S U P P O R T I N G   A R C H I T E C T U R E
P H A S E   2:  C O N T E N T  O B J E C T S   &   C O M P O N E N T S

In phase 2, the LearningBase™ will need to be extended to include content objects and components.

Potentially, components could be stored directly in the LearningBase™ or could be in an external media database linked via an API. The LearningBase™ would also now serve as a content base for authoring tools.

The LearningBase™ becomes a single repository of content for multiple creators distributed throughout an entire organization. Experts throughout the company can begin to capture their expertise in content objects.

When creating a course, instructional designers will be able to search for that content, assemble content objects from multiple creators into topics, and create new content objects to fill in missing content. The authoring process becomes distributed.

The knowledge generated within an organization can be captured, organized, updated, and widely distributed in a much shorter time frame than is currently possible.

This may necessitate a variety of tools and a variety of templates. At the very least, authoring tools will need to link to the LearningBase™ to search for and integrate existing content throughout the authoring process.

The smaller granularity of content objects also opens up the possibility of creating content for reuse across both training and embedded performance support contexts. To fully realize this potential, content objects will need to be embedded in the interfaces of applications. Application creation tools will need to support this capability.

The Learning Agent™ will be a browser-side Java applet to ensure cross-platform and cross-browser compatibility. It will handle login to the system, search, and selection of objects.

Since end users deal with the system only at the topic level, the user interface would not need to change from Phase 1 to Phase 2. Content objects will affect the Learning Agent™ primarily with respect to navigation.

There are three possible solutions:

• The Learning Agent™ is aware of the structure of the topic and content objects and controls all navigation.
• Each topic and content object handles its own navigation, reporting to the Learning Agent™ as necessary.
• A hybrid solution combining both approaches.