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IMS Content Packaging - Overview
Terms of use
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Terms of use
These contents have been obtained from the IMS web site and edited for presentation. Please refer to the IMS web site for additional information on terms of use.
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IMS Global Learning Consortium
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The IMS Content Packaging Specification provides the functionality to describe and package learning materials, such as an individual course or a collection of courses, into interoperable, distributable packages. Content Packaging addresses the description, structure, and location of online learning materials and the definition of some particular content types.
The Content Packaging Specification is aimed primarily at content producers, learning management system vendors, computing platform vendors, and learning service providers. Learning materials described and packaged using the IMS Content Packaging XML format should be interoperable with any tool that supports the Specification. Content creators can develop and distribute material knowing that it can be delivered on any compliant system, thereby protecting their investment in rich content development.
Important things to know about Content Packaging:- Content Packaging is used to define the data format for the exchange of learning resources (or learning objects) from one learning system to another, facilitating easier delivery, reuse and sharing of materials.
- IMS Content Packages enable you to export content from one Learning Content Management System or digital repository, and import it into another while retaining information describing the media in the IMS Package, and how it is structured, such as a table of contents or which web page to show first.
- The IMS Content Packaging specification focuses on the packaging and transport of resources, but doesn't determine the nature of those resources. This is because the specification allows adopters to gather, structure and aggregate content in an unlimited variety of formats.
- The latest v1.2 adds important new features for linking to content that may be distributed via the Internet – “virtual content”.
- IMS Content Packaging is the most widely used learning technology standard in the world. It is the basis for SCORM and is also used standalone as a simpler way to achieve interoperability.
- IMS Content Packaging is currently being considered as a new work item for standardization in ISO/IEC JTC1 SC36.
- Conformance and development of accredited profiles of IMS Content Packaging, including the profile used in SCORM is offered solely under the auspices of the Common Cartridge Alliance: http://www.imsglobal.org/cc/alliance.html
IMS Content Packaging |
Terms of use
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These contents have been obtained from the IMS web site and edited for presentation. Please refer to the IMS web site for additional information on terms of use.
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The scope of the IMS Content Packaging specification is focused on defining interoperability between systems that wish to import, export, aggregate and disaggregate Packages of content.
Thus, the "root" element of the specification is the Package. A Package represents a unit of usable (and reusable) content. This may be part of a course that has instructional relevance outside of a course organization and can be delivered independently, as an entire course or as a collection of courses. A Package must be able to stand-alone; that is, it must contain all the information needed to use the contents for learning when it has been unpacked. |
IMS Content Package
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| The IMS Package can be seen as a "logical directory", which includes a specially named XML file, any XML control documents it references (such as a DTD or XSD file), and any sub-directories containing the actual physical resources to be encapsulated. The special XML file is called the IMS Manifest file. It is used to describe, in XML, the encapsulated content and its organization. Once a Package has been incorporated into a single file for transportation (e.g., .zip, .jar, .cab), it is called a Package Interchange File. |
A manifest contains the following sub-elements:
- metadata - (optional) this meta-data describes the manifest that contains it. Commonly used meta-data would include elements like title, description, keywords, a contributor's role, a content's purpose (e.g., educational objective, skill level), and copyright information. Meta-data elements should be drawn first from IMS Meta-Data v1.2.1 Specification (the latest version). Any meta-data elements not found in the IMS Meta-Data specification could then be included via an XML namespace in a manifest's meta-data element(s). All meta-data elements must be defined in a DTD or XSD, which are declared at the top of the IMS Manifest file and are included with imsmanifest.xml at the root of a Package's internal file structure.
- organizations - (required) contains zero, one, or multiple descriptions of the static organization of the content so that resources within the Package can be moved to create one or multiple organizations of content (such as course outlines). It is left to the discretion of content producers to decide whether to describe or not describe the organization of a course's resources. If content producers choose to provide one or more descriptions of a course's organization, they must also specify one as the default. The current Content Packaging DTD requires a single organizations element as a child of the manifest element. If content producers do not need an organizations section in the manifest, then it must appear as an empty element to satisfy the control rules expressed in the controlling documents (DTD, XSD). Also, only one organizations element is allowed within each manifest element. The current specification defines an organization sub-element as one that uses a hierarchical organization; however, other ways of describing the organizational structure or content (such as conditional/programmatic) are permitted.
- resources - (required) includes references to all of the resources needed in order to view the content as specified in the organizations element. References may either be made internally or externally of a Package to both relative and absolute identifiers. For example, a reference to an external URL is permitted without having to include that resource as part of the Package Interchange File. Resources may also contain a metadata element for each content item referenced. Only one resources element is allowed within the top-level manifest element.
- manifest - (optional) specifies zero or more (sub)Manifests. Nested manifest elements specify how content may be reliably aggregated or disaggregated into other Packages.
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Terms of use
X
These contents have been obtained from the IMS web site and edited for presentation. Please refer to the IMS web site for additional information on terms of use.
Print
|
IMS Global Learning Consortium
|
The IMS Content Packaging Specification provides the functionality to describe and package learning materials, such as an individual course or a collection of courses, into interoperable, distributable packages. Content Packaging addresses the description, structure, and location of online learning materials and the definition of some particular content types.
The Content Packaging Specification is aimed primarily at content producers, learning management system vendors, computing platform vendors, and learning service providers. Learning materials described and packaged using the IMS Content Packaging XML format should be interoperable with any tool that supports the Specification. Content creators can develop and distribute material knowing that it can be delivered on any compliant system, thereby protecting their investment in rich content development.
Important things to know about Content Packaging:- Content Packaging is used to define the data format for the exchange of learning resources (or learning objects) from one learning system to another, facilitating easier delivery, reuse and sharing of materials.
- IMS Content Packages enable you to export content from one Learning Content Management System or digital repository, and import it into another while retaining information describing the media in the IMS Package, and how it is structured, such as a table of contents or which web page to show first.
- The IMS Content Packaging specification focuses on the packaging and transport of resources, but doesn't determine the nature of those resources. This is because the specification allows adopters to gather, structure and aggregate content in an unlimited variety of formats.
- The latest v1.2 adds important new features for linking to content that may be distributed via the Internet – “virtual content”.
- IMS Content Packaging is the most widely used learning technology standard in the world. It is the basis for SCORM and is also used standalone as a simpler way to achieve interoperability.
- IMS Content Packaging is currently being considered as a new work item for standardization in ISO/IEC JTC1 SC36.
- Conformance and development of accredited profiles of IMS Content Packaging, including the profile used in SCORM is offered solely under the auspices of the Common Cartridge Alliance: http://www.imsglobal.org/cc/alliance.html
IMS Content Packaging |
IMS Content Packaging v1.2 CM/DN Release v2.0 Specification was released to Contributing Members and Subscribers. On March 25, 2007 it was published a Version 1.2 CM/DN Draft.
First public documents about this standard were issued by the IMS Global Learning Consortium in December 1999. From that date, several drafts and intermediate final versions were issued by the IMS:- Version 1.1.4 - Final Specification. IMS Content Packaging v1.1.4 was reviewed by the IMS Technical Advisory Board in October 2004.
- Version 1.1.3 - Final Specification. This specification updated on July 1, 2003 corrects an editorial error that inadvertently left the element set in Table 4.1 of the Information Model; this element is now removed from the specification.
- Version 1.1.2 - Final Specification. Final Version 1.1.2 of the IMS Content Packaging Specification was released to the public in August 2001, and is comprised of three documents. It contains some editorial errata and provides additional clarification to several issues as requested by implementers and working group members. Links to PDF files of the relevant materials are provided below.
More info |
Other IMS specifications
The entire, extended scope of the IMS Content Packaging specification is complemented by the overall goals of the IMS Content framework. Those goals are to provide enough guidance, through this specification, that people may build, manage, and interact with interoperable, online learning materials. |
Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) initiative
Individuals from the ADL (Philip Dodds, Schawn Thropp) contributed to the development of this standard. |
Terms of use
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These contents have been obtained from the IMS web site and edited for presentation. Please refer to the IMS web site for additional information on terms of use.
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