Readers of my previous articles in this series will be aware that I've been using PostNuke, the open-source content management system, as the 'base camp' from which to explore, learn lessons and perhaps even begin to draw some conclusions about whether open-source content management systems and weblog engines, and the like, have something more to offer than is available, currently, from the mainstream VLE vendors. So if you're interested read on! In this update I'm taking a broad look at the concept of replaceable modules in an environment like PostNuke and reflect on their potential as tools for learning. In the next update I'll consider the question of granularity … how big should a component be?
Readers should be aware that I'm not a PostNuke evangelist. I chose PostNuke as the focus for my explorations mainly because it seems to have a substantial developer community and user-base which, theoretically, should ensure there is a lot of material and knowledge 'out there'. As I said in my introduction PostNuke is a 'base camp' not a fortress and I'm quite prepared to shift camp if the current site is found too wanting.
PostNuke is, nevertheless, interesting to me because its architecture is totally modular meaning that additional modules equals additional functionality. Don't like a particular module? … then replace it with another one which, as long as it adheres to some basic PostNuke design and interface rules, will then become part of the environment. There's also seems to be a lot of modifications (mods) activity so that you can either use the standard component or an enhanced/improved one.
My particular focus this week has been identifying what PostNuke modules/components are already available or which are in an advanced state of development, or that appear to have some potential for learning within a higher education context. Readers of my previous articles will know that my first task was to ensure that we could receive syndicated content or information and control how it was displayed. I consider syndication solutions like RSS and the related Atom to be under-exploited technologies whch have considerable potential for the development of distributed learning systems.
PostNuke does handle syndication natively via RSS but we found it useful to bypass the PostNuke core provision and substitute a GPL alternative called CaRP so that we could replicate the Auricle RSS Dispenser in our new environment. We could have also used the open-source MagpieRSS to achieve the same ends. One of the lessons here is that because the underlying scripting language for PostNuke is the open-source PHP, there seems to be an abundance of individuals and collaborative teams who have already developed a solution. A tweak or two on these publicly-available solutions can save, potentially, months of reinventing the wheel. What's also been impressive is how quickly the developers responded when we had any difficulties with their creations.
My next concern was to add support for online discussion. No problem, simply download the PNphpBB2 module from the PostNuke download site and voila! … a few minutes later there was my discussions. There's even a recent enhancement available which enables the choice of flat or threaded message views.
The PostNuke home site is a bit lacking in aesthetics and finding information can be a bit daunting so rather than browse my way through this site I tried to identify any other groups and teams who had already gone down this road. A useful starting point, therefore, for those wishing to hit the ground running a bit faster than us should be TECFA, the research and teaching academic unit in educational technology in the School of Psychology and Education at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. TECFA's 'Seed' portal describes itself as:
“a bilingual (English, French) center for exchange and collaboration on socio-constructivist teaching & learning with the Internet.”
Even if you're not a socio-constructivist by inclination or background stick with it:)
The download section of the TECFA Seed portal has probably as comprehensive a list of PostNuke modules with potential educational applications as anywhere. Some of their categories include:
Awareness tools/community building, Communication, Content management, Computer Supported Collaborative Learning and Structured discussion, Documentation, Language translation, Project and course management, Quizzes and surveys, Themes (packaged PostNuke styles).
The TECFA site is also a good example of PostNuke's languages option in action. Just click the English button is you're a monoglot.
Here's a quote from the TECFA projects site which will perhaps help to give a flavour of their work:
“pScenario is a tool that allows teachers to define complete and rich scenarios for various pedagogical formats (face-to-face, at distance or mixed) … besides pScenario, our team has developed an 'ArgueGraph', a Computer-supported collaborative learning discussion tool, wTool, a pre-management tool, ePBL a pedagogical project management module and vQuiz, a simple quizzing module. Last, but not least, portals also should be designed in the spirit of true virtual environments that have drawn a lot of attention in the last decade. Tools like the a 'who is connected box', a shoutbox or a little quotation box can do wonders.”
Here's some other examples of what I found interesting on the TECFA site.
RSS4you (http://www.rss4you.com/apropos.php). The links leads to the French developer's site but they provide this helpful English description.
“Rss4you.com is also a social tool in the sense that it allows any members to consult the list of the preferred websites of other members. In order to do so, each rss4you member rates the sites aggregated in his or her list. Thanks to those ratings, it is possible to find other members that share the same interests. It hence allows you to find new websites or references that could match with your own interests … We are currently working on the improvement of rss4you, adding new innovative tools. Moreover, we aim to release new versions of this tool in different languages: English, German and Italian.”
From the stable of the developer pnConcept - Mods & Blocks we are offered plugins for pncUserPoints. pncUserpoints is a module for community portals to motivate users and evaluate students contributions in educational settings.
Journal - One of the other mentions on the TECFA Seed site which caught my attention was for the latest PostNuke Journal mod. What's a Journal? A few more enquiries and it emerged that there's a PostNuke module which enables registered users to create their own personal journal/weblog on a PostNuke site. Now whilst the Journal mod mentioned on the TECFA site was interesting I decided to track down and install the officially supported version on to our test server. Journal is available from the main PostNuke site. A couple of minutes later we had added Journal functionality to our test server. Here's the screenshot.
Here's a high resolution image of above (N.B. takes longer to download).
I find the PostNuke Journal module quite an interesting concept for a number of reason one of which is its student ePortfolio potential. By adding this module each registered user in PostNuke can have their own personal weblog (or journal) into which they can write their accounts of whatever interests them. Each entry is then date and time stamped. Now here's the really smart thing, whilst only a journal owner can write in their journal the read privileges can be made public, private or restricted to registered members only. What a superb potential source of shared reflections for communities which are prepared to share in this way! It's also possible for journal members to upload content subject to a quota limit set by the administrator. From an educational perspective, I would like to see the user being able to select specific members who they are prepared let see their journal, e.g. a student's journal being viewable only by trusted teacher or tutor.
I think that's enough for this update. In my next update I'm going to describe my experiences of, and feelings about, integrating larger multifunction 'modules'.
(c) 2004, Derek Morrison
