Technology Used
What technologies and/or e-tools were available to you or did you seek to develop?
The project bid clearly outlined the web service/service oriented architecture approach which MANSLE would adopt, building on the work of previous JISC projects and providing a proof of concept of the JISC e-framework in aggregating a range of existing and custom services within a user interface to form a new tool to support a specific application of these services. This approach enabled a rapid application development model to be implemented resulting in the release of versions of the software within a very short period from the start of the project. Additionally existing development environments (e.g. Eclipse) used within previous projects (e.g. RELOAD) were utilised in order to capitalise on the expertise available within the project consortium and also to minimise the timescale of the development lifecycle.
A number of technical decisions were discussed and agreed during the early phases of the project. For instance, a client application was chosen instead of a web interface to enable the full range of functionality identified within the needs analysis exercise. The technical development of the project also had to be undertaken within the evolving interoperability framework surrounding technological approaches to PDP and portfolio development. The web service approach adopted therefore ensured that data constructed using these services adhered to appropriate standards.
The principal output from the MANSLE project has been the production of a client application incorporating a range of web services. The application aggregates web services from a range of JISC projects, most notably the HORUS project from the University of Manchester alongside web services created specifically to deliver functionality required by MANSLE project partners.
The MANSLE application is a standalone client application which is installed on individual computers, with the database stored on a remote server (although it is also possible for the data to be stored locally). The application provides functionality in four broad areas, as identified within the original needs analysis activity, these are: personal development planning; portfolio development; reflection on course events; and a tutor meeting record.
One of the key objectives of the extension phase was to produce 'lightweight portfolio widgets' which would better take account of learners' web habits by basing a new MANSLE plug-in around an existing web browser. Flock was therefore chosen as an established rich web platform which allowed for the seamless integration of a variety of services. Some of the technical paraphernalia that surrounded the original application was dispensed with such as the XML structure of the portfolio and the HORUS web services. As a result, the Flock MANSLE plug-in (which also works with Firefox) produces a persistent free-format editor which allows for the aggregation of photos, text, etc which can be dragged and dropped from the surrounding web environment. Data is stored on the central MANSLE service using the same mechanism as with the original application. The service is self-registering, and also provides facilities for aggregating data relating to other services users subscribe to (social bookmarking, blogs, wikis, etc). The service also provides feeds for monitoring purposes.
