Sharing Content Made Possible
Colin Milligan
funded by
© RELOAD 2004, funded by
Aims of project (i)
• To facilitate the creation, sharing and
reuse of learning objects and services:
– tools for the basic specs: MD and CP
– generic ‘engine’ architecture,
© RELOAD 2004, funded by
Interoperability and RELOAD
orig. src: Charles Duncan, Intrallect
© RELOAD 2004, funded by
Why we need standards
Standards Promote:
• Persistence
– Remember laser disc based materials,
• Discovery
– Beyond your local community
• Sharing between different systems
– For economy and efficiency.
• Flexibility
– Internationalization and Accessibility.
© RELOAD 2004, funded by
Who makes standards.
review and feedback
User Needs
New Technology
Research
IMS
Working
Groups
ADL SCORM
IEEE
(conformance)
(certification)
CEN/ISSS
specification
implementation
standard
ISO
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What do they cover?
• Metadata
• Enterprise
• Content Packaging
• Accessibility
• Simple Sequencing
• Learning Design
• Learner Information
Profile
• Question and Test
Interoperability
• Competency (and
Portfolios)
• Digital Repositories
• (Interactive Content)
© RELOAD 2004, funded by
Example: Content Package
imsmanifest.xml
Header
Metadata
Content
Organisation
Resources
© RELOAD 2004, funded by
imsmanifest.xml
(how to interpret this package)
<manifest xmlns="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imscp_v1p1“
xmlns:imsmd="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsmd_v1p2"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" identifier="MANIFEST-65A1BA8F-3A73-479E-0F63163FFDA5B0E1"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imscp_v1p1 imscp_v1p1.xsd
http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsmd_v1p2 imsmd_v1p2p2.xsd">
<metadata />
<organizations default="ORG-9CD8FA62-FF8C-B998-55CA-C1599862AEA6">
<organization identifier="ORG-9CD8FA62-FF8C-B998-55CA-C1599862AEA6" structure="hierarchical">
<title>Organization</title>
<item identifier="ITEM-CD55CF07-609F-A592-E0B9-8EC68A32942F" isvisible="true" identifierref="RES5669B8B0-85B5-01D8-0A33-3284AE5A6218">
<title>sundialjelsim</title>
</item>
</organization>
</organizations>
<resources>
<resource identifier="RES-5669B8B0-85B5-01D8-0A33-3284AE5A6218" type="webcontent"
href="sundialjelsim.html">
<file href="images/jspowered.gif" />
<file href="images/solarGeom/sun.gif" />
<file href="jscore.jar" />
<file href="progress.jar" />
<file href="SolarGeom.jar" />
<file href="sundialjelsim.jsm" />
<file href="sundialjelsim.html" />
</resource>
© RELOAD 2004, funded by
</resources>
</manifest>
(metadata)
(how the content is organised)
(what resources are needed)
Why do we need tools?
• Avoid working directly with XML
(files get much more complicated than the
one in our example),
• speed up xml creation,
• reduce errors.
• aid uptake and conformance.
© RELOAD 2004, funded by
In Practice …
i

R
i


CREATE
CONTENT
PACKAGE, TEST
& MANIPULATE
[EDITOR]

i

i

i

i

STORE
[REPOSITORY]
i
R
CHECK
[PLAYER]
DELIVER
[MLE]
© RELOAD 2004, funded by
Metadata
• Describes resources:
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
General (title and keywords)
Lifecycle (versioning)
Metametadata (who wrote the record)
Technical (assisting implementation)
Educational (level)
Rights (copyright and other restrictions)
Relation (to other content)
Annotation (usage metadata)
Classification (in a system)
© RELOAD 2004, funded by
Why metadata is important
• Discovering Resources
– Description, educational MD
• Using Resources
– Version control, technical
• Enforcing Rights
• Attributing Ownership/Authorship
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Application Profiles
• Metadata must be interoperable
– ~80 elements in LOM
– Decide on important elements at a local
(organisational) level
– Use shared vocabulary/taxonomy
• Kinetics, motion, physics …
– Implement Rules and restrictions
© RELOAD 2004, funded by
Good Metadata
• Added by Information Professionals
• Consistent across a repository
• Assists Reuse
– Usage metadata – recommendation
systems like Amazon: 
© RELOAD 2004, funded by
Content Package & Metadata Editor
•
•
•
•
•
V2.0.2 Available now – www.reload.ac.uk
Free and Open Source
IMS CP 1.1.3
IMS Metadata 1.2
SCORM 1.2
© RELOAD 2004, funded by
Reload as Benchmark
• Practical
interoperability
• MLEs compared
• Tips and Tricks
• Idiosyncrasies
• Problems
• Contribute?
© RELOAD 2004, funded by
What Next: Learning Design
• Beyond content,
• Activities, Services and Roles on top of
content,
• Complex,
• LD Editor:
– To create IMS LDs.
• LD Player:
– To visualise them.
© RELOAD 2004, funded by
Aims of Reload LD
• The first and reference implementation of
an editor,
• Adheres rigidly to the LD specification,
• Use a proven architecture,
• Allow us to ask questions of the LD spec.
© RELOAD 2004, funded by
Learning Design
• EML (from OUNL) Abstract Description,
• Interactions & Information,
• Play as metaphor.
• People in specific groups and roles engage
in activities using an environment with
appropriate resources and services.
© RELOAD 2004, funded by
LD Workflow (Rob Koper)
• Specify course: learning objectives, prerequisites etc.,
• Specify roles,
• Specify activities (learning and support),
• Specify resources and environments,
• Make dummy files,
• Join files and roles together by
describing their relationship in XML.
© RELOAD 2004, funded by
Reload LD Editor
• No more writing XML
• Instead, a form filling exercise,
• A complex one, because LD is complex,
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The Player
• Like the SCORM
Player,
• No command Line
Interface,
• Next version will
have tabs for each
role.
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Problems with Reload
• (necessarily) complex UI,
• No internal preview of resources,
• No internal editing.
© RELOAD 2004, funded by
Straker: Reload / Eclipse
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Eclipse = speedy: no more Swing clunk.
Simpler user interface
Embedded browser to view content
Project manager view to organise your
Learning Designs
Resource manager view to organise your
favourite files and web links
View and Edit files in the Editor
Wizards to import and export as IMS UoLs
Streamlined Eclipse Help system
© RELOAD 2004, funded by
General Screenshot
© RELOAD 2004, funded by
Editing a File
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Timetable
• Editor: Dec 2004 Player: Mar 2005
• Reload-Eclipse: April 2005
– Level A,
– Integration with Player,
– Level B and Level C to follow.
• End of funding: July 2005
© RELOAD 2004, funded by
Where we are?
• Proof of Concept
• The delivery systems are immature,
• These are not tools for teachers,
• We can now at least ask questions of
the Learning Design specification and
improve it or extend it.
© RELOAD 2004, funded by
Contact
Colin Milligan
[email protected]
http://www.reload.ac.uk/pres/newcastle040305.zip
© RELOAD 2004, funded by