Presentation for CNIE 2010

1. Converting Print-Based Course Materials for Online Delivery CNIE 2010 May 18 Rodger Graham Athabasca University

2. Context Print-based distance delivery to online Selection of LMS (Moodle) in 2005 Selection of CMS (Alfresco) in 2007 Major developments in CMS Course Tracking System (updating to v3.3) Enterprise-wide Records Management (planned) Course Materials Digitization Project (pending) CMS Workflow and Dashboard development (RFP out)

3. Alfresco Overview Alfresco is AU’s content management system (CMS). The system provides web-based content and document management functionality for the university. The adoption of an institutional CMS allows content (data) to be separated from its presentation (formatting). As a result, AU can more easily repurpose content into multiple formats and forms, thereby capitalizing on its institutional knowledge and resources. The adoption of Alfresco also means that standards for content and presentation can be established on the Web. This standardization not only facilitates the development of a coherent institutional brand but also eliminates the onerous task of implementing global changes across the university’s website. In addition, it ensures that the website is better optimized for search engines (SEO). Perhaps most importantly, Alfresco is compatible with Moodle, AU’s learning management system (LMS). Together, Alfresco and Moodle will play a key role in supporting a broader information and knowledge management strategy, and they will support AU’s continued transition to web-based technologies that facilitate anytime, anywhere access to content. Alfresco was selected as AU’s CMS after a comprehensive process of research, analysis and community consultation, and it will be deployed gradually across the university over the next couple of years. Further details on Alfresco’s implementation will be forthcoming.

4. Alfresco Benefits It is a free, open source CMS, available without charge under the terms of the General Public License (GNU). It is compatible with other core institutional information technology systems It supports the creation of highly customizable workflows. These workflows allow a diverse set of rules to be assigned to both content and users. It can automatically extract metadata from or append it to a file’s properties. This feature allows document metadata to be standardized (e.g., Dublin Core) across university documents. It uses a Google-like advanced search functionality which includes attribute, location, object type, full-text and category searches. It keeps track of all content changes made in the system (versioning) and can revert to previous versions if and when required. Although users can access Alfresco over the web via a client, they can also configure their desktop computers to map to Alfresco folders (spaces). File folders can be assigned with automated workflows that trigger specific functions once content is submitted.

5. Course Materials Largely text with supporting graphics Majority of files contained in Interleaf/Quicksilver and Lotus Notes Proprietary, non open standards based systems Difficult to export and reuse Other formats include Word, HTML, WebCT

6. Our Goal XML documents stored and managed in the CMS Constrained editor? Nyet Direct conversion of SGML? Nyetagain Print to PDF, then convert (Xerox collaboration)? Also Nyet Manual process? Da Methods Word 2007 as file format Open XML base Widely used Able to insert XML (semantic) tags Wimba Create (formerly Course Genie) to convert and metatag Produces very clean XML as well as parsed HTML with navigation Other tools include self-test tool, Flashcard tool, etc.

7. Opportunity Knocks Community Adjustment Fund 2 year grant to hire unemployed or underemployed people in Northern Alberta Knowledge Infrastructure Program 2 year grant to upgrade infrastructure including implementation of CMS Established Course Materials Digitization Project under CAF fund Hired 57 FTE’s between January and April Established 3 remote sites in Northern Alberta Developed processes and workflows between November and May

8. Conversion Process Export to RTF Use Wimba to Metatag Open in Word Semantic Tags Use Wimba to Style Clean and Format Publish Generate XML/HTML Store in Alfresco LMS (Moodle) XSLT Mobile Web Syllabi

9. Creation Process Create Content Store in Alfresco Substantive Editing Sign Off Use Wimba to Metatag Save in Word Semantic Tags Use Wimba to Style Clean and Format Publish Generate XML/HTML Store in Alfresco LMS (Moodle) XSLT Mobile Web Syllabi

10. Conversion Process Divided into discrete processes Phase 1 – export file from legacy system to RTF Phase 2 – initial clean up and formatting Phase 3 – apply styles with Wimba Create, apply metadata, apply semantic tags, flag special conditions, reformat tables, add alt tags to graphics Phase 4 – check and fix flagged conditions where possible Phase 5 – Quality Assurance and storage

11. CMS Process Management Each digitizer owns a ‘space’ in Alfresco Supervisors load spaces with RTF files exported from legacy system after some initial clean up using custom Word macros Digitizers follow checklists for each phase, moving the file to another digitizer’s space when they are done Final step is Quality Assurance then to temporary storage

12. Checklists Example

13. Publishing to LMS Wimba Create parses Word document into individual HTML pages and creates navigation CSS formatting is applied at time of publishing HTML files are zipped and moved to specific locations in Moodle servers Files are unzipped and linked to the course menu structure in the LMS Example

14. Other Publishing Wimba Create creates clean XML from Word files. We plan to use these files to publish to mobile devices in the future. Use XSLT to select and format semantically tagged sections and publish to Syllabus page or Course Web Page

15. Semantic Tags title introduction objective outline course_material required_resource supplementary_resource assignment assessment_scheme reference endnote

16. Using the CMS CMS will manage course materials creation process through workflows and dashboards Editing will occur in the CMS with results being re-published to multiple outputs automatically Metadata applied to files through CAF digitization process Alfresco can also extract metadata automatically

17. CAF Metatags Title Author Date published Copyright Coverage Subject

18. Links Alfresco http://within.athabascau.ca/ CAF training http://cldd-devel19.lms.athabascau.ca/course/view.php?id=258 Course Tracking http://cldd-devel19.lms.athabascau.ca/course/view.php?id=267 CAF News Releasehttp://www2.athabascau.ca/aboutau/news/news_item.php?newid=31