Importing POCKET material into Blackboard as:

1. HTML web pages

• The unit was downloaded from OpenLearn as a plain zip, which provides the content as HTML files.

• I uploaded this to Blackboard as an ‘item’, selected the option to ‘unpackage’ the file and selected the ‘index.html’ page as the entry point.

• This worked fairly well in Blackboard, except I had to amend some of the code in the page HTML files as the main navigation file couldn’t be navigated back to from the separate pages initially. I was unable to import this as a package on Blackboard, I could only upload it an item.

• A style sheet (CSS file) is included in the download from OpenLearn, however some alterations had to made to this file as there were some inconsistencies with fonts

  • This was mainly the list text, where the font was appearing as serif font instead of sans serif like the paragraph text.

  • I used the W3C CSS Validator to check the CSS file: After amending some of the text further the CSS was finally valid and I received the code to use that would portray the icon for valid CSS level 2.1

2. HTML web pages with IMS manifest

• Wilbert Kraan from CETIS suggested including an IMS manifest in the plain zip files,similar to the packages that OCW exports: http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm

• I added the IMS manifest that was created from the IMS Content Package downloaded on OpenLearn
• Although this worked in Blackboard, there was no navigation so to move between pages the browser 'back' button had to be used.

3. IMS Content Package

• The unit was downloaded from OpenLearn as an IMS Content Package.

• When this IMS Content Package is imported into Blackboard it uploads, but when viewed displays an error message in the left side panel: HTTP Status 404 - /webapps/bb-cntplayer-bb_bb60/adl/type Status reportmessage /webapps/bb-cntplayer-bb_bb60/adl/description The requested resource (/webapps/bb-cntplayer-bb_bb60/adl/) is not available.Apache Tomcat/5.5.17

• When the IMS CP is uploaded as an item only the first page of the unit is displayed and not the main navigation page (the index page), which also includes the difficulty level and study hours: the solution to this was to add an index page. This index page could be created from scratch or taken from downloading the files in plain zip format from OpenLearn

• I also had to add the front image (to the Items folder) and ensure this image was referenced in the new index page.
  • Although the index page has been added it is still not appearing when previewing the content package in RELOAD.
  • I cannot seem to edit the file to enable the index page to appear so this will have to be omitted in the IMS Content Package version
  • From the index HTML file I copied the front image, study hours and difficulty level and pasted them into the section0 HTML file, which was the first page of the unit in IMS CP format. I also had to add the front image into the 'Items' folder in the IMS CP using RELOAD
  • This provides more information for learners accessing the unit in IMS Content Package format
• There was also no navigation contained in the IMS file when displayed on Blackboard, so when a unit was selected from the index page to get back to this page you had to use the browser navigation.
• To address this issue, the navigation code contained in the HTML pages downloaded as a plain zip from OpenLearn could be added, but this had to be added to every page in the file. However it did then work.
• Links to further resources appear on the front page, but only the links to the OU courses. These should be changed to show the specific university course for the unit. When I looked in the Index file the link to the University of Derby wasn’t appearing.
• To amend this I altered the code in the Index file and added this link in the HTML
• The style sheet looked like it needed some more additions as weblinks and list text appeared in a different font.

• In IMS CP format the hidden answers that have been written into the XML are shown.

• The edits to the files were done in RELOAD
  • Using RELOAD (Eclipse RCP Version) I was able to edit the IMS Manifest and add resources. I was also able to preview how the file looked in a browser.
  • Using RELOAD (Classic version) I was able to preview how the file looked in a browser and also re-package the file into IMS Content Package.

3. SCORM

• Uploading a SCORM 2004 package into Blackboard

• I converted the IMS CP I downloaded from OpenLearn into SCORM 2004 using the CETIS Transcoder tool. Using Firefox it uploaded but would not show the content. Using Internet Explorer it uploaded and showed the navigation panel, but then would only show error messages when the links were selected for the separate pages. It also did this in Safari.

4. External Link

• POCKET material can be displayed in Blackboard as an external link directly from OpenLearn

• The material works and looks very well in this way, however external links are not very sustainable so this is not a viable long term solution.