This presentation (delivered in Las Vegas in July 2011 at the Blackboard Developers Conference) reflects on the work of 3 students who spent a summer learning and developing building blocks. Their project topics were provided by faculty. The experience highlights problems faced by novice building block developers and how to overcome these. It also provides suggestions for suitable and unsuitable test environments and ends with pointers for what constitutes a realistic (deliverable and maintainable) project, some of which come directly from the mouths of the students.

1. 12th July 2011 8:30 am Venetian Congress Center - Titian 2303 Letting the lunatics run the asylum - students developing code forthe production environment DrMalcolm MurrayDurham University, UK

2. Slides freely available… http://www.slideshare.net/malcolmmurray

3. This session is being recorded… http://www.audioh.com/projects/recorded_delivery.html

4. Letting the lunatics run the asylum http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:County_Insane_Asylum,_Milwaukee.jpg

5. Students developing code for the production environment http://www.vinyltap.co.uk/shop/item/510008517750895.aspx

6. Sound pedagogy Learning by doing Biggs’ 3 Levels of Teaching http://www.johnbiggs.com.au/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/david_jones/3302564430

7. http://www.flickr.com/photos/yeimaya/21271886/ Projects

8. Selecting Projects Previous trial allowed students to design their own projects – not very successful This time faculty submitted bids for student time via an open competition Students could choose from the list of bids which met the criteria

9. Aims of the Development Fund To enhance the learning and teaching experiences of Durham students To develop high quality electronic learning objects which enhance the learning experience of students in the University To enhance the employability of students by providing opportunities for summer placements working with staff to design and develop the ELOs

10. Potential Developers 2nd & 3rd Year Computer Science undergraduates Seeking Summer Employment Some Java Experience Only used Bb as a Student Never written a Building Block Limited Supervisor Availability http://www.zazzle.co.uk/no_crying_in_computer_science_mug-168267831934931190

11. The “Inmates” Matthew Chris Daniel

13. Successful Projects

14. Functional Specs

15. Learning from the Students

16. Initial Issues with the Projects Required iterative/agile development Some projects very ambitious Threat of scope creep

17. What faculty are asking for… …vs. what we can realistically build http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=235422146882 http://www.flickr.com/photos/penguinbush/2768719983

18. http://www.flickr.com/photos/natej/3251899986/in/photostream/ Test Environment

19. Test Environment Gave each student a clean test server - virtual installs (on VMWare) Need Blackboard Sys Admin accounts Next time, may try VirtualBox

20. Security Concerns Totally isolated from production Ensure you use different passwords! Remember config files store these in plain text Server and database only accessible on-site Clean server – no “real” users or courses Forbid the creation of accounts for friends Draw their attention to the weblogs

21. Access all Areas? Definitely Not Root access – use sudo Didn’t but would next time Command line access to server Logs, config and property files, etc. Restarting the server Still considering Database access – more need in 9.1?

22. Think pink…

23. IDE Mix of Netbeans and Eclipse Gave them the SDK and JARs Used the devcon webinars to set it up

24. http://www.flickr.com/photos/23954607@N03/2325477734/ Scaffolding

25. Supporting Novice Developers Provided a series of demo building blocks Portal Module Course Tool Custom Content Type Team work (peer support) Project Management

26. Documentation // TODO: DEVELOPER INPUT NEEDED HERE http://www.spreadshirt.co.uk/access-denied-2c-underwear-C4408A14152441

27. Dropbox was invaluable

28. New to Blackboard Development Do you speak Manual/TagLib?

29. http://www.flickr.com/photos/m0php/3862856338 Output

30. Expanding Content

31. How It Works Title (and Title Colour) Icon JavaScript Hidden DIV Body Text

32. Production Robustness

33. Support for Future Versions Taking advantage of Blackboard 9.1 CSS

34. More Complex Examples

35. Using the bbNG Tag Library Steep learning curve Few quirks with inventoryLists

36. Entitlement & Persistence Course Photo Roster Staff Info Who can see the photos? Course Role and Institutional Role Checks Persisting User Preferences User Registry

37. Scalability Load photos from Campus Card database Time-out Risk?

38. Implementation Issues Confusion – availability & row status Each photo took 0.3 seconds to load Copy them nightly as Avatar images Discovered these were insecure Not resolved until after project had ended

39. FlashCards: Coming Unstuck

40. Clash of the Libraries JavaScript libraries – jQuery & ProtoType Developed initially outside Blackboard Browser Compatibility Issues Scope Creep – Guilty!

41. http://www.flickr.com/photos/minette_layne/2306348177/sizes/l/in/photostream/ Reflection

42. Students’ Reflections

43. Recommendations Success requires staff commitment & planning Select projects and students carefully Early steps need extensive scaffolding Gets students familiar with thinking in Blackboard Try it: very rewarding, we will do it again!

44. Thank You To you – for attending this talk To Matthew, Chris & Daniel – for being fun to work with To all the staff in the Learning Technologies Team and the Technology Enhanced Learning Group - who provided support, time & advice

45. Questions? Get in touch: malcolm.murray@durham.ac.uk @learntechdurham @malcolmmurray http://www.dur.ac.uk/lt.team/blog/ http://building-blocks-developer.com/

46. Please provide feedback for this session on the back of used dollar bills sent to the author or by emailingDevConFeedback@blackboard.com. The title of this session is: Letting the lunatics run the asylum