Packaging educational content using IMS specifications
| Published date | 01 June 2002 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/03055720210473047 |
| Pages | 40-46 |
| Date | 01 June 2002 |
| Author | Boon Low |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
Packaging educational
content using IMS
specifications
by Dr Boon Low, E-Learning
Technologist, Learning Services,
University of Strathclyde and
Charles Duncan, Intrallect Ltd
Keywords: Digital libraries,
Information management, Learning
Abstract: Developing digital content for
online learning is an expensive task. A cost-
effective approach is to reuse and re-purpose
existing resources. Emerging specifications
such as those developed by the IMS Global
Learning Consortium allow content to be
specified in standard ways, and are therefore
reusable across different content
management systems. This paper identifies
the role of content packaging within the wider
context of content management and
describes the use of IMS specifications with
their implementation in a prototype tool
funded by the UK Joint Information Systems
Committee (JISC).
Introduction
Digital content is fundamental to all forms of
online services. It can be used in a wide range of
informational, communication and transaction
services that make use of interactive multimedia.
At the same time as the WWW and the Internet
are gaining recognition as prime business
channels, the use of digital content in education
has also become far-reaching, with widely
discussed implications of online learning. The
cost of developing learning resources for online
learning is significant and requires considerable
time and effort from academic staff (Downes,
2001). Reusing existing learning resources has
the potential to become a viable way of reducing
development costs.
Most academic staff, in their role as course
designers, expect to be able to draw on any
existing resources they see fit. In the past this has
been difficult to achieve because learning
resources were prone to be too large and
monolithic for reuse and bound to specific
presentation and delivery contexts (Siviter et al.,
1995, p. 23, Koper, 2000, p. 23). The degree to
which educational content can be reused and
re-purposed depends partly on how it is stored,
made available, and delivered. Emerging
standards for describing and storing educational
content offer a wave to achieve interoperability
and hence the reusability of learning resources
across different authoring environments, content
repositories and delivery platforms.
This paper explores the reusability of educational
content within the broad scope of content
management, and focuses on the use of IMS
specifications for contentpackaging. The scope of
content packaging has previously related to the
activities for the ``digitisation of content;
directing, editing, layout design; content-based
software (courseware) development'' (Selhofer
and WuÈrfl, 1997). Due to the current trend, in
which content is increasingly authored with
additional considerations to prevent becoming
locked-in to fixed presentations and pedagogic
contexts, content packaging also deals with the
use of standards and specifications. This paper
describes the relevance of two specifications
developed by the IMS Global Learning
Consortium: IMS Content Packaging
Specification and IMS Meta-Data Specification.
It also provides an account of EC-Pac, a tool
developed under a JISC funded project for the
purpose of packaging reusablelearning resources.
Content management,
packaging and reuse
The term ``content management'' has been
associated with the multifaceted dealing of digital
content, and has become very broad in its
interpretation over the years. Forexample, it could
be described as an all-embracing process that
``enables the design, authoring, review, approval,
conversion, storage, testing and deployment of all
web site content'' (Microsoft, 2000). The
European Commission ``Value Chain for the
Digital Interactive Service Industry'' describes
content management in two typical threads of
functions: ``content'' and ``infrastructu re service''
(Selhofer and WuÈrfl, 1997). The content thread
#MCB UP Limited, ISSN 0305-5728, DOI 10.1108/03055720210473047
40 Ð VINE, Volume 32 Number 2 2002, Issue 127
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