2000.01 D6E3BF9462684182AC293D64D3DDE192 The Appropriate Version Problem: Separating Learning Designs and Course Structures from Learning Object Versions, Variants and Copies en-US LOMv1.0 networked Current models for representing learning structures, learning designs, resource collections or aggregations and course structures, e.g., IMS Content Packaging, focus on specifying particular learning objects or learning resources, often a specific copy or instance of the resource. The designer or author of the learning experience may not need to specify a particular instance of a resource and may want the learner to experience the most recent version or edition of the content. In other cases, the designer may be indifferent to how the material is represented, e.g., which file format is presented to the learner. Hardwiring the link to a particular version of a resource is counter to these needs. This report outlines requirements for representing and specifying content versions and variants in learning design and course representations. Adapting the FRBR model (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic References), it presents a model used to represent content versions. The model's focus is on how to specify the appropriate resource in the content description so that a learning delivery system can select, locate and deliver an appropriate instance of the learning resource to the learner. While the initial model described herein is targeted a structured content representations and content delivery, it is equally appliable to content versions maintained within repositories and digital libraries. This is a general CORDRA informational document. V1.00.20050205 cordra_status_v1.0 draft LOMv1.0 publisher BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:2.1 N: Content Object Repository Discovery and Registration/Resolution Architecture EMAIL:cordra@cordra.net URL:http://cordra.net/ UID:hdl:2000/1 TZ:-0500 AGENT: BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:2.1 N:Learning Systems Architecture Lab ORG:Learning Systems Architecture Lab TEL;WORK;VOICE:+1-412-268-5322 TEL:WORK,FAX:+1-412-268-4772 EMAIL:lsal@lsal.org URL:http://lsal.org/ UID:hdl:1870/1 TZ:-0500 REV:20041230T000000Z END:VCARD REV:20041230T000000Z END:VCARD 2005-02-05 2000.01 59F1885F8E7B4C689B3A27FEE0F24035 LOMv1.0 creator BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:2.1 N: Content Object Repository Discovery and Registration/Resolution Architecture EMAIL:cordra@cordra.net URL:http://cordra.net/ UID:hdl:2000/1 TZ:-0500 AGENT: BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:2.1 N:Learning Systems Architecture Lab ORG:Learning Systems Architecture Lab TEL;WORK;VOICE:+1-412-268-5322 TEL:WORK,FAX:+1-412-268-4772 EMAIL:lsal@lsal.org URL:http://lsal.org/ UID:hdl:1870/1 TZ:-0500 REV:20041230T000000Z END:VCARD REV:20041230T000000Z END:VCARD 2005-02-05 LOMV1.0 CORDRA_Document_MDv1.0 en-US test/html hdl:2000.01/D6E3BF9462684182AC293D64D3DDE192 LOMv1.0 expositive LOMv1.0 narrative text LOMv1.0 low LOMv1.0 high LOMv1.0 other LOMv1.0 difficult en-US Our work on the versioning problem was motivated in part by the need to provide support for representing versioned scaffold content in learning designs, particularly via the auxiliary resource feature of SCORM. After describing the problem from this view, the discussion will be expanded and generalized to cover other types of content within a learning experience. Problem Motivation: Auxiliary Resources in SCORM Learning content often includes supporting materials or scaffolding content -- content that is not part of the main delivery thread in the learning experience but is used ad hoc by the learner. Scaffold and support content includes items such as manuals, glossaries, references, job aids, IETMs (Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals), data files, maps, etc. In current practice, this scaffold content is authored independently of the main learning content: it may exist in many different versions, variants (e.g., language variants, platform-specific variants), and may be stored and managed separately from the core learning content of the course. Content Association and Versioning Problems: Basic support for scaffold content is included in SCORM 2004, via auxiliary resources included in Simple Sequencing. The auxiliary resource feature of Simple Sequencing provides a way to associate scaffold content with the main delivery thread, simply specifying the identifiers or locators for the scaffold content associated with each part of the course. Since the auxiliary resources may change independently of the core learning materials (e.g., a new version of a manual might be produced), there is a need to uncouple the versioning of the auxiliary resources from that of the learning content. It should not be necessary to update the learning content whenever an auxiliary resource changes, i.e., to produce a new content package describing the entire course that differs only through the incorporation of the newer version of the support materials. Since the learning content may be dependent on a particular version of an auxiliary resource, the content designer needs to be able to specify which versions and variants of an auxiliary resource are appropriate, and which versions are inappropriate. Similarly, different versions of the same resource may exist for different audiences or different needs, such as accessibility. It should not be necessary to replicate the entire content collection for different uses just because each use references a different version of a resource. However, a detailed discussion of personalization is beyond the scope of this discussion. Repositories and the Appropriate Copy Problem: Auxiliary resource content may reside in existing repositories and digital libraries, separately from the main learning content. The same version of the content may be stored in multiple repositories. Just as versions should not be hardwired into a course design, locations should not be hardwired to a particular repository. It should not be necessary to update the overall course structure if resource content moves from one repository to another. Likewise, content delivery should not fail if a content repository is unavailable when there are other sources of the content. Resource content should be delivered from the most appropriate source (e.g., using the closest server, load balancing among different sources). A learning technology system should not be constrained to access content from only one repository. While much of the repository and appropriate copy problem can be addressed by describing content by name rather than by location and using a resolution service to map the names to the locations, these considerations impact the total solution being described herein and are thus included in the discussion. Problem Motivation: Beyond Auxiliary Resources While this work was triggered by the need to handle auxiliary resources, there same need applies to any type of content, learning object or learning resource within a course or learning design. There may be different versions of content, different forms, and different copies in multiple locations. The learning experience designer should be able to specify the learning objects and resources used in the learning experience without specifying a particular instance of the resource with a content structure or packaging representation, or without specifying a specific copy in a particular repository. Furthermore, the designer needs to be able to specify the appropriate version of the content, i.e., when it is acceptable to use any version of a resource versus when only a particular version or copy is required. Thus, the concise problem statement follows. * How to specify the appropriate version of a learning object. o What is a general model for representing versions and copies of learning objects. o How to describe the specification of the appropriate version so that a content delivery process may select, locate and deliver the appropriate content to the learner. o How to embed an encoded specification for the versioned learning object into a content structure such as a content package. * How a delivery system should resolve the specification of a version of a learning object to a specific object copy for delivery to the learner. Note, we assume we are dealing with intentionally-created collections of learning materials. We further assume that the developer or designer of the learning experience has selected the appropriate versions of learning resources for inclusion. Thus, we are not dealing with a problem of search or discovery, but only one of identifying and locating the appropriate instance. LOMv1.0 no LOMv1.0 yes © Copyright, 2005, Some Rights Reserved, Creative Commons License by-nc-sa/2.0, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0, 2000.01-D6E3BF9462684182AC293D64D3DDE192.odrl.drel.xml