Practical Interop For OPDF Developers - Nov 2009

Practical Interoperability for OPDF RecipientsScott Leslie, BCcampus

November 12, 2009

Page |BCcampus | connect. collaborate. innovate.

Overview

Why is this important

Where will your resources be shared

Some Scenarios

File format guidelines


Why is this important

Part of the goal of OPDF is SHAREABLE content that can be EASILY reused

Without some forethought, it is easy to develop content that is difficult to reuse

We don’t want to distract from your initial need, simply avoid making costly choices


Goals of Practical InteroperabilityCreate Flexible Learning Content as EASILY as possible so that it:

Works in the original environment it will be delivered in

Works in the other environments we can easily anticipate

Is shareable in a self-service manner that is easy for re-user to evaluate


Where will the resources be shared?

All OPDF resources must be shared in SOL*R (http://solr.bccampus.ca/) as a condition of funding

SOL*R can handle the following contribution types:

IMS Content Packages

Zip files of static web content

Binary Files

URLs


Where will shared resources be reused?

Resources may be re-purposed ‘as is’, or sampled for select parts.

Resources may be used in LMS (in BC we have Moodle, WebCT/BB, Desire2Learn,…)

Resources may be used directly from SOL*R

Resources may be linked to directly if they reside elsewhere


The Challenge

Many of the LMS in play do not EXPORT content in a form that is easily reusable

The standard for sharing learning content, IMS Content Packaging, does not well capture *an entire course* of content (E.g. doesn’t capture discussions, assignments, assessments well)

Many of the ways of creating “learning standards-based” content *outside* of the LMS are cumbersome


The Ideal

Shared OPDF-Funded Content

Instructor / Instructional Developer Trying to Reuse Content


Scenarios

1. Develop content *inside* delivery environments

2. Develop content outside of learning environments using Education-specific standards

3. Develop content outside of learning environments using general Web standards

4. Develop courses completely out in the open

5. ???


Scenario 1 – Moodle


Scenario 1 – WebCT/BB


Scenario 1 – D2L


Scenario 2 - Education-specific standards

IMS Content Package

HARD TO DO


Scenario 3 - Web-specific standards

HTML / Flash / PDF

EASIER TO DO


Scenario 4 – Develop out in the Open

HTML / Flash / PDF


Which are the preferred scenarios?

Ideally, develop content OUTSIDE of the LMS using WEB STANDARDS will provide for the most portable content

PROBLEM – Content developed outside the LMS often lacks the navigational structure (provided by the LMS)

SOLUTION – Create a basic “Index” page in HTML that provides this navigation OUTSIDE of the LMS

BUT...if you are going to assemble the content IN an LMS, we would love to have a FULL EXPORT of the course TOO, in the native export format.

Of course, content that is FULLY OPEN on the Web largely avoids this problem - people can simply link to it

(though ideally we would still like a copy of it to host locally)


Suggested File Formats

Asset Type Suggestion

Images Ideally PNG (though GIF/JPEG still fine)

Text and Web Pages HTML 4.01 (but ALL presentation in CSS)

Video MPEG4

Rich Media Applications Flash

Quizzes and Tests Ideally IMS QTI format, but separate text doc with questions/answer keys also helpful

Note on PDFs and Word Docs: PDFs aren’t a particularly web-friendly, data-friendly or re-use friendly format. Unless there is no other choice, efforts should be made to avoid PDF (and other proprietary document formats like Word .doc) in favour of native web pages and document transfer formats like RTF


Getting An Account/Logging InNeed validated BCcampus Portal Account to access SOL*R

Go to

https://myprofile.bccampus.ca/myProfile.htm?_flowId=access-solr-flow

(or try http://u.nu/4uct3 for a shorter URL)


Contributing a Resource

Your tracking number!!!

Which license? BC Commons or Creative Commons


License Generator

Available at – http://solr.bccampus.ca/bcc/customer/BCcommons/publish/publish.html

Use EARLY in your project

Ideally simply embed it in a template

Displaying the license is for YOUR benefit


THANKS!

Questions? Discussion?

Please don’t hesitate to contact me with additional questions

Scott Leslie

[email protected]

250-415-3490

Practical Interop For OPDF Developers - Nov 2009

Education

Transcript of Practical Interop For OPDF Developers - Nov 2009