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<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Hi Chris<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Your feedback is much appreciated. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>With reference to open sourceness and commercial startups I
would make a strong plea (as someone with no formal ties to Xerte) that Xerte
users took a harvesting approach rather than a mining approach and ensured
sustainability by replanting seeds – whether by constructive feedback or technical
contributions.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>I’m involved in several national teacher training
programmes including a new IT qualification in accessible IT practices. The
vast majority of successful e-learning uptake in the UK is on the back of free and
open source software: Xerte, eXe, Moodle, Audacity, Camstudio etc. Whatever
the legality of commercialising open source, in my humble opinion it robs from community
capital and is ethically wrong. Far better would be to develop improvements (eg
there are still accessibility enhancements waiting to be made like colour
change on sub pages) and recycle these into the community. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>I’d also point out that the Xerte team are excellent at
responding to technical queries – something they can justify to their purse
holders if it feeds back into an enhanced product but impossible to justify if
it simply bolsters a commercial rival.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>I hope this doesn’t come across as a soapbox and I appreciate
your integrity in raising the question honestly. I’ve seen the way open
source software has transformed the educational experiences of disabled
learners (and the rest!) and I get a bit protective about preserving the culture
of collaboration that has been quite transformative in many sectors in the UK.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Alistair<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm'>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> xerte-bounces@lists.nottingham.ac.uk
[mailto:xerte-bounces@lists.nottingham.ac.uk] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Christopher
King<br>
<b>Sent:</b> 02 February 2010 17:25<br>
<b>To:</b> Xerte discussion list<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Xerte] Questions about Templates Error, WYSIWYG, Open
Source license,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal> Wow...<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>Firstly, let me just thank you both, Julian and
Alistair for all the terrific feedback. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>=== Regarding the problems I'm having with the xtp
templates...<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>Ok..here is what is happens when I follow the
instructions in the "Dynamic Templates with Xerte" document
for "Installing a Template Package":<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>The instructions say... <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<blockquote style='margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:5.0pt'>
<div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><i>To install a template package created by other
Xerte users, select ‘Install</i></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><i>Template Package’ from the templates menu.
Browse to the file you’ve been sent,</i></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><i>and Xerte will install it.</i></strong>
(although<em> </em>on the v.2.10 of the editor, which I just downloaded
and installed yesterday, the menu item actually only says "Install
Template")<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>After downloading and unzipping the "templates"
folder (download link for which is found on pg 3), I select <strong>Templates
>> Install Template</strong> and when the dialog box appears, I browse to
any of the three template packages, <strong>hotspots.xtp</strong>, <strong>presentation.xtp</strong>
and <strong>simplequiz.xtp</strong> and attempt to open. However, each
attempt results in an error pop-up that simply says "invalid file
format" (see attachment).<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>=== Regarding the WYSIWYG authoring interface concept...<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<blockquote style='margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:5.0pt'>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><em>>The interesting debate is around the tension between
powerful flexible tools that can do anything you need to, and tools that anyone
can use, with very little learning curve. I don’t think there is the
‘one’ tool.</em><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>I do completely agree that there is a tension (inverse
relationship, "scales balance" or however one wishes to put
it) between authoring power and ease-of-use. Indeed, this is true of
virtually all categories of software application. But my
hypothetical "holy grail" of e-learning authoring tools does
not need to meet the high-powered standard of "can do anything you
need", nor would I want it to. Indeed, my frustration with most
e-learning authoring tools on the market is that most lean too far
toward "powerful and full-featured" at the expense of
"ease-of-use". And while there are a handful
that lean more toward ease-of-use, these are far too expensive for
most academic institutions to afford more than a handful of
licenses. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<blockquote style='margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:5.0pt'>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><em>>Who do you mean by instructors? Academics at your
institution? I don’t think that even a WYSIWYG editor will get them doing
what is essentially programming, and they will need some skills with scripting.</em><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>Yes, I do mean instructors, academics at our
institution. Granted, as a satellite campus of a major research
university which has recently reinvented itself as Florida USA's first public,
polytechnic institution, our faculty tend to be more open
to technology-supported educational delivery than those at many of our
peer institutions. We've had some success training and encouraging
instructors to develop rich, interactive content for online and hybrid
courses using tools such as Camtasia, Softchalk, Dreamweaver even
Flash. But the reality is that because most of these tools are expensive
and take far many hours of time to master (and often time/willingness to learn
scripting and markup), our instructor's need for low-cost,
easy-to-use rapid development tools will often drive them back
to using the tired, old standards of PowerPoint and pdf to present
content.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>While I agree that in a perfect world, instructors
would provide raw content and expertise to instructional
technologists/media developers who would then use high-powered authoring tools
to generate audiovisually rich, interactive learning objects.
However, amongst the various institutions that I've worked for, there
has never been near enough instructional design support to meet the demand. The
best working model I've seen thusfar is our own, in which we conduct periodic
workshops to train faculty in the use of authoring tools, and follow up with
technical support and supplemental training. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>I do indeed plan to further explore the Xerte Online
Toolkits to see how they might fit into our model, particulary if
this online tool is template-driven. In my opinin, liberal use of templates and
wizards is largely the reason why PowerPoint became such
an ubiquitous presentation tool in the first place(that is, aside from
Microsoft's relentless determination to destroy all its competition). But
most of our faculty have developed a reluctance to use online authoring
environments because of the issues of network latency/lag when dealing with
online applications. There is a preference for desktop applications
when at all possible. For example, while our institution uses BlackBoard for
its LMS, most of our faculty use Respondus to author blackboard-delivered exams
and surveys, because it speeds the process enormously. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<blockquote style='margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:5.0pt'>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><em>>The other point about WYSIWYG which we’ve
discussed in the past is that it might compromise some of the accessibility
benefits – for example if the tutor chose yellow text in the WYSIWYG but
the learner selected a yellow background all the text would be invisible. Error
trapping that would be somewhat difficult.</em><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>Actually, my interest in this stems from having served
both as a section 508 (web accessbility) trainer and as an
adaptive/assistive technology specialist for a college disabilities
center. I strongly agree that preserving the accessibility of Xerte
(which is perhaps the most accessible online learning infrastructure I've yet
seen) is a major priority. But while I certainly understand that building
error trapping/alerting into WYSIWYG authoring would be challenging, I do
think its feasible, and something that such tools will implement more and
more, as we move into the future.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>=== Regarding the open source license question <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<blockquote style='margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:5.0pt'>
<div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><em>>The project is completely open source –do
whatever you like with it. If you or others want to develop a new editor for
the .rlo format, that would be great, and something I’d be keen to
support</em> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>This raises an intriguing question.
Our institution recently launched a small business technology
incubator and our administration is strongly encouraging faculty
and staff (particularly those with strong software development
experience) to bring forward innovative projects for
consideration. So this leads me to wonder whether it would be
within the parameters of the open source license to develop
an alternate Xerte-based editor that might eventually be
marketed commercially? <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>Well, covered a good bit of ground with these posts.
Again, I greatly appreciate all your terrific feedback and look forward to any
further comments.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>Much thanks.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>Chris<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>On Tue, Feb 2, 2010 at 6:16 AM, Alistair McNaught <<a
href="mailto:Alistair.McNaught@heacademy.ac.uk">Alistair.McNaught@heacademy.ac.uk</a>>
wrote:<o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'>Agreed there is not one tool, but
there’s not one tension either; the other tension is between developing
interactivities that have been thought through with a range of user needs in
mind compared with those that are implemented without accessibility consideration.
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'>Whilst there is often an argument to be
made for intelligent and strategic ‘partial accessibility’ (ie we
add a lot of value for <b>these</b> learners even if we reduce it for <b>those</b>
learners – who we will support in a <b>that</b> different way) most
partially accessible learning resources in institutions owe more to ignorance
of the issues than strategic compromise for learner benefits. Much of the
benefit of Xerte Toolkits is that there is a pedigree of accessibility
awareness. Helping people value and nurture that inheritance is an important
part of developing distinctive quality.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'>A</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt'>From:</span></b><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:10.0pt'> <a href="mailto:xerte-bounces@lists.nottingham.ac.uk"
target="_blank">xerte-bounces@lists.nottingham.ac.uk</a> [mailto:<a
href="mailto:xerte-bounces@lists.nottingham.ac.uk" target="_blank">xerte-bounces@lists.nottingham.ac.uk</a>]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Julian Tenney<br>
<b>Sent:</b> 02 February 2010 10:57 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt'><br>
<b>To:</b> Xerte discussion list<br>
<b>Subject:</b> RE: [Xerte] Questions about Templates Error, WYSIWYG, Open
Source license,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'>The interesting debate is around the
tension between powerful flexible tools that can do anything you need to, and
tools that anyone can use, with very little learning curve. I don’t think
there is the ‘one’ tool.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:36.0pt'><b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt'>From:</span></b><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt'> <a
href="mailto:xerte-bounces@lists.nottingham.ac.uk" target="_blank">xerte-bounces@lists.nottingham.ac.uk</a>
[mailto:<a href="mailto:xerte-bounces@lists.nottingham.ac.uk" target="_blank">xerte-bounces@lists.nottingham.ac.uk</a>]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Alistair McNaught<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, February 02, 2010 10:54 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> Xerte discussion list<br>
<b>Subject:</b> RE: [Xerte] Questions about Templates Error, WYSIWYG, Open
Source license,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:36.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'>The other
point about WYSIWYG which we’ve discussed in the past is that it might
compromise some of the accessibility benefits – for example if the tutor
chose yellow text in the WYSIWYG but the learner selected a yellow background
all the text would be invisible. Error trapping that would be somewhat
difficult.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'>Alistair</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:36.0pt'><b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt'>From:</span></b><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt'> <a
href="mailto:xerte-bounces@lists.nottingham.ac.uk" target="_blank">xerte-bounces@lists.nottingham.ac.uk</a>
[mailto:<a href="mailto:xerte-bounces@lists.nottingham.ac.uk" target="_blank">xerte-bounces@lists.nottingham.ac.uk</a>]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Julian Tenney<br>
<b>Sent:</b> 02 February 2010 10:06<br>
<b>To:</b> Xerte discussion list<br>
<b>Subject:</b> RE: [Xerte] Questions about Templates Error, WYSIWYG, Open
Source license,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:36.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'>HI,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'>Thanks for the
questions.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'>Which
templates are causing you problems when you try and install them? What happens
exactly?</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'>The WYSIWYG
editor would be great, but is quite an undertaking: and there is some debate
over whether it would actually simplify things – also some types of icon
don’t have visual elements on the screen, so how to select and adjust
properties of those? There is some WYSIWYG via shift-F5.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'>The project is
completely open source –do whatever you like with it. If you or others
want to develop a new editor for the .rlo format, that would be great, and
something I’d be keen to support - but I cannot do it alone. The current
work on Xerte 3.0 might present an opportunity to add the WYSIWYG stuff, as the
codebase for that is much more object oriented and modular, and easier to work
with - remember, Xerte 2.x began life in 2004 as a Flash 6 swf, in the
days before any proper object-oriented support in Flash. Xerte 3.0 is built on
the Flex framework, and is all ActionScript 3.0, so it’s right up to
date, and there is loads of potential. I’m very keen to encourage a
developer community around it.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'>Who do you
mean by instructors? Academics at your institution? I don’t think that
even a WYSIWYG editor will get them doing what is essentially programming, and
they will need some skills with scripting. Here, our academics use Xerte Online
Toolkits to create content from templates, and they manage quite well –
you might want to explore that more. I don’t think there is a holy grail,
and I have searched hard for it too - I think the answer is in a suite of tools
that compliment each other,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'>Regards,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'>J</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:72.0pt'><b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt'>From:</span></b><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt'> <a
href="mailto:xerte-bounces@lists.nottingham.ac.uk" target="_blank">xerte-bounces@lists.nottingham.ac.uk</a>
[mailto:<a href="mailto:xerte-bounces@lists.nottingham.ac.uk" target="_blank">xerte-bounces@lists.nottingham.ac.uk</a>]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Christopher King<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Monday, February 01, 2010 10:34 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:xerte@lists.nottingham.ac.uk" target="_blank">xerte@lists.nottingham.ac.uk</a><br>
<b>Subject:</b> [Xerte] Questions about Templates Error, WYSIWYG, Open Source
license,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:72.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:72.0pt'>Hello,<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:72.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:72.0pt'>I've came across Xerte fairly recently and
have only just begun to experiment with its capabilities
for authoring learning objects. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:72.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:72.0pt'>Coming from a background in instructional
design, I've worked with quite a variety of commercial e-learning
authoring tools over the years, including Flash, Lectora, Softchalk,
Articulate and many others. However, I've always felt these commercial
offerings had shortcomings that ultimately made them very unlikely
to be really see much use by the majority of instructors in
academia. Typically, these elearning authoring tools either have too
steep a learning curve for teachers who have very little time to spare, or
that they are far too expensive to be feasible for a departmental budget,
or both. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:72.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:72.0pt'>So for many years, I've made it a point to search
for this "holy grail" of e-learning tools. As I
searched, I added to my wish list that the idea tool would
be XML based, able to export to its content in swf format,
and create content that was 508 accessible. Thus, I was extremely
excited to discover Xerte and to learn that this platform is free and open
source, based in XML and creates highly accessible content. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:72.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:72.0pt'>However, as I've begun to delve into making my first
learning objects with the Xerte standalone tool, I'm running into some early
challenges getting comfortable with the authoring workflow and
with getting things to work right.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:72.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:72.0pt'>For example, I've tried to take advantage of some of the
pre-built templates, but when I try to install a template, I get an
"Invalid File Format" error prompt. I've tried this in two
different versions of Xerte, including the latest, but no luck. I would
really like to try these out so wondering if anyone might have a suggestion.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:72.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:72.0pt'>I'm also concerned that not having a WYSIWYG authoring
environment will likely be a show-stopper for many instructors. Is there any
plan to have such an interface enhancement added to future versions?<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:72.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:72.0pt'>Also, I'm curious to know to what extent this tool is Open
source. Obviously, it is free, but is the source code also available for
other developers to modify to create their own customized versions? If
modification of the code is permissable, my institution has some fairly robust
programming talent which might be utilized to enhance aspects of the authoring
infrastructure, such as adding a WYSIWIG editing component.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:72.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:72.0pt'>I hope these questions aren't out of place in this forum,
as I would greatly any feedback offered.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:72.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:72.0pt'>Much thanks.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:72.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:72.0pt'>Chris King<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:72.0pt'>University of South Florida Polytechnic<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:72.0pt'>Lakeland, FL USA<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:72.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:72.0pt'><br>
<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellpadding=0 width=630 style='width:472.5pt;
margin-left:36.0pt'>
<tr>
<td style='background:white;padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='color:black'><br>
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