wiki:FirstIterationReport

What was achieved

Overview

  • creation and editing of a package consisting of a hierarchy
  • Once created the package can be exported in different formats
  • The package can also be saved internally so it can be worked on over many sessions

iDevices

  • An iDevice is a mini-template for the creation of content
  • Content authored in the editor is "tagged" with attributes from the iDevice which was used to create it
  • An iDevice defines
    • Structure => The collection of fields for the content

iDevices included

  • Free Text
  • Reading activity
  • Objectives
  • Preknowledge [extra]
  • Case Study [extra]
  • Activity [extra]

Content Package

  • A Package has properties
    • Title
    • Author
    • Description
    • Taxonomy
  • Any Unicode content must be able to be stored

Package Taxonomy

  • The user will have the ability to define the taxonomy for a package, this defines the structure for the package
  • The taxonomy describes heirarchical levels the package content may be divided into
    • Nice to have: the user may create as many levels as they like
      • But levels below the third are labelled as ?????
    • Must have alternative: three hard coded levels
  • The user can define for each level
    • What is the name for the level (e.g. section, chapter, module)

Presentation

  • can preview what self-contained website will look like

Pedagogical Templates

  • possible to create, but none provided

Exports

  • SCORM content packaging
    • Package Interchange File (PIF) - IMSmanifest.xml file plus zipped assets
    • imported into the Reload Editor, Moodle (utilising at first the Moodle implementation of SCORM;) WebCT;
  • Self-contained website
    • consisting of
      • well formed XHTML - untested if it passes the W3 validator test
      • CSS
      • media
      • Javascript.
    • runs completely on the client side
    • renders in Firefox 1.0 Windows/Linux? and Internet Explorer 6

Environment

User interface

  • All elements of the editor interface render on Mozilla Firefox 1.0/Windows
  • No words used in graphical elements of the interface (This will simplify multi-language support in later releases)
  • The interface consists of
    • a general editing/preview area
    • a tree structure for viewing the outline of the package
    • a tool box showing either the suggested iDevices or all the available iDevices
  • Selecting an iDevice will add a content object to the bottom of the edit area
  • A content object can be in one of two modes editing, or previewing
    • It starts off in editing mode... on clicking done it turns to preview
  • A content object can be moved up and down in its page

Free Text editing

  • For editing free text the user will have an editor widget with buttons and formatting for
    • bold
    • italics
    • bullet lists
    • numbered lists
    • links
    • indentation
    • sub-headings

Offline

  • The editor runs (meet the other requirements) on a computer with no network connection.

Runtime behaviour

  • Once installed the editor can be launched from a single command in a standard Windows 2000 environment (i.e. no need to set up services)
  • Multiple copies of the editor can be run concurrently

Packaging

  • The complete editor system available as a self-installing executable which will run on Windows 2000, no other files required

What there was not time for

Overview

iDevices

  • iDevice metadata
    • Purpose => Brief statement what the iDevice is for
    • Pedagogical tip => Detailed instructions how this iDevice can be used
    • Instructions for completion = > How content should be entered using this iDevice
      • An iDevice may have one instruction for the whole iDevice, or many instructions (upto one for each field)
    • Author/contributor details
    • Description

iDevices not included

  • Image Activity consisting of
    • Reference text area
    • URL hyperlink field
    • Instructions text area
    • Feedback text area

Content Package

Package Taxonomy

  • The taxonomy describes heirarchical levels the package content may be divided into
    • Nice to have: - The user can change the settings for for each level and add extra levels, but cannot delete a level
  • The user can define for each level
    • Nice to have: What are the recommended iDevices to be used in this level
      • The user will be able to over-ride this recommendation and select from the complete list of iDevices

Presentation

  • ability to have different styles (maximum three)
  • These styles specify how a package is divided into separate pages

Pedagogical Templates

Exports

  • SCORM content packaging
    • untested on Blackboard, Cecil.
    • no meta data included (Title, Author, Description)
    • need to include style files in IMSManifest
    • need globally unique identifiers

Environtment

Packaging

  • A RPM for Linux is not available

Learnings from the first iteration

  • Need to freeze code and do testing couple of days before release
  • Gives an indication on what the "project capacity" is
  • Server should start even if it can't find Firefox
  • Should catch exceptions from the web server and log them and present a "simplified" error message to the user