SOLR:General Best Practices for Creating Learning Resources

General Best Practices for Creating Learning Resources
NOTE : The information in this section applies to all course management systems (CMSs). Also see the best practices that apply to your post-secondary institution ’ s CMS.

Overview
Adhere to industry-wide standards when creating and packaging content. This ensures your content can run properly in as many computing and learning delivery environments as possible. For example:

Check out the reference material below for more information on improving the interoperability of your learning resources. Please add your recommendations to the list!
 * Create content outside of your CMS using commonly-available third party tools. (See the Best Practices re: Other (Non-CMS) Tools section of the Collaborative Support Area for Standalone (Third Party) Tool Selection Guidelines.)
 * Package content using portable formats such as IMS Content Packaging, IMS QTI (Question and Test Interoperability) and SCORM.

Recommended Reference Material on Interoperability

 * Section 5.0 (Interoperability) of Reusable Design Guidelines (Draft Version 3.1.1)
 * Contains specific guidelines for ensuring the widest possible audience can adopt or adapt a learning resource
 * From the Reusable Learning website
 * "Standards for K-12 Distributed Learning in BC" http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/dist_learning/documents/dl_standards.pdf
 * Flexible E-Content Guidelines http://www.ataoc.ca/files/flexec_docs/FlexEC_guidelines.pdf

Overview
SOL*R provides the most value to the online learning community when the learning resources contained in SOL*R can be:

To facilitate the above, learning resources should be uploaded to SOL*R in the appropriate format.
 * Used in as many environments as possible (i.e., within other CMSs and outside of a CMS)
 * Previewed to assess the potential usefulness of content prior to downloading
 * Linked to directly and used without modification.

What Can SOL*R Accept?
The following types of files (and references) can be uploaded to SOL*R:


 * IMS Content Packages
 * Zip files
 * Individual binary media files
 * URLs that refer to a site on the Web.

About IMS Content Packages
An IMS Content Package is an international standard that allows learning resources to be transferred between course management systems. Some CMSs have the ability to export content in this format (e.g., WebCT and Desire2Learn). An IMS Content Package can be previewed in SOL*R and can be imported and used in other CMSs.

About Zip Files
Zipping is a convenient way to compress and package a large numbers of files for convenient uploading to SOL*R. A zip file is typically used to upload a complete website or a standalone resource comprised of multiple files (e.g., a simulation or animation). A standalone resource is a learning resource created by a standalone tool outside of a CMS. It does not require a CMS to be viewed.

A learning resource that is uploaded to SOL*R as a zip file can be previewed in SOL*R only if the contents of the compressed file are in a format that can be previewed. Files that are web-ready can be previewed in SOL*R (e.g., HTML pages or PDF documents), whereas files in a proprietary format (e.g., Adobe Illustrator images) cannot be.

Zip files are automatically unzipped on the SOL*R server for previewing purposes. When you upload a zip file to SOL*R, you can specify which file is initially opened during previewing.

About Individual Binary Media Files
Individual binary media files are intended to be uploaded/downloaded and used one-at-a-time. They are typically standalone learning resources created outside of a CMS (e.g., a PowerPoint presentation). Other examples include .doc, .pdf, .gif, .htm, and .swf. files. Binary files cannot be executables (i.e., .exe files).

A binary media file can be previewed in SOL*R if it is web-ready.

TIP : If you are uploading a Microsoft Word or PowerPoint file, you have the option of letting SOL*R convert the file to HTML so that it can be viewed by as many users as possible.

TIP: When you contribute individual binary media files to SOL*R, you can attach multiple individual files for uploading instead of uploading each file individually. This is useful for a "few" files. If you are uploading more than three or four files, consider combining the files in a zip file. This will make it easier and faster to upload/download the resource to/from SOL*R.

About URLs that Refer to a Site on the Web
In addition to the types of files noted above, SOL*R accepts website addresses. When a resource is contributed to SOL*R as a URL, users access the learning resource by linking to the hosting institution ’ s website. The website does not reside on the SOL*R server.

Uploading a learning resource as a URL is useful in situations where the resource requires a special server-side component to run properly (e.g., streaming media).

WARNING : Be aware that when you contribute a URL to SOL*R, the onus is on you to maintain the resource at that location indefinitely.

Moodle Content (Course or Course Component)
See Comparison of Alternatives for Contributing Moodle Content to SOL*R for more information.

Overview
When creating a learning resource, there are a number of things that can be done (from an instructional design perspective) to make the resource useful in other contexts. For example:

A plethora of resources are available that address designing learning resources for reusability. Some of them are listed below. Please add your recommendations to the list!
 * Don ’ t put contextual information about a course in the content (e.g., course title, instructor information, and dates).
 * "Chunk" content into self-contained units.
 * Organize content around learning objectives.
 * Separate content from navigation and presentation.

Recommended Reference Material on Designing for Reusability

 * Principles of Effective Learning Objects
 * Reusable Learning website
 * A site dedicated to enabling the reuse of learning content
 * Sections 3.0 (Design: Context and Pedagogy) and 4.0 (Design: Structure and Presentation) of Reusable Design Guidelines (Draft Version 3.1.1)
 * Contains specific guidelines and techniques for improving the reusability of digital learning resources
 * From the Reusable Learning website
 * Reusable Design Guidelines Checklist (Draft Version 3.1.1)
 * From the Reusable Learning website
 * Reusability Framework – Design
 * Identifies five independent layers of a digital learning resource (context, pedagogy, structure, content, and presentation) and discusses the effect of each on reusability
 * From the Reusable Learning website

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