Archive for March, 2009

POCKET Final Thoughts w/e 20/03/09

Wednesday, March 18th, 2009

This will be my final blog post on POCKET before I leave the project to take up a new role at the University of Manchester. It has been a very interesting project to be involved with and hopefully the lessons learned can be taken forward within the partner institutions and within the community as a whole. At the recent CETIS/OpenLearn OER event at the Open University, the POCKET team were invited to present their outputs and experience of working on a project producing Open Content. It was a good opportunity to share knowledge and discuss challenges ahead of the  new JISC OER programme.

Outputs from POCKET are available at the following links:

With these outputs freely available POCKET hopes to support the OER community even after the project funding has finished at the end of this month. Watch out for upcoming publications on the project, including: an article (currently undergoing the review process) in The IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies Special Issue on Open Educational Resources, due to be available in Summer 2009; a paper for ED-MEDIA; and a paper and poster at this year’s ALT-C conference.

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Standards used in POCKET

Monday, March 9th, 2009

An important aspect of POCKET is the creation of sustainable Open Content that can easily be re-used and re-purposed. Therefore complying with educational content related interoperability standards is an integral part of the project.
In the project plan it was agreed that standards for the project would include:

    • Moodle supports SCORM version 1.2.
    • There is an agreed standard for metadata. This will be IEEE 1484.12., or Dublin Core
    • RSS feeds are RSS 2.0
    • OUXML 1.2: This is the Open University’s standard for structured authoring of material released as open schema through OpenLearn. This core format for content enables conversion to alternative formats listed below:
    • IMS Content Package 1.1.4: Enables transfer to other VLEs, supported by CETIS as standard
    • IMS Common Cartridge 1.1: Enables transfer to other VLEs, supported by CETIS as standard
    • Moodle Backup format 1.9: This enables transfer to other Moodle servers and local editing of content.
    • XHMTL HTML 1.0 Strict: XHTML compliant; Zip of all assets associated with a unit

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    Useful software, tools and services

    Monday, March 9th, 2009

    The following software and tools were useful as part of POCKET:

    • XML Copy Editor: for editing and validating XML files before uploading to the LabSpace.
    • CETIS Transcoder tool: Converts packages between SCORM 1.2 (only as a source), SCORM 2004, IMS 1.1 and IMS Common Cartridge 1.0. Useful for providing POCKET materials in different outputs.
    • Classic RELOAD Editor: Provides support for IMS Metadata, IEEE LOM, IMS Content Packaging 1.1.4, SCORM 1.2, and SCORM 2004. This was used to repackage POCKET materials in IMS Content Package format.
    • Eclipse-based RELOAD Editor: This later release of the Reload Editor is based on the Eclipse Rich Client Platform and supports IMS MD (versions 1.1, 1.2.1 and 1.2.4) , IEEE LOM, IMS CP (versions 1.1.1, 1.1.2 and 1.1.4) as well as SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004 (3rd edition) specifications. This was used to edit aPOCKET materials in IMS Content Package format.
    • OpenLearn collaborative learning tools: FM (for holding video conferences with project partners); Compendium (for producing the project process guide).
    • Visual Hub (now discontinued): for converting video formats.

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    Useful sources of information

    Monday, March 9th, 2009

    Useful sources of information and support during the project have included:

    • CETIS: for advice and support on educational technology and standards.
    • Flickr: Advanced search facility for images available under a Creative Commons license.
    • OpenLearn: for advice on how to upload units to the LabSpace and also the freely available tools such as video conferencing and mind mapping software.
    • Xerte: Tools for creating interactive e-learning content for the Flash platform. Although POCKET did not use Xerte to create any content during the project it was useful to meet the development team of Xerte and become familiar with available tools used to create accessible, interactive content for the web.
    • TechDis: provides advice and guidance on disability and technology.
  • World Wide Web Consortium: Provides specifications, guidelines and tools for web technologies.
    • RELOAD: A suite of software tools for authoring and delivery of standard-compliant learning objects. This was used to edit the POCKET materials when transferring them within different VLEs and repositories.
    • JISC: Information on similar projects and upcoming relevant events.

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    Reflections on the project: Skills gained

    Friday, March 6th, 2009

    As POCKET comes to an end this month I will use this blog to help me reflect on the project as a whole and what has been learned though it.
    New Skills
    I feel that I have learnt many new skills from my role as Learning Technologist including:

    • XML: How to write XML and in-depth knowledge of using the OU XML schema.
    • Interoperability: Knowledge gained on interoperability issues of online learning material and technical and educational standards.
    • Open Content initiatives: Knowledge gained on other Open Content initiatives and material available under Creative Commons licenses.
    • OpenLearn tools: How to use the freely available tools on OpenLearn including Compendium (knowledge mapping software) and FM meeting (video conferencing software) to support and enhance the project and learning materials.
    • Website: Using the University’s Content Management System to keep the project website updated and maintain an RSS feed. Also attending an internal workshop on Google Analytics provided me with the skills to look deeper at how the website was being viewed.
    • Presentations: Planning and delivering workshops and presentations.

    • External events I’ve attended include: the RSP Repository Service Day; JISC CETIS E-SIG meeting; OSS Watch workshop; CETIS annual meeting; SUETr Interoperability training event; the Jorum Forum event; CETIS/OpenLearn OER event
    I’ve also had the opportunity to get my CMALT accreditation, which I feel will be a really valuable asset to my future career.

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