WebLearn - The University of Oxford VLE

7. Implications of the Change in Service

The impact of the changes that took place on 30th June 2009 will not be great for the vast majority of users. All current web URLs will work just as expected: "WebLearn Beta" URLs will be redirected (so will no longer contain “beta.” at the start) and almost all old WebLearn URLs will remain the same. There are two exceptions:
  • links which used to point at the front page of old WebLearn (i.e., weblearn.ox.ac.uk/ and weblearn.ox.ac.uk/site/ ) will now point at the front page of the new WebLearn; the front page of new WebLearn includes a cut-down version of old WebLearn’s front page rendered using the same icons, text and page style. This will allow users to jump straight into a particular building in the same way as previously. The front page of the old WebLearn can be reached directly by using the special URL: weblearn.ox.ac.uk/site/?campus.
  • WebLearn Beta “WebDAV “ URLs will need to be updated, they must no longer contain “beta., for example, the URL https://beta.weblearn.ox.ac.uk/dav/sitename should be changed to https://weblearn.ox.ac.uk/dav/sitename

The majority of users of the old WebLearn access their material via a specific URL given to them by their tutors, as mentioned above, this URL will continue to work. It is not very common for a student to be told that their material "is in WebLearn" and be left to navigate to the appropriate area themselves. These facts should mean that the vast majority students will be unaffected by the change.

We would recommend that in order to future-proof, webmasters should update their websites and change URLs from weblearn.ox.ac.uk/site to weblearn.ox.ac.uk/.

"WebLearn Beta" email addresses will continue to work and, again, the “beta.” will be automatically removed although we would suggest that users update their contacts.

The front page of new WebLearn gives tips for students on how to find their material if they don’t know where it is. In short, they are told to log into new WebLearn and then click on the "My Active Sites" link (top right), if their course area is listed then it is very likely that their material is in the new WebLearn, if it isn’t, we recommend that they try to find the relevant room in old WebLearn. (In addition, the new WebLearn also has two methods of searching: the Search Tool which locates documents containing the search term, and the Find Sites Tool which searches site descriptions for the search term – these may also help with navigation.)

It will still be necessary to explicitly log in to both systems separately – this is achieved by clicking on the "login" links near to the top of the appropriate WebLearn page. For Oxford University members, it will only be necessary to enter one set of credentials (as expected) but the difference is that users will not see the (WebAuth) "green tick" page after logging in to the second system. (As a side note, housing the two WebLearn’s under single URL has fixed the problem of Internet Explorer users being unable to get past the "green tick" page if they logged into the old WebLearn before new WebLearn.)

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