Standards, Reusability, and the Mating Habits of Learning Content Robby Robson Eduworks Corporation

Code4Lib 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 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 What we did last year … SCORE SCORE Exchange Format SCORE Conversion Utility Source Content SCORE Content (SCO) SCORE Tool SCORE Exchange Format SCORM Aggregation Tool SCORE Content (SCO) SCORE Content (SCO) SCORE Content (SCO) SCORM Package SCO Source Content is converted into an XML- based Interchange Format by a Conversion Utility XML imported into a SCORE Tool where converted content can be edited into a styled. Output is a SCO An Aggregation Tool is used to aggregate and sequence SCOs into a conformant SCORM Package (SCOrm Reuse)

Screen shots & tiny fonts … (Maybe the demo will work)

Code4Lib SCORE Content Conversion

Code4Lib SCORE SCO Editing

Code4Lib SCORM Utilities

Code4Lib Fidelity of Converted Content Authorware Example Unstructured HTML Example (From typical learning content authoring tool)

Code4Lib SCORE Prototype Demonstration

Code4Lib Project Result Central Importance of a Data Model Source Content SCORE Exchange Format SCORE Tool SCORE Conversion Utility feature identification map source to XML schema definition consistent content elements SCORE Data Model

Code4Lib Project Result The Success of the Data Model depends on the Card Deck Metaphor Card (location) shared state information across cards navigation Card Deck

Code4Lib Project Result The Role of Generic and Learning-specific Content Elements Navigation Identification/Heading Content Region learning specific content elements generic content elements UI Model Location

Code4Lib Project Result Content Element need to Share State Data across Locations Content Element Y Content Element X Location 1Location 2 Shared State Variables

Code4Lib 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 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 High Level Content Model Location Component Location Component Each SCO “Black Box” 1 or more Locations contains SCO contains 1 or more Content Components ODF “primitive” Extended (e.g. “learning”)

Code4Lib All Components Have ODF Content Component Common Properties Height, Width XY coordinate Type Common Events DOM event JavaScript Handlers Use optional Editor means to visualize ODF component means to edit an ODF component Delivery Format Generator XML to delivery format Default dhtml The component approach also supports a modular approach to implementing content converters

Code4Lib ODF Content Components 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) Text Box Interaction (QTI) Smart Graphic S1000D HTML Blob Image Object Plugin ODF PrimitiveExtended Location may contain:

Code4Lib Why am I telling you all this? Cool Open Source Projects AODL (now) XML SCORM Studio (October) Raise issues concerning Content4Lib