Richard Willis – SharePoint Learning Kit Coordinator, SalamanderSoft Owner

Today I released SLK 1.5 which is available from http://slk.codeplex.com/releases/view/60708.

It has a couple of bug fixes over the release candidate namely:

1.    Fixed Download Settings page in Central Administration.

2.    You couldn’t assign to a site with inherited permissions unless all learners on that site had been assigned to before

I’ve also made changes to the SLK admin feature to try to ensure that it appears in Central Administration. As a last resort it is not a hidden feature so you can enable it under Farm Features in central admin.

I have just released SharePoint Learning Kit 1.5 Release Candidate which is available from the downloads page.

The main changes are to support Claims based authentication in SharePoint 2010.

Unless any major bugs are found I will move this to the stable version on 1 Feb 2011.

Changes

Rewrite of Domain Group Enumeration Of Members

I’ve completely rewritten the code to pull the members from Active Directory domain groups. Both to handle claims based authentication and to increase performance. I’ve also handled the groups DOMAIN\Domain Users and NT AUTHORITY\Authenticated Users more gracefully. Groups such as BUILTIN\Administrators are now supported as well.

Users logging in via NTLM & Claims Based Authentication get all of their assignments

Previously if you had multiple authentication methods i.e. NTLM for internal access and claims based for external access, how you logged in made a difference to the assignments you saw. You should now get a consolidated view of your assignments.

Return All Button works

Bug fix. Return all button now works.

Users in OUs with forward slash in their name can be assigned to.

Bug fix. You can now assign work to users in an OU with a forward slash in it’s name.

Localise Calendar Control on Assignment Properties Page

It should now pick up the first day of the week from the site properties.

SLK Configuration Page can create Permission Levels in Claims Based Authentication Site Collections

Bug fix. Before this release it failed to do so.

I’ve just uploaded the SharePoint Learning Kit 1.5 source code to CodePlex. I’ve been waiting until I had an automated build process to handle the releases for SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint 2007, which is now present.

You can download it from http://slk.codeplex.com/SourceControl/list/changesets.

I haven’t had any time to write up anything about how the Drop Box works since I released. However, I have just realised that I created a presentation for Microsoft about it which does go into some detail. Rather than make everyone wait even longer for me to extract into written format here is the presentation. The detail is in the notes pages so make sure that you look at those.

I don’t know if SlideShare supports notes so I’ll link directly to the PowerPoint presentation itself.

I’ve just uploaded SLK 1.5 Beta 3 to CodePlex at http://slk.codeplex.com/releases/view/49988.

Changes over Beta 2 are:

Removal of Microsoft.LearningComponents.Compression.MRCI.dll

This was an unmanaged code (C++) dll used for decompressing parts of Class Server content. It’s platform version (x86 or x64) was causing problems installing on the other platform.

I’ve rewritten this in managed code and merged it into Microsoft.LearningComponents.Compression.dll.

I don’t know why it was in unmanaged code originally. Presumably the original developers had the code handy from Class Server and included it as was.

Central Administration Configure SharePoint Learning Kit page sets database permissions

The configure SharePoint Learning Kit page in Central Administration wasn’t setting the database permissions correctly. It was setting the permissions to the application pool identity of central administration rather than the identity of the Web Application it was configuring for. Presumably it wasn’t a bigger problem before as people were using the same user for central admin and their web applications. Best practise is to use different identities for these, and this seems to be more prevalent now.

Error Logging

There were multiple places which errors were logged into the event log. Only one of which I’d found before and updated for SharePoint 2010. I think I’ve got them all now, and am only using one function to log errors which is compatible with SharePoint 2007 & 2010.

Configure SharePoint Learning Kit Link in Central Admin

Done some more tweaking to try to get to display more consistently. You do need to deploy to one web application before it appears. Have fixed a permissions issue and added an icon for SharePoint 2010. Basic, but better than a broken link. Needs internationalizing though. Any volunteers?

Minor bug fixes

I’ve slotted in a couple of minor bug fixes

I’ve just put up version 1.5 beta at http://slk.codeplex.com/releases/view/49988.

There are now separate releases for SharePoint 2007 & SharePoint 2010.

The source code is also available. This still needs some work to build cleanly and build the 2 releases automatically, but I thought it would be better up so you can start looking at it.

This is the new installation documentation I have just completed. It is distributed with version 1.5.

Installing SLK

This document contains the installation and configuration instructions for SLK version 1.5. It has the following sections:

1.  Introduction – About SharePoint Learning Kit
2.  Requirements
3.  Contents of the installation package
4.  Installing SLK
5.  Configuring SLK
6.  Upgrading from 1.4

1.  Introduction – About SharePoint Learning Kit

SharePoint Learning Kit (SLK) is a SCORM 2004-conformant e-learning delivery and tracking application built as a SharePoint solution. It works with either SharePoint 2010 or SharePoint 2007 and has the following core features:

    a. Supports SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004, and Class Server content, allowing users to store and manage this content in SharePoint document libraries.
    b. Supports a learner-centric or instructor-led (assigned) workflow.
    c. Allows assignment, tracking and grading of both e-learning and non-e-learning content.

The current version is 1.5.

SharePoint Learning Kit is a community source project. This means that it is made available to you for free, and that you can use it as-is or modify it to suit your needs as long as you comply with the conditions that are described in the accompanying License.txt file. You are responsible for reading and complying with this license. SharePoint Learning Kit is supported by a community of users and developers through discussion forums at http://www.codeplex.com/slk. You are invited to participate in this community, to help others, to report issues, and to contribute your ideas to carry SLK forward. For the most up to date information about SLK, please refer to http://www.codeplex.com/slk.

2.  Requirements

    a.  You must have a SharePoint 2007 or SharePoint 2010 environment already set up.
        i.  For SharePoint 2007, SLK will run on either Windows SharePoint Services 3 or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
        ii. For SharePoint 2010, SLK will run on SharePoint Foundation or SharePoint Server.
    b.  SLK stores its results in a SQL Server database so you need to know which SQL Server instance you want to create the database in.

3.  Contents of the installation package

    a.  SharePointLearningKit.wsp:  The solution package
    b.  Installation.txt: This help file
    c.  slkadm.exe: Command line configuration tool
    d.  AddSolution.ps1 or AddSolution.cmd (depending on whether for SharePoint 2007 or SharePoint 2010)
    e.  UpdateSolutionNavigation.cmd (if for SharePoint 2007)
    f.  license.txt: The license for use of SLK

4.  Installing SLK

    3.a.    For SharePoint 2010

        i.      Unzip the installation package on a web front end server.
        ii.     Add the solution to SharePoint by running AddSolution.ps1. This will add the solution to the solution gallery.
        iii.    Open SharePoint 2010 Central Administration
        iv.     Click on System Settings
        v.      Under Farm Management click on Manage farm solutions
        vi.     Click on sharepointlearningkit.wsp
        vii.    You now need to deploy to solution so click on Deploy Solution.
        viii.   Choose when you want to deploy the solution and which web application to deploy the solution to. This needs to be the web application which hosts the web pages/sites where your users will be using SLK for teaching & learning. Then click OK.
        ix.     This will add the deploy job to the SharePoint job queue and return you to the list of installed solutions. Even if you selected to deploy immediately it will take a bit of time to deploy.

    3.b.    For SharePoint 2007
        i.      Unzip the installation package on a web front end server.
        ii.     Add the solution to SharePoint by running AddSolution.cmd. This will add the solution to the solution gallery.
        iii.    Run UpdateSolutionNavigation.cmd
        iv.     Open SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration
        v.      Click on Operations
        vi.     Under Global Configuration click on Solution Management
        vii.    Click on sharepointlearningkit.wsp
        viii.   You now need to deploy to solution so click on Deploy Solution.
        ix.     Choose when you want to deploy the solution and which web application to deploy the solution to. This needs to be the web application which hosts the web pages/sites where your users will be using SLK for teaching & learning. Then click OK.
        x.      This will add the deploy job to the SharePoint job queue and return you to the list of installed solutions. Even if you selected to deploy immediately it will take a bit of time to deploy.

5.  Configuring SLK
    Once SLK is installed and deployed in SharePoint you need to configure it .

    SLK is configured on a site collection basis and so you must configure SLK for each site collection in which you wish to use SLK for e-learning. Multiple site collections can share the same database. When viewing all assignments in SLK it will show them across the SLK database configured for that site collection. So if you have multiple site collections sharing an SLK database, it will show all assignments across those site collections. When you use multiple site collections in your SharePoint set up, you will need to decide if each site collection should have its own siloed SLK database or share the database depending on how you want to partition the views of assignments. There is no right or wrong way, it depends on how you have set your SharePoint portal up and your business processes.

    The same page is used to initially set the configuration for a site collection and to update it later. The process is exactly the same.

    When configuring SLK through central administration, the identity the application pool is running as must have appropriate permissions on the SQL Server instance being used.

    a.  Open SharePoint Central Adminstation.
    b.  Open the SharePoint Learning Kit Configuration page which is under Application Management | SharePoint Learning Kit Configuration | Configure SharePoint Learning Kit
    c.  Choose the site collection to configure.
    d.  Choose the SQL server to use and the database name. If you are using a named instance of SQL Server remember to include the the instance name as part of the server name. You can either create a new SLK database or use an existing one.
    e.  Choose the names of the permissions used by SLK. You can use names of existing permissions, but it is likely to be easier and less confusing to use new ones. Check the Create Permissions check box if these permissions need creating in the site collection.
    f.  If you want to use non-standard setting then choose the SLK Settings file to use. It’s safe to say that if you don’t know what the SLK Settings file is, then you should be using the standard onw.
    h.  Click OK. SharePoint will then configure SLK for the chosen site collection and report back any errors.
    i.  Navigate to the root of the site collection you have just configured.
    j.  Activate the "SharePoint Learning Kit – Assignment List Web Part". This will add the Assignment List Web Part to the web part gallery.
        i.      Select Site Actions | Site Settings to get to the site setting page.
        ii.     Under Site Collection Administration select Site Collection Features.
        iii.    Activate the feature.
    h.  On sites containing your learning resources select Site Actions | Site Settings | Mange Site Features. Activate the appropriate features chosen from:
        i.      SharePoint Learning Kit. Allowing assigning of resources to any site in the site collection.
        ii.     SharePoint Learning Kit – Assign Self. Allowing quick assigning to the logged in user.
        iii.    SharePoint Learning Kit – Assign To Site. Allowing quick assigning to learners in the current site.

6.  Upgrading SLK

To upgrade from 1.4 you need to:
    a.  Retract the SharePoint Learning Kit solution
    b.  Once retraction has finished then remove the solution
    c.  Then add solution as in installing SLK and then deploy it to the appropriate web applications

There are no database changes required.

SLK is a simple but powerful SharePoint tool that gives instructors the flexibility to deliver almost any computer document as an eLearning resource. In a nutshell it allows the assignment, tracking and grading of work.

Type of Learning Resource

SharePoint Learning Kit has 2 main types of resources which can be assigned:

Rich Resource

This is a SCORM or Class Server package.

These are self-contained packages containing contents defined by the SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model)  standard or Class Server for web based e-learning. This can include sequencing and automatic marking of tests. SLK is a SCORM certified product.

SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) is a generic standard while Class Server is the Microsoft Virtual Learning Environment from the SharePoint 2003 era. It was not updated for SharePoint 2007 and SLK is it’s successor. It was a key requirement for SLK to support Class Server content.

Any other electronic document

A teacher can assign any document within a SharePoint learning resource library to learners. The learners can then upload the completed assignment and any supporting files back to SharePoint when they have completed it.

Licensing

SLK is an open source product hosted on CodePlex (http://www.codeplex.com/slk). It has a very permissive license which allows anyone to take the code and extend it with no restrictions.

Background

SLK was originally developed in house at Microsoft for SharePoint 2007 as a replacement for some of the Class Server functionality. It is the upgrade path for organisations using Class Server when they upgrade to SharePoint 2007 and SharePoint 2010.

Once the first release was completed, Microsoft released it under on open source license on CodePlex, but initially Microsoft employees remained as the project coordinator.

In January 2009 I took over as project coordinator and it is now fully a community product. Microsoft have occasionally funded some work since then such as the initial work for version 1.4, but in general progress is down to time freely committed by myself and other potential contributors.

Requirements

SLK requires SharePoint 2007 (WSS3 or MOSS 2007) or SharePoint 2010 to run. However, there is a sample distributed in the source code called Basic Web Player which allows the SCORM player to be used in a standard asp.net application.

All provisioning for assigning instructors and learners is implemented using standard SharePoint features

In previous versions of SLK, pretty much the only text you couldn’t localise was the phrase ‘E-Learning Actions’. This is how teachers/instructors start the assignment process and is added to document library edit menus when you active the SharePoint Learning Kit feature. In addition to not being localisable, it’s always seemed a poor turn of phrase, especially in schools, as it’s not immediately obvious what it does.

For version 1.5 I’ve moved the text, in addition to all strings associated with features into it’s own resource file which gets deployed when you install 1.5. This now allows localised versions to be added for other language support, but also you can change it on a farm by farm basis if you don’t like the out of the box phrase.

How to change the text

Once you have installed version 1.5, you will need to navigate to the Resources folder where the SLK resource file is located. On a default install of SharePoint 2010 this is

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\Resources

For SharePoint 2007, just replace the 14 with 12 (it’s the product number). For non-English OS installations the path will vary as some of it is localised, but it’s the standard SharePoint location for files.

Within that folder, in addition to a large number of standard SharePoint resource files, you will find SLK.resx.

While you are in the Resources folder do not modify any of the other resource files. If you change any of the strings in there you’ll only confuse your users, and they may get overwritten on the next SharePoint upgrade.

Once you have found SLK.resx, open it in your favourite text editor, find the E-Learning Actions resource and change the value to whatever you want it to be.

Make sure that you only change the value element’s text. The name of the data item is how it’s referenced, so if you change that SharePoint won’t be able to find the value, and the menu item will be blank.

Here I’ve changed the test to Assign Work.

Once you have made your changes you will need to recycle the SharePoint application pool or restart IIS. Once that’s completed you can navigate back to your document library to verify that the text has changed

SLK.resx also contains the strings for all the features i.e. the text displayed when activating or deactivating features.

One thing to note is that any changes you make could get overwritten in any upgrade of SLK, so please keep a copy of your changes.

Localisation

To localise the text for another language, you make a copy of the resource file and save it in the same folder, but include the language code in the file name. You can see this from the standard files in the folder of which the following screenshot is a small selection.

Eventually I hope to included localised versions of this in the language packs.

SLK 1.5 has the following SharePoint features you can activate.

Site Collection Level

SharePoint Learning Kit Web Parts

When activated this feature automatically adds the Assignment List Web Part to the web part gallery for a site collection.

Site Level

SharePoint Learning Kit

This is the same feature as present in previous versions of SLK. When this is activated in a site the "E-Learning Actions" menu item is added to document libraries.

SharePoint Learning Kit – Assign Self

This feature add the "Assign To Self" menu item to document libraries. This allows the user to immediately assign an item to themselves and run it.

SharePoint Learning Kit – Assign Site

This feature add the "Assign To Site" menu item to document libraries. This allows the user to start assigning an item to the current site without having to choose the site to assign to. In effect it jumps straight to the Assignment Properties page for the current site.

Web Application Level

SharePoint Learning Kit Admin

This feature adds the Configure SharePoint Learning Kit functionality to Central Administration. This is just here for completeness as it’s actually a hidden feature which is activated automatically so you should never see it or need to activate it.

As you can see I still need a image for it.