Date: 2004-2005
Brief: This project was to demonstrate how service-oriented architecture (SOA) could link personal learning spaces and institutional systems.
Roles: Principle Investigator (JISC-funded project, staff member of the Learning Technologies Group, Oxford University Computing Service), systems analyst and systems administrator. This was concurrent to my main role of running WebLearn, Oxford University’s centrally-hosted virtual learning environment.
Solution: I established a small team of about six, including colleagues in Chemistry and Medical Sciences. We devised a workflow that encompassed student blogging on a handheld device and WebLearn. Technically, the post content was shared through RSS and Atom feeds, restricted by server and application configurations; I oversaw the development of a new blogging component in the VLE. Whilst establishing blogging as a reflective learning activity, I also uncovered insights into the conditions that foster deeper learning, as intimated in an article for Ariadne. Furthermore, the project had a more general impact on mobile developments at the University.
URL: http://projects.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ramble/
RAMBLE Architecture
Students authored posts using an app on a PDA, with the assistance of a foldable keyboard. Once the PDA has a passthrough network connection, entries could be uploaded via the app to the blog server.
Students could subsequently view and share selectively (with their tutor) in a Virtualized Learning Environment (VLE).
RAMBLE Project: iPaq PDA and Belkin keyboard
It comprised an iPaq 1940 running Pocket Blog software and a Belkin foldable wireless keyboard.
But why is the iPaq positioned towards the right … ? (see next slide)
RAMBLE: Blogging setup 1/2
As illustrated in the annotated photo of the PDA and keyboard, the keyboard uses infrared to communicate with the PDA and therefore needs a line of sight.
The mirror top left reflects the beam to the receiving port on the PDA. (There’s no Bluetooth.)
As a result, the PDA ends up displaced to one side.
RAMBLE: Blogging setup 2/2
As the screenshot shows, Pocket Blog is basically a text editor with a basic markup facility and some network synchronisation options.
This was the setup for Medical Science students, whereas Chemistry students used mo:Blog on Palm Zire 72.
RAMBLE: Wireless PDA Keyboard Settings
Four screenshots from Pocket PC running on an iPaq 1940, as used by RAMBLE project participants from Medical Sciences.
RAMBLE – Danny Tucker’s blog
This was with a group of placement students in the 4th year of undergraduate studies at Oxford University.
The hospital had limited access to the Internet, so the PDA was considered a convenient means for note-taking and subsequent upload.
Screenshot from my implementation of Pebble, a blogging platform originally developed by Simon Brown.
RAMBLE Project blog
After the JISC project had concluded, the activity of blogging was sustained for some time, allowing consideration of wider pedagogical issues.
Screenshot from the RAMBLE Project blog using the Pebble blogging platform originally developed by Simon Brown.
RAMBLE Project blog: seminar
Karl coordinated a group of first year undergraduates, who were encouraged to write freely about their experiences of the course and the learning spaces (labs).
The general approach was to show how RAMBLE supported a holistic view of personalised learning and institutional learning.
Screenshot from the RAMBLE Project blog using the Pebble blogging platform originally developed by Simon Brown.
RAMBLE Project: reading private blogs
Handling privacy in a service-oriented architecture with several components presented some challenges, especially with my limited knowledge of Java and Tomcat.
Screenshot from the RAMBLE Project blog using the Pebble blogging platform originally developed by Simon Brown.
RAMBLE: VLE Blog Creation
WebLearn used a physical metaphor for spaces (hence: building, floors, suites of rooms, etc.).
The blog component provided a means to read data from the project blog server using RSS and Atom feeds.
In addition to the VLE access managaement, further measures provided access restrictions to properly support private blogs.
RAMBLE: VLE Blog properties
Screenshot from WebLearn ‘Blogs and News’ suite of rooms.
RAMBLE Project blog – VLE view
The rationale for using WebLearn was to set the posts in the wider learning context of a department’s course of study.
The tool could be situated flexibly in the system’s resource hierarchy and benefit from the fine-grained access management.
Screenshot from WebLearn taken on 1 July 2005.
Tags
blogs, Bodington, development, handheld, integration, JISC, mobile, newsfeeds, OUCS, Oxford, personal learning, PLE, privacy, reflective learning, RSS, security, SOA, software, VLE
This page was published on 22 May 2022 and last updated on August 10, 2022 .