Guide to digital resource development
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Specifications
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The documents in this section detail the specifications governing the production of The Le@rning Federation learning objects.
TLF has developed these specifications to cover accessibility, rights management, third-party intellectual property, technical specifications, metadata, the Learning Object Repository and Exchange and TLF editorial styles.
Educational soundness specification
Published: June 2007
Audience: members of an educational design team.
This document connects with 'Achieving educational soundness in the digital age' and 'Considerations for learning design'. It identifies educational soundness as the major principle informing TLF online curriculum content development and sets down four areas of educational soundness:
- learner focus;
- integrity;
- usability;
- accessibility.
The principles are explained, together with measures that can be taken to achieve them. The document was written for the officers of TLF. However, its contents are also valuable for other organisations developing online curriculum materials.
Technical specification for content development
Published: March 2008
Audience: project managers, multimedia developers, multimedia analysts and stakeholders (including jurisdictions and schools).
This document defines the international technical standards and specifications that are applied to TLF learning objects. It also describes the standard operating environment required for use of TLF content. It:
- explains the principles underpinning TLF technical standards and requirements;
- illustrates and explains the types of content that TLF develops and the information model used for the development;
- identifies the content model requirements, and details the types of files and technologies, that may be used in content development;
- explains the hardware and software requirements for operating content developed under the specification.
Summarised updates of TLF specifications are available on the Standards and specifications page.
Accessibility specification for content development
Published: May 2007
Audience: project managers, multimedia developers, multimedia analysts, writers and subject matter experts.
This document details the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1992 and states our intention to take a leadership role in making multimedia as accessible as possible to students with vision, hearing, physical or cognitive impairment.
The specification:
- explains the principles underpinning TLF accessibility policies and practices;
- profiles users with vision, hearing, physical or cognitive impairment;
- explains how TLF balances educational soundness and accessibility requirements by taking a universal design approach to content development;
- references 'Technical specification for content development', which defines mandatory accessibility requirements;
- details a process for evaluating whether users with an impairment can achieve the defined learning outcomes of the content within the intended learning design (inclusive approach) or if they could do so in an alternative presentation (alternative approach);
- references the technical requirements outlined in the 'Accessibility requirements for content development'.
Rights management specification
Published: July 2002
Audience: project managers, multimedia developers.
This document assists us to meets our statutory and contractual obligations in digital rights management while at the same time optimising the production and distribution of our online content.
It defines four principles that underpin digital rights management:
- equitable rights licensing;
- authoritative rights branding;
- flexible rights trading;
- legal rights compliance.
The specification then details measures to achieve each of these principles, and describes infrastructure and policies to support them, including:
- digital rights licensing models;
- a rights management information model;
- rights metadata;
- agreed description and identification specifications for users, roles and digital objects.
Metadata application profile: ANZ-LOM
Published: May 2008
Audience: project managers; multimedia developers.
This metadata profile supports the access, search, selection, use, trade and management of digital content. The profile is based on the LOM standard. It replaces Metadata application profile v2.2.
Learning Object Repository Access and Exchange
Published: February 2007
Audience: project managers; multimedia developers.
The Learning Object Repository Access and Exchange is a web service for interacting with the Exchange repository of online content.
This document describes the principles and goals underpinning the Exchange–SOAP interface specification, overviews SOAP operations, and defines search parameters.
Software and Hardware Requirements
Audience: stakeholders, including jurisdictions and schools.
This web page summarises the software recommended for use with TLF content and directs the user to information about the hardware required to support that software. The page identifies the environments for which TLF content has been tested and lists the compatible:
- operating systems and browsers;
- browser plug-ins;
- screen resolution.
A link is provided to a tool for analysing and, if necessary, updating software.
Editorial guides
TLF has developed several editorial guides to ensure effective editorial processes and to establish consistency in the language, style and presentation of our online content.
Editorial process guidelines for developers
Published: May 2007
Audience: project managers, multimedia developers, editors.
These guidelines set out the editorial process for learning objects, which forms part of the quality assurance process. The default process consists of the following reviews:
- structural edit;
- multimedia copyedit;
- conformance review; editorial recheck (if necessary).
The guidelines explain the purpose of each review, key process assumptions and the type of documentation required for each review. Editorial considerations for audio recording sessions are detailed, together with a list of potential audio-related problems and ways to avoid them.
An editorial workflow diagram is also provided.
Editorial guide for learning objects
Published: March 2007
Audience: project managers, multimedia developers, editors, writers, subject matter experts.
This is a comprehensive style guide to be used with all text appearing in TLF learning objects.
The information is arranged under three headings:
- consistent language;
- inclusive writing;
- consistent style.
A reference section contains advice on preferred spellings, commonly confused words and preferred terms.
Editorial guide for citations, acknowledgements, disclaimers and reference lists
Published: June 2007
Audience: project managers, multimedia developers, editors.
Based on the Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers, sixth edition, this guide specifies:
- the style to be used for acknowledgements in learning objects;
- when disclaimer statements are required and the form they should take;
- when reference lists are included and the styles to be used;
- issues relating to the representation of the Australian national flag, the Australian Aboriginal flag and the Torres Strait Islander flag;
- issues relating to the representation of bank notes.
Font guidelines for developers
Published: September 2005
Audience: project managers, multimedia developers, editors, multimedia analysts.
Recognising that font style, size and formatting all affect the readability of on-screen text, TLF has provided this set of guidelines that developers should consider when selecting typefaces and displaying text within learning objects. The document also includes a section on technical considerations for effective rendering of fonts on screen.
Guideline for selecting and recording learning object intellectual property
Published: June 2007
Audience: project managers, multimedia developers.
This specification details copyright obligations and provides guidelines for recognising intellectual property and licensing requirements.
Three categories are listed:
- contractor intellectual property;
- project intellectual property;
- third-party intellectual property.
Examples are provided for each category, and the licensing requirements are specified.