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Standards, Reusability, and the Mating Habits of Learning Content. Robby Robson Eduworks Corporation rrobson@eduworks.com. What’s the User’s Problem?. Learning content tends to be Written in large pieces Re-used in small chunks Highly interactive Evolving in sophistication
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Standards, Reusability, and the Mating Habits of Learning Content Robby Robson Eduworks Corporation rrobson@eduworks.com
What’s the User’s Problem? • Learning content tends to be • Written in large pieces • Re-used in small chunks • Highly interactive • Evolving in sophistication • Lots of legacy content must be converted to run (and report results) to learning management systems • Reuse requires mixing apples and oranges • Interoperability requires SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) Code4Lib 2006
What’s the Technical Problem? • Learning content is (or should be) highly interactive • Quizzes (at least) • Videos, simulations, games, “smart graphics” • Learning content comes • In different formats (e.g. Authorware vs. HTML) • With different navigation schemes • With different scripts stored in different places • We need: • “SCOs” (Sharable Content Objects) • A common content model for SCOs Code4Lib 2006
SCORE Content (SCO) SCORE Content (SCO) SCORE Content (SCO) SCORM Package SCO SCO SCO Source Content SCORE Exchange Format SCORE Content (SCO) SCORE Exchange Format SCORE Tool SCORE Conversion Utility SCORM Aggregation Tool What we did last year … SCORE (SCOrm Reuse) Source Content is converted into an XML-based Interchange Format by a Conversion Utility 1 XMLimported into a SCORE Tool where converted content can be edited into a styled. Output is a SCO 2 An Aggregation Tool is used to aggregate and sequence SCOs into a conformant SCORM Package 3 Code4Lib 2006
Screen shots & tiny fonts … (Maybe the demo will work)
SCORE Content Conversion Code4Lib 2006
SCORE SCO Editing Code4Lib 2006
SCORM Utilities Code4Lib 2006
Fidelity of Converted Content Authorware Example Unstructured HTML Example (From typical learning content authoring tool) Code4Lib 2006
SCORE Prototype Demonstration Code4Lib 2006
SCORE Exchange Format Source Content SCORE Conversion Utility SCORE Tool feature identification consistent content elements map source to XML XML schema definition SCORE Data Model Project ResultCentral Importance of a Data Model Code4Lib 2006
shared state information across cards Card (location) Project ResultThe Success of the Data Model depends on the Card Deck Metaphor Card Deck navigation Code4Lib 2006
generic content elements Identification/Heading Content Region Location learning specific content elements Navigation UI Model Project ResultThe Role of Generic and Learning-specific Content Elements Code4Lib 2006
Project ResultContent Element need to Share State Data across Locations Shared State Variables Location 1 Location 2 Content Element X Content Element Y Code4Lib 2006
Project Partners • Eduworks • Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative (Joint ADL Co-Lab, Orlando) • LSI (Logistics Services International) • Mississippi State University (Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems) • NAVSEA Keyport Code4Lib 2006
XML Interchange Format based on OASIS OpenDocument Format (ODF) • Open specification • Incorporates W3C specifications • On ISO/IEC standards path • Significant platform adoption demonstrates viability (Open Office, IBM Workplace) • ODF profile (with extensions) can meet project requirements • Open source library (AODL) available Code4Lib 2006
High Level Content Model Each SCO “Black Box” 1 or more Locations SCO 1 or more Content Components contains Location contains Location Component ODF “primitive” Location Component Location Component Extended (e.g. “learning”) Component Code4Lib 2006
All Components Have ODF Content Component • Delivery Format Generator • XML to delivery format • Default dhtml • Common Properties • Height, Width • XY coordinate • Type • Editor • means to visualize ODF component • means to edit an ODF component • Common Events • DOM event • JavaScript Handlers • Use optional The component approach also supports a modular approach to implementing content converters Code4Lib 2006
ODF Content Components Location may contain: • Locations contain content components • Components are cleanly encapsulated (can be inserted, cut and pasted as wholes) • Primitive components are directly taken from ODF. • Extended content components may be largely based on ODF • Extended content components may use an ODF wrapper and be largely based on other schemas (e.g. QTI for interactions) ODF Primitive Extended Text Box Interaction (QTI) Image HTML Blob Smart Graphic Object S1000D Plugin Code4Lib 2006
Why am I telling you all this? • Cool Open Source Projects • AODL (now) www.opendocument4all.com • XML SCORM Studio (October) ksaunders@eduworks.com • Raise issues concerning Content4Lib Code4Lib 2006