Silva dLCMS 1.6.1 Released

8 January 2008 – ETH Zurich and Infrae are pleased to announce the release of the dynamic Learning Content Management System (dLCMS) 1.6.1. This is an update of the 1.6 series. For a complete list of changes see HISTORY.txt in the package, but the most important changes are:

• The dLCMS metadata has been changed making the set more comprehensible and easier to use.
• dLCMS contents support the Silva subscription feature.
• Content packaging export now supports URL queries and produces a flat folder hierarchy in the zip archive.

What is the dLCMS?

The main goal of the dLCMS is the enhancement of learning content’s reusability through the separation of content and graphical presentation, the consequent use of small, modular learning objects that can easily be rearranged into new learning units, and the collaborative use of learning content by teachers and content designers via the Internet.

Complete learning units can be exported as packages compatible with IMS Content Packaging or conformant to SCORM. dLCMS packages have been successfully imported into the learning management systems Moodle, ILIAS, OLAT, and WebCT.

Features, architecture, and component model

• Learning objects are stored in an XML format in a centralized repository
• An online editor enables authors to create content focused on their subject matter without having to care about graphical design, data formats, or programming languages
• Graphical style and layout can be defined through the use of a flexible page templating system
• The dLCMS is an extension of the open source Silva CMS and uses the Five/Zope3 framework
• The dLCMS is open source with a BSD-style license
  

The dLCMS functional architecture is separated into four primary components: authoring, repository, assembly and linking, and publishing and export. The dLCMS Content Model consists of three component types: assets, content elements, and learning units.

Why a dLCMS?

Because of the increasing complexity it has become difficult to develop web based courses directly with HTML, JavaScript, etc. The aim of the dLCMS is to ease and coordinate this process. A learning content component model defines different levels of learning components, their properties and granularity, and how the components can be aggregated into larger learning units.

Where can I learn more?

For complete information including the dLCMS roadmap, documentation, bug tracker, web-based translations, mailing list, and SVN repository, see the dLCMS site at http://www.dlcms.ethz.ch/.

The dLCMS can be downloaded from http://www.dlcms.ethz.ch/download.

Professional support, further development, and hosting of the dLCMS is available from Infrae, based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands: https://infrae.com/.

Credits

Thanks to:

• The Informatikdienste of ETH Zurich
• The Center for Organizational and Occupational Sciences for continued support
• Launchpad for development resources: https://launchpad.net/products/dlcms
• The many professors, developers, affiliates, and students listed on the site

Contact

FMI contact Samuel Schluep: http://www.zoa.ethz.ch/people/staff/schluep