Using metadata in creating offline views of e-learning content

When creating learning content for online or offline viewing, metadata is an important part, so the Learning Management System can decide what to show whom in which form, or perform other functions (e. g. examinations, enrolment). For reusing content it must be possible to create offline versions (e. g. on CDs) from the same data to avoid inconsistencies and additional work. The problem is how to integrate the functions of metadata there without requiring another program to be installed locally. Beside general thoughts on the usefulness and problems of metadata in E-Learning we present a converter for creating offline views of CPS packages to be shown within web browsers. It employs metadata to show additional information, facilitate reuse of content by creating subsets and present additional derived navigational helps.