Real-time Collaborative IMS Learning Design Authoring Tool

IMS Learning Design (LD) is a specification that enables the definition of complex teaching and learning flows. It consists of an information model which specifies the conceptual entities making up a 'unit of learning' and an XML binding of the information model. There are several IMS LD authoring tools available. Most of them are standalone desktop applications, e.g. Reload, ReCourse, eXact packager, GLM; there are few which are deployed in a browser based environment (e.g. Web Collage). 

OpenGLM is currently the only authoring tool that has built-in support for community use cases like sharing, publishing, retrieval, collaborative editing of the models in a resource environment with open APIs (see Derntl et al. 2011). Moreover, no tools currently enable real-time collaborative authoring. 

The aim of this thesis is therefore to conceive and implement a collaborative IMS LD authoring tool as a browser application. Visual modeling will be supported using HTML5/Javascript, support for synchronous real-time collaborative editing of the models will be provided via the Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP), and it will allow the users to retrieve from and publish to existing learning resource repositories (e.g. OICS) using available APIs. Conceptually, a main challenge will also be to represent the IMS LD metamodel with an easy-to-use and easy-to-understand visual notation and interaction metaphor.

Please address any inquiries about this thesis announcement to Dr. Michael Derntl.