Web Services Project
Resume:
Web Services Enabling Technology
for
Application Integration and Assembly
Commissioned By:
http://www.hekate.org
Email: ****@******.***
Co-Sponsored By:
by George Lorenzo
July 2002
Table of Contents
I. Introduction 1
The Hekate Web Services Manifesto 1
II. Terminology, Standards and Tools 1
Web Services Defined 1
Toolkits and Interoperability 2
Microsoft s .NET Platform 2
III. The eLearning Vision 3
Web Services-Enabled Content Repositories 3
MIT s iCampus 3
iCampus Framework Project and Freshmen Essays 3
IV. Larger Implications 4
Federated Data and the Elimination of Friction 4
Managing the Flow of Information and Applications 4
V. Conclusion 5
Financial Issues 5
Notes 6
About Hekate 6
About SCT 6
I. Introduction
The HEKATE
The term Web Services is relatively easy to define, but
Web Services
the potential implications concerning Web Services are
complex, particularly when applied to higher education.
Manifesto
Web Services are enabling technologies that facilitate the
I
assembly and integration of applications in order to create n order to enable customer satisfaction, develop
new, more meaningful and/or more user-specific applica- integrated software services, and create value by
tions, all at the speed of the Internet. The creation of Web leveraging existing investments, HEKATE s goals
Services occurs within the computing back-end, unbe- for 2003-05 with respect to Web Services are to ensure
knownst to the human who happens to be looking at Web- that:
Services-enabled applications on any number of electronic
1) By the year 2005 most software designed for the
devices/clients.
higher education space will be compliant with the
Web Services have been gaining ground quite rapidly in evolving standards associated with Web Services
the corporate world and are already well established in the
2) A range of community source tools and interfaces
supply-chain-economics business sectors.
will be developed for broad adoption in the higher
Web Services are only just beginning to take shape in the
education space upon which proprietary as well as
higher education computing environment. The Higher
open source solutions will be built.
Education Knowledge and Technology Exchange
(HEKATE) sees Web Services as an extremely important 3) The HEKATE international exchange of vendors
key to the future of campus computing on numerous and university-based technologists will map a
fronts, with enormous implications to enhance teaching, common UDDI schema representing the best thinking
learning and research. Additionally, Web Services are of the interrelated work flows and relationships within
expected to have profound and positive effects on the the University space.
implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP)
4) HEKATE will seek to create a technical advisory
initiatives at colleges and universities.
group of major universities to support design
Nonetheless, before the use of Web Services becomes de specifications and detailed planning for implementa-
rigueur of campus computing, at least four extremely tion of items 1-3.
important drivers need to be accelerated. First is the
5) HEKATE will also support a joint university-
technical architecture that will drive Web Services needs
industry technical advisory group to accomplish the
to be properly defined and communicated throughout
goals set out in items 1-3
higher education. Second is the whole computing stan-
dards movement must reach its promise of effectively 6) HEKATE will collaborate with standards initiatives
facilitating interoperability, reusability and discoverability such as IMS and SCORM with the intent of harmoniz-
of applications between disparate systems. Third, in order ing and creating consensus around standards for
for the concept of Web Services to reach its fullest Web Services.
potential, a number of security concerns related to
network identity management must be solved. Fourth, 7) HEKATE will support a joint industry/higher
higher education has to see the value of Web Services and education testing and evaluation lab to support both
provide the support and funds to further develop this new the assessment of product compatibility and issuing
technology. reports to enable valuable integration of Web
Services into the higher education space.
This article attempts to broadly define the primary issues
and visions for the future of higher education that 8) HEKATE will provide a series of semi-annual
surround Web Services. updates on the progress of web services in higher
education and serve as the major dissemination effort.
9) HEKATE will support sponsored research in the
II. Terminology, Standards and Tools
area of Web Services and higher education with
Web Services Defined
financial and technical commitments in the form of
Like all computer technology, Web Services come with a
grants and collaborative research.
can of alphabet soup. The lingo here is primarily XML
(Extensible Markup Language), SOAP (Simple Object 10) HEKATE will seek and consolidate sources of
Access Protocol), WSDL (Web Services Description funding to support the activities outlined above.
Language) and UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery
and Integration). As noted at Webopedia.com, XML is
used to tag data; SOAP is used to transfer data; WSDL is
Web Services Enabling Technology for Application Integration and Assembly
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HEKATE Higher Education Knowledge & Technology Exchange www.hekate.org
used for describing the services available; and UDDI is
used for listing what services are available. 1
XML is used to tag data; SOAP is used
Basically, in order for Web Services to work, programmers to transfer data; WSDL is used for describ-
and developers must XML tag existing or soon-to-be-
ing the services available; and UDDI is
created applications using SOAP definitions. Additionally,
used for listing what services are available.
the XML-tagged application should have a descriptor
created in WSDL that explains the application s capabili- Source: Webopedia.com
ties. Finally, depending on the circumstances surrounding
the creation of a Web Service, these XML-tagged applica-
tions can be listed in a directory, which is the UDDI, also
understand, consume and interact with other exposed
commonly referred to as the electronic yellow pages for
Web Services. In short, to develop such processes
Web Services. The WSDL format also enables a UDDI to
involves building in interfaces that know how to generate,
understand and accept these XML-tagged applications,
receive and parse SOAP-encapsulated XML messages for
analogous to the process of placing an ad in the yellow
communicating with each other, using WSDL and UDDI in
pages.
this process.
Toolkits and Interoperability
The idea is that a Web Service can be written once and
All of the large software producers, including Microsoft,
accessed across Microsoft, Sun, Linux and other environ-
Sun Microsystems, IBM, BEA and Oracle2, are developing
ments, says Fred Benz, founder and principal architect and
tools that help to make the process of building Web
designer of Context Interactive, an online learning
Services easy; and despite their competitive differences,
technology and design company. The promise of Web
they are attempting to create a compatible enterprise
Services is that it would be interoperable across platforms;
through a newly formed group called the Web Services
it would be reusable because it is sort of broken out. From
Interoperability Organization3.
the standpoint of the developer, it is a more leveraged
As with most programming and developer endeavors,
model for creating applications and services for the
WC3 is the primary organization driving Web Services-
Internet because you only have to theoretically create it
related standards and specifications. 4 Microsoft s Global
once and it will work across different platforms.
XML Services Architecture (GXA) is also pushing
Today s dialogue concerning the next level of information
specifications and standards related to the advancement
technology s development, in general, could be changing,
of Web Services.5
Benz adds. Some Chief Information Officers might be
Web Services are probably the most important techno-
moving their focus away from the challenge of under-
logical step forward since the advent of the Web, says
standing which server solution is best for their particular
eCollege Chief Technology Officer Mark Resmer. This is a
needs, to which is the better development environment to
disruptive technology that is starting to have a real impact
create web-based application services. Proof of this theory
on the software industry. It s high time for academia to
may be related to Microsoft s strong push to develop and
recognize that this is going on and to understand how to
market its new .NET Platform for higher education.
take advantage of it. In particular, Web Services provide
Microsoft s .NET Platform
for a Third Way of software deployment - combining the
The major programming environments are building in
best aspects of traditionally licensed software and
native support for Web Services, and you simply need to
Application Service Providers (ASPs). In this hybrid
avail yourself of that native support, says Resmer, adding
model, institutions will be able to assemble customized
that the most well-known toolkit is Microsoft s Visual
applications by combining locally hosted software with
Studio.NET, which is the leading tool in the marketplace at
Web Services provided by companies with a history of
this point. The eCollege software is almost entirely based
hosting ASP services, such as eCollege.
on the Microsoft platform already, which makes it very
Resmer adds that the introduction of software toolkits
easy for us to include Web Services support in the
available in the standard enterprise-level programming
future.
environments makes it relatively easy to create Web
Blackboard s Senior Vice President of Research and
Services-enabled applications designed to look for,
Development Daniel Cane adds that Blackboard s next
generation of its Building Blocks Program, which is
Web Services are probably the most currently built on a JAVA-based Application Program
Interface (API) and uses C#, will also be built on the
important technological step forward
Microsoft .NET platform. C# makes it very easy for us to
since the advent of the Web.
write Web Services, says Cane, adding that in .NET it is
- Mark Resmer, eCollege as simple as saying this API is a public Web Service, and
it takes care of it for you.
Web Services Enabling Technology for Application Integration and Assembly
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HEKATE Higher Education Knowledge & Technology Exchange www.hekate.org
III. The eLearning Vision between institutions - for example, individual campuses in
a university system.
The possibility for pervasive creation and use of Web
Services among colleges and universities will be a MIT s iCampus
significant catalyst for effectively adding value to an Resmer s reference to accessible content from major
institution s assets. This asset-building process is already universities would have to include MIT, a leader in the
taking its first steps inside higher education eLearning development of Web Services to enhance teaching,
environments. learning and research. A substantial amount of research
and development related to Web Services is happening
Web Services-Enabled Content Repositories
through MIT s iCampus initiative, a five-year, $25 million
That a piece of software can go out and discover what
research alliance officially launched in October 1999
learning resources are available today, find them, retrieve
between MIT and Microsoft Research to enhance
them and then integrate them back into a course - and the
education through information technology.6
person using this never had to do anything - is a very
powerful notion, says Resmer. This is the basic proposi- From an initial push that technologically enhanced MIT
tion driving Web Services in the field of eLearning; it computer science and engineering courses by incorporat-
holds an as-yet-to-be-fulfilled promise to greatly enhance ing online lectures and automatic homework checking, the
teaching, learning and research like never before in the iCampus project has quickly changed direction to include
history of education. new projects with more of a Web Services flavor to
them, says David Mitchell, Microsoft s iCampus program
For instance, one can imagine a plenitude of standardized
manager.
Web Services wrapped around XML-tagged, subject-
oriented repositories of teaching and learning materials Much of the iCampus project is being built as a .NET
that can be mixed, matched and reinvented dynamically Platform service using C#, adds Randy Hinrichs, group
over a Web Services-enabled conduit to ultimately research manager, Learning Science and Technology,
enhance and individualize the eLearning experience. Microsoft Research s University Relations
Additionally, the creation of new Web Services can help
MIT is asking what happens when you have an infra-
education providers better manage web-based teaching
structure; you made it wireless; you got federated data
and learning administrative functions, such as student
services all over the place and access to interesting
grading and assessment procedures.
technologies and data - how do you build collaboration on
WebCT s Executive Vice President Peter Segall sees how top of all that? asks Hinrichs. How do you build
Web Services can benefit eLearning, but he also believes experiences that enable you to bring MIT to the user?
it will take a fair amount of time and effort before the
iCampus Framework Project and Freshmen Essays
creation of standardized Web Services-enabled content
One research investigation that may help answer such
repositories becomes a reality. What I see today is the
questions is the iCampus Framework Project, which is
first few footsteps toward an integrated environment for
under the guidance of Mitchell and well-known MIT
students, says Segall. Web Services is the trend; it is
Professor of Computer Science and Engineering Hal
the direction. However, the software standards related to
Abelson7. As noted on the iCampus website, the Frame-
interoperability are moving targets . . . every six months
work Project is implementing a collection of Web Services
you get an iterative and evolving picture.
that illustrate the benefits of service architectures for
Nonetheless, Segall, and WebCT s two major competitors, educational computing infrastructure. These benefits
eCollege and Blackboard, see a possible future where include the ability to modularize implementations of
students and faculty are given the ability to seamlessly educational computing applications to create reusable
and dynamically access the best of the best course components and to enable component and resources
materials through their learning management systems sharing within the university and across institutions.
(LMS). Segall adds that such course materials may come
Part of the Framework Project supports another iCampus
from Web Services-enabled collaborations between
project called Online Essay Evaluation8, whereby a web-
student-learning-centric higher education institutions and
based service currently being utilized this summer
developers of external XML-tagged repositories of
administers online essay exams to incoming freshmen from
learning objects and courses from both the private and
five campuses (MIT, CalTech, University of Cincinnati,
public sectors, such as Merlot, or the Smithsonian
LSU and DePaul) and then builds a database of these
Institute, or any number of companies who happen to
essays that can be evaluated and assessed by the
build or list online learning materials and courses.
participating institutions.
Resmer explains that Web Services make the most sense
Hinrichs and Mitchell explain that students from the five
when the technology provides access to a diverse range
campuses (estimated to grow to ten by 2003 and 30 by
of content repositories, to specialized resources provided
2004) are given the option to include or not to include their
by major universities, and to services than can be shared
writing in the database of essays. The essays that are
Web Services Enabling Technology for Application Integration and Assembly
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HEKATE Higher Education Knowledge & Technology Exchange www.hekate.org
opted in are not identified by a student s name, but rather
Hal Abelson calls them commons of
by demographic information related to each student. The
actual essay assignment closely matches a true college- the mind. I think it is a good term. So you
level writing assignment, whereby the student must comb
are now able to look into peoples work at
through approximately six hours of reading material and
other universities and share those oppor-
then answer one of five essay questions about the
tunities for enriching the learner s
readings. Students are given enough time to plan and
experience.
rewrite their essays before submitting them online. The
essays are then graded and put into a ranking system.
- Randy Hinrichs, Microsoft
Individualized feedback is snail mailed to each student.
The Web Services elements of this project come into play
in a number of ways. First, all of the participating schools the catalyst for a simpler, easier-defined and more
have access to the testing application s functions that are globally inclusive model for bringing together information
run off of one server at MIT. However, each institution can trading partners. From this standpoint, Curtin sees the
do its own form of online grading and is able to incorpo- application commingling of campus computing environ-
rate its own customized look and feel to the testing ments with disparate systems that can also be considered
interface. Second, those essays that have been opted into information trading partners. Some of these partners
the database and housed on the same MIT server are now include the Department of Education s National Student
available to the participating institutions to study. Loan Data System, the College Board s student testing
services, Sallie Mae, admissions processing services
Can you imagine as a linguistic researcher if you had a
companies like NCS Pearson, enrollment management
database of 100,000 essays written by people from all over
services companies like Noel-Levitz, e-commerce systems,
the country and you had demographics and tracking
other institutions or consortia who may have formed
related to their education? asks Mitchell.
articulation agreements, and many more.
The process of collecting and sharing these essays among
Curtin explains that the manner in which these trading
institutions that have formed a kind of compact with each
partners exchange information today is exactly the same
other can be referred to as a federated data system. In
as it was 30 years ago despite all the advances made in
this particular example, such data has the potential of
technology. It s pretty much the same way it was when the
determining what really is the quality of a well-composed
mainframe came out and said I will spit you a comma-
college freshman essay from across the United States,
separated or ASCII file and you will take it, and the
adds Hinrichs.
automated exchange of information was in the very slow
These are the kinds of emerging Web Services that are processing of flat files. That has a great deal of cost and
bringing schools together, Hinrichs continues. Hal time delay associated with it, and it has a great deal of
Abelson calls them commons of the mind. I think it is a service degradation as well as data degradation along the
good term. So you are now able to look into peoples work way.
at other universities and share those opportunities for
All this results in what many computer technologists call
enriching the learner s experience.
friction, meaning a loss of control and slow, error-prone
processing. Eliminating friction equals time savings and
the facilitation of less degraded data, which in the long
IV. Larger Implications
haul means cost savings.
Federated Data and the Elimination of Friction
Managing the Flow of Information and Applications
This notion of sharing federated data relates to the larger
However, the process of possibly eliminating friction
issues concerning Web Services technology and imple-
through the implementation of sophisticated Web Services
mentation on a much broader scale in higher education.
that can seamlessly and quickly integrate applications and
For instance, SCT General Manager, Exeter Solutions, Rob data with Internet speed, and with less degradation, has
Curtin has a big-picture view that begins with the basic its challenges. One revolves around moving and exposing
premise that the emerging world of Web Services will be data that does not fall under the category of public
information and/or is tied to intellectual property rights.
Web Services-enabling private data easily brings forth
. . . Web Services will be the catalyst
security issues and legalities concerning whether or not
for a simpler, easier-defined and more
global, or even federalized, exchanges of Web Services
globally inclusive model for bringing applications are viable.
together information trading partners.
The issue is in network identity management, says
- Rob Curtin, SCT Shirish Netke, Sun Microsystems strategic sales director.
Network identity is a very important problem to solve if
Web Services Enabling Technology for Application Integration and Assembly
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HEKATE Higher Education Knowledge & Technology Exchange www.hekate.org
Web Services are going to be successful. The reasons
The key to making money is saving
why we are doing Web Services is so you can make an
money for the campus.
application available anywhere in the world, and that part
is fine. However, how do you authenticate the person who
- Lev Gonick, Case Western Reserve
wants that application? Secondly, how do you authenti-
University and HEKATE
cate the application itself?
Netke points to the newly formed Liberty Alliance Project,
of which Sun is a member, along with companies such as general, all the bridges between these various applica-
American Express, AOL Time Warner and United Airlines, tions are not even built yet. It s almost like you are
as a growing community that is dedicated to helping to building the pylons for two ends of a bridge, and some
develop network identity solutions9. As noted on its day they will meet in the middle. And it is a multidimen-
website, the vision of the Liberty Alliance is to enable a sional bridge with many different pieces hoping to
networked world in which individuals and businesses can connect.
more easily conduct transactions while protecting the
To help put the potential of Web Services into perspec-
privacy and security of vital identity information.
tive, CIO and Vice President for Information Technology
Also, Sun Microsystems recently joined Microsoft and Services at Case Western Reserve University, Lev Gonick,
IBM in developing what s known as the WS-Security Web who is also President of HEKATE, says the key to
Services specification to help organizations build secure, making money is saving money for the campus. Will we
broadly interoperable Web Services applications. need to continue to invest at the same level in our ERP
suite upgrades? Will interoperability and integration
between our campus portals and course management
V. Conclusion
systems no longer require the $100,000 plus standard price
Financial Issues tag for customized code work? Will our calendaring
Any change in the campus computing environment products talk to our email systems on our handhelds as
typically requires new human resource allocations, new well as our notebooks? These are all part of the promise.
learning curves, new software and, of course, more money As a campus officer, my job is to analyze and rationalize
to implement. the allocation of scarce resources. Web Services is the
best bet going to that end.
The technology guys will tell you it is all about code,
says Casey Green, founder/director of The Campus About the Author:
Computing Project. Green believes in the promise of Web George Lorenzo is editor and publisher of Educational
Services from a technology point of view but explains that Pathways (www.edpath.com), a monthly, paid-subscrip-
from a campus computing historical perspective, the tion newsletter covering higher education distance
bottom line is money. Green claims that there s growing learning and teaching. Email: ********@******.***
evidence of institutions slowing down their allocation of
funds for technology projects. The slow down, he says, is
partly due to a recession and state cut backs, which could
result in the growth and development of Web Services
taking a back seat to other higher education priorities.
Green adds that while the focus at many campuses is on
the implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning,
updating existing databases, and updating and licensing
new software - all of which play nicely with Web Services
enabling - he sees what he calls an ERP interruptus
occurring in the immediate future.
So, the issue of how this relatively new technology can
save higher education dollars is perhaps what computer
technologists need to emphasize much more forcefully,
over and above all the great technological potential of
Web Services.
This is the piece that has been kept quiet, says Curtin.
How do you make money? It all sounds exciting and
good, but unless we are saving substantial dollars . . ., he
trails off.
As Peter Segall says when referring to Web Services, in
Web Services Enabling Technology for Application Integration and Assembly
5
HEKATE Higher Education Knowledge & Technology Exchange www.hekate.org
Notes: About HEKATE:
The Higher Education Knowledge and Technology
1
Visit http://www.webopedia.com and type Web Services
Exchange (HEKATE) is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) interna-
inside the search function.
tional exchange shaping the next generation of products
2
For information about Microsoft s Visual Studio .NET, and services for 21st century learners. Higher education is
visit http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/default.asp engaged in finding solutions that meet the rapidly
changing needs of 21st century learners. Vendors are
For information about Sun Microsystem s Java Web
anxious to understand education s unique requirements.
Services Developer Pack, visit http://java.sun.com/
Closing the gap between needs and technology requires
webservices/downloads/webservicespack.html
collaboration between leaders in higher education and
For information about IBM s Alphaworks, visit
providers of technology based solutions. HEKATE offers
http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/
the opportunity to bridge this gap.
For information about BEA s Web Services support, visit
http://www.hekate.org
http://www.bea.com/products/webservices/index.shtml
For information about Oracle s Web Services support,
About SCT:
visit http://otn.oracle.com/tech/webservices/content.html
SCT, the global e-education solutions leader with over 34
3
For more information about the Web Services
years of native higher education experience, is the only
Interoperability Organization, visit http://www.ws-i.org/
company to offer higher education a choice in both
4
For information about WC3 s Web Services Activity, technology and products that best fit the unique needs of
visit http://www.w3.org/2002/ws/ institutions of any size and complexity. The company
provides end-to-end solutions that include applications,
5
For information about GXA, visit
technology, and services that support higher education s
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=
administration of teaching and learning. SCT works
/library/en-us/dngxa/html/gloxmlws500.asp
collaboratively with clients and partners to provide the e-
6
For information about iCampus, visit education framework that enables institutions to serve
http://swissnet.ai.mit.edu/projects/i-campus/ 21st-century learners. SCT has more than 1,300 higher
education clients worldwide, representing more than 8
7
For information about the iCampus Framework Project,
million learners. SCT also provides leading technology
visit http://www.swiss.ai.mit.edu/projects/icampus/
and business solutions for utilities. SCT s global head-
projects/framework.html
quarters is located in Malvern, PA and the company has
8
For information about the iCampus Online Essay Evalua- several offices around the world.
tion Project, visit http://www.swiss.ai.mit.edu/projects/
http www.sct.com
icampus/projects/framework.html
9
For information about the Liberty Alliance Project, visit
2002 HEKATE. All rights reserved.
http://www.projectliberty.org/
Web Services Enabling Technology for Application Integration and Assembly 6
© 2002 HEKATE. All rights reserved.
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