[Dspace-general] Repost: DSpace Evaluation Information Request

[MacKenzie Smith]

Louis,

To follow up on Christian's response, DSpace was not designed to be a 
LOR and it doesn't natively handle the e-learning standards, or 
interoperate with the commercial e-learning products, that you list 
(especially blackboard/webct). But you can mount DSpace as a content 
"resource" in Sakai, to import learning objects into course websites. 
We're also working on Sakai -> DSpace export capability for archiving 
learning objects and/or course websites.

The only way to deal with e-learning metadata schemas (i.e. SCORM and 
IMS LOM) is to archive them as content files with the LOs and 
import/export them into external systems for advance search, etc... 
that's what we do at MIT for the LOM we get for the OpenCourseWare 
websites, and the crosswalking from IMS LOM to qDC worked fine.

There is also an OKI OSID available for DSpace so that it can 
interoperate with any e-learning system that supports OKI (that might 
help with the Blackboard case).

I can almost guarantee that you will need to do some customization of 
DSpace (in java) for whatever application you have in mind, but that's 
not especially hard to do.

MacKenzie

Algaze, Louis Contractor wrote:
>
> Possible repost – sorry if it is.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> We are considering using DSpace as a Learning Object Repository and 
> have a few questions primarily aimed at academic institutions since 
> there is no DSpace representative that we can call for a product demo. 
> Thank you in advance for whatever information you can provide.
>
> How do instructors/users submit content?
>
> Is there are Blackboard Building Block?
>
> Does it require a separate login?
>
> Can you utilize an LDAP datasource?
>
> Do you have workflows associated with submitted content?
>
> How do you handle copyrighted content?
>
> Can DSpace store SCORM objects?
>
> Does DSpace have a Cross Domain Solution for SCORM objects to 
> communicate with LMS gradebooks?
>
> Can separate organizations be created with their own repositories, 
> users, workflows and permissions?
>
> Can one organizations search another organization’s content?
>
> Can each organization have their own “front end” web page?
>
> Can DSpace federate searches i.e. search across several repositories?
>
> How long have you used DSpace?
>
> How much hard drive space are you using?
>
> Have do you done any custom programming for DSpace?
>
> If so, what additional functionality did you create
>
> What language was utilized?
>
> Approximately how much time did it take?
>
> Approximately how many people (manhours) are supporting DSpace on campus?
>
> Louis Algaze
>

-- 
MacKenzie Smith
Associate Director for Technology
MIT Libraries