Bboogle: Updates and Experience

Patricia Goldweic, Sr. Software Engineer, Northwestern University

Brian Nielsen, Project Manager, Faculty Initiatives, Northwestern University

Jonathan Smith, Distributed Learning Architect, Northwestern University

Overview

1. Introduction: Google Apps at Northwestern

2. Main Features - Updates

3. Demo

4. High Level Architecture

5. Components

6. Experience: Bboogle at NU

7. What does it take to adopt Bboogle?

8. Future Directions

9. Questions

Bboogle Team Members

• Development– Patricia Goldweic (Sr. Software Developer)– Jonathan Smith (Software Architect)

• Blackboard Support– James Altman (Manager, Faculty Support Services)– Brian Nielsen (Project Manager, Faculty Initiatives)

• Technology Support Services– Ron Blitz (Sr. Tech Services Specialist)– Terry Jolley (Manager, Consulting Services)

Introduction: Google Apps at NU• Northwestern University is a private R1 institution with

two campuses, one in Chicago, and the other in Evanston,

IL, (suburb immediately north of Chicago)

– 15,500 students, 60% undergraduate

– Northwestern has been using Blackboard as its primary CMS since Spring 1999.

– Northwestern became a Google Apps for Education campus in Spring 2007, for students only.

– Faculty were provided with accounts in this domain after Bboogle was installed, though Gmail is not their official email provider.

Introduction: MotivationWhy Google Apps in Blackboard?• To leverage the collaboration features offered by Google Apps

– To provide data sharing capabilities in Google Apps not implemented in Blackboard.

– To allow students to see class activities integrated into their personal calendars.

– To offer wiki features via Google Sites

– To model an approach to sharing that is common in many scholarly communities

• To offer instructors an easy means of providing information that integrates seamlessly into the students’ information environment

Main Features• Embedding of Google Apps Documents, Calendar

and Sites into a Blackboard course– Instructors can embed a Google Doc, Calendar or Site in a

Blackboard course using Bboogle’s custom content types. – Or, they can use a convenient browser ‘bookmarklet’ to

push a Google Doc/Calendar/Site to a Blackboard course site while within the Google Apps user interface.

– The embedded content (Google docs, calendars or sites) is automatically shared with the Blackboard course.

• Single Sign On to Google Apps domain– Supports automated creation of Google accounts when

needed (configurable)

Main Features: Updates• Google Apps Groups, Folders (since 1.0.2) and

Contacts integration (since 1.3)– Bboogle automatically provisions Google Apps groups for

all Blackboard courses that use the tool. – These groups are now available for instructors and

students to share Google content with their class. They are also the collaboration unit that Bboogle uses internally to automate the sharing of content.

– Bboogle-created groups now show up in a group member’s gmail contacts.

– Bboogle’s bookmarklet can also be used to embed a Google Apps content folder into a Blackboard course.

Main Features: Updates• Google Apps Sites integration (since 1.1)• Additional flexibility when embedding

content (since 1.3)– new choice of collaborator role

• Blackboard 9+ compatibility (since 1.2)• Single sign on tools are available also at

the user level (since 1.3)– Google Apps Docs, Calendar, Sites and

GMail are now available.

Application Architecture

Course Google Groups

• When used by an instructor, Bboogle ensures that a Google Apps group exists for the course, is fully provisioned, and the instructor owns it.

• Also ensures/verifies that the user has a Google Apps account.

Building Block• The ‘SSO Bridge’ Servlet

– Runs whenever a user clicks on any of the Bboogle bookmarks/links, including the SSO course/user tools.

– Provides the front-end logic to the Google Apps SSO process.

– Transfers control to Google ONLY after verifying that that the user is allowed to access the document.

– When used by a student, ensures the student is a member of the Google Apps group

• The ‘Linking Servlet’ – Runs whenever an instructor chooses to embed Google

Apps content. – Creates a course document to hold the bookmark/link.

Google Integration Service (Gint)• Mediates all communication between the building

block and Google.• Uses a small embedded database to store

information:– Keeps track of Google content publication and access in

Blackboard courses.– Efficiently manages building block requests to avoid

unneeded communication with Google.– Provides usage information that could later be used by

reporting tools.

Bboogle at Northwestern

• Northwestern does not offer the Gmail tool, though it is available in the distribution

• Deployment began Fall 2009, now have Bboogle 1.3 in production

• Bboogle has been used in Bb Academic Suite 8 and now in Bb Learn, 9.1

What Does Bboogle Offer? 1 2

3

Google Bookmarklet

4

Single SignOn5

Google Site: Encyclopedia of Latin American History

Student Entry: Encyclopedia of Latin American History

Collecting Student Papers

What does it take to adopt Bboogle?• Decide on your SSO solution:

– Customize your current Google Apps SSO solution so that it can work well with BBoogle. OR

– For testing purposes, you can use the provided sample SSO solution. You can also use it as a ‘reference’ implementation that helps you come up with your production-ready version. Alternatively, do limited testing without an SSO solution.

• Install the Bboogle building block and the Google Integration Service (a web application) and configure application parameters.

• Possibly customize the mapping between Blackboard user ids and Google user ids.

Future Directions• Provide other convenience tools to instructors (e.g.

for creating course calendars, sites or docs, etc.)• Provide instructor tools to facilitate the creation of

Google Apps groups for class collaboration in addition to the Bboogle-created ones.

• Integrate Blackboard groups and Google Apps groups• Explore the possibility of hosting the Google Apps

Integration service in the Google Apps Engine.• Explore the possibility of adopting a relational

database within Gint (Google Integration Service).

How to get Bboogle

• Bboogle is hosted at the Oscelot projects site http://projects.oscelot.org/gf/project/bboogle

• The Subversion repository can be found at https://source.at.northwestern.edu/svn/os/bb-gint

• You can contact us for more details at:– pgoldweic@northwestern.edu – b-nielsen@northwestern.edu – jas@northwestern.edu

Please provide feedback for this session by emailing DevConFeedback@blackboard.com. 

The title of this session is:

Bboogle: Updates and Experience