Using Docbook to Aid in The Creation of Learning Content

Creating web based educational (e-learning) applications is a complex process that poses several challenges. We are especially concerned with two aspects: the cost of production and maintenance of educational contents, and the personalization of contents to suit individual learners. The Learning Objects (LO) model was proposed in response to reusability and adaptability concerns. IMS, ADL, IEEE and other initiatives have proposed standards for metadata description and packaging facilities in order to facilitate the interchange of LOs across Learning Management Systems (LMS). Metadata and packaging description demand additional work from content developers. In this paper, we address how DocBook, an XML/SGML document model, facilitates the creation of learning content and allows the countless DocBook materials already existing on the Internet to be reused. The main goals are to simplify the creation of adaptive learning content following the LO paradigm and to study how DocBook and its associated tools facilitate the authors’ task when dealing with the XML documents needed for LO description and interchange.