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In
a nutshell, DITA provides an extensible structure for organizing content
into reusable blocks. At the lowest level, a "DITA topic forms
the most basic information unit -- short enough to be easily readable,
but long enough to make sense on its own." At the top level, a
map applies context to topics
and organizes them into a deliverable information product. DITA is
totally generic with respect to the content it can organize, but what
John's information architecture team did is to extend DITA to represent
an academic learning curriculum.
There've been two great challenges to widespread adoption of reusable
learning objects (even though it's what everyone who develops learning
content says we want).
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- First, breaking content down into truly useful reusable chunks
is and remains a daunting challenge. A chunk too small can be too
bereft of context to be practical to find and then assemble into
larger learning topics. A chunk too big and context-rich is likely to
require modification in order to fit smoothly into a larger topic.
And even if "chunks" are right-sized, stringing them together might
create a learning module with the right content but be cold and
uninviting to a reader. The transitions and continuity that can
bring personality and vibrancy to courseware are lost.
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- Second, is the lack of a standard technical architecture for
containing and assembling reusable chunks. Standards like SCORM
describe the delivery and packaging model for learning content,
without addressing the structure of the content itself at all. DITA
fills that gap. It says nothing about how you package and deliver
material, but focuses entirely on the structure of the educational
content itself.
 For
organizations developing learning content, a framework like DITA can
help instructional designers think about common structure that can apply
to all learning objects. Having to create subtopics like the
learningAssessment can help guide decisions about right-sizing a
learning topic.
On the technical side, organizing content into an XML structure creates
opportunities for authoring/assembly tools, template-based delivery,
searchable learning object databases, and content that can be shared
amongst organizations.
One project I've been involved in, the HBS Tutorial Platform, has
created an entire XML data model to do exactly what the DITA has done,
but with a narrower focus on meeting the immediate needs of the
institution and the delivery system. The beauty of the DITA framework
is its practicality - in the first moments of looking at it, I could see
how it fits perfectly with all the needs of our existing system, as well
as adding significant new opportunites to organize our content for
reuse.
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About the Author
The original article can be read at:
Use DITA XML to develop reusable learning content.
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