4.2. Content development and delivery process
Development process is divided in several stages. As already mentioned there is LO repository that is transcoded according to device requirements. Before content packaging necessary resources are located and included in learning design XML file. There are three types of content what are used for transcoding – images, video and audio. System generates HTML and XML content according to the IMS defined standards and bundles generated learning content in designed templates, basically it is package interchange file. For interaction with content Java or JQuery can also be used, but there are problems with Flash which is not as flexible as previous languages. Templates consist of several containers which can be dynamically changed according to device requirements and technical solutions. These containers basically provide interaction between a learner and the material and in the same time it is easier to separate content from formatting. If content development is separated from delivery process, changes and updates in content can be made at any time. During the project hybrid form of material was used, but content can be developed as well in native or web formats, so all three types of development are included in the methodology. Mobile content delivery is aiming to provide structured and adequate content which is suitable for developed learning scenario. There are two parts in content delivery – a client application and a server application. The client application works on mobile device as separate application, but server part is responsible for content generation and preparation. The client side application is user interface and at the same time it can cooperate with learning device sensors and its platform. The server uses HTTP and TCP/IP protocols for interaction with a client it also stores educational content properties, IMS-LD files, and another information, which is necessary to serve appropriate content to the client side.
152 Nauris Paulins et al. / Procedia Computer Science 43 ( 2015 ) 147 – 153
First task for the server is detection of device capabilities. During design process several educational scenarios are prepared, when the learner requests some content it is delivered according to learner’s device capabilities (see Fig. 3). During project adoption of content for sound formats, image formats and sizes, video formats and resolutions was made. Server also stores device configuration repository, so it is easier to predict necessary configuration for appropriate learning scenarios.