Contrib: OpenSyllabus

Introduction

OpenSyllabus (shorthand: OSYL) is a Model-based Syllabus Editor. Course Outlines or syllabi are universal gateways to effective teaching and learning in universities. OpenSyllabus allows easy syllabus creation, edition and navigation through a fast and intuitive user interface.
The tasks of building and using an OSYL course outline are also greatly facilitated by the integration other Sakai tools. It therefore provides a centralized access to all online syllabus resources for both instructors and students.

Learn more about OpenSyllabus

Latest News

2009-10-23: OpenSyllabus V9.10 now available
This release features a completely reformatted XML representation (more on this later). We also upgraded the project to GWT 1.7 which means shorter compilation times among other improvements. Our SVN repository is open to anyone kind enough to ask!

We are getting prepared for a pilot project (starting january 2010 at HEC Montreal) including Sakai 2.6.1 and OpenSyllabus as a replacement for our current Course Outline system (ZoneCours). We are actively testing OpenSyllabus as well as the other tools involved in this pilot (assignment, resources and citations) with the help of 3 new team members (and more to come). Load tests with The Grinder are also being conducted as well as automated functional tests with Selenium. This is getting serious!

2009-10-07: Our Public Test Server now runs OpenSyllabus V9.09
Our public test server at http://osyltest.hec.cais now running OpenSyllabus Version 9.09. This version features a greatly enhanced User Interface inspired from the forthcoming Sakai 3!

2009-05-19: Public Test Server: Version Updated and Address Changed!
Our public test server can now be reached at http://osyltest.hec.ca. It has been updated to the version 9.05 which is not yet available otherwise. The main enhancements are the addition of a direct Z39.50 connection to our library (this is configurable) as well as a Citation Browser as showcased at the Stockholm Conference. Several bugs were corrected too.

2009-04-14: New release of OpenSyllabus (version 9.04)
OpenSyllabus is about to enter its first Beta phase. Usability has been highly improved. In the following weeks, teachers and other users from the user advisory committee at HEC Montréal will start testing the component we call OSYLEditor. Other parts of the project are in a work-in-progress state at an alpha-level (OSYLAdmin, OSYLManager, etc.)


See what's new in the current release	Test it on our public server	Get the source code	Learn more about our version scheme

2008-11-25: Release Alpha 3
The latest version of OpenSyllabus is deployed on our demo server. Contact us if you want to give it a try!

2008-11-17: Usability Improvements
We are currently working with usability experts from YuCentrik to improve our user interface.

2008-10-06: Open CourseWare Conference
OCWC Conference - September 22-25, 2008 - Logan, Utah (U.S.A.) Jacques Raynauld on OpenSyllabus

2008-09-16: Alpha Version Released
The first release of OpenSyllabus (Alpha) is now available. You can download the source code or a preconfigured bundle for testing purposes. This is a slighlty improved version of what has been presented in July 2008 at the 9th SAKAI Conference in Paris, France.

The project organization

HEC Montréal, Université de Montréal and Sakai Québec (Québec-Canada) gather their resources and bring their expertise to the OpenSyllabus project.
The project management is based on Scrum methodology, an iterative method used in agile software development.

Contacts

For technical help, please send a detailed message on the sakai-dev mailing list
For general information you can contact us at opensyllabus@hec.ca

HEC Montréal
For general information, you can contact Emmanuel Vigne, Project Director, or Pascale Blanc, Project Manager.
For technical project information, you can contact Rémi Saïas ScrumMaster.
See the complete listing of HEC Montréal OSYL Team.