1) Jacques Raynauld presented on Open Syllabus, a Sakai tool that organizes course resources and activities in one place using semantic XML representations. 2) Open Syllabus has been developed at HEC Montreal since 2004 and was recoded as a Sakai contrib tool in 2010, with over 2000 course sites and 10,000 students currently using it. 3) A mobile version of Open Syllabus was also developed to allow students to access syllabus content and schedules from their smartphones by integrating Open Syllabus XML data with information from the university's student information system.

1. Jacques Raynauld,
Chair of technology
for teaching and learning
HEC Montréal
June 10-15, 2012
Growing Community;
Growing Possibilities

2.  Overview of Open Syllabus, a Sakai contrib
tool along with its mobile version
 Special twist
◦ Students first
◦ “Typical user”
◦ Semantic content
 Special thanks to Jean Talbot, Olivier Gerbé,
Claude Coulombe and HEC Montréal IT team.
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3.  Large business school
 Part of the University of
Montreal campus
 12 000 students
 250 career professors
 500 adjuncts
 4 000 full time undergraduate students
 Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise Campus
Solutions
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4.  Origin of the project
 OpenSyllabus: a semantic resources/activities
organizer
 OpenSyllabus mobile
 Road map
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5. Another app
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6.  ECAR 2010 – 62.7% of American students
have a smart phone
 University of Montreal /MATI - 27% of Cegep
students have a smart phone
 Large numbers of apps launched by
universities … course content varies widely
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7.  Mobile project in a graduate course in Web
design and electronic commerce at HEC
Montréal
 Students have zoomed in quicky on the main
weakness of HEC information system …
 … silos. They have to access four different
systems to gather all the information needed
fo a lecture ( time slot, room number,
location, content of the lecture)
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8. Need for timely, relevant and clear
information on tasks, due dates, etc.
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9.  There are other apps
 Sakai Google Summer of
Code
 uMobile
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10. Sakai Mobile (not an app)
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11. A semantic
resources/activities organizer
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12. PDF - paper Ressources - web
1. Contact information • Documents to download
2. Objectives (pdf, ppt, doc, etc.)
3. Requirements (evaluation) • Citations
4. Grading • Hyperlinks
5. College policies • Assignments
6. Schedule of readings, due • Quizzes
dates • Discussion Boards
• Etc.
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13. Actual Syllabus
PDF - paper tool in Sakai
1. Contact information Post a doc or PDF
2. Objectives file
Use an editor
3. Requirements (evaluation)
4. Grading
No semantic or
5. College policies tool integration
6. Schedule of readings, due
date Interactive Syllabus –
Virginia
Lesson Builder,
Rutgers
Dashboard, Michigan
Schedule
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14.  Contrib tool that organises all the resources
(files, citations) and tools (Test&Quiz,
assignments, Forum, etc.) in one easy to
consult place
 XML semantic representation
 First developped in 2004 at HEC Montréal
 Recoded in GWT as a Sakai Contrib tool in
2010
 2000 course sites – 10,000 students
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15. Open Syllabus is a
Sakai Tool
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16. Structure of the
syllabus
Information
(semantic)
Content of lecture
1 including links
to the Library 2012 Jasig Sakai Conference 16

17. The content is
organized by sub-
sections
(semantic)
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18. How to add a
resource.
18
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19. Adding a file from
resources
Specifying the context of
the resource in lecture 1:
Diffusion level,
requirement level, etc.
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20. Specifying in which
sub-section the
resource belongs:
Objectives
Activity before session
Activity during session
Activity after session
Etc.
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21. A typical Due date is a field
evaluation
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22. How to set the
evalution
attributes (due
date).
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23.  Screen cast http://vimeo.com/24932699
Sand-box : http://osyltest.hec.ca
Slideshare :
http://www.slideshare.net/jacquesr54/sakai1
1-la-opensyllabus
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24. Silos integration
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25. OpenSyllabus/Sakai
Assignment due dates
Work to be done for each lecture
PeopleSoft Announcement
Schedule Contact information
Room numbers
Exams dates www.hec.ca server
Etc. Room location

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27.  OpenSyllabus XML file is decomposed in
smaller components (ex. The different
lectures)
 Some components are merged to People Soft
information (lectures and room numbers)
 OpenSyllabusMobile Server
 GWT mobile
 Phone Gap (Android and iPhone versions)
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28. 2012 Jasig Sakai Conference 28

29. My courses or My courses or
evaluations evaluations
this week for another
week
+ or – moves
up or down
the weeks
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30. Content for the
week – lecture 1
with sub-sections
titles
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31. General info
Announcement
Description of
the course
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32. Contact Any room is
information linked to the
plan of the
building
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33. List of all the lectures
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34.  Large pilot in September
 This a beta version - we are going to rewrite
the App in September …
 … very open to other initiatives (tools,
projects, uMobile, etc.)
 We are convinced that syllabus content is key
for the mobile app
 jacques.raynauld@hec.ca
 opensyllabus@hec.ca
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