HTML has enabled distance learning courses to offer individuals the ability to learn in their own time and at their own pace from the internet as well as using other course material. e.g. CD-ROM, video, audio tape, conferencing and printed materials. The main problem with HTML is its static nature. Content and presentation are so bound together that there is no flexibility in approach.
XML is a new markup language for use on the Internet. Coming from the same basis as HTML it offers more flexibility than HTML. Content and presentation are separated, with the web developer able to create their own mark up languages for their own purposes. XML is used for the content with XSL providing the means for presentation. This new approach to information handling means that the same source of information can be portrayed in many different ways depending on what is required.
The creation of text and images are two separate tasks, particularly when considering the use of text and images on the Internet. On the Internet, text is often shown as simple HTML and graphics are in bitmap form (GIFs or JPGs). If text is to be included within a graphic, then the text will become part of the graphic. It is no longer text and can no longer be useful in the way that simple HTML text is useful. The problem of including text in graphics is that any ‘meaning’ the text had, even simple labels, is lost in the pixel-oriented bitmap graphic.
There are other problems of using bitmap graphics with the Internet. Being pixel-based, bitmap graphics cannot be scaled, cannot have any part of them dynamically changed and, as mentioned, any text included within the bitmap graphic is no longer accessible as text.
Vector graphics may be the solution to these bitmap problems. Vector graphics are not pixel-based. Instead, each part of the graphic is drawn according to mathematical formulae. This means that vector graphics are text-based and so, therefore, can be manipulated in programs. Vector graphics can be scaled, can have any part of them dynamically changed and can include text as searchable, selectable text.
Recent developments in vector graphics have produced VML and SVG. These are not the only vector graphic formats, but they have the advantage in that they are also based on XML. This means that vector graphics can be created using nothing more complicated than a simple text editor. Not only that, but since these graphic formats are text based, and particularly XML-based, they can be manipulated and created dynamically.
Lecture materials frequently make use of graphics as an aid to teaching. The information for the graphic, though, is often text-based. Lecturers often update their material and so when the underlying material changes, the graphic associated with it needs to change. Creating graphics separately from the text means that there will be at least two separate edits. Not only will the lecturer have multiple edits to make for the one change, but changes to graphics is usually more time consuming than changes to text. This means much time is wasted even in making one simple change.
It is, therefore, desirable that research is carried out to find out how structures in lecture material can be put into XML format and then transformed, using XSLT into HTML and SVG.
The result of this research will show:
The research methods used in this project involved:
Investigating what is currently possible with XML, XSL and Schema. A few books are available on the subject of XML, but the majority of information about these topics are found on the Internet. The result of this investigating can be found in Chapter 2.
Investigating how graphics are used and what is currently possible with SVG and VML. Since both SVG and VML are so new, there are no books specifically on the subject of XML-based vector graphics available. Therefore, all the resources for these languages were found on the Internet. The result of this research can be found in Chapter 3.
Investigating lecture material for semantic structures. The majority of this information can be found from the Case Study made of the Tele-Akademie (Appendix A). A study was also made of Distance Learning in general (Appendix B) in order to better understand how lecture materials are used for Web-Based Training. Other resources used were the Internet and personal experience. The result of this research can be found in Chapter 4.
Producing a case study on the Tele-Akademie. The Tele-Akademie is based at the Fachhochschule in Furtwangen, Germany. The information for this case study was obtained from interviews with the head of the Tele-Akademie. The case study can be found in Appendix A.
Producing a prototype implementation. This involved understanding of XML, XSL and SVG. Some Javascript was also needed. The implementation was expected to be a series of trial Web pages. It was not expected that these would be finished, well-designed works. The result of the implementation can be found in Chapter 5, with the code available in Appendix C and screenshots available in Appendix D.
This project was undertaken as part of a Masters degree in Information Technology. The project management details can be found in Appendix F.