--- loncom/html/adm/help/tex/Guts_Authoring.tex 2003/07/25 02:16:12 1.1
+++ loncom/html/adm/help/tex/Guts_Authoring.tex 2003/08/20 16:17:40 1.2
@@ -1,32 +1,39 @@
\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.
+% Replace this with stuff from LyX
+
+{}``Resources''\index{resources} are the atomic unit of content in
+LON-CAPA. Learning resources could be simple paragraphs of text,
+movies, applets, individualizing homework problems, etc. Any faculty
+member can use their {}``construction space''\index{construction
+space} to create or upload their resources, either into the common
+pool or with highly selective access controls.
+
+LON-CAPA was designed from the beginning to support collaboration and
+using resources that may be distributed all across the planet. For
+each resource in the LON-CAPA network, LON-CAPA track metadata about
+that resource, provides versioning of the resource, and provides
+automatic subscription and change notification mechanisms. Thus, you
+can freely use resources from other institutions, and you can either
+tell LON-CAPA to always give you a given version of a resource if
+you're happy with it, or allow the system to automatically propagate
+changes to you.
+
+For example, 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 course packs. 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}
+ width=0.55\paperwidth]{Resource_Assembly}\end{center}
\caption{Resource Assembly}
@@ -44,13 +51,13 @@ and pages can be assembled into a page.
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
+Using the same tool, fragments (which would then be rendered as stand alone
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
+On the third granularity level, fragments (rendered as stand alone
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
@@ -71,7 +78,7 @@ menus or \char`\"{}next page\char`\"{} b
on those resources.
-\subsection{Cirriculum Adaptivity}
+\subsection{Curriculum Adaptivity}
Maps allow for conditional choices and branching points. The actual
path through and presentation of the learning resources is determined