Lessons Enhancement Project Sakai Webinar
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Lessons Enhancement Project (LEaP) Josh Baron Senior Academic Technology Officer Marist College
description
These are slides from the Lesson Enhancement Project Sakai webinar held on October 15, 2014. The Sakai Lessons tool has gained a significant amount of attention over the past two years as it provides new and innovative capabilities for authoring sequenced instructional content that includes rich media and other interactive elements. The Lessons Enhancement Project, supported by a range of Apereo Foundation Members, was launched with the goal of completing a major user interface/user experience overall of Lessons for the Sakai 11 release in 2015. Join us for an update on the Lessons Enhancement Project and learn about progress to date on this important community collaboration.
Transcript of Lessons Enhancement Project Sakai Webinar
Lessons Enhancement Project (LEaP)
Josh BaronSenior Academic Technology Officer
Marist College
Webinar Overview
• Historical Context – Realizing the T&L Mission
• Project Background – How we got here…
• LEaP Overview – Goals and Governance
• LEaP Status and Next Steps
• DISCUSSION – Using the LEaP Model for other
Improvements to Sakai
Many have contributed…
Luisa Li
Janet Hill
Jason Dom
Salwa Khan
Aurora Collado
Wilma Hodges
Jim Mezzanotte
John LewisTrisha Gordon
Dina Kurzwei
Gail Hunger
Charles Hedrick
Emily CorseNeal Caidin
Ann Jensen
Yitna Firdyiwek
Marilyn Dispensa
Janice Smith
Kara Stiles
Historical Context
Sakai Teaching and Learning Mission Statement (2007)
To drive innovation on teaching and learning within the Sakai community. To share best practices, understandings and experiences among faculty members themselves and between faculty and other Sakai community members. To communicate the goals and issues of the teaching and learning community to contributors in Sakai including
developers, UX (user experience), system administrators, documentation, support, and QA
(quality assurance).
LEaP Background• Discussions began at 2013 Apereo Conference
– Teaching and Learning session that include PMC– Issue of “unfunded mandate” surfaced
• Initially developed Capability Review Process– Idea was to provide a service to the community– Goal: T&L review tools and provide feedback
• Focused on “new capabilities” and “user experience”
– See: https://confluence.sakaiproject.org/x/QwzzB• Decided to experiment with Lesson Builder
T&L Capability Review Spreadsheet
Lessons Learned
• Using a spreadsheet had pros and cons– Helped organize feedback but was difficult to view
• Many contributed but skills with UX varied– User stories were not consistent in focus
• Surfaced that we were too process heavy– Could we operate in a more agile fashion?
• Clear that UX was a major issue with Lessons– Yet we were very limited in UX resources
LEaP Overview
• Stepping back from the spreadsheet we…– Decide focusing on the Lessons tool was good idea
– Highest priority was on user experience issues
– Need to find UX/UI design and tech resources
• Launched Lessons Enhancement Project (LEaP)– Goal #1: Improve Lessons UX for Sakai 11 release
– Goal #2: Experiment with new model for Sakai work
LEaP Overview
• UX Designer helped develop project budget• Worked with Charles Hedrick (developer) to
get his input into the project• Developed a high level proposal for
institutional decision makers seeking support– $5000 or equivalent in staff time
• Took two months to raise $35k + UI Developer
LEaP Partners
LEaP Overview
• Conducted search for UX Designer• Selected Espress Labs - espresslabs.com
– Have done with for the OpenCast project– Matt Mischuk is lead UX Designer– Aram Stamboulian is PM
• Apereo Foundation is legal entity holding the funds and contracting with Espress Labs
Project Governance
• Developed “light weight” governance model– Steering Group – Institutional decision makers
• High level project oversight, final decisions (if needed)
– Working Group – Experienced Lesson tool users• Drive all operational decision making• Selected Co-Chairs to represent WG
– Collaborating closely with larger T&L Group• Governance Doc at: http://tinyurl.com/m4tlsg2
Project Status
• Held project “kick-off” call on September 22nd
– Working Group and Espress Labs• Initial effort focused on…
– Getting UX Designer familiar with Lessons tool– Identifying high priority design issues
• Work w/ T&L to develop community survey– Used broad categories from spreadsheet– Received over 90 submission as of October 14th
Project Status
• Espress Labs is currently creating initial UI redesign concepts based on initial feedback
• Co-Chairs are coding survey results and analyzing them for trends– Will feedback into redesign priorities from WG
• Goal is to have new designs by December and UI develop work by code freeze for Sakai 11
https://confluence.sakaiproject.org/display/PED/Lessons+Enhancement+Project
