Richard Willis – SharePoint Learning Kit Coordinator, SalamanderSoft Owner

We had another great set of speakers and sessions at the Learning Gateway Conference 2010. We had a fantastic set of speakers and couldn’t have held the event without them.

Here is a linked list of all the presentations given on the day. It’s not complete yet, but I’ll add them as I get them.

Keynote

Portals and Gateways for all : Simon Shaw

Building the Learning Gateway

Understanding SharePoint 2010 : Steve Smith

Branding : Chris McKinley

Patching SharePoint and Preparing your SharePoint 2007 for 2010 : Neil Hodgkinson

A look at live@edu : Chris Rothwell

Virtualisation : Alan Richards & Dave Coleman

User Adoption

2010 Social Networking Features : Alex Pearce

Encouraging user adoption & quick wins : Steve Smith

SharePoint 2010 for Education : Alex Pearce

Integrating InfoPath Forms : Paul Baker

SharePoint Learning Kit : Richard Willis

School Stories

Parental Engagement : Simon Thompson

Hosted Overview : David White

In School Overview : Mark Leighton

Replacement of the File Server : Alan Richards & Dave Coleman

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.

With the imminent release of SLK 1.5 I thought that I would run through its new features

Support for SharePoint 2010

This has to be the highlight of the release. SLK now natively supports SharePoint 2007 and SharePoint 2010. The functionality is exactly the same, but there are separate installers for the two versions. I’ve updated it so that the core components are the same, it’s only the installation scripts and a few references in aspx pages are different.

E-Learning Actions can be localised

Since the beginning of the project the phrase "E-Learning Actions", which appears in the document library drop down menu, has not been able to be changed or localisable. I have now moved this out to a resource file and this can now be localised for other languages, or even just changed on a farm by farm basis. So if you wanted your instance to say "Assign Work", you can just edit the text based resource file to change it.

Two New Document Library Edit Options

There’s 2 new options for document library edit menu. These are shortcuts for assigning work to yourself or to the site the resource is stored in. They are called "Assign to Self" and "Assign to Site". Just like "E-Learning Actions" these can also be localized. It is completely up to you which of these 3 actions you have in any site.

Automatically add the Assignment List Web Part to the Web Part Gallery

SLK now includes a feature to automatically add the ALWP to the web part gallery. This has been a big miss in my opinion in the releases so far and just made it annoying to install.

Various Bug Fixes for the Drop Box

This release rolls up all the fixes for all the bugs I’m aware of in the Drop Box.

This is a reminder for myself more than anything.

To set "List Folder Contents" on a folder you need to set:

FileSystemRights.ReadAndExecute

InheritanceFlags.ContainerOnly

PropagationFlags.None

The only difference between "List Folder Contents" and "Read & Execute" is that List Folder Contents is only inherited by folders rather than by folders and files.

There’s now only one week left until the 2010 Learning Gateway Conference. This will be a fantastic learning resource for all those using SharePoint in Education and there’s still just enough time left to register. See http://www.learninggatewayconference.com for more details of the day.

Since my last post on it we have announced the agenda and key note speaker:

Agenda

Key Note Speaker – Simon Shaw

As Head of Institutional Management Simon has led Becta’s work to support schools using ICT to improve parental engagement through online reporting. Working with a national network of leading "advocate" schools and local authorities to develop best practice he led the creation of the online reporting framework and supporting resources. Working with Naace Simon led the development of the ICT Mark and has worked closely with local authorities to engage schools in improvement through self-review. As project leader of the ICT Test Bed project he supported change management in schools to make innovative and effective use of technology for learning and teaching. Early work with Becta included providing procurement advisory services, managing research into the total cost of ownership of ICT in schools and developing lifecycle based investment planning tools to use in capital investment programmes. Simon comes from an educational background as a teacher of science, technology and outdoor activities, a physics subject leader, school ICT coordinator and "in house" system developer. As a MCSE he also used his technical expertise in designing and integrating curriculum and information systems as a business development manager and NGFL service manager working as part of the Capita group.

I’ve blogged before on how to Easily add a dll to the GAC, but that involves two instances of Windows Explorer and the mouse.

It would be quicker and easier to use the command line to update a dll in the GAC. You can do this with the Global Assembly Cache Tool gacutil, but this is only present if you have the .net SDK or Windows SDK installed. This is going to be the case with your development machine, but you don’t really want to be installing it on all your test servers.

To get round this I knocked up a quick utility which will remove an existing version of a dll from the GAC and then install the latest version. The code is:

using System;using System.Globalization;using System.EnterpriseServices.Internal;

namespace Test{    public class GacInstall    {        public static void Main(string[] arguments)        {            try            {                string assemblyPath = arguments[0];                Publish publish = new Publish();                publish.GacRemove(assemblyPath);                publish.GacInstall(assemblyPath);            }            catch (Exception e)            {                Console.WriteLine(e);            }        }    }}

You can then use it by passing it the dll you want as a command line parameter e.g.

GacInstall MyUpdatedCode.dll

Assuming that MyUpdatedCode.dll is in the same directory.

Combined with my last tip Recycle An Individual Application Pool From The Command Line you can now write a bat or cmd file to replace the dll in the GAC and recycle the application pool with 2 key presses: The up arrow key and then return.