Leverage Blackboard Web Services Brandon Peters. IT Consultant, Academic Technology IT Consultant,...
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Transcript of Leverage Blackboard Web Services Brandon Peters. IT Consultant, Academic Technology IT Consultant,...
Leverage Blackboard Web Services Brandon Peters
Brandon Peters
• IT Consultant, Academic Technology
• Day-to-day:– Blackboard System Administrator–Web Tool Development– Instructional Technology Support
• Contact: [email protected]
Overview
• Brief introduction to Blackboard Web Services, some “getting started” resources, and tools
• Cover how we leverage it at WKU:– Online Training Course Automation– Blackboard Guest Accounts– Support Tool for IT Helpdesk
• Open up for questions
What are Blackboard Web Services?
• SOAP-based API • Uses WSDL (Web Service Definition
Language)• Allows you to get certain data out of
Blackboard• Allows you to add, remove, or modify
certain data within Blackboard
What can you do with it?
• Access Bb user information:– Username, Student ID– Contact Info: email, phone, address– Institutional roles
What can you do with it?
• Access course/org information:– List of students enrolled– List of user roles within course/org– Course/org availability– Course ID
What can you do with it?
• User management- Create users- Modify user information
- Add institutional roles- Change password- Change name, username, student id, etc.
- Delete users
What can you do with it?
• Course/Org management- Create Course/Orgs- Enroll users- Modify Course/Orgs- Delete Course/Orgs
Available Services
• Announcements• Calendar• Content• Course• CourseMembership• Gradebook• User
Resources and Tools
Resources and Tools
Resources and Tools• Blackboard API Documentation– Admin Panel -> Building Blocks -> Web
Services
• Edugarage– http://www.edugarage.com
• Bruce Phillips Blog– http://bit.ly/1dy7UuH
• SoapUI – http://www.soapui.org/
Resources and Tools• PHP Interface to Bb Web Services– https://bitbucket.org/Bpete/
How we use it:Online Training Course Automation
Online Training Course Automation
The Breakdown:1. Faculty, staff, and students self-enroll in one of
our online training courses
2. Adaptive Release is used to progress them through the course by unlocking training modules
3. A magical “Final Task” button is presented after completing the course and is used to grant various institutional roles
Magic Button
What’s behind the button?
• The button launches an external PHP script that checks the user’s grade within the course using Bb Web Services.
• Blackboard template variables are used to pass course and user information to the PHP script
• If the user has a passing grade, they receive a special institutional role, again using Bb Web Services
• Institutional roles can be used to hide/show certain modules within Blackboard
Blackboard Template Variables
• Allows you to pass context data to external systems via URL• Uses special syntax variables that render within the body of
content items
• @[email protected]@X@ = CHEM101SP15• @[email protected]@X@ = nuttyprofessor
• https://bb.school.edu/webapps/blackboard/launch_external.jsp?target=https://webapp.school.edu/index.php?uid=@[email protected]@X@.@[email protected]@X@
• For more information:http://www.edugarage.com/display/BBDN/Template+variables
Scenario: Blackboard New Instructor Training
Instructors are not allowed to create course sites or enroll student sections until they complete Blackboard New Instructor Training. A “course trained” institutional role is required in order to view access the Faculty Tools module.
Scenario: Blackboard New Instructor Training
Scenario: Blackboard New Instructor Training
Scenario: Blackboard New Instructor Training
Scenario: Blackboard New Instructor Training
The “course trained” institutional role required to unlock Faculty Tools is now granted! The instructor will also receive an email
confirmation.
Scenario: Blackboard New Instructor Training
Scenario: Blackboard New Instructor Training
The instructor may create their course site(s) and enroll student sections.
How we use it:Blackboard Guest Accounts
Blackboard Guest Accounts
The Breakdown:1. Instructors may add non-WKU users (as guests) to
their course site via our Guest Account website.
2. Instructors fill out an online form containing the guest user’s information as well as the desired course.
3. Once submitted, the guest account(s) is instantly created within Blackboard and enrolled in the desired course(s).
Blackboard Guest Accounts
Blackboard Guest Accounts
Blackboard Guest Accounts
Blackboard Guest Accounts
Blackboard Guest Accounts
How we use it:Support Tool for IT Helpdesk
Support Tool for IT Helpdesk
The Breakdown:
1. Using Bb Web Services, we were able to create a custom web interface that displays useful troubleshooting information to our IT support staff.
2. When faculty and students call in, support staff can easily pull up their Blackboard user information and course enrollments.
Support Tool for IT Helpdesk
Questions?Contact: [email protected]
