[Building Sakai] Talis Aspire

[csev]

On Nov 11, 2011, at 12:04 PM, Adrian Fish wrote:

> Agreed, apart from the BBB bit. BBB calls quite a few Sakai APIs. Can an 
> LTI tool do that? Or a JSR168 tool?

An LTI tool has only limited access to "services" - but that can be expanded - that was what I was suggesting.  Instead of a whole new tool every time - just add more services to LTI.   I know it is a bit of a stretch - I just want the idea out there.

A JSR-168 tool can call all the APIs.  It is equivalent in all ways to a Sakai tool but without being in an iFrame (i.e. more awesome goodness).

> The point about something like Aspire is that the logic is encoded in 
> the URL so it is a good candidate for the LTI treatment.

Tools with simple use cases that fit within LTI *should* start with LTI even if later - they need t become a Sakai tool because of a need for deeper connection.  And (repeating above) a JSR-168 is a better tool as then the tool gets to have better control of the iframe that it uses to place the tool if it decided not to use a popup window.

> BBB is a good tool; please give it the respect it deserves Mr LTI man ;)

Absolutely - and what is clear is that when someone asks a question about BBB - there are enough people using it that the questions get answered.  But that is because there is someone in the community who takes responsibility to keep BBB working for folks.  Which is great and cool.   

But Wimba is a different example - Wimba funded one version of the tool and then walked away from the code in contrib, stranding it.  So for a long time when someone said 'Can I get Wimba working?' there was a long silence.   But of course this one also has a happy ending because Steve made a copy of it and now keeps it up to date and answers questions about it.

I just don't think this approach works well when a vendor does a drive-by, drops some code in contrib and then runs off hoping that eventually the code will be in such bad shape and adopting users will bite the bullet and support it.

If we encourage the vendor to use LTI as much as possible then they are the maintainers of the software for their service and their integration into Moodle, Blackboard, D2L, OLAT, uPortal, etc etc is the same integration - so they are motivated to keep it up because they get enough business from one place or another using it.

I am not saying to never write a tool - I am just saying the first reaction to a new vendor should be "Do LTI" - not "Write a tool in contrib".  Like the Dos Equis Most Interesting Man in the World says, "I don't always write Sakai tools, but when I do, I prefer JSR-168.".  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-4zfsy6rsM

Signed,

Mr. LTI Man :)

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