1. Technology-Assisted Lifelong Learning The TALL Workflow From specification to website David Balch Technology-Assisted Lifelong Learning

2. Overview The TALL project workflow: 1.Course specification 2.Content authoring 3.Content development for the web 4.Delivery Future directions: –Improvements to the process –Extending benefits of the process to the LMS

3. Technology-Assisted Lifelong Learning The TALL project workflow 1. Course specification –Write specification first Top-down design, but evolves with content Specification required by accredited courses anyway. Assists programme managers and authors develop good materials

4. Technology-Assisted Lifelong Learning Project workflow 2.Content authoring –Authoring in MS Word templates Use MS Word styles Styles map to a TALL XML content schema –Learning technology review –Quality assurance review –Editorial review

5. Technology-Assisted Lifelong Learning Project workflow 3.Content development for the web (a) –Specifications from MS Word to XML Scripts and hand-editing –Create IMSCP manifest from MS Word hierarchy specification –Create IMSMD from MS Word programme/module specifications –Content from MS Word to TALL XML instances OpenOffice.org export using XSLT filters Produces XML based on TALL XML schema –Validate against TALL schema –Will need tweaking

6. Technology-Assisted Lifelong Learning MS Word documents Course content Course hierarchy Hand conversion Course specification Script/hand conversion OOo/hand conversion XML documents Course content imsmanifest.x ml Structure Metadata

7. Technology-Assisted Lifelong Learning Project workflow 3.Content development for the web (b) –Transformation of XML Conversion methods –XML Spy XSLT conversion »Simple bulk transformation –Ant + imsmanifest XSLT conversion »Transform pages listed in the manifest To HTML (or other formats) Development pages –Dependencies, annotations, etc.

8. Technology-Assisted Lifelong Learning Ant build/XSLT XML documents Course content imsmanifest.x ml HTML documents Course content Develop-ment pages

9. Technology-Assisted Lifelong Learning Project workflow 4.Delivery –Building IMS Content Packages Building manually at first Now using Ant to automate some parts of package building –Excluding temporary files –Zipping up module sub-packages –Zipping up programme package

10. Technology-Assisted Lifelong Learning Future directions Improvements to the process (a) –Direct editing of XML Content and specifications Needs author/editor friendly XML editing tool Needs version control –Improvements to TALL schema XHTML 2? References: BibTeXML? BiblioML? EndNote?

11. Technology-Assisted Lifelong Learning Future directions Improvements to the process (b) –Use own (simple) manifest schema? Describe development more easily Simplified, so easier to work with  More work to transform into IMSCP  Would be limiting if advanced CP features are needed –Development of Ant + manifest build process Use manifest to build packages Finer grained control of what is built (include images, etc) Enable easier access to the most up to date content

12. Technology-Assisted Lifelong Learning Ant build/XSLT XML documents Course content TALLmani- fest.xml HTML documents Course content Develop-ment pages IMSCP Course content imsmanifest.x ml Course content Images, Flash, etc.

13. Technology-Assisted Lifelong Learning Future directions Extending benefits of the process to the LMS –Counter the mosaic effect Dynamic appearance model. –Standard content schema –LMS customised XSLT for content schema –Issues: LMS support for XSLT, XSLT extensions –Fallback mechanisms for graceful degradation? –More flexible linking Enable inter-package links using GUIDs and a resolver? Enable service links using named services?

14. Technology-Assisted Lifelong Learning Summary Now – using MS Word converted into XML: –Using MS Word to specify courses –Using MS Word to author content –Build content and content packages using scripts, XSLT and hand-editing Future – Using XML directly: –Use XML to structure courses –Use XML to author content –Build content etc. with minimal hand-editing More use of manifest files, enabling Just In Time content/package building, directly from spec/content XML

15. Technology-Assisted Lifelong Learning References Ip, A. Radford, A.J. Canale, R. Overcoming the Presentation Mosaic Effect of Multi-Use Sharable Content Objects St-Pierre, R. et al. 2003, Dynamic Appearance Model Analysis and Alternatives

16. Technology-Assisted Lifelong Learning Contact David Balch. –david.balch@conted.ox.ac.uk –+44 (0)1865 286932 Technology-Assisted Lifelong Learning –http://www.tall.ox.ac.uk/ –http://www.tall.ox.ac.uk/tallinternet/projects/project s_development-tools.asp University of Oxford –http://www.ox.ac.uk/