LabXchange 2018-05-17


Updates:

Agenda:

  • Tagging - anyone else working on this? Adaptive learning etc.
    • LabXchange needs to decide soon on free-form vs structured tagging.
  • Strategy for Encapsulation of external content: XBlock or some other mechanism? (edX + LabXchange common use case)
  • Continue taxonomy discussion
  • Leverage xAPI and/or OSIDs?

Notes:

  • LabX Use case document
    • will be updated soon with latest definitions
  • Tagging and taxonomy
    • Free formed with namespace? or structured tags?
      • structured tags can be implemented with free-formed namespaced tags
      • marketplace to discover standardized taxonomies
  • Should external content always be encapsulated in xBlocks?
    • External content from:
    • Doesn't have to be xBlocks
      • xBlock as a large surface area of APIs, which we don't necessarily want all external components to implement
        • has runtime, url generation, sandboxing issue, etc.
    • DART has multiple "content adapters"
      • xBlock is only one of the adapters
      • based on iFrames of iFrames of LTI
    • If we went with DART's API
      • Open edX supports xBlocks and so would have to update the entire codebase to use a new adapter
    • Use cases for external content
      • grade exchange?
      • fit inline within a sequence?
      • data synch
    • Possible Option:
      • Take a stab at what a new minimal xBlock API would look like
      • We would then implement an adapter from new API to old API (to support existing system)
    • From Blockstore's perspective, treats files/resources just as xBlocks 
  • Pathway Hierarchy
    • A concept within Blockstore?
    • Implemented as a taxonomy?
      • Taxonomy of hierarchical relationships and then tag content.
    • "Sequence"
      • table of contents (mapping units in a course to a hierarchy)
      • recommended path to a course (adaptive case)
      • learner's actual pathway through the course
    • One option
      • Let Blockstore be where things are authored
        • where we store "definitions" of the content
      • Blockstore stores:
        • Units
        • Pathways
        • Overrides
      • For Blended Learning
        • Relative due dates and default values would live in the Blockstore
        • Creates a taxonomy for their own (CCX) context
        • Aligns taxonomy items to any unit in the Blockstore
        • Captures overrides in the Blockstore by mapping Block-IDs to Override-IDs
      • Key difference from today's modulestore: blocks stored outside of courses

Action Items:

  • Look at DART's API
  • Flesh out use cases for external content
  • Flesh out use cases for tags and taxonomies
  • Braden MacDonald Dave Ormsbee (Deactivated) Nimisha Asthagiri (Deactivated) take a stab at diagrams showing boundaries and separation of concerns between Blockstore and higher-order concepts.  Consider Pathway Hierarchies, Adaptive Sequences and Blended learning use cases.