1. Detecting Power Users Programmatically George Kroner Innovative Insights

2. Agenda What is going on in there? Why would I want to know? Models and methods to consider and measurement metrics Get to know the database What tools exist to assist?

3. What is going on in there? Did you know that… –Blackboard’s database is now open and documented for certain uses? –Blackboard records (nearly) every click made in the system in an audit log? If you’ve turned this off, you likely still have HTTP logs that you can parse through –Years of system usage data are likely present in your Blackboard system? –The data locked inside is becoming increasingly relevant across a variety of applications?

7. Why would I want to know? Data to reinforce (or contradict) user feedback Find power users who can be advocates Find users familiar with certain toolsets Evaluating how the system meets your users’ needs …

8. Models, methods, and measurement metrics Who logs in the most Who access the most pages Who has the most students Who teaches the most courses Who adds or accesses the most content Who uses the most available tools Who interacts the most with others

9. General Specific WiderDeeper Logins Page hits Total content Total content by type User activity streams Tool usage Forum usage

10. Methods Basic numbers Thresholds Trends Patterns Activity streams Easier More difficult, but more interesting

11. Database tables Logins Content Connections (discussion forums, enrollments) Tools Page hits bb_bb60 vs BBLEARN _stats (eg: bb_bb60_stats) is populated when you run PurgeAccumulator.sh/.bat Activity_accumulator_queue (flushed every 10 mins)

12. Logins & Page Hits activity_accumulator –event_type (LOGIN_ATTEMPT, PAGE_ACCESS) –user_pk1 –timestamp users –pk1 –user_id –institution_roles_pk1 institution_roles –pk1 –role_name –description –role_id

13. Logins & Page Hits (examples) Obtain total logins on a given day –select count(*) from activity_accumulator where event_type = 'LOGIN_ATTEMPT' and timestamp between convert(datetime, '2010-07-11', 120) and convert(datetime, '2010-07-11', 120) –to_date('2010-07-11','YYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS') and to_date('2010-07-11','YYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS') Obtain total # users who logged in today –select count(*) from users where last_login_date between convert(datetime, '2010-07-10', 120) and convert(datetime, '2010-07-11', 120) Obtain total page hits on a given day –select count(*) from activity_accumulator where event_type = 'PAGE_ACCESS' and timestamp between convert(datetime, '2010-07-11', 120) and convert(datetime, '2010-07-11', 120)

14. Content content_handlers –handle –Name course_content_handlers –crsmain_pk1 –content_handlers_pk1 –available_ind course_contents –every content item in a course –cnthndlr_handle –dtcreated –dtmodified –crsmain_pk1 –available_ind –title –parent_pk1 course_contents_files –links course_contents to files files –storage_type (CS or LOCAL) –file_name –link_name –file_size

15. Content (example) Obtain total content count by type –select count (*) from course_contents where cnthndlr_handle = 'resource/x-bb-document' Obtain content added in the past day –select count(*) from course_contents where dtcreated between convert(datetime, '2010-07-11', 120) and convert(datetime, '2010-07-11', 120)

16. Connections (discussion forums) Conference_main –Forum_main (course-level, group-level) Msg_main (parent-child relationship for replies) Example: –Obtain total messages SELECT count(*) from msg_main

17. Connections (enrollments) users courses course_users –Links pk1 of users and courses tables course_roles Example –Enabled instructor enrollments SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT users.pk1) FROM course_users, users WHERE course_users.row_status = 0 AND course_users.available_ind = 'Y' AND course_users.role IN ('B', 'G', 'P', 'T') AND users.pk1 = course_users.users_pk1 AND users.row_status = 0 AND users.available_ind = 'Y'

18. Tools navigation_item –application (indicator of product subsystem) –internal_handle course_navigation_item –internal_handle –enabled_ind application –plugins_pk1 indicates a Building Block Blogs, journals, groups –Others have relevant data beyond on/off – but in their own tables

19. Activity Streams Investigate individual user behavior for the duration of a session Investigate course behavior/activity on a given day

20. Activity Streams (example) User streams –SELECT pk1, event_type, user_pk1, course_pk1, timestamp, data FROM activity_accumulator WHERE user_pk1 IS NOT NULL ORDER BY user_pk1, timestamp Course streams –SELECT pk1, event_type, user_pk1, course_pk1, timestamp, data FROM activity_accumulator WHERE course_pk1 IS NOT NULL ORDER BY course_pk1, timestamp

21. Tools to help visualize (picking the right one) SQL Server Management Studio Aqua Data Studio Gephi (based on NetBeans) Talend Open Profiler Jaspersoft Blackboard-specific development

22. SQL Server Management Studio

23. Aqua Data Studio

24. Gephi

25. Blackboard Social Network Analysis Tool (user-facing!)

26. Talend Open Profiler

27. Jaspersoft

28. Blackboard-specific: ASTRO

29. Blackboard-specific: UMBC Reports

30. Blackboard-specific: EduTechnica.com

31. Please provide feedback for this session by emailing DevConFeedback@blackboard.com. DevConFeedback@blackboard.com The subject of the email should be title of this session: Detecting Power Users Programmatically