JISC and SOA A view Robert Sherratt

What is JISC JISC works with further and higher education by providing strategic guidance, advice and opportunities to use ICT to support teaching, learning, research and administration. 

Strategic context

JISC financials JISC is funded by the UK Further and Higher education funding councils. Money spent on key infrastructure (network and resources) R&D – competitive bidding process

Large scale initiatives eFramework Information Environment

eFramework Goal The primary goal of the e-Framework is to facilitate technical interoperability within and across education and research through improved strategic planning and implementation processes.

Guiding Principles A service-oriented approach to system and process integration Development, promotion and adoption of Open Standards Community involvement in development of the e-Framework Open collaborative development activities Flexible and incremental deployment

Scope The context in which the e-Framework operates is the technical infrastructure that supports the communities active in education and research. Technical infrastructure is defined (at an abstract level) as including applications, services and the network. The e-Framework analyses and documents the services aspect.

Sharing Services

Reference model #1- FREMA Define the scope of the Assessment domain terms of existing practice Define common Assessment solution patterns in terms of use case studies and scenarios Relate them explicitly to the eFramework in the form of a service profile and service descriptions Provide prototype services that fulfil the profile of the Assessment domain, act as proof of the Assessment Reference Model and allow the reference model to be evaluated

Reference model #2- XCRI XCRI is a JISC-funded project that aims: To define a vocabulary and appropriate technology bindings (e.g. XML, RDF) for describing course-related information that encompasses course marketing, course quality assurance, enrolment and reporting requirements Data standard: XCRI has released an XML schema for describing course information that has been piloted in institutions across the UK, and also involved UCAS.

Information Environment D2D - discovery to delivery based an a long standing architecture presentation fusion provision shared infrastructure

content providers, e.g. JORUM external JISC-funded content providers, e.g. JORUM external content providers e.g. NLN, Becta, MLA Brokers Aggregators, e.g. RDN Catalogues indexes Institutional Portals,e.g. port.Hull Media specific Portals Learning management Systems, e.g. VLE’s Subject Portals, e.g. SPP@RDN, Connect end-user desktop/browser presentation fusion provision shared infrastructure authentication/authorisation (Athens) terminology services identifier services metadata schema registries, (e-learning programme) © Andy Powell (UKOLN, University of Bath) and Neil Beagrie (British Library and JISC) and Caroline Ingram (consultant) 2005 preservation remote storage/ escrow format registries institutional content providers, e.g. DLIC projects This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 archival storage service registries institutional profiling OpenURL link servers

On the horizon Repositories - a £14m programme to establish a network of digital repositories; national structures to develop the Information Environment supporting repositories, including cross-searching facilities across federated repositories Network - almost £28m e-Learning - an £11.5m programme to support the implementation of national e-learning strategies, projects to explore the potential of e-learning, particularly e-portfolios, e-assessment; and personal learning environments, with a focus on their use to support lifelong learning User Environments - a £6.75m investment in the development of User Environments to support researchers in globally distributed research teams in all disciplines

Current activity at Hull Institutional Repository eResearch interoperability eAssessment always looking for partners …