An authoring kit to manage large content repositories as if they were made of small production links that are connected as a chain to create the content repository of a course

1. Adagio
Agile and Distributed Authoring of
Generic LearnIng Objects
Abelardo Pardo,
Gradient Laboratory
University Carlos III of Madrid, Spain
www.slideshare.net/abelardo_pardo

2. Current Status
• Migrated to Python
implementation
• Documentation lagging
behind
• Major code reorg to
package sw.
• Help!

3. The scenario
• Course material is extremely
important
• Coherent, well organized, easy
to modify
• Created collaboratively
• Difficult to coordinate
• Tendency to create “Isolated
Silos”
• Difficult to reuse
• Potential for automation
Abelardo Pardo. Adagio: Agile and Distributed Authoring of Generic LearnIng Objects 3

4. The problem
• LMS = Forum
• Large number of learning objects
• Increasingly heterogeneous
nature
• Course “enactment” getting
more complicated when moving
to active learning
Abelardo Pardo. Adagio: Agile and Distributed Authoring of Generic LearnIng Objects 4

5. The proposed solution
• Leave the low level object
creation in the hands of the
author.
• Automate the combination
of low-level units to obtain
the final material
• Offer a truly collaboratively
environment
• Lower the threshold for
adoption as much as
possible
Abelardo Pardo. Adagio: Agile and Distributed Authoring of Generic LearnIng Objects 5

6. What could be automated?
• Upload material to its final
destination.
• Produce PDF from your
slides
• Produce PDF from your
course notes in Word.
•
Abelardo Pardo. Adagio: Agile and Distributed Authoring of Generic LearnIng Objects 6

7. Adagio: Rules in your directory
• Text file Properties.dgo
[office2pdf]
files = ModeladoDeDatos_e?.doc
[export]
files = ModeladoDeDatos_e?.pdf
Abelardo Pardo. Adagio: Agile and Distributed Authoring of Generic LearnIng Objects 7

8. The “production chain”
• 1 directory = 1
production step
1.Call other dirs to obtain
resources (Opt.)
2.Produce local
resources
3.Select resources for
export (Opt.)
Abelardo Pardo. Adagio: Agile and Distributed Authoring of Generic LearnIng Objects 8

9. Markup capabilities
• Markup = “forget about
the style, focus on
content”
• From WYSIWYG to
FASFOC
• Text based documents
that are processed
• Docbook selected
• Better for high
complexity publication
Abelardo Pardo. Adagio: Agile and Distributed Authoring of Generic LearnIng Objects 9

10. Docbook processing rule
• Already existing XSL
stylesheets
[xslt]
files = index.xml
styles = foo.xsl
(languages = es,
output_format = html
src_dir = .
dst_dir = .
extra_arguments =
Abelardo Pardo. Adagio: Agile and Distributed Authoring of Generic LearnIng Objects 10

11. Stylesheets extended
<chapter id="InstallVirtualBox">
<title>
<phrase lang="es">Instalación de la máquina virtual en tu
ordenador personal</phrase>
<phrase lang="en">Installing the virtual machine in your
personal computer</phrase>
</title>
<para lang="es">Las instrucciones que se incluyen en este
documento son para instalar el entorno de trabajo en tu ordenador
personal, es decir, uno del que dispondrás regularmente para
realizar los ejercicios de la asignatura. Si, por el contrario,
utilizas los equipos de la universidad, estas instrucciones no
sirven, pues estos equipos no te permitirán instalar las
herramientas que se necesitan.</para>
<para lang=”en”>The instructions included in this document are to
install the working environment in your personal computer, that is,
Abelardo Pardo. Adagio: Agile and Distributed Authoring of Generic LearnIng Objects 11

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13. • Manage material in two languages
• Maintain coherence
• Make sure the two versions are aligned
with respect to changes
• Propagate changes quickly in the chain
• “Problem pattern”
Abelardo Pardo. Adagio: Agile and Distributed Authoring of Generic LearnIng Objects 13

14. Professor guide
• Mark section, note,
paragraph with special
attribute
• Create document with
those elements
“hidden” for students
• Create document for
the instructor
Abelardo Pardo. Adagio: Agile and Distributed Authoring of Generic LearnIng Objects 14

15. Questions/Answers
• User Docbook markup for
questions/answers
• Extend style sheets to render
exams in HTML
• Include solutions conditionally
• Include historical data
Abelardo Pardo. Adagio: Agile and Distributed Authoring of Generic LearnIng Objects 15

16. Dublin Core Metadata
• Automatic
inclusion of several
fields
– Author
– Date
– Topic
– Description
Abelardo Pardo. Adagio: Agile and Distributed Authoring of Generic LearnIng Objects 16

17. Collect informal feedback
• Include one element
with the activity duration
• Include URL to send
answer
• HTML includes form
• Response is hidden as
well as form.
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20. Additional ideas
• Multimedia embedding
• RSS generation
• Embedded questions
• ...
Abelardo Pardo. Adagio: Agile and Distributed Authoring of Generic LearnIng Objects 20

21. Using templates
• Offer simple Docbook
templates with initial
markups
• Customize stylesheets
to simplify processing
• Enhances coherence
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