Annotation of loncom/html/adm/help/tex/Guts_Authoring.tex, revision 1.1
1.1 ! bowersj2 1: \label{Guts_Authoring}
! 2: \subsection{Content Re-usage and Granularity}
! 3:
! 4: Any faculty participating in the Network can publish their own learning
! 5: resources into the common pool. To that end, the Network provides
! 6: a {}``construction space''\index{construction space} which is only
! 7: accessible to the author, and a publication process, which transfers
! 8: the material to the shared pool. During the publication process, metadata
! 9: about the resource is gathered, and system-wide update notification
! 10: and versioning mechanisms are triggered.
! 11:
! 12: Learning resources could be simple paragraphs of text, movies, applets,
! 13: individualizing homework problems, etc. In addition to providing a
! 14: distributed digital library with mechanisms to store and catalog these
! 15: resources, the Network enables faculty to combine and sequence these
! 16: resources at several levels: An instructor from Community College
! 17: \textbf{A} could combine a text paragraph from University \textbf{B}
! 18: with a movie from College \textbf{C} and an online homework problem
! 19: from Publisher \textbf{D}, to form one page. Another instructor from
! 20: High School \textbf{E} can take that page from Community College \textbf{A}
! 21: and combine it with other pages into a module, unit or chapter. Those
! 22: in turn can be combined into whole coursepacks. Faculty can design
! 23: their own curricula from existing and newly created resources instead
! 24: of having to buy into a complete off-the-shelf product.
! 25:
! 26: %
! 27: \begin{figure}
! 28: \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
! 29: width=0.55\paperwidth,bb = 0 0 200 100, draft, type=eps]{Resource_Assembly}\end{center}
! 30:
! 31:
! 32: \caption{Resource Assembly}
! 33: \end{figure}
! 34: Fig. {}``Resource Assembly'' shows a general overview of the resource
! 35: assembly mechanism and the different levels of content granularity
! 36: supported by the current implementation of this principle. The topmost
! 37: puzzle piece represents a resource at the fragment level - one GIF,
! 38: one movie, one paragraph of text, one problem, or one regular web
! 39: page. Attached to the resource is metadata gathered at the publication
! 40: time of the resource.
! 41:
! 42: Using the resource assembly tool described below, these fragments
! 43: and pages can be assembled into a page. A {}``page'' is a resource
! 44: or collection of resources that would be seen as one web page, or
! 45: printed as one unit.
! 46:
! 47: Using the same tool, fragments (which would then be rendered as standalone
! 48: pages), pages and other sequences can be assembled into sequences.
! 49: Sequences are resources which are rendered a sequence of pages, not
! 50: necessarily linear. Examples are one lesson, one chapter, or one learning
! 51: cycle.
! 52:
! 53: On the third granularity level, fragments (rendered as standalone
! 54: pages), pages, and sequences can be assembled into courses. Courses
! 55: are a sequence which represents the entirety of the resources belonging
! 56: to a learning unit into which learners can be enrolled. Examples are
! 57: a University one-semester course, a workshop, or a High School class.
! 58:
! 59:
! 60: \subsection{Maps}
! 61:
! 62: To increase the utility of the materials, the number of hard-coded
! 63: hyperlinks between the resources should be minimized. The actual combining
! 64: and sequencing is part of the system functionality and driven by external
! 65: \char`\"{}roadmaps\char`\"{}, which are constructed by the instructors.
! 66: With this mechanism, one and the same resource can be part of different
! 67: courses in different contexts. The soft-linking makes it possible
! 68: to import only the desired set of resources without effectively importing
! 69: additional parts another instructors resources through hard-linked
! 70: menus or \char`\"{}next page\char`\"{} buttons that might resided
! 71: on those resources.
! 72:
! 73:
! 74: \subsection{Cirriculum Adaptivity}
! 75:
! 76: Maps allow for conditional choices and branching points. The actual
! 77: path through and presentation of the learning resources is determined
! 78: by instructor-specified combinations of learner choices and system-generated
! 79: adaptations (for example, if the learner does not pass a test, additional
! 80: resources may be included). Each learner can have an individualized
! 81: curriculum according to preferences, capabilities and skills.
! 82:
! 83: These maps can be generated at different levels of granularity with
! 84: a graphical tool, or in an automated way through custom scripts.
! 85:
! 86:
! 87: \subsection{Resource Assembly Tools}
! 88:
! 89: LON-CAPA provides several tools to facilitate assembling resources
! 90: together, with varying levels of sophistication, depending on the
! 91: skill level of the user. It is worth observing that while creating
! 92: a complicated sequence with a high degree of adaptivity may be challenging
! 93: for some users, because LON-CAPA resources can be so easily re-used,
! 94: it need only be done once by one person to be useful to many, many
! 95: instructors.
! 96:
! 97: The full assembly tool, which is capable of creating sequences with
! 98: all of the advanced functionality discussed above, is called the Advanced
! 99: Resource Assembly Tool. To read about it from the user's point of
! 100: view, see the Author's Manual (available in your LON-CAPA installation
! 101: at \texttt{http://your-server.com/adm/help/author.manual.pdf}, or
! 102: if you do not have a LON-CAPA install, at \texttt{http://msu.loncapa.org/adm/help/author.manual.pdf}),
! 103: in the {}``Creating a Simple .sequence with the Advanced Editor''
! 104: section.
! 105:
! 106: A simpler resource assembly tool can be used in the common case where
! 107: an assembler merely wishes to string other resources together into
! 108: one unit. This can be seen in the Author's Manual in the {}``Creating
! 109: a Simple .sequence with the Simple Editor'' section.
! 110:
! 111: Finally, the \textbf{DOCs} interface allows course instructors to
! 112: perform certain manipulations of the course's content while it is
! 113: running. Information about this from the user's point of view can
! 114: be found in the Course Management manual, in the {}``Course Documents
! 115: Screen'' chapter.
! 116:
! 117:
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