Learning Environment Connector Developer Guide - Outcomes System - EduGarage (Blackboard Developers Network)

Integration with the Outcomes System

Prerequisites

Outcomes is enabled.
Integration is set up (eg. Vista Sections are available and there are users attached to them).
Person records are created and they are linked to the integrated users.

Integration Steps

Login to Blackboard Learn as System Administrator.
Click the Outcomes tab and Discover.
Click Courses.
Add a course:
1. Click Course Sections
2. Add a section by entering the necessary information
3. Browse to an integrated Course for the Learning System Course ID
4. Click Submit
5. Click Edit on the newly created section.
  1. Click Affiliations to add an affiliation or perform a batch add.
  2. Choose(or use) person records from the integrated system.
Go back to the Course and add a Survey:
1. Enable the Public and Allow Deployment options
2. Set the status to Complete.
3. Go to Style and add a few questions to the survey
4. Click Submit.
5. Go to Deployments > Add Deployment.
6. Fill in the necessary information.
7. Choose Select Affiliations and then choose Distribute to all persons directly affiliated with this Place and Distribute to all persons affiliated with this Unit.
8. Select Course Announcement and/or System Announcement and/or Email deployment notification.
9. Start Deployment

Sample AnnouncementProvider Implementation:

SampleAnnouncementProvider.java

package blackboard.platform.integration.extension.sample;

import blackboard.persist.Id;
import blackboard.platform.integration.IntegrationException;
import blackboard.platform.integration.exchange.AnnouncementXO;
import blackboard.platform.integration.extension.AbstractAnnouncementProvider;
import blackboard.platform.integration.provider.AnnouncementProvider;

public class SampleAnnouncementProvider extends AbstractAnnouncementProvider implements AnnouncementProvider
{

  @Override
  public void createAnnouncement( AnnouncementXO announcementXO ) throws IntegrationException
  {
    if ( announcementXO.getParentCourseLmsInt() != null )
    {
        Id courseId = announcementXO.getParentCourseLmsInt().getCourseId();
        announcementXO.setExtCourseId( courseId );
    }

    long announcmentId = -1L;
    //
    // You will need to provide a real method to contact the LMS here. The following
    // is an example of how a fictional LMS might perform this action.
    //
    //    AnnouncementSDK annSDK = new AnnouncementSDK( props );
    //    announcementId = annSDK.createAnnouncement( sessionVO, announcementVo )

    announcementXO.setExtAnnouncementId( announcmentId );

  }

  @Override
  public void deleteAnnouncement( AnnouncementXO announcementXO ) throws IntegrationException
  {
      //
      // You will need to provide a real method to contact the LMS here. The following
      // is an example of how a fictional LMS might perform this action.
      //
      //    AnnouncementSDK annSDK = new AnnouncementSDK( props );
      //    annSDK.deleteAnnouncement( sessionVO, delAnnVo );
  }

}

Outcomes Integration Notes

You can call /webapps/blackboard/execute/getLicense?cmd=isOutcomesSystemLicensed to determine whether Outcomes is licensed in Blackboard Learn.
Outcomes Objectives
- This is a lightweight Blackboard Learn tool that can run within the LMS's frameset.
- URL: /webapps/blackboard/execute/getCourseObjectives.
- Parameters:
  - id - Course's IMS Sourcedid.Id
  - name - Course's IMS Sourcedid.Source