UBC Wiki:Roadmap/2019 April Meeting

From UBC Wiki

Next Steps

  • Get Case Studies template from Tim Kato by April 18th [include rationale for wiki integration and case studies - see below]
  • CASE STUDIES: Health Promotion & Education | Student Development & Services would like to create resources on the wiki and repurpose onto their webpage, Canvas modules and Canvas Commons
  • In/Relations [Indigenous Initiatives] are creating 8 Modules created on the wiki. Would like to repurpose these resources repurpose onto their webpage, Canvas modules and Canvas Commons.
  • Submit to Mo by April 25th
  • Mo submits to LTEWG meeting May 2019 for approval
  • Once Approved, Mo and Pan can discuss what workload/project looks like
  • Reconvene in June 2019?


Agenda Items

  • Wiki-Canvas Integration
    • possibility of whitelist feature
    • Write a one page of document and it to LTOps
  • Mediawiki Upgrade Cycle (Currently on 1.31.1 (legacy), 1.32 (stable) is out now, 1.33 will be release in June)
    • In the past, Scott upgraded every summer.
    • Upgrade doesn't require a lot of work but testing takes time. In the past, Rie and Will was helping with testing.
    • Updating one version the time will be safer.
    • If upgrade doesn't require a lot of changes, there is no outage
    • Current version - 1.31 is supported till 2022.
  • Backend Connect Documentation
  • CWL User Names
    • Canvas identity is based on preferred name while wiki is based on Firstname Lastname. Better to take from preferred name.
    • Good to review.
    • UBC Blogs is pulled in a different way.
  • Basic CWL
    • If there is Basic CWL user misbehaving = report to UBC IT Security


Scope Document copy

1/ Proposal to have to UBC Wiki integrated into Canvas.

The UBC Wiki has emerged as an indispensable content and knowledge management space for course materials, student projects, educational resources, and internal documentation. Combined with the remarkable Wiki Books functionality, we have a platform that is powerfully collaborative, highly interoperable and open source. In the past UBC, the UBC Wiki was successfully integrated into Connect through a javascript embed code. Instructors were thus able to use the UBC Wiki as a content authoring and sharing layer by embedding wiki resources or content into multiple course shells within the LMS or platforms outside of the LMS (UBC Blogs, CMS). Currently, UBC Wiki content embedding is supported for UBC Blogs and UBC CMS. Unfortunately Canvas strips out the wiki embed script, making it not possible to easily use resources and content from the UBC Wiki within the Canvas environment. We would like to proposal to have to UBC Wiki re-integrated into the LMS by allowing UBC Wiki pages to be embedded into Canvas.

2/ History of Wiki Integration into previous LMS

The UBC Wiki features a link on the bottom-left sidebar for the “embed code” for that page’s content – the same functionality that works so well for YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr, et al. So, instead of a straight copy/paste of the static wiki-text output onto a page in the LMS, a user would grab the quick few lines of wiki embed <script>, paste that into an HTML-enabled page, and suddenly see the dynamic syndicated content of the external wiki page displayed in their online course. Using the wiki <script> allowed you “subscribe” to dynamic syndicated content. When the base wiki material is updated, those changes will be rendered automatically in all downstream contexts (if you are a downstream user and don’t want these updates, you can syndicate/embed a specific version of the page’s history). Due to the fact that Wiki pages have variable size/length, embedding via an iframe is impractical as the content gets rendered in an UI/UX and accessibility unfriendly manner (extraneous scroll bars, borders, etc).

UBC Wiki integration makes sense, especially for those who want elements of both open and private approaches to online learning. This particular arrangement allows for open content sharing, accessible collaboration, content updating and remixing… yet can be applied in an LMS with all the comforting enriched features that environment may provide.

3/ Potential Use Cases

The UBC Wiki acts as a central content layer which allows educational resource, content, and documentation to be easily syndicated into multiple platforms (UBC Blogs, UBC CMS, etc) or LMS shells without the need to manage users, edits, and updates across spaces. Examples of how this was used in the Connect era as well as how it would be used now, include:

  • Open Educational Resource (OER) integration: e.g. Open Case Study Project (http://cases.open.ubc.ca). Open resources that exist on the UBC Wiki, such as the open case study archive, should be able to be seamlessly integrated in a Canvas course. As part of the project, all case studies are built on the UBC Wiki and embedded into a WordPress site. Currently, if an instructor wants to use a case from the Open Case project, they either have to link to a version of the case study or upload a pdf version. Embedding the case study would allow the resource to be a seamless part of the course. The UBC Wiki is a prime OER authoring platform at UBC.
  • Resource & Documentation sharing: e.g. UBC Learning Commons, Health Promotion & Education | Student Development & Services would like to create resources on the wiki and repurpose onto their webpage, Canvas modules and Canvas Commons; In/Relations [Indigenous Initiatives] are creating 8 Modules created on the wiki and would like to repurpose these resources repurpose onto their webpage, Canvas modules and Canvas Commons; etc. By creating the resources on the UBC Wiki, they would only need to manage and update the content on the Wiki and not at every place the resources are being used.
  • Open pedagogy assignments: e.g. CONS200, GEOG352, FRST370, APBI200, etc where students create OER on the UBC Wiki which are shared widely but where instructors currently have not ability incorporate such content directly into course modules in Canvas (as they were able to in the Connect era).


4/ Consequences

There exists a gap between one of UBC's main OER, open pedagogy, and documentation authoring platforms and the LMS. Consequences of this gap include:

  • Instructors may choose to either not fully use Canvas due to lack of ability to integrate Wiki resources
  • The student learning experience is slightly worsened by making them switch between platforms to access content they may need for a course.
  • Instructors may choose to not use the UBC Wiki for resource authoring, limited their ability to share learning resources, documentation, content across multiple platforms. This makes that content less sustainable.

5/ Impact of change: specify impact or risk of change in terms of affected technology, services and impact to users

Instructors, staff and students will be able to easily embed resources from UBC Wiki to Canvas. This will encourage users to develop resources in one location rather than duplicating or re-creating resources in multiple locations. The change will not interfere/disrupt with existing service and content on UBC Wiki and Canvas. Resource will be required for development work. 6/ Alternative solutions: Instructors will need to learn how to embed wiki content using iframe manually using the work-around method (https://wiki.ubc.ca/Documentation:Embed_wiki_to_canvas_via_iframe) , which has steeper learning curve for instructors.

Measure of success

UBC Wiki content would be embeddable into Canvas using a simple process (instructor finds the resource they want on the Wiki, grabs the embed code, adds it to a Canvas page via the rich text editor).

The advantages to 'repurposing' wiki content in multiple spaces such as a Canvas course, Canvas Commons, blogs.ubc.ca, cms sites, etc, are:

  • Saves time - update once, repurposed many times!
  • Sustainable approach to resource development - A wiki resource is created by a UBC employee who then leaves the university after a few months. New authors can easily update the existing wiki page.
  • An integrated LT ecosystem where an instructor can choose to share wiki authored resources in platforms best suited for their teaching and learning context (e.g. Canvas vs UBC Blogs).

Scope Integrating UBC wiki into Canvas

Assumptions, Constraints, Risks=

  • Assumptions:
  • Constraint: TBD
  • Risk: Every Wiki and Canvas upgrade poses a potential threat to the stability of the wiki embed script.
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