[LON-CAPA-cvs] cvs: loncom /html/adm/help/png Map_Example.png /html/adm/help/tex Guts_Authoring.tex

[bowersj2]

bowersj2		Thu Jul 24 22:16:12 2003 EDT

  Added files:                 
    /loncom/html/adm/help/png	Map_Example.png 
    /loncom/html/adm/help/tex	Guts_Authoring.tex 
  Log:
  A figure and some info on authoring from the developer's point of view
  
  

Index: loncom/html/adm/help/tex/Guts_Authoring.tex
+++ loncom/html/adm/help/tex/Guts_Authoring.tex
\label{Guts_Authoring}
\subsection{Content Re-usage and Granularity}

Any faculty participating in the Network can publish their own learning
resources into the common pool. To that end, the Network provides
a {}``construction space''\index{construction space} which is only
accessible to the author, and a publication process, which transfers
the material to the shared pool. During the publication process, metadata
about the resource is gathered, and system-wide update notification
and versioning mechanisms are triggered.

Learning resources could be simple paragraphs of text, movies, applets,
individualizing homework problems, etc. In addition to providing a
distributed digital library with mechanisms to store and catalog these
resources, the Network enables faculty to combine and sequence these
resources at several levels: An instructor from Community College
\textbf{A} could combine a text paragraph from University \textbf{B}
with a movie from College \textbf{C} and an online homework problem
from Publisher \textbf{D}, to form one page. Another instructor from
High School \textbf{E} can take that page from Community College \textbf{A}
and combine it with other pages into a module, unit or chapter. Those
in turn can be combined into whole coursepacks. Faculty can design
their own curricula from existing and newly created resources instead
of having to buy into a complete off-the-shelf product.

%
\begin{figure}
\begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=0.55\paperwidth,bb = 0 0 200 100, draft, type=eps]{Resource_Assembly}\end{center}


\caption{Resource Assembly}
\end{figure}
Fig. {}``Resource Assembly'' shows a general overview of the resource
assembly mechanism and the different levels of content granularity
supported by the current implementation of this principle. The topmost
puzzle piece represents a resource at the fragment level - one GIF,
one movie, one paragraph of text, one problem, or one regular web
page. Attached to the resource is metadata gathered at the publication
time of the resource.

Using the resource assembly tool described below, these fragments
and pages can be assembled into a page. A {}``page'' is a resource
or collection of resources that would be seen as one web page, or
printed as one unit.

Using the same tool, fragments (which would then be rendered as standalone
pages), pages and other sequences can be assembled into sequences.
Sequences are resources which are rendered a sequence of pages, not
necessarily linear. Examples are one lesson, one chapter, or one learning
cycle.

On the third granularity level, fragments (rendered as standalone
pages), pages, and sequences can be assembled into courses. Courses
are a sequence which represents the entirety of the resources belonging
to a learning unit into which learners can be enrolled. Examples are
a University one-semester course, a workshop, or a High School class.


\subsection{Maps}

To increase the utility of the materials, the number of hard-coded
hyperlinks between the resources should be minimized. The actual combining
and sequencing is part of the system functionality and driven by external
\char`\"{}roadmaps\char`\"{}, which are constructed by the instructors.
With this mechanism, one and the same resource can be part of different
courses in different contexts. The soft-linking makes it possible
to import only the desired set of resources without effectively importing
additional parts another instructors resources through hard-linked
menus or \char`\"{}next page\char`\"{} buttons that might resided
on those resources.


\subsection{Cirriculum Adaptivity}

Maps allow for conditional choices and branching points. The actual
path through and presentation of the learning resources is determined
by instructor-specified combinations of learner choices and system-generated
adaptations (for example, if the learner does not pass a test, additional
resources may be included). Each learner can have an individualized
curriculum according to preferences, capabilities and skills.

These maps can be generated at different levels of granularity with
a graphical tool, or in an automated way through custom scripts.


\subsection{Resource Assembly Tools}

LON-CAPA provides several tools to facilitate assembling resources
together, with varying levels of sophistication, depending on the
skill level of the user. It is worth observing that while creating
a complicated sequence with a high degree of adaptivity may be challenging
for some users, because LON-CAPA resources can be so easily re-used,
it need only be done once by one person to be useful to many, many
instructors.

The full assembly tool, which is capable of creating sequences with
all of the advanced functionality discussed above, is called the Advanced
Resource Assembly Tool. To read about it from the user's point of
view, see the Author's Manual (available in your LON-CAPA installation
at \texttt{http://your-server.com/adm/help/author.manual.pdf}, or
if you do not have a LON-CAPA install, at \texttt{http://msu.loncapa.org/adm/help/author.manual.pdf}),
in the {}``Creating a Simple .sequence with the Advanced Editor''
section.

A simpler resource assembly tool can be used in the common case where
an assembler merely wishes to string other resources together into
one unit. This can be seen in the Author's Manual in the {}``Creating
a Simple .sequence with the Simple Editor'' section.

Finally, the \textbf{DOCs} interface allows course instructors to
perform certain manipulations of the course's content while it is
running. Information about this from the user's point of view can
be found in the Course Management manual, in the {}``Course Documents
Screen'' chapter.