Merlot Notes: Tools for transforming curriculum

Notes from Merlot session: Tools for transforming curriculum

Laurie Harrison - adaptive technology resource centre, U of T
- Supporting learner-centric transformation of content
- needs to personalize:
  - accessibility (disabilities)
    - lack of access to
      - printed material
      - speech or audio
      - visual material
      - note taking
      - class dicsussions
    - Use of adaptive technologies
      - screen readers, magnification, keyboards, voice recognition, text-to-speech
    - Different technologies/clients
      - pda
      - wireless
      - google…
  - background knowledge
  - learning preferences
  - pace and path
- TILE Project
  - The Inclusive Learning Exchange (TILE)
  - http://www.barrierfree.ca/tile
  - goals
    - reusing and repurposing learning objects
    - customization by educators
    - use of IMS Learner Information Profile to accomodate individual learner preferences
      - preferences in profile used to set content and system display
- Strategies
  - Independence of content and structure from presentation to accomodate learner preferences
    - flexible display
    - flexible content aggregation
    - set profile to determine preferences for transformations
    - content separate from preferences
    - examples
      - change css types of things
        colours (background and text) to make it more readable for visually impaired users
        navigation and content affected by change to stylesheet selection
        Q: How to enforce use of CSS in content?
      - Aggregation details
        flat (simple) vs. details
        allows “beginner” and “expert” views of a content aggregation
  - Independence of function from control
    - flexible input
      - onscreen keyboards instead of regular keyboard
    - flexible navigation
      - flatten hierarchy (one level at a time) or deep hierarchy (whole tree)
  - Increased granularity of learning objects to allow presentation of alternative formats and modalities
    - captioning
    - ASL
    - described video
    - range of modalities supported by same content (text tracks in video…)
    - graphic and textual presentations of same content (image vs text intensive presentations)
    - video with optional closed captioning and sign language translation, or audio description
  - Session-specific preferences
    - learner outcome goals
    - topic exclusion
    - placeholders/bookmarks
    - review vs. self test …
  - Implementation of accessibility guidelines and interoperability specifications
    - access system friendly interfaces
    - every learner with a disability is potentially a different external “system” that needs to inter-operate
      - use IMS specs to interoperate with people as well as software systems
- Guildelines and specs
  - W3C web accessibility - WAI/GL
  - W3C Accessible Authoring Tools - WAI/AU
  - IMS
    - implementing IMS specs as they are being developed to provide feedback on accessibility needs
    - Accessibilityy extensions to the LIP (ACCLIB) - encodes learner preferences
    - Metadata - develop extensions to allow identification of resources that meet the criteria indicated in the learner’s prefs.
      - “is screenreader friendly”
      - “has closed captioning”
      - …
    - Content Packaging - packaging content into modules. Identification of alternate resources
      - package text-oriented vs. image-oriented depending on learner’s prefs
      - will in in next CP spec
    - ACCLIP
      - accessForAll element
        display
        screenreader
        screenEnhance
        …
        control
        keyboardenhanced
        onscreenkeyboard
        …
        content
        alternativesToVisual
        alternativesToText
        …
      - Interoperability with IMS
  - Dynamic retrieval and transformation of stuff to hide complexity from users
- Demo
  - Preferences
    - I would like…
      - text on screen easier to see
      - preferred language
      - navigation options (depth vs breadth first)
      - alternatives to audio
        captions (incl language)
        sign language…
      - …
    - Define bits of style sheet (font, size, colours)
  - Whole point of LIP is that the profile is interoperable - can be shared with other systems
James McClellan - automated creation of resources for HTML based Concept Maps
- Introductory engineering course that links resources together via concept maps
- hundreds of LOs
- students need to know where the LOs are, and how should they use them
- students need to know that a LO belongs to a particular part of a course
  - adding context to help them know what/when to study
  - develop LESSONS that use the LOs as part of the lab
- “If you build it, they will come” DOESN’T WORK! They need guidance on what/when to use LOs
- Hierarchy of organizing information (read from bottom to top)
  - Courses
    - books
      - units
        chapters
        lessons
        labs
        learning objects
- How does this relate to concept maps?
  - task of processing incoming info is made easier if info is presented in visual formats
  - concept maps present relationships in graphical form and allow us to understand complex info.
  - show items (LOs) with relationships indicated
  - concept maps used to structure information in academic courses (other uses, but this is the context here)
  - software at
    - http://cmap.coginst.uwf.edu/info/
    - java app
    - allows the user to add resources
      - web pages, videos, pdf docs, etc…
      - they add the items, and describe the relationships
    - IHMC CMAP Software
    - looking at automation to link resources
      - linking database of all 12 chapters of the textbook into the map
      - concept map –> template HTML for concept map –> HTML concept map with resources
    - create a basic concept map template
      - perl scripts used to convert the template html file to a concept map html file with more resources and resource types
    - HTML map runs only in IE/Win (DOH!) he’s a mozilla freak, so that will likely change
    - Working on dynamic creation of concept maps using PHP and database, rather than pre-canned, massaged maps from the perl pre-processing technique
- GUI Movie Making
  - 3 movies are create for each GUI
    - tutorial - how to use
    - theory - explains theory and its applications
    - lab - examplifies problem solving techniques using GUIs
  - Use Camtasia Studio and SnagIt software –> 10 MB AVI movie files (WTF?)
    - can export to better formats
  - Camtasia does screen capture with narration
  - Talks a LOT about Camtasia - not sure how that relates so tightly with concept mapping…
  - Uses its own codec - looks like windows only?
  - Used as media-rich instruction manual for how to learn individual learning objects as part of a lab