JISC

The core of this project is to create a service hosted at NTU where learners from the East Midlands, with a Shibboleth login, can create and manage their own CV. The initial development will allow the user to manually create the CV by direct data entry, we will further extend this functionality through the project to allow learners internally and from our partners to import, and / or dynamically reference material stored in local systems using Web Services.

Users will be able to publish, export or email different presentations of their CV and will retain full control over who is allowed to see which parts of the data. This works builds on activities undertaken within the “Regional Interoperability Project on Lifelong Learning” (RIPPLL).

Aims and objectives

The primary aim is to create a usable CV service for learners in the East Midlands area using Shibboleth as the primary authentication framework. Core to this is defining clearly where the boundary between Service (CV Builder) and enabling technology (Shibboleth) lies, and demonstrating a practical application of how Shibboleth can enable broader access to distributed services.

A key objective of this project is to promote the implementation of a Shibboleth infrastructure in FE. Part of the role of our project partners (New College Nottingham and WestNottinghamshireCollege) will be to help guide the development of the CV Service and ensure it’s appropriateness for the FE learners. At the same time, by implementing a Shibboleth IdP, they will be able to engage in the development of the feeder web services and start to consider the further possibilities of utilising Shibboleth in their institutions.

Another aspect of the work involved in modelling the CV data will be to map the data elements against the UKLeap specification as an exercise to try and ensure interoperability to allow the learner to use the data collected for their CV to be migrated or referenced in any other PDP system.

Project methodology

The initial emphasis of the project will be to ensure that the breadth of the functionality of the CV builder service will be appropriate to the widest spectrum of learner. We will be looking at CV examples from within NTU, our partners and the broader internet to allow us to ensure that we are capturing the core elements of use in creating a CV. We will then create an appropriate normalised data model in conjunction with the UKLeap specification and start to build the maintenance screens within a Shibboleth environment on top of that.

Later in the project we will be exploring using Web Services to import and remotely reference learner data for publication in the CV sourced from internal information systems where they exist.

Our primary skills in development are with the Microsoft toolset, and we expect to be building our database on SQL Server 2000 using the .NET toolset.

Anticipated impact

We feel that by demonstrating practical examples of functionality will help the adoption of Shibboleth by focusing on developing systems on top of Shibboleth framework, this particular project focuses on delivering an application which is of use across both FE and HE learners and beyond to the workplace. In addition by working on a narrower set of Learner data we can provide useful feedback for the UKLeap specification.

Internally at NTU we see this as a good project to better communicate how Shibboleth can broaden our thinking and get us looking at different ways in which existing technology can start to push the boundaries of what we do.

Lead institution
Nottingham Trent University

Project partners
New College Nottingham, West NottinghamshireCollege