[oodisc] Fwd: [school-discuss] Re: [IIEP] FOSS authoring tool for e-learning - eXe project AND ILIAS

Michael Shigorin mike на osdn.org.ua
Сб Дек 4 23:11:38 MSK 2004


----- Forwarded message from Michael Dean <michaelldean на SBCGLOBAL.NET> -----

Date:         Thu, 2 Dec 2004 14:44:43 -0800
From: Michael Dean <michaelldean на SBCGLOBAL.NET>
To: ELEARN-OPENSOURCE на LST.IIEP-UNESCO.ORG
Subject: [school-discuss] Re: [IIEP] FOSS authoring tool for e-learning - eXe project AND ILIAS

Perhaps there are some of us who are not aware of the Open Source 
e-learning project called Ilias, which is steadily improving and getting 
certifications from standards groups.  Their latest: compose learning 
modules in OpenOffice.org and directly import into Ilias.  see below:

NEW RELEASE 3.2.1

The new stable release ILIAS 3.2.1 is now available for Download, see:
http://www.ilias.uni-koeln.de/ios/source-e.html. It includes some smaller
bug fixes for 3.2.0 (please see ILIAS Roadmap and Releases: 
http://www.homer.ilias.uni-koeln.de/docu/goto.php?target=st_126).

Comments are welcome in our forum:
http://www.ilias.uni-koeln.de/iosbb/index.php
For bug reports please use our bug tracker at:
http://www.homer.ilias.uni-koeln.de/mantis


Wayne Mackintosh wrote:

>Hi Vivek & friends
> 
>Great to hear about your work in Nagpur. I share your sentiments that 
>we do not make enough use of games and simulations in e-learning - 
>particularly in subjects like Mathematics to illustrate core 
>principles using the power of multi-media interaction.
> 
>As the eXe project develops over time - I would certainly like to 
>experiement with reusable simulation and game templates as idevices. 
>Also - we should use the power of technology to for diagnostic 
>assessment purpose to improve the quality of our e-teaching. 
>Developing these capabilities in a technology like eXe will not be 
>easy - but I think the long term rewards will be worth the effort. 
>Perhaps India's wealth in programming talent will be able to make 
>valuable contributions to our FOSS efforts.
> 
>I too have been enjoying the forum - although my work does not always 
>afford me the time to participate meaningfully.
> 
>Chat to you soon
>Wayne
> 
>
>    ----- Original Message -----
>    *From:* Vivek Wagh <mailto:cesedu_ngp на SANCHARNET.IN>
>    *To:* ELEARN-OPENSOURCE на LST.IIEP-UNESCO.ORG
>    <mailto:ELEARN-OPENSOURCE на LST.IIEP-UNESCO.ORG>
>    *Sent:* Sunday, October 17, 2004 7:30 PM
>    *Subject:* Re: [IIEP] FOSS authoring tool for e-learning - eXe project
>
>    Hi Wayne,
>    I have been a silent reader till now. I have hardly any knowledge
>    about various things that have been discussed so far. I am working
>    at Central India Research Institute at Nagpur in India. It is a
>    small Trust. We are making serious effort towards one of our major
>    goals: Stress-Free Quality Education for Every Child at her
>    Doorstep. By training I am a mathematician who swithched over to
>    studying dynamics of knowledge assimilation. We have started DE
>    (Multimedia) programs for parents, students who have a difficulty
>    in coping with Math and a Talent Nurture program for 4th to 8th
>    graders.
>
>       1. If the eXe project includeds modifyable computer games in
>          which you can change the objects that fall or flow in or on
>          which you jump etc. it will go a long way.
>       2. Just as evaluation of learning has to be there a component
>          of diagnostic evaluation of possible sources of errors
>          should also be included.
>
>    I do not know if all this is possible but I do feel we should work
>    towards this. I must say that I am enjoying this forum and trying
>    hard to learn.
>    Vivek
>     
>
>        ----- Original Message -----
>        *From:* Wayne Mackintosh <mailto:w.mackintosh на XTRA.CO.NZ>
>        *To:* ELEARN-OPENSOURCE на LST.IIEP-UNESCO.ORG
>        <mailto:ELEARN-OPENSOURCE на LST.IIEP-UNESCO.ORG>
>        *Sent:* Thursday, December 02, 2004 1:00 PM
>        *Subject:* Re: [IIEP] FOSS authoring tool for e-learning - eXe
>        project
>
>        Hi Martin and friends,
>         
>        Thanks for your feedback - valuable thoughts and
>        contributions.  First off - can I have permission to copy your
>        thoughts and insights onto the eXe project on Eduforge. Its
>        smart thinking and I'd like our development team to have
>        benefit of your insights. Apologies for the long response -
>        but you have triggered a number of important aspects relating
>        to the eXe development. (Sorry - eXe is my passion <smile>).
>         
>        We are very excited about the project -- I think that eXe
>        fills an interesting gap in the suite of available
>        technologies in the FOSS for elearning landscape. Thanks also
>        for your offer to introduce the technology at your  "Learning
>        Media Design" workshops . That would be fantastic because we
>        are looking for constructive feedback from potential users to
>        make sure that we end up with something that many folk will use.
>         
>        Martin - I'd like to extend a personal invitation for you (and
>        everyone else of course) to join the project  @
>        http://eduforge.org/projects/exe/. Your experience and
>        foresight in this area will add considerable value to our
>        project. We need your inputs and thoughts.
>         
>        Herewith some feedback on the questions and ideas you have raised.
>         
>        General issues
>         
>        1) On-line versus off-line: eXe will be developed as an
>        offline technology that will run in a browser on the local
>        desktop. Users will NOT need connectivity to use eXe. I know
>        that this is a bit confusing at this stage, because the
>        proof-of-concept runs using a server based technology however
>        eXe will NOT use a centralised server technology. eXe will be
>        an easy install using python's py2exe. We will package
>        python's http webserver to run on the local desktop which will
>        enable us to deal with the logic required of eXe. We're also
>        thinking of packaging eXe with Firefox - however all output
>        from eXe will be cross browser compatible. I'd be interested
>        to hear the views of the forum on this strategy. In short,
>        users will be able to install, run and deploy eXe content
>        without any connectivity. This is a "non-negotiable"
>        requirement for eXe so as to ensure that we do not exclude
>        developing societies from using the technology. However, all
>        outputs will be SCORM compliant - so LMS technologies will be
>        able to import eXe content.
>        2) Not only will authors be able to fill in the existing
>        "instructional device" forms off-line, and publish HTML
>        content - they will also be able to create their own forms or
>        new "instructional devices". This is an exciting component of
>        the technology.
>        3) The imsmanifest.xml file is created automatically behind
>        the scenes - therefore authors will be able to publish SCORM
>        compliant content. In other words - if you author content
>        using eXe - you will not need to use a tool like Reload for
>        packaging. However, eXe content can be packaged with other
>        content using the Reload editor. All users will need to do is
>        import the eXe generated zip file into the LMS of their
>        choice. We know this works because we have successfully
>        imported content generated by the eXe prototype into WebCT and
>        LAMS. We have a few bugs with imports using the MOODLE scorm
>        import utility - but these are easily resolved and the eXe
>        project is funded to sort out compatibility with MOODLE.
>        4) We are aware of a number of initiatives that have been
>        working in related areas. Unfortunately  - the few we know
>        about have been proprietary ..;-(, and more have been reliant
>        on online solutions. So we think that we are working in a new
>        unique space. To be fair though - OSS technologies have
>        matured to the extent that we are able to implement the eXe
>        vision.
>        5) Regarding assessment tools - working in an offline
>        environment poses a few interesting challenges. Nonetheless -
>        we are confident that we will be able to provide a number of
>        useful, offline assessment tools (or interactive iDevices). In
>        fact we are working on a prototype behind the scenes for an
>        offline MCQ type iDevice. Soon we should be able to provide an
>        example of this technology. Using QTI we should be able to
>        provide export functionality for IMS/SCORM compliant systems.
>        Therefore eXe could provide and offline authoring environment
>        for a range of assessment tools.   
>         
>         
>         
>        Timeline
>         
>        1. We're planning a bare-bones first release 6 weeks into the
>        new year - the idea is to illustrate the eXe concept as a
>        working tool - but with very limited functionality (Release
>        early and regularly applies here <smile>). Hopefully we will
>        have sorted out a couple of important architectural design
>        questions (we're scrapping the code of our proof-of-concept -
>        I think that we have learned what we can from this exercise
>        and now need to sort out all our early mistakes <smile>.
>        2. Within the next 7 - 10 days we'll have a wiki up
>        on http://eduforge.org/wiki/wiki/exe/?pagename=HomePage with
>        the draft specifications for the first release which will
>        include an area for us to build a wishlist for the future. Its
>        a good time to get involved with the project in terms of
>        specifying requirements to make sure that
>        we're addressing your needs with the development.
>        3. The project is funded until the end of December 2005 - and
>        by this time we hope to have completed the objectives
>        documented in the project charter. There will of course be a
>        number of releases before then.
>         
>        Specific suggestions
>         
>        1) I'm not sure what you mean by labeled fields to introduce:
>        exercises, examples, assessment, competency definition - but
>        certainly, if we can "define" these as iDevices - they can be
>        incorporated. Let me know if your ideas can be accommodated in
>        the iDevice submission form (see
>        http://cfdl.auckland.ac.nz/idevice_interest/introduction.html).
>        Otherwise, let us have more detail and we will do our best to
>        incorporate them into eXe.
>        2) Help to support the author - Great suggestion! We've
>        already thought about this one <smile> each Idevice will
>        contain pedagogical advise and support for the user about
>        purpose, best practice etc. In addition we will provide
>        contextual help for the completion of each field.
>        3) I agree - The design of quality learning objectives in
>        relation to competency is riddled with complexity. There is
>        also the pedagogical debate concerning behaviourism versus
>        constructivism. We don't have all the answers yet - but hope
>        to find a few as we move forward.
>        4) I must confess that we have not thought much about IMS's
>        competency specification. Our attention at the moment has been
>        focused on the specifications for: structured content, simple
>        sequencing and touching a little on QTI. (We're not confident
>        enough to tackle the learning design spec <smile>) - but
>        perhaps you could provide us with some direction on the
>        competency spec? Certainly this is something we would like to
>        explore for future releases of eXe.
>         
>         
>         
>         
>
>            ----- Original Message -----
>            *From:* Martin Claude <mailto:C.Martin на ITCILO.ORG>
>            *To:* ELEARN-OPENSOURCE на LST.IIEP-UNESCO.ORG
>            <mailto:ELEARN-OPENSOURCE на LST.IIEP-UNESCO.ORG>
>            *Sent:* Tuesday, November 30, 2004 11:16 PM
>            *Subject:* Re: [IIEP] FOSS authoring tool for e-learning -
>            eXe project
>
>
>            Hello Wayne and all colleagues,
>
>            I had a first look to your eXe / iDevice project in the
>            different sites where information is available.
>            It is really a very attractive free open source project
>            for a tool to design and develop HTML-based learning objects.
>            I understand that it is actually an on-line tool but that
>            it will be an off-line authoring tool.
>            It will include a range of "instructional devices" typical
>            of instructional design included in a form to be filled by
>            the author(s)
>            The LOM (Learning Object Metadata) XML manifest will be
>            produced automatically in background. This is great!
>            Such LO will be ready to be packed with Reload Editor and
>            possibly stored in a Learning Object Repository, exported
>            to SCORM, or uploaded on a platform...
>            A few years ago Lucio Telles from Simon Fraser University
>            in Canada developped a similar idea. But it was
>            proprietary, on-line server based, and not binded to
>            standards. I tried it but I dont remember the name of this
>            product.
>
>            Some suggestions?
>            Specific labeled fields to introduce: exercises, examples,
>            assessment tools/templates, competency definition...
>            Why not include for each kind of field a help to support
>            the author to make a better instructional design...
>            Design of learning objectives is a key issue. I know your
>            concern about Maori pedagogy but a structured template
>            (including verbs to be selected in a list) should help to
>            design correctly structured objectives. That is a key
>            issue to be able to assess learning and competence.
>
>            It would be good if eXe / iDevice include a tool to design
>            competencies and objectives in connection with the
>            corresponding IMS specification.
>            http://www.imsglobal.org/competencies/index.cfm
>            The same for IMS - QTI to design assessment tools.
>            http://www.imsglobal.org/question/index.cfm.
>            It should be covering the instructional cycle: from
>            competency definition to competency assessment.
>            If not in this one perhaps next version of this tool will
>            include such features.
>
>            What is your calendar for this project?.
>            As soon as a more elaborated off-line prototype will be
>            available it will be a pleasure to introduce it in the
>            workshops on "Learning Media Design" that I'm managing here.
>
>            All the best
>
>
>            Claude Martin
>            Senior Learning Technology Specialist
>            Programme for Distance Education &
>            Learning Technologies Applications
>            International Training Centre of the ILO
>            Viale Maestri del Lavoro, 10
>            10127 Torino (Italy)
>            tel.: (+39) 011 693 6316
>            fax: (+39) 011 693 6469
>            c.martin на itcilo.org
>            http://www.itcilo.org/
>
>            ELEARN-OPENSOURCE <ELEARN-OPENSOURCE на LST.IIEP-UNESCO.ORG>
>            wrote on 28/11/2004 02.30.27:
>
>            > Hi everyone,
>            > It's been a while since I've had a chance to post to the
>            list - I
>            > see that there has been a lot of activity!
>            >  You will recall earlier in the forum that we are
>            working on the
>            > development of an FOSS authoring tool that will enable
>            lecturers and
>            > teachers to publish professional web content without the
>            need to
>            > become proficient in HTML markup -- This is the
>            e-Learning XML
>            > editor project (eXe). eXe will be based on
>            specifications for
>            > interoperability so that content authored using eXe can
>            be imported
>            > into different LMS systems if required.
>            > eXe is a FOSS project that is funded by the New Zealand
>            government
>            > and is scheduled for completion by December 2005. Now is
>            a good time
>            > for educators and e-learning practitioners to submit
>            requests and
>            > requirements for the development.
>            > Exe is particularly appealing for developing society
>            contexts
>            > because this web-authoring technology will be developed
>            as an
>            > offline tool - enabling teachers to use the technology
>            without the
>            > need for connectivity. eXe content can be published as self
>            > contained web sites thus enabling users to view and
>            interact with
>            > the content using a local web browser offline.
>            > We are looking for help in two areas:
>            > 1. Teachers, learning designers and e-learning
>            practitioners to
>            > submit requests for the types of instructional templates
>            they would
>            > like to have included in the development. This includes
>            templates
>            > for things like learning objectives, case studies and
>            different
>            > types of activity formats. Submissions can be made
>            online by visiting
>            >
>            http://cfdl.auckland.ac.nz/idevice_interest/introduction.html
>            .
>            > Instructions for completion are provided.
>            > 2. We are keen to develop a translation module that will
>            facilitate
>            > the translation of open content for local languages. We
>            will be
>            > developing the project in Python - so if there is anyone
>            out there
>            > who would like to get on board early to assist with the
>            > architectural design at this stage - let us know by
>            visiting the
>            > project website at: http://eduforge.org/projects/exe/
>            > The history of the project so far can be studied at: http:
>            > //eduforge.org/wiki/wiki/exe/?pagename=HomePage
>            > More links are provided below if you???re interested..
>            > Best wishes
>            > Wayne
>            > Associate Professor Wayne Mackintosh
>            > Director
>            > Centre for Flexible and Distance Learning
>            > University of Auckland
>            > New Zealand
>            > http://cfdl.auckland.ac.nz
>            >  
>            > Project Charter:
>            http://eduforge.org/wiki/wiki/exe/wiki?pagename=Version%203
>            > Access to Proof-of-concept:
>            http://eduforge.org/docman/?group_id=20
>            > Describing an instructional device: http://eduforge.
>            > org/wiki/wiki/exe/wiki?pagename=Describing%20an%20Idevice
>            > University of Oxford Case study on XML in education: http:
>            >
>            //eduforge.org/wiki/wiki/exe/wiki?pagename=case%20study%20on%20using%20XML
>
>

----- End forwarded message -----

-- 
 ---- WBR, Michael Shigorin <mike на altlinux.ru>
  ------ Linux.Kiev http://www.linux.kiev.ua/


Подробная информация о списке рассылки Oo-discuss