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• in-house VLE project started in 1998• initially one developer (Ian Thompson)
• development contributions from• Tim Plumridge (Pharmaceutical Sciences)• Ian Thurlbeck (STAMS) • Fraser Murray (Mathematics/ P&A Chemistry)• additional modules e.g. CIS student projects
SPIDERSPIDER
Usage of SPIDERUsage of SPIDER
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
Academic session
SPIDER - class growth
Classes 1 30 60 100 120 350 430 706
98-99 99-00 00-01 01-02 02-03 03-04 04-05 05-06
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
Academic session
SPIDER - user growth
Users 120 400 1000 2000 2200 4100 7200 11000
98-99 99-00 00-01 01-02 02-03 03-04 04-05 05-06
Usage of SPIDERUsage of SPIDER
Table 1: Class and user growth since inception in 1998
Session 98-99 99-00 00-01 01-02 02-03 03-04 04-05 05-06Users 120 400* 1,000 2,000 2,200* 4,100 7,200 11,000Classes 1 30* 60 100 120* 350 430 706
* estimate, as figures not available
Usage of SPIDERUsage of SPIDER
Usage of SPIDERUsage of SPIDER
Faculty of Science• used by all 10 departments• organised into 7 “clusters”
Business School• Master of International Management• MSc Economic Management & Policy• MSc International and Financial Economics• ~40 staff, ~600 students + alumni
LASS - providing ePDP for all new ug (~800+)
Education/ CAS/ SCA PDP and classes for 395 students + 31 staff
Chemeng - ePDP for ~200 students (17 staff users)
Usage of SPIDERUsage of SPIDER
Monthly usage - term time ~1.5M page visits* per month, ~50-70,000 per day
- 4,000 different users/ week
* 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 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
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 independantly
* 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
* option to limit access to class list/ staff if required
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• +/- 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• 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 peformance
Remedial action can be taken early
Addresses
http://spider.science.strath.ac.uk
Development serverhttp://spider-dev.pharmacy.strath.ac.uk
Ian Thompson x2969 [email protected]
