Interoperability and API
Open, standards based architecture
Bruno Van Haetsdaele
Chief Architect
The following is intended to outline our general product
direction. It is intended for information purposes only, and
may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a
commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality.
The development, release, and timing of any features or
functionality described for Wimba’s products remains at
the sole discretion of Wimba.
© 2008 Wimba – Proprietary and Confidential
What is interoperability?
ISO/IEC 2382-01 definition:
“The capability to communicate,
execute programs, or transfer data
among various functional units in a
What
is interoperability
?
manner
that requires
the user to have
little or no knowledge of the unique
characteristics of those units.”
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What does it mean for Wimba and our
users ?
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How to achieve interoperability ?
Enablers:
• Protocols
• File formats
• Standards
• APIs
• Open source
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Impact:
• User experience
• Flexibility
• Lower costs
Obstacles:
• Innovation
• Patents
• Trade secrets
• Coordination
failures
Education
Outline
Web 2.0
Rich Media Collaboration
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Kiwi: a platform for the suite
Greater interoperability inside the Wimba suite
• Education
• Share
• Unified
management
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• Wimba Voice into
Wimba Create
documents
• Post a Wimba
Classroom archive in
the Podcaster
• Associate a Voice
Board to each Live
Classroom
Kiwi Platform architecture
Open and scalable
Admin
AR
CM
pronto
assess
classroom
voice
Users
Messaging
Media
Pronto
Assess
Classroom
Voice
Courses
Services
Services
Services
Services
Services
Services
Member.
(XMPP)
(iax/vnc)
Database
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File System
Rich Media Collaboration
Built using proven standards and projects
•
•
•
•
XMPP
Asterisk / IAX / SIP
Xiph Speex, Theora
MP3 audio for Voice,
Classroom
• VNC
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Leveraging the XMPP standards
• XMPP is gaining momentum:
– XMPP IETF approved standard since 2004
– GoogleTalk native protocol
– AOL is experimenting with XMPP
– Apple iChat supports XMPP
• Wimba is extending XMPP for Pronto and Classroom
• XMPP Federation
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Education standards
• IMS Standards
–
–
–
–
–
LTI: Learning Tools Interoperability
QTI: Question and Test Interoperability
Enterprise
Common Cartridge
IA: Information Analytics
• Advanced Distributed Learning:
SCORM
• Schools Interoperability Framework
Associations
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IMS Learning Tools Interoperability
What is the user need ?
• Instructors and students:
– Easy navigation from the CMS to external applications
– Single sign on
– Deep integration in the course
• System Administrators
– Easy deployment and configuration
– Robust integrations
• Software developers
– More time spent in innovations, less in proprietary integrations
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Are these needs met today ?
Wimba CMS Integrations…
•
•
•
•
•
.NET Portal components
C and Java Powerlinks
Java Building Blocks
Java Sakai portlets
PHP Moodle modules
• Wimba APIs
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Learning Tools Interoperability
IMS LTI defines:
•
•
•
•
•
Tool Producer contract
Tool Consumer contract
Web Services communication
XML configuration
Common CSS
As easy as Facebook or Google Apps
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IMS Learning Tools Interoperability
What is the impact ?
•
•
•
•
•
Faster time to market
Easier to upgrade integration functionality
Increased robustness across versions of tool / cms
Less effort in developing integrations, more in innovation
Integration API for other CMS and more…
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Collaboration Reporting APIs for
Information analytics
• Capture:
– Usage / Adoption
– Course Context usage
– Instructor/Student interactions
• Measure
– Social network inside the course / school
– Collaboration index
– Student engagement
• Improve
– Student retention
– Learning Outcome
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Web 2.0 APIs for 21st century teaching
and learning ?
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Mashup example
Geo location of Pronto users connected Friday, February 29th at 11am ET, based on IP
addresses, using Google Maps and ip2location.com
© 2008 Wimba – Proprietary and Confidential
Q&A
Bruno Van Haetsdaele - bruno@wimba.com