The DITA Learning and Training specialization

Jason Owen

DITA specialist

Overview

• This presentation serves as an introduction to the DITA Learning specialization Learning specialization structure Implementation points CMS integration DITA 1.3

Why use it?

• It’s DITA! Single-sourcing Standardized structure Modularity Specialization Localization Content reuse

• Moves your organization towards a more complete knowledge management solution Consolidation of information Coordination of information development and management

ARCHITECTURE

High-level learning structure

Learning map

Learning object

Learning plan

Learning content

Learning assessment

Learning summary

Learning overview

Map structure

• Learning maps• Learning bookmaps

Learning map

Learning object

Learning plan

Learning content

Learning assessment

Learning summary

Learning overview

Learning map elements

• learningGroup• learningObject

Learning Objects

• At the core of training content is the learning object A learning object is a collection

of content items, practice items, and assessment items that are combined to achieve a single learning objective

At their core is instructional content, practice, and assessment

Learning map

Learning object

Learning plan

Learning content

Learning assessment

Learning summary

Learning overview

Characteristics of learning objects

• Are self-contained – each learning object can be used independently

• Are reusable – a single learning object may be used in multiple contexts for multiple purposes

• Can be aggregated – learning objects can be grouped into larger collections of content, including traditional course structures

• Are tagged with metadata – every learning object has descriptive information allowing it to be easily found by a search

Learning object elements

• Topicmeta• learningPlanRef• learningOverviewRef• learningPreAssessmentRef• learningContentRef• learningContentComponentRef• learningPostAssessmentRef• learningSummaryRef

Learning map and object example

<map id="owe1411769585364" xml:lang="en-us">

<title>Learning content samples</title>

<learningObject href="owe1411769767897.xml">

<learningPlanRef href="owe1411771604871.xml"/>

<learningContentRef href="owe1411772176572.xml">

<learningContentComponentRef href="owe1411771466951.dita"/>

<learningContentComponentRef href="owe1411771467449.dita"/>

<learningContentComponentRef href="owe1411771467965.dita"/>

</learningContentRef>

<learningPostAssessmentRef href="owe1411772256920.xml"/>

<learningSummaryRef href="owe1411772053986.xml"/>

</learningObject>

</map>

Learning overviews

Learning map

Learning object

Learning plan

Learning content

Learning assessment

Learning summary

Learning overview

Learning overview elements

Learning overview example

<learningOverview id="" xml:lang="en-us">

<title>Overview of Labels</tiowe1399329937043tle>

<shortdesc>Document labels let you apply metadata to any document for the purpose...</shortdesc>

<learningOverviewbody>

<lcIntro>

<p>You can apply labels to any type of document.</p>

</lcIntro>

<lcAudience><title>Audience</title>The intended audience includes technical writers and...</lcAudience>

<lcObjectives>

<title>Objectives</title>

<lcObjectivesStem>The objectives of the chapter are to:</lcObjectivesStem>

<lcObjectivesGroup conref="owe1401429149116.xml#owe1401429149116/lcObjectives_N1001C_N1000F_N10001">

<lcObjective/>

</lcObjectivesGroup>

</lcObjectives>

</learningOverviewbody>

</learningOverview>

Learning plans

• Includes information necessary to the lesson planning process learning needs and goals task and gap analyses learning technical requirements

• Information in learning plans may well be internal information only

Learning map

Learning object

Learning plan

Learning content

Learning assessment

Learning summary

Learning overview

Learning plan elements

• lcProject • lcNeedsAnalysis • lcGapAnalysis • lcIntervention• lcTechnical

Learning plan example

<learningPlan id=" owe1411769285965"> <title>Learning Plan</title> <shortdesc>It's always good to provide a plan.</shortdesc> <learningPlanbody> <lcProject> <title>Project title</title> <lcClient> <title>Client name</title> <p>describe the client here</p> </lcClient> <lcPlanTitle> <title>Plan title</title> <p>describe the thing here</p> </lcPlanTitle> <lcPlanPrereqs> <title>Prerequisites</title> <p>A list of prerequisites</p> </lcPlanPrereqs> </lcProject> </learningPlanbody></learningPlan>

Learning content

• Learning content can be content created specifically for learning and training The Learning specialization has

100+ learning-specific elements

• Tech pubs content, such as task, concept, and reference can be used as learning content

• Learning and tech pubs topics can be mixed and matched to create learning maps

Learning map

Learning object

Learning plan

Learning content

Concept

Learning assessment

Learning summary

Task

Reference

Learning overview

Learning content elements

• lcIntro• lcDuration• lcObjectives• lcChallenge• lcInstruction

Learning content example<learningContent id=" owe13993290373345"> <title>Creating a memo</title> <shortdesc>Creating a memo is easy and fun.</shortdesc> <learningContentbody> <lcIntro>You may need to create a memo from time to time. </lcIntro> <lcDuration> <lcTime value="00:05 min">5 minutes</lcTime> </lcDuration> </learningContentbody> <task id="creatememo"> <title>Creating a memo</title> <shortdesc>You could include this task with a conref - for direct reuse from an existing task.</shortdesc> <taskbody> <steps> <step> <cmd>Open the inbox.</cmd> </step> <step> <cmd>Click New Memo.</cmd> </step> </steps> </taskbody> </task></learningContent>

Learning assessments

• Interactions can be used to measure a learner’s mastery of the material There can be both pre-assessments

and post-assessments These assessments can be integrated

directly into your LMS

• Use assessments to gauge a learner’s progress against the learning objectives  

Learning map

Learning object

Learning plan

Learning content

Learning assessment

Learning summary

Learning overview

Learning assessment example<learningAssessment id="owe1399329947283" xml:lang="en-us"> <title ixia_locid="1">Review of Labels</title> <learningAssessmentbody> <lcObjectives> <lcObjectivesStem>The objectives of this chapter were to:</lcObjectivesStem> <lcObjectivesGroup conref="owe1401429149116.xml#owe1401429149116/a"> <lcObjective/> </lcObjectivesGroup> </lcObjectives> <lcInteraction> <lcTrueFalse> <lcQuestion><b>Question 1:</b> You can apply a label to an object at any state in…</lcQuestion> <lcAnswerOptionGroup> <lcAnswerOption> <lcAnswerContent>True</lcAnswerContent> </lcAnswerOption> </lcAnswerOptionGroup> <lcFeedbackCorrect audience="instructor"><b>Answer:</b> True</lcFeedbackCorrect> </lcTrueFalse> </lcInteraction> <lcSummary><title>Quick Summary</title>Labels can be quickly created and added to...</lcSummary> </learningAssessmentbody></learningAssessment>

Learning summary

• A learning summary recaps the achievement of learning objectives

• Provides guidance to reinforce learning and long-term memory, and may pose questions to enhance encoding

• Include elements for review, next steps, and resources

Learning map

Learning object

Learning plan

Learning content

Learning assessment

Learning summary

Learning overview

Learning summary example<learningSummary id=" owe1399329958389"> <title>Learning summary</title> <shortdesc>It's always good to provide a summary.</shortdesc> <learningSummarybody> <lcSummary> <title>Summary</title> <p>Start first with the summary.</p> </lcSummary> <lcObjectives>

<title>Objectives</title>

<lcObjectivesStem>The objectives of the chapter are to:</lcObjectivesStem>

<lcObjectivesGroup conref="owe1401429149116.xml#owe1401429149116/lcObjectives_N1001C_N1000F_N10001">

<lcObjective/>

</lcObjectivesGroup>

</lcObjectives>

<lcReview> <title>Review</title> <p>You can offer more review here.</p> </lcReview> <lcNextSteps> <title>Next steps</title> <p>Describe next steps here.</p> </lcNextSteps> <lcResources> <title>Resources</title> <p>You can list resources as you like, including xref links to external URLs, if appropriate.</p> </lcResources> </learningSummarybody></learningSummary>

Learning metadata

• Learning metadata is available for use in both the topic prolog and the map topicmeta

• The Learning metadata is build on best practices and includes information such as: technology requirements: The required system

requirements to view the learning object context coverage difficultu interactivity information

Learning metadata elements

• lclom is the parent element for metadata

Element Example value

lomTechRequirement ms-windows

lomIntentedUserRole manager

lomContext training

lomDifficulty medium

lomTypicalLearningTime 01:00

Learning metadata example

<bookmeta> <lcLom> <lomTechRequirement value="ms-windows"/> <lomIntendedUserRole value="manager"/> <lomContext value="training"/> <lomDifficulty value="medium"/> <lomTypicalLearningTime value="01:00"/> </lcLom></bookmeta>

IMPLEMENTATION

Considerations

• What is the business case?• What are the challenges to cross-functional use of

DITA Content ownership (who makes the edits?) Workflow synchronization Costs Staffing

Writers and courseware developers Architects

• How would the adoption of DITA impact existing training services and processes?

Analysis to use the Learning specialization

1. Perform a thorough analysis of your current state

2. Plan how to transition your legacy content to DITA

3. Prioritize your needs for modularity, reuse, localization and multichannel distribution

4. Think about the workflow you need to ensure that you create quality training that complies with your requirements

Requirements

• Content reuse between tech pubs and training requires: A shared content strategy A shared style guide, including a writing style and

content model that works for readers/users and trainees A shared DITA model and style guide Different outputs

• Combined analysis for tech pubs and learning of Customers, both internal and external Service and support professionals  Stakeholders

Possible reuse models

• Content reuse for learning content Examples: Instructor manuals, student guides, syllabi and

practice tests

• Reuse tech pubs content in learning maps• Reuse referable content between learning and

tech pubs topics Learning and tech pubs topics would then have their own

shell structure around the conref’d content

Output

• PDF• HTML• SCORM• Others

DTD INTEGRATION

Steps for setting up in the CMS

• DTDs The Learning DTDs are in the CMS Add declarations for the Learning domain to your CMS

shell DTDs, including the Web Author framework and output generator DTDs

Edit catalogs

• Set up topic and map templates• CMS configuration• Output plugins

Create OT plugins to support Learning output Modify existing plugins, such as PDF, for Learning output

LEARNING SPECIALIZATION IN DITA 1.3

DITA 1.3

• DITA 1.3 will include changes for the Learning specialization learningObjectMap – Contains a learning object learningObjectGroupMap – Contains multiple learning

objects learningObjectMapRef – References a learning object

map from a learning map

DITA 1.3

• Interactions are improved A little inflexible in 1.2 Questions can include detailed examples

Can include images and tables and lists