next? (2) Groups store integration Centrally stored ad-hoc groups Will replace internal groups Evaluations tool Extend Turnitin support Sharepoint & Exchange interoperability! March 2010 51 European Sakai Conference – Valencia - Spain..