January update

January update

by Sylvia Currie -
Number of replies: 2
Hello SoTL project team! Even though it's February, I'm sending out a January update because, well, time is just moving too quickly! :-)

I manually subscribed you all to this forum so you will receive messages by email. You can always change your settings but I thought flipping it on would be a good way to start!

I have been reviewing and prioritizing the Learn Together Collaboratory (LTC) design and development needs, and working with northStudio, a BC-based web design company that specializes in Drupal and has done a lot of work with Educational clients. We have worked out cost estimates and the best approach to take in our redesign efforts. In our conversations I have included the SoTL Portal project so it can be closely integrated into this LTC design process.

I have good news and not-so-good news:

Good news always comes first:
After a preliminary site audit northStudio has determined that modifying the existing site rather than starting from scratch is a viable approach. This will be a huge cost and time saver overall. They have prepared an estimate that includes the SoTL design work, and it is very reasonable. Also, they are available to begin work immediately, and can meet our schedule.

Not so good news:
BCcampus is not currently able to give the green light on the project until we sort through some budget decisions. Hopefully it won't be much longer. While it is possible to single out the SoTL Portal project and develop that, it would be much, much better to approach the Learn Together Collaboratory project development as a whole.

Meanwhile... we can proceed with design work "on paper" -- use case scenarios, user requirements, and mock-ups so that we're prepared when we do have developers on board. I have a start on this in the Wiki and I also have our very talented co-op student, Hilda Anggraeni, ready to roll up her sleeves to help.

Sylvia



In reply to Sylvia Currie

Re: January update

by Heather Hurren -
what time frame are we talking about for the budget decisions? weeks?months? good work so far Sylvia.
In reply to Heather Hurren

Re: January update

by Sylvia Currie -
I hope to get a better handle on the time frame this week.

Gary also sent a note via email re how the budget decision relates to what the EDC grant will provide. The EDC grant is very small, so combining with LTC development budget would result in a better, more integrated tool. We can certainly contract out the development of SoTL portal piece as an add-on to the existing LTC website. I just hope we don't have to take that approach.

Meanwhile, we have design work to do so we can be really clear about what we want with the SoTL portal. I added one quick scenario to the wiki to get us started. These are just simple, quick paragraphs that describe what people will DO and why. As we continue to build these scenarios it will become clearer what the design will look like. At that point Hilda can do some visual mock-ups for us.

I'm here if you have questions about how to edit the wiki, etc. And if you prefer to use the forum to write scenarios, that's good too! I'll start a new 'use case scenario' discussion thread just in case...