DIVERSE

Ben Trott

Max Woollard

26th October 2011

Aims for this session

• Understand what DIVERSE is

• Understand how DIVERSE can benefit you

• Understand how to use DIVERSE

• Understand how DIVERSE links to Component Based Software Engineering

• To be aware of the advantages and disadvantages of CBSE

What is DIVERSE?

• DIVERSE: Development and Integration of Varying Educational Resources and Student Engagement.

• DIVERSE is a social collaboration based virtual learning tool.

• DIVERSE is all about getting students more involved with their studies.– Student as Producer

What is DIVERSE?

• DIVERSE is a tool for constructing resource clouds.

• DIVERSE allows students to interact with resources and collaborate together

• DIVERSE aims to make the student experience more interactive.

Resource Clouds

• A resource cloud is created for each topic

• Students add new resources to this cloud– Those they feel are relevant to the ‘cloud topic’

• Students can vote on resources which will effect the resource icon

• A link icon is automatically added depending on the resource type

Resource Clouds

• The size of the icon on a cloud determines its subject specific usefulness:

– As voted by the students themselves

– Smallest – deemed least useful/relevant

– Largest – deemed most useful/relevant

An Example Resource Cloud

Demonstration

DIVERSE & CBSE

• DIVERSE utilises many external web services– OAuth: for user authentication– Nucleus: for student information – Linking You: for link shortening & analytics– Facebook: for sharing links– Twitter: for sharing links– WebSnapr: for web previews– Google Analytics: for statistics

DIVERSE & CBSE

• DIVERSE has no knowledge of these services

• DIVERSE relies on the API provided by the external services

• This is ok – CBSE means DIVERSE does not need to

know implementation details of these external services.

Example

• DIVERSE uses student data from nucleus to personalise the users experience.

• DIVERSE does not know the inner workings of nucleus, or have direct access to student information.

• Instead DIVERSE uses nucleus’s API:

• E.g.– https://nucleus.online.lincoln.ac.uk/person/basic

DIVERSE & CBSE

Example: Student Details

– Google Analytics is completely external from DIVERSE and therefore we have no input or control over how it works

– It is a complete Blackbox– Perfect example of component based

Example Analytics

Advantages of CBSE

• Avoids reinventing the wheel

• Saves time and resources

• Reduces development time

• Simplifies maintenance– Changes to external components do not effect

DIVERSE, so long as the original API is still used.

– Easy to swap out obsolete components

Disadvantages of CBSE

• Customising components can be limiting– E.g. Google analytics

• Dependency on external developers– Becomes an issue when there is no

alternatives

• Risk of poisoned components– Components containing malicious code

Summary

• DIVERSE is a new online tool to help you engage in your studies– Provides a new starting point for research &

assignments– Peer reviewed resources

• DIVERSE is a simple case study for illustrating the importance of components in web applications

Workshop

• During Fridays workshop you’ll be testing DIVERSE on a sample cloud.

• We’ll have a quick questionnaire for you to complete

• Optionally we are also looking for volunteers to take part in a short interview about your experience with DIVERSE

Any Questions?