1EdTech Common Cartridge® 1.4 Implementation Guide

Common Cartridge Implementation Guide

1EdTech Candidate Final
Spec Version 1.4
1EdTech Candidate Final
Document Version: 1.1
Date Issued: September 15, 2021
Status: This document is for review and adoption by the 1EdTech membership.
This version: https://www.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/impl/

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1. Introduction

This section is non-normative.

The Common Cartridge defines an open format for the distribution of rich, web-based content. It is designed to ensure the correct installation and operation of content across any Common Cartridge conformant platforms and tools. The specification defines a profile for the use of the following specifications which are (in the versions adopted here), already widely implemented and in use across the community:

  • IEEE LOM encompassing:
    • ISO 15836:2003: Dublin Core Metadata Element Set (mapped to the corresponding elements in LOM).
    • IEEE 1484.12.1-2002: Learning Object Metadata
    • IEEE 1484.12.3-2005: LOM Schema binding (loose binding)
  • 1EdTech Content Packaging v1.2
  • 1EdTech Question & Test Interoperability™ v1.2.1
  • 1EdTech Authorization Web Service v1.0
  • 1EdTech Basic Learning Tools Interoperability™ v1.0

The LOM, Content Packaging and Question & Test Interoperability specifications have each been profiled to simplify their use. Thus their scope has been constrained to those features commonly implemented and in use by the community. Experience suggests that interoperability problems that have arisen with implementations of these specifications are frequently the result of differing interpretations of the specs and options being taken that lead to divergence in behavior. A key goal of the Common Cartridge specification therefore has been to provide a tighter definition of their use thus eliminating this divergence. The resulting profile also lends itself to more effective conformance testing of implementations.

The profile has been developed in accordance with the 1EdTech Application Profile Guidelines v1.0.

The driving motivation behind this work has been to communicate clearly and unambiguously how the above collection of specifications can be harnessed to distribute rich web content in a format that offers a high degree of interoperability across platforms. The approach followed has centered on:

  • eliminating implementation options from the adopted base schemas;
  • removing unwanted extensibility;
  • focusing on commonly used features and eliminating those rarely used;
  • further constraining permitted data in supported element (e.g., in terms of type, value ranges, vocabularies).

The resulting Common Cartridge profile should be easier for developers to implement and lends itself to more routine conformance testing of these implementations. Note that this document is only one of several that form the specification for Common Cartridge v1.4.

Common Cartridge Focus

Figure 1 Use Common Cartridge Focus

The primary focus of the Common Cartridge specification is achieving error-free import of content into any conforming LMS platform (see figure above). No runtime model is expressed, but any conforming LMS must support (either directly, or via a call-out to a suitable external service) all of the functionality implied by the Common Cartridge schema set.

1.2 Technology

Simplifications applied to the Common Cartridge format include:

  • Metadata is only mandated at the cartridge level by the CC profile (located in the root folder). Optionally, roles metadata can be applied within the manifest to define which categories of users have access to particular resources.
  • Inter-package links are not supported
  • Common Cartridge metadata prior to version 1.2 only uses the 15 elements from DCMI v1.1 (Simple DC). The full LOM set is allowed in version 1.4.
  • Assessments have been simplified to just the six (6) most commonly used QTI question types:
    • Multiple choice (single response)
    • Multiple choice (multiple response) (allowed exception)
    • True/false
    • Essay (allowed exception)
    • Simple fill in the blank
    • Pattern match (allowed exception)

However, the format has also been enriched with the addition of:

  • Addition of discussion forum initialization
  • Addition of LTI

1EdTech is developing LTI to allow remote tools and content to be integrated into a Learning Management System (LMS). Throughout this document, we use specific terminology to describe the two main pieces of software involved in LTI. What we traditionally think of as the "Learning Management System" (LMS) is referred to as the "Tool Consumer" (TC) as it "consumes" the tool. The external tool or content is called the "Tool Provider" (TP) as it "provides" the tool for use in the Tool Consumer. Example Tool Providers might include an externally hosted testing system or a server that contains externally hosted premium content.

LTI exposes a single destination in the Tool Provider system. The procedure for establishing a link to this single destination is simple, but limited. There is no provision for accessing Full LTI run-time services in the Tool Consumer and only one security policy is supported. LTI uses the OAuth protocol (http://www.oauth.net) to secure its message interactions between the TC and TP. OAuth requires a key and shared secret to sign messages. The key is transmitted with each message, as well as an OAuth-generated signature based on the key. The TP looks up the secret based on the provided key and re-computes the signature and compares the recomputed signature with the transmitted signature to verify the sender's credentials.

Refer to Version 1.0 Final of the 1EdTech Learning Tools Interoperability LTI Implementation Guide [BLTI, 10] for more specifics.

1.3 Terminology

Access Code
A code used to authorize user access to a protected resource, in this case a Common Cartridge or a discrete component thereof.
APIP
The Accessible Portable Item Protocol (APIP) Standard provides ©assessment programs and question item developers with a data model for standardizing the interchange file format for digital test items. When applied properly, the APIP standard accomplishes two important goals. First, the standard allows digital Tests and Items to be ported across APIP compliant test item banks. Second, it provides a test delivery interface with all the information and resources required to make a Test and an Item accessible for students with a variety of disabilities and special needs.
Associated Content
A resource of the type “associatedcontent" must comply with the following restrictions:
  1. It must contain a file element for each file that exists in the directory that contains the associated Learning Application Object’s descriptor file or any of its subdirectories.
  2. It must not contain any references to files above the directory containing the associated Learning Application Object’s descriptor file.
  3. It must not contain any dependency elements.
CASE
Competencies and Academic Standards Exchange
Common Cartridge
A content packaging profile agreed between content providers and LMS providers, offering a common format for the distribution of both open and access protected content. The profile harnesses Content Packaging, LOM Metadata, and QTI, augmented with a specification for simple access control.
Content Elements
Discrete content elements within a Learning Activity aggregate as part of a Learning Application Object or module (lesson).
Course Content Package
A term for any current proprietary LMS specific, publisher developed and sourced, content package that is made commercially available via the publisher or LMS vendor to its customer base. Examples of such cartridges are the WebCT ePack, Blackboard Course Cartridge etc.
Deployment Context
Any one of the LMS deployment and learning contexts made available for online access to learning activity via learning modules, Learning Application Objects and content element interaction.
Descriptor File
Java Script Object Notation
Directory
A physical folder in a content package archive.
EPub3
A document format specification (http://idpf.org/epub/30).
IWB
The Interactive WhiteBoard/Common File Format (IWB/CFF) specification defines a file format to hold content primarily designed to be viewed on a large display. Much of this content will be designed to be interactive, so objects can move around the page.

The primary goal of this format is to establish a format that can be opened, edited, saved and used across many whiteboard applications so that teaching content can be exchanged between establishments. To this goal the format must be simple but extendible in a restricted way to ensure compatibility.

Learning Activity
A general term for describing an online learning experience and interaction with learning modules, Learning Application Objects and content elements typically composed to deliver a particular outcome or experience for the Student.
Learning Application Object
Any one of a number of resource types that require additional processing and interpretation before they can be imported and subsequently represented within the target system. Physically, a Learning Application Object consists of a directory in the content package containing a descriptor file and optionally additional files and subdirectories used exclusively by that Learning Application Object.

Each Learning Application Object must have a corresponding resource element in the manifest. Examples of Learning Application Objects include QTI assessments, Discussion Forums, etc. The type attribute of the resource element is prescribed by the type of Learning Application Object being represented. If additional files beyond the Learning Application Object’s descriptor file exist in the Learning Application Object’s directory or any of its subdirectories, these files must be represented in a resource element of type “associatedcontent" which is list as a dependency within the Learning Application Object’s resource element.

A resource that represents a Learning Application Object has the following general restrictions:

  1. It must contain a file element that points to the Learning Application Object’s descriptor file.
  2. It must not contain any other file elements.
  3. If additional files exist in the directory containing the Learning Application Object’s descriptor file, or any of its subdirectories, the resource must contain a dependency element that references the resource of type “associatedcontent" which contains the references to these files.
  4. It must not contain any other dependency elements of type “associatedcontent".
  5. It may contain any number of dependency elements that reference resources of type “webcontent".
Learning Management System
A Learning Management System (LMS) is a computer application that enables the assignment of content to learners, learning, and the reporting of learning outcomes. This is used interchangeably with Course Management System, Managed Learning Environment and a host of other terms.
Learning Module
An aggregate of content and/or application functionality that represents or is part of a learning activity.
Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI)
A specification which defines the roles of Tool Consumer (typically an LMS) and Tool Provider (typically a remote application or tool) and the format and description of parameters passed in calls between Consumer and Provider.
LOR
The file that serves as the entry point for accessing the information about a Learning Application Object required to import the Learning Application Object into the target system. Generally an XML file meeting an appropriate file specification based on the type of Learning Application Object. However, in some cases, the file may be a zip archive or some other structured file format. The descriptor file is not intended to be displayed within the target system. Rather, it is intended to be processed by the target system upon import of the cartridge. The descriptor file is associated with a Learning Application Object by means of a “file" element.
Open Video
The OpenVideo Metadata Standard defines a format for defining rich media content that describes captured rich media in a standardized way such that management solutions that support the standard can exchange the media.
QTI 3.0 zip
CC 1.4 allows the ability to include a QTI 3 zip file. This does not change the native support for QTI 1.2 assessments and question banks.
Resource Extension
As of CC v1.3, a resource type defined outside this specification and registered with 1EdTech.
Target System
A Learning Management System (LMS) or similar system into which a package is to be imported.
Thin Common Cartridge
A Common Cartridge profile that limits the resource types to Web Links and LTI Links. All other structure and metadata is allowed.
Webcontent
The standard resource type for content packages. Static web resource that is generally supported on the web such as HTML files, GIF images, JPEG images, PDF documents, etc. Resource of type “webcontent" may have their intended use signaled through use of the optional attribute, “intendeduse". Resources of the type “webcontent" may reference any number of files. Additionally, “webcontent" resources may include dependencies on other “webcontent" resources.

A resource of the type “webcontent" must comply with the following restrictions:

  1. It may contain a file element for any file that exists in the package so long as the file is not in a Learning Application Object directory or a subdirectory of any Learning Application Object directory.
  2. It may contain dependency elements that reference any other resources of type “webcontent".

It must not contain any dependency elements to resources whose type is not “webcontent".

2. Conformance

2.1 Conformance Statements

This document is an informative resource in the Document Set of the Common Cartridge 1.4 specification [CC-1.4]. As such, it does not include any normative requirements. Occurrences in this document of terms such as MAY, MUST, MUST NOT, SHOULD or RECOMMENDED have no impact on the conformance criteria for implementors of this specification.

2.2 Profiles

1EdTech Common Cartridge conformance enables interoperability of the packaging and delivery of content. As the use of Common Cartridge grows in use as a way to facilitate the exchange of educational content, the need to both broaden and narrow the scope of the specification's functionality has arisen. This is why the Common Cartridge Accredited Profile Management Group (CC AMPG) revises the specification to include new features, such as Learning Tools Interoperability in CC v1.1, Curriculum standards in CC v1.2, inline descriptor-file XML in CC v1.3, and Open Video in CC v1.4.

While the specification's original developers decided on what they believed to be a minimum set of criteria that would enable interoperability between systems and content, in actual use the set of criteria needed may be in fact, less than what was described. As more vendors and individuals are seeing the benefit of using Common Cartridge to package and exchange data, new tools are being developed which wish to make use of the Common Cartridge structure, but these tools may not have all the Common Cartridge functionality inherent in their tools.

In 1EdTech, our goal is to enable interoperability and allow the broadest use of our standards while still maintaining the integrity of the specification and the use of 1EdTech standards at the core of tools.

The mechanisms used to make Common Cartridge conformance more adaptible to market needs are adding "profiles" of the specification with different available features or more strict requirements, and allowing exceptions to requirements for cases when not all features are needed.

Common Cartridge may be referred to as “core” throughout out this document. There are additional / alternate profiles that may be used. Below are descriptions of the two available profiles: Thin Common Cartridge, and the new K-12 profile which is available for either Common Cartridge or Thin Common Cartridge.

2.2.1 Thin Common Cartridge (Thin-CC)

1EdTech “Thin Common Cartridge” enables content interoperability using Learning Tools Interoperability® (LTI®) enabled links and Web Links only. The “Thin Common Cartridge” addresses the use case where content users, such as school districts, have a need for access to publisher content bundled in a way that can support search within a Learning Object Repository or Learning Management System for learning objects from a wide range of publishers. The lightweight structure of a Thin Common Cartridge (Thin CC) supports rapid development and deployment of publisher content to district systems without the need for massive data exchange. It is designed to ensure the correct installation and operation of content metadata across any Thin Common Cartridge conformant platforms and tools. The Thin CC profile is a greatly reduced subset of the Full Common Cartridge Specification and as such is simpler for developers to implement. By definition, any system that has Full CC v1.4 import certification will have corresponding Thin CC v1.4 certification. The Thin CC specification must be understood within the context of the Full CC specification.

Examples of using the correct XML namespaces in the manifest file can be found in the Thin Common Cartridge Manifest Namespaces

2.2.2 K-12 Profiles for CC and Thin-CC

Version 1.4 of both Common Cartridge and Thin Common Cartridge support a K-12 Profile, which requires additional metadata deemed necessary to support 21st Century learning models for K-12 students, such as mastery-based, individualized, differentiated or personalized instruction. The profile supports additional meta-tagging requirements (both required and optional) that address the need to access multiple and varied instructional resources for each lesson or topic from within a Learning Object Repository or a Learning Management System.

The requirements to achieve K-12 conformance on top of CC or Thin-CC are to include the following LOM metadata attributes on the Manifest-level metadata and on the relevant resources:

  • educational:intendedEndUserRole
  • general:keyword
  • general:title
  • educational:typicalAgeRange

Descriptions and examples of using these required metadata elements can be found in the Metadata section below.

Examples of using the correct XML namespaces in the manifest file can be found in the K-12 Profile Manifest Namespaces for both a K-12 Core cartridge and a K-12 Thin Profile cartridge.

2.3 Available Features in CC, Thin CC and allowed conformance exceptions

Please see the Common Cartridge 1.4 Certification Guide for full details regarding certification.

As described at the top of this section, Common Cartridge conformance doesn't require vendors to implement features that don't make sense for their applications.

The table shows the base features and allowed exceptions of Common Cartridge v1.4 and Thin Common Cartridge v1.4:

Features Available in Core CC Allowed as exception in Core CC Available in Thin CC Allowed as exception in Thin CC
Manifest File Yes No Yes No
Export in CC or Thin CC Format Yes Yes Yes Yes
.imscc file name Yes No Yes No
Aligning to Curriculum Standards Yes Yes Yes Yes
Inline Descriptor File XML Yes No Yes Yes
LTI Links Yes Yes Yes No
LineItem associated with an LTI Link Yes Yes Yes Yes
Web Links Yes No Yes No
Web Content Yes No No n/a
Discussion Forum Yes Yes No n/a
Associated Content Yes No No n/a
Included zips: APIP, Epub3, IWB, Open Video, QTI 3 Yes Yes No n/a
Content TypeExtensions Yes Yes No n/a
QTI Assessments Yes Yes No n/a
Question Type: Multiple-Choice (single Response) Yes No
Question Type: Multiple - Choice (multiple Response) Yes Yes
Question Type: True/False Yes No
Question Type: Essay Yes Yes
Question Type: Simple fill in the blank Yes No
Question Type: Pattern Match Yes Yes

In addition to the packaging options and core content types, There are additional requirements for the K-12 profile on the available LOM metadata.

LOM Field Required in Core Required in Thin Required for K-12 Profile
intendedEndUserRole No No Yes
general:keyword No No Yes
general:title No No Yes
educational:typicalAgeRange No No Yes
Curriculum Standards metadata No No Read/Run Tools Only
All other LOM metadata No No No

The new approach allows tools that do not inherently support functionality (such as discussion forums) the opportunity to gain Common Cartridge conformance. All systems that do not support a feature of Common Cartridge must fail gracefully and indicate to the user that they do not support the feature.

3. Architecture and Approach

3.1 1EdTech Common Cartridge Run-Time Functional Model

Common Cartridge focuses primarily on how information should be physically arranged in a package and how learning platforms should construct specific native objects such as external links, discussion topics, BLTI links, assessments, and question banks. Common Cartridge also specifies how conforming learning platforms must behave when processing packages.

Common Cartridge Run-time Model

Figure 2 Common Cartridge Run-time Model

4. Content

4.1 Common Cartridge Package Interchange File Structure

The diagram in the figure below shows the overall layout of the cartridge package interchange file. Note that LTI is part of Common Cartridge (starting with version 1.3) and the package should have the extension “imscc".

Starting with CC v1.3, additional resources for APIP (Accessible Portable Item Protocol™), EPub3, and IWB (interactive whiteboard) as well as extensions were supported.

Starting with CC v1.4, additional resources for Open Video files are supported.

Common Cartridge package interchange file

Figure 3 Common Cartridge package interchange file

4.2 Content Types

Common Cartridge Content Types

Figure 4 Common Cartridge Content Types
**Entity** **Description**
Item – Folder A folder represents a unit of organization. A folder is simple collection of items and subfolders that are placed in a specific order (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.). Folders can contain other Folders (n-level nesting). A folder represents a content presentation paradigm and can be used to define how the content should be organized and presented to the learner.
Resource – Web Content

Web Content files include any files that are widely supported for delivery over the web. These could include HTML files, images, audio, video, MS Office, PDF, Flash etc. Web Content can be marked with an intended use such as a lesson plan, syllabus, or assignment. A learning platform can elect to handle this content with such an intended use in mind.

HTML files may include references to other web content files that are contained within the cartridge or that are external to the cartridge.
Resource – Web Link A Web Link is a Learning Application Object representation of a standard HTTP link. It extends a standard HTTP link by giving the link a title (which is independent of its usage in any particular folder location). It also includes attributes that describe which window the resource should be opened in and other window open features, such as the dimensions of the window.
Resource – Discussion Topic A Discussion topic is a Learning Application Object that is used to initiate Discussion activity. This represents a placeholder for a discussion topic and does not represent a link to an existing discussion topic in an external system. The importing LMS is expected to generate a new discussion topic using only its internal tools. It contains the following attributes: title, description, file attachments.
Resource – Assessment An assessment represents an instance of a QTI assessment. It can embed any of the question types supported by the CC v1.2 profile of QTI.

An assessment can contain a number of attributes including number of attempts, time limit and whether late submission is allowed.
Resource – Associated Content A collection of files used exclusively by an individual Learning Application Object
Resource –Learning Tools Interoperability An LTI resource represents a simplified and self-contained LTI link. This resource refers to an XML file that contains the information needed to create in a Tool Consumer (an LMS or learning platform) a link or similar. When activated by the user, passes the user to a Tool Provider along with contextual information about the user and Consumer.
Intra-Package Reference Intra-Package References allow Learning Application Objects or files in the package to reference other files within the package.
1EdTech CC Package Metadata This is 1EdTech CC Package level specific metadata that may include different elements covering licensing, accessibility, description, etc.
Resource – Question Bank A question bank represents an instance of a QTI objectbank. Multiple question bank can optionally be included in a cartridge. It can embed any of the question types supported by the CC v1.2 profile of QTI. Questions within a question bank cannot be referenced by any assessments contained in the cartridge.
Resource - IWB An interactive whiteboard (IWB) file contains content that is primarily designed to be viewed on a large display.
Resource – APIP An Accessible Portable Item Protocol file contains assessment items, tests and results data with accessibility options
Resource – Epub An EPUB file contains epub packaged file, such as an ebook.
Resource - Open Video The OpenVideo Metadata Standard defines a format for defining rich media content that describes captured rich media in a standardized way such that management solutions that support the standard can exchange the media.
Resource - QTI 3.0 A QTI 3.0 file contains assessment items, tests and results data.
Resource - Extension An extension resource is a resource that provides additional functionality but is outside this specification , but registered with 1EdTech

Common Cartridge v1.4 supports profiled instances of the following question types:

  • Multiple Choice – single response
  • Multiple Response – like multiple choice but with multiple correct answers
  • True/False
  • Simple Fill in the Blanks – provides single answer box with single correct answer
  • Fill in the Blanks Pattern Match – provides single answer box but supports ‘contains’.
  • Essay

Note that support for multiple response, essay, and pattern match are optional; they are permitted exceptions for those learning platforms that do not provide these types of questions natively.

Questions can only be included in a cartridge either as components of an assessment resource or a question bank resource. Only one question bank can be included in a cartridge.

In general, a question consists of the following elements:

  • Question Label/Title
  • Question Text (may include HTML, Intra-Packages References, URLs, formatting)
  • Question Answer Choices (may include HTML, Intra-Packages References, URLs, formatting, images, video, audio)
  • Question Answer Choice Points
  • Feedback (may include HTML, Intra-Packages References, URLs, formatting, images, video, audio)
  • Question Answer Presentation Settings
  • Question Settings (e.g., time, etc.)
  • Question Metadata.
  • Question Rubrics.
  • Question Solutions.

4.3 Categories of Resource in a Common Cartridge

In addition to the imsmanifest.xml file, there are a further three basic categories of resource file in a Common Cartridge.

**Resource Category** **Description**
imsmanifest.xml This is the standard 1EdTech manifest file.
Web Content Resources

These include the following resource types: web content, web link or intra-package reference.

  • Web Content Resources must reside within the web content folder at the root of the cartridge. The Web Content Resources can here be organized into directories and subdirectories within the web content folder.
  • Web Content Resources within the web content folder can be referenced by other resources outside of the web content folder directory system.
  • Web Content Resources within the web content folder can be referenced by other resources also within the web content folder directory system.
  • Web Content Resources within the web content folder cannot reference other resources outside of the web content folder directory system.
  • The directory structure within the web content folder will be included in the importing LMS to ensure relative links between and to web content continue to work.
  • Generally, Web Content Resources do not require additional processing on import into the LMS, although how these are stored and rendered is LMS dependent.
  • Web Content Resources can have an intended use attribute.
Learning Application Object Resources
  • A Learning Application Object is a directory structure used to group together all the files (or file references) that are used to deliver a single instance of one of the following resource types: web content, web link, discussion topic, assessment or intra-package reference).
  • The files held within a Learning Application Object directory structure are described as Associated Content Resources.
  • Associated Content Resources cannot be referenced by other resources outside of the Learning Application Object folder directory system.
  • Associated Content Resources can reference other resources in subordinate folders of the Learning Application Object directory system.
  • The directory structure within the Learning Application Object folder will be included in the importing LMS to ensure relative links between and to web content continue to work.
  • These will generally be parsed on input and transformed into internal data structures in the LMS.
Using Directories in Package Interchange File File system directories can be used to organize content within the package interchange file. It is required that the resources specific to a given Learning Application Object are packaged in a distinct directory in the package interchange file.

Associated Content resources include a collection of files used by a specific Learning Application Object. Each file referenced must exist in the directory containing the descriptor file of the Learning Application Object with which it is associated or any subdirectory thereof. Furthermore, each Associated Content resource must be associated with one and only one Learning Application Object. This association is indicated by use of a dependency reference on the Learning Application Object’s resource element.

A resource of the type “associatedcontent" must comply with the following restrictions:

  1. It must contain a file element for each file that exists in the directory that contains the associated learning application object’s descriptor file or any of its subdirectories.
  2. It must not contain any references to files above the directory containing the associated learning application object’s descriptor file.
  3. It must not contain any dependency elements.

Web Content resources include any number of references to static web resources that are generally supported on the web such as HTML files, GIF images, JPEG images, PDF documents, etc. Resources of the type “webcontent" may reference any number of files. Additionally, “webcontent" resources may include dependencies on other “webcontent" resources. However, “webcontent" resources may never contain dependencies on any other resource types including Associated Content resources and Learning Application Object resources.

A resource of the type “webcontent" must comply with the following restrictions:

  1. It may contain a file element for any file that exists in the package so long as the file is not in a learning application object directory or a subdirectory of any learning application object directory.
  2. It may contain dependency elements that reference any other resources of type “webcontent".
  3. It must not contain any dependency elements to resources whose type is not “webcontent".

The following table shows Restrictions on Resource Categories.

**Dependency Resource Type** **Learning Application Resource** **Associated Content Resource** **Web Content Resource**
Web Content 0-N 0-N 0-N
Associated Content 0-1 Prohibited Prohibited
Learning Application Prohibited Prohibited Prohibited

4.3.1 Cartridge Level Web Content

These are web content resources that may be shared between different Learning Application Objects within the cartridge.

References to files in this file system from Learning Application Object files must utilize relative paths e.g.:

"../filename"

4.3.2 Learning Application Object Directories

These directories organize all the files that logically contribute to the delivery of a single instance of one of the content types supported by Common Cartridge.

The root of the directory should contain the descriptor file for the Learning Application Object such as the QTI file for an assessment Learning Application Object. This directory may also contain additional files and subdirectories that are used exclusively by the Learning Application Object (i.e., associated content).

The name of this directory is not defined by the specification. Care must be taken to ensure that collisions do not occur between this directory name and the names of directories used for other Learning Application Objects and those used for web content.

A cartridge that does not contain any additional Learning Application Objects (e.g., only cartridge level web content) may exclude these directories.

The following structure is valid since the learning application folder is at the root level of the cartridge and the descriptor XML file is at the root level of the folder:

imsmanifest.xml

content

     image

         picture.jpg

     file1.html

     discussion.xml

The following structure is invalid since the descriptor is not at the root of the learning application folder:

imsmanifest.xml

content

     image

         picture.jpg

     discussion.xml

     file1.html

4.3.3 Associated Content

Any web content which is logically tied to this Learning Application Object should be contained in the Learning Application Object resource directory.

All references to this content from Learning Application Object resource files e.g. QTI files should use a relative path.

It is the responsibility of the cartridge producer to ensure name collisions do not occur between end user created file/folder names (for web content) and system generated file/directory names (for resource descriptors).

4.3.4 Example Layout

An example of the layout described above could be:

imsmanifest.xml

course-logo.gif
course-overview.html

content1

content1/preTestQti.xml
content1/images/map.gif
content1/movie.swf
content1/background.html

content2

content2/discussionTopic1.xml
content2/overview.html
content2/images/image.gif

content3

content3/webLink1.xml
content2/overview.html

content4

content4/lessonplan.pdf

5. Pathnames for Web Content Resources

To facilitate management of web content resources, in particular utilizing standard html relative path referencing between resources when content is imported into a learning platform or Common Cartridge ‘runner’, web content resources are defined to live in two file systems – a folder for web content used by several resources and a folder for each Learning Application Object’s related content.

The diagram in the figure below shows how web content may be referenced across these different file systems using relative path semantics.

Content referencing using relative file paths

Figure 5 Content referencing using relative file paths

5.1 Cartridge Web Content

A Cartridge Web Content folder may be included in a Common Cartridge. If present, the Cartridge Web Content folder must appear in the root folder of the cartridge. The name of this folder is not defined by the specification.

Web content included in the Cartridge Web Content folder can be referenced by any of the Learning Application Objects in the cartridge. Relative path referencing is permitted between files in this folder and its subfolders, but files in this folder are not permitted to reference files in a Learning Application Object folder or its associated content folders.

On import, a tool will usually import this content into a course level file system.

5.2 Learning Application Object Web Content

There can be 1 to n Learning Application Object web content folders in a Common Cartridge.

Each Learning Application Object in the cartridge has its own associated content file system folder. Files in this folder and its subfolders may reference other files in this associated content file system folder and files in the Cartridge Web Content folder using relative path semantics. However, they must not reference files in other Learning Application Object web content folders or their sub-folders. In addition, Learning Application Object resources (e.g., a QTI xml file) can contain references to files in the Learning Application Object’s associated content folder and its subfolders and the cartridge web content folder and its subfolders, but must not contain references to web content in the folders of other Learning Application Objects.

On import, a tool that only supports a single course level file system may import this web content into the course level file system. In this scenario, the web content in the cartridge represents one big file system scope.

A tool that supports both course level and Learning Application Object level file systems will import this content into a local file system space that can only be utilized by the associated Learning Application Object.

5.3 Format of Relative Path References within a web content file system

All html path linking (e.g. <img src="">, <a href="">) between content contained in a given file system (cartridge or Learning Application Object) should utilize relative path semantics restricted by the rules defined above. Here relative path is defined as relative to the file containing the reference regardless of whether that file is itself web content or some other resource e.g. a QTI file.

5.3.1 Referencing Web Content from other Web Content

Within a given file system, paths are relative to the location of the file, e.g., for the files:

content1/material/lesson.html
content1/images/icon.gif

An image reference to icon.gif from lesson.html would take the form:


<img src="../images/icon.gif"/>

5.3.2 Referencing Web Content Directly from other Resources Using a Defined Linking Syntax

Where the linking syntax of a learning application object uses a URI, paths should be relative to the file containing the reference, e.g., for the files:

content1/question1Qti.xml
content1/images/icon.gif

A QTI mattext element would take the form:


<mattext texttype="text/html"><![CDATA[ <img src= "$1EdTech-CC-FILEBASE$images/icon.gif" alt="" style="border: 0px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);">]]</mattext>

5.3.3 Referencing Web Content from Embedded Text in Another Resource

Where a Learning Application Object resource supports free-form text which may contain embedded HTML markup, paths should be relative to the file containing the reference and should in addition contain a special token to make finding and parsing these paths simpler for the importing system, e.g., for the files:

content1/question1Qti.xml
content1/images/icon.gif

A reference to the image icon embedded in the free format question text should take the form:


<img src="$1EdTech-CC-FILEBASE$images/icon.gif"/>

Note: the token $1EdTech-CC-FILEBASE$ is just a flag to facilitate finding the paths. It does not represent a replacement token within the context of the cartridge. However, an importing tool may choose to store the referenced files in a different location and so is free to insert any path elements needed to make the path work in the tool.

The $1EdTech-CC-FILEBASE$ token can be used in resources with a descriptor file. The token always points to the base directory of the learning resource object i.e. the folder that contains the descriptor. The path following the token should be relative to the base directory of the resource within the cartridge. Since the dependent files that make up a quiz or forum may be reorganized in the LMS in a way that would break links embedded in the resource content, the LMS at import or later can replace this token with an alternate path. Additionally, since any supplemental images or html will also need to be contained within the cartridge, these items should be listed as dependencies.

5.4 Format of Relative Path References from Learning Application Object to Cartridge File System

All html path linking (e.g. <img src="">, <a href="">) by content contained in a Learning Application Object file system to content in the cartridge web content file system should use relative paths adhering to similar rules as those defined for references within a file system. Here relative path is defined as relative to the file containing the reference regardless of whether that file is itself web content or some other resource, e.g., a QTI file.

5.4.1 Referencing Cartridge Web Content from Learning Application Object Web Content

The key rule is that where a relative path within the Learning Application Object file system is directed above that file system root, this is assumed to be a reference into the cartridge web content file system, e.g., for the files:

images/icon.gif
content1/material/lesson.html

An image reference to icon.gif in the cartridge file system from lesson.html in a Learning Application Object file system would take the form:


<img src="../../images/icon.gif"/>

5.4.2 Referencing Cartridge Web Content Directly from Learning Application Object Resources

Where the information model of another Learning Application Object resource is defined as a URI, paths should be relative to the file containing the reference, e.g., for the files:

content1/question1Qti.xml

5.5 Referencing Cartridge Web Content from Embedded Text in another Resource

Where a Learning Application Object resource supports free-form text which may contain embedded HTML markup, paths should be relative to the file containing the reference and should in addition contain a special token to make finding and parsing these paths simpler for the importing system, e.g., for the files:

content1/question1Qti.xml

A reference to the cartridge image icon embedded in the free format question text should take the form:


<img src="$1EdTech-CC-FILEBASE$../images/icon.gif"/>

5.6 The ‘dependency’ Element

The 'dependency' element must only be used for resources of a particular type and for certain relationships between resource types. These rules are:

§ A Web Link - must not have a dependency;

§ A Discussion Topic - may have a dependency on Web Content and/or Associated Content;

§ Assessment - may have a dependency on Web Content and/or Associated Content;

§ Question Bank - may have a dependency on Web Content and/or Associated Content;

§ Web Content - may have a dependency on Web Content;

§ Associated Content- may have a dependency on Web Content;

§ LTI - may have a dependency solely for an image icon.

From this list we can see that Discussion Topic, Web Link, Assessment and Question Bank resources MUST NOT be identified by a dependency.

Furthermore, a 'dependency' MUST NOT refer to its own parent 'resource' element and each dependency for a resource should point to a unique resource, i.e., the dependency child elements should not be duplicated for a parent resource.

6. Common Cartridge Information Model Profiles

6.1 The Conceptual Model

The intent of this section is to provide a high-level description of a Common Cartridge. While conceptually similar to “cartridge-like" features found in existing commercial vendor solutions, several of the features of the Common Cartridge are included.

Conceptually, a Common Cartridge is a package of content and metadata that is integrated into an LMS learning context. At a high level, this may directly correspond to the notion of “course" in the target LMS. There is no guarantee of the cardinality of the relationship from “learning context" to “Common Cartridge", i.e., the LMS may enforce an arbitrary 1-1 relationship. The data contained in the package breaks down into the following categories:

  • “Learner Experience" Data. These are the resources presented directly to the learner, i.e., content resources.
  • Supplemental Resources. These are resources that may be optionally integrated into the learning context by an instructor or other facilitator, e.g., question bank.
  • Operational Data. Data used to control behavioral aspects of the LMS display/interaction with the cartridge such as with LTI.
  • Descriptive Metadata. This is the defined IEEE LOM data, and is represented via existing bindings.

A Common Cartridge is an 1EdTech Content Package conforming to the following basic structure.

  • A Common Cartridge may define a single organization, or include no organization. Multiple organizations are not permitted and the default attribute for organizations is not therefore supported. The single organization is used on import to integrate with the learning context, and defines the basic navigation structure for the package. The organization assumes the predefined “rooted-hierarchy" structure.
  • Only “Learner Experience" resources may be included in the hierarchy.
  • Operational data (authorization, cartridge-level metadata) are defined via discrete resource types within the package.
  • Supplemental resources must not appear in the organization. The LMS provides a way for the instructor/facilitator to inspect/deploy/utilize these resources as they see fit.

Common Cartridge resources must be identified with GUIDs, in order to facilitate proper integration in systems that execute “by reference" content usage.

6.2 Supported Resource Types

Common Cartridge Supported Resource Types are listed in the table below.

**Resource Type** **Constraints**
Web Content 0 or more
Associated Content 0 or more
QTI Assessment (CC Profiles) 0 or more
QTI Question Bank (CC Profiles) 0 or more
Authorizations Data 0 or 1
Discussion Topic 0 or more
Web Links 0 or more
APIP File 0 or more
EPub3 File 0 or more
IWB File 0 or more
LTI Link 0 or more
Open Video File 0 or more

6.3 Common Cartridge Information Model

CC profile of CP v1.2- Root

Figure 6 CC profile of CP v1.2- Root

CC profile of CP v1.2 - Resources

Figure 7 CC profile of CP v1.2 - Resources

/xsd/imsccv1p3/imscp_v1p1/profile/cc/ccv1p3/ccv1p3_imscp_v1p1_v1p0.xsd

Figure 8 /xsd/imsccv1p4/imscp_v1p1/profile/cc/ccv1p4/ccv1p4_imscp_v1p1_v1p0.xsd

6.3.1 Full manifest XML example


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<manifest identifier="K12ccvp1_invalid-test01"
          xmlns="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscp_v1p1"
          xmlns:lomm="http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/manifest"
          xmlns:lomr="http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/resource"
          xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
          xmlns:csm="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscsmd_v1p1"
          xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscp_v1p1 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_imscp_v1p2_v1p0.xsd
                      http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/manifest https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_lommanifest_v1p0.xsd
                      http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/resource https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_lomresource_v1p0.xsd
                      http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscsmd_v1p1 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_imscsmd_v1p1.xsd">

<metadata>
 <schema>1EdTech Common Cartridge</schema>
 <schemaversion>1.4.0</schemaversion>
 <lomm:lom>
  <lomm:general>
   <lomm:title>
    <lomm:string language="en-US">Common Cartridge Test Data Set - Validation Cartridge 1</lomm:string>
   </lomm:title>
   <lomm:description>
    <lomm:string language="en-US">Sample materials to test a variety of Common Cartridge content types</lomm:string>
   </lomm:description>
   <lomm:keyword>
    <lomm:string language="en-US">Sample</lomm:string>
   </lomm:keyword>
  </lomm:general>
 </lomm:lom>
</metadata>
<organizations>
  <organization identifier="O_1" structure="rooted-hierarchy">
    <item identifier="I_1">
      <item identifier="I_00000">
        <title>Psychology, Research, and You</title>
        <item identifier="I_00001" identifierref="I_00001_R">
          <title>Learning Objectives</title>
        </item>
        <item identifier="I_00002">
          <title>Study Guide</title>
          <item identifier="I_00003" identifierref="I_00003_R">
            <title>Pretest</title>
          </item>
        </item>
        <item identifier="I_00005" identifierref="I_00005_R">
            <title>Wikipedia - Psychology</title>
        </item>
        <item identifier="I_00006" identifierref="I_00006_R">
            <title>Psychology of Faces</title>
        </item>
      </item>
    </item>
  </organization>
</organizations>
<resources>
  <resource href="I_00001_R/Learning_Objectives.html" identifier="I_00001_R" type="webcontent">
      <file href="I_00001_R/Learning_Objectives.html" />
  </resource>
  <resource identifier="I_00003_R" type="imsqti_xmlv1p2/imscc_xmlv1p4/assessment" >
      <file href="I_00003_R/assessment.xml"/>
  </resource>
  <resource identifier="I_00004_R" type="imsqti_xmlv1p2/imscc_xmlv1p4/question-bank" >
    <metadata>
      <lomr:lomr>
      <lomr:educational>
        <lomr:intendedEndUserRole>
          <lomr:source>IMSGLC_CC_Rolesv1p2 </lomr:source>
          <lomr:value>Instructor</lomr:value>
        </lomr:intendedEndUserRole>
      </lomr:educational>
      </lomr:lomr>
    </metadata>
    <file href="I_00004_R/assessment.xml"/>
  </resource>
  <resource identifier="I_00005_R" type="imswl_xmlv1p4">
      <file href="I_00005_R/weblink1.xml"/>
  </resource>
  <resource identifier="I_00006_R" type="imsdt_xmlv1p4">
      <file href="I_00006_R/discussion.xml"/>
      <dependencyidentifierref="I_00006_Media"/>
      <dependencyidentifierref="I_media_R"/>
  </resource>
  <resource identifier="I_00006_Media" type="associatedcontent/imscc_xmlv1p4/learning-application-resource" >
      <file href="I_00006_Media/angry_person.jpg" />
  </resource>
  <resource identifier="I_media_R" type="webcontent">
      <file href="I_media_R/smiling_dog.jpg"/>
  </resource>
</resources>
</manifest>

6.4 Use of Inline Descriptor File XML

Previous versions of Common Cartridge placed resource descriptions for the following types in XML files with a specific structure:

  • Assessment
  • Discussion
  • LTI Link
  • Question Bank
  • Web Link

Each of these resources now can be described either in a stand-alone XML file or directly in the manifest. The motivation for this change is to allow for the case of a cartridge being described wholly in a single XML file. This file could be offered as the response to a web-service call, easing the movement of cartridges.

Here is an example of an inline discussion topic and web link description. The same approach can be used with the other resource types.


<resource identifier="Resource14"type="imsdt_xmlv1p4">

  <topic xmlns="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imsdt_v1p4"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imsdt_v1p4 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_imsdt_v1p4.xsd" >
    <title>Unit Reviews</title>
    <text texttype="text/html">Welcome to Unit reviews where you can post constructive
      comments on this unit for the benefit of other learners and educators.</text>
  </topic>
</resource>

<resource identifier="Resource16" type="imswl_xmlv1p4">
  <file href="WebLink1/link1.xml"/>
</resource>

<resource identifier="Resource17" type="imswl_xmlv1p4">
  <file href="WebLink2/link2.xml"/>
</resource>

<resource identifier="Resource18" type="imswl_xmlv1p4">
  <webLink xmlns="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imswl_v1p4"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imswl_v1p4 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_imswl_v1p4.xsd" >
    <title>Open2.net: Science and Nature</title>
    <url href="http://www.open2.net/sciencetechnologynature/" />
  </webLink>
</resource>

6.5 Resource Type Extensions

The 1EdTech members recognize that there may be additional resource types that parties to an integration wish to exchange in a Common Cartridge. Prior to CC v1.3, there was no mechanism to extend the list of resource types without updating the specification XSDs. With CC v1.3 and later, this constraint is lifted.

The manifest file can contain resource of type extension, which will also specify a schema and version. A list of these extensions (in a VDEX file) will be accessible programmatically to the 1EdTech CC Validator and other applications. Anyone wishing to create such a type will register it with 1EdTech (see the 1EdTech CC/LTI Alliance for details on the registration process) and the type will be added to the list of known extensions. Once an extension is approved and its status is finalized, a named extension type will be added. A sample manifest resource entry of this type is:

An example of the standards metadata is:


<resource identifier="extensionresource1" type="assignment_xmlv1p0" href="Extension_R/assignment.xml">
  <metadata>
    <schema>assignment</schema>
    <schemaversion>1.0</schemaversion>
    <lomm:lom>
      <lomm:educational>
        <lomm:intendedEndUserRole>
          <lomm:source>IMSGLC_CC_Rolesv1p2</lomm:source>
          <lomm:value>Learner</lomm:value>
        </lomm:intendedEndUserRole>
      </lomm:educational>
      <lomm:educational>
        <lomm:intendedEndUserRole>
          <lomm:source>IMSGLC_CC_Rolesv1p2</lomm:source>
          <lomm:value>Instructor</lomm:value>
        </lomm:intendedEndUserRole>
      </lomm:educational>
    </lomm:lom>
  </metadata>
  <file href="Extension_R/assignment.xml"/>

  <!-- Variant definition -->
  <cpx:variant identifier="extensionresource1_variant" identifierref="extensionresource1_variant1">
    <cpx:metadata>
    <!-- SOME FORM OF METADATA ADDED -->
    </cpx:metadata>
  </cpx:variant>
  <!-- -->
</resource>

<!-- New variant resource *************************************************** -->
<resource identifier="extensionresource1_variant1" type="webcontent">
  <file href="Extension_R/Variant1.html"/>
</resource>
<!-- ************************************************************************* -->
</resources>

6.6 Vocabularies

Vocabularies refer to a set of string constants used to specify pre-defined values for metadata elements. Typically these value sets are specified by the document that defines the metadata element, such as the IEEE Learning Object Metadata or Dublin Core standards. Common Cartridge metadata elements may extend or replace vocabularies with new sets that describe the content included in the package.

For example, the lifeCycle.contributor.role element may be specified to include values from the following set:

  • student
  • instructor
  • administrator

which might be expanded to include:

  • designer
  • reviewer

Where metadata vocabularies are extended or replaced for use in Common Cartridge descriptions, an 1EdTech Vocabulary Definition and Exchange (VDEX) document is required to define the new or extend vocabulary. See /vdex/index.html for information on the 1EdTech VDEX v1.0 specification [VDEX, 04].

Common Cartridge vocabularies are fixed and may not be replaced, extended, or modified.

7. Content Type Descriptions and Examples

7.1 Cartridge Web Content Type

  • Cartridge web content represents web content that may be referenced by any Learning Application Object in the cartridge.
  • Cartridge web content is represented as a Resource object.
  • It may be directly referenced from a folder Item object.
  • The characteristic object Type must be the value webcontent.
  • The characteristic object intendeduse is optional and must be one of the values: assignment, lessonplan, syllabus, or unspecified.
  • If a cartridge web content resource is linked from a Learning Application Object link Item object it must have an Href characteristic object, which represents the launchable resource.

7.1.1 The Assignment IntendedUse

When a hosting platform offers an assignment tool, it should create an assignment based on the web content rather than a plain web content link in the course. It is expected the instructor will then apply any additional changes to the delivery settings based on the course context (for example setting the number of attempts, or the possible grade if a graded assignment).

7.2 Associated Content Type

  • Associated content represents web content that is scoped to a particular resource.
  • Associated content is represented as a Resource object.
  • It may be directly referenced from a folder Item object.
  • The characteristic object Type must be the value associatedcontent/imscc_xmlv1p2/learning-application-resource
  • If the associated content resource is linked from a Learning Application Object link Item object it must have an Href characteristic object, which represents the launchable resource.
  • The Resource object may contain Dependency objects which reference Resource objects with Type webcontent.

7.3 Discussion Topic Content Type

A Discussion Topic is a Learning Application Object that is used to initiate Discussion activity.

Discussion topic content is represented as a Resource object.

Expected default behavior:

  • Upon import, the discussion topic content will be stored by the tool using its own internal representation.
  • As the cartridge content is added to an actual course, an associated discussion topic will be created in the discussion forum used by the tool.
  • The location of the discussion topic resource object in the cartridge organization dictates the point in the course at which the learner is directed to the item in the discussion forum.
  • The discussion topic group would be the cohort of learners enrolled on the course and the instructor.
  • If the cartridge were added to more than one course, then each course would have its own discussion topic created, each with its own group of enrolled learners.
  • It may be directly referenced from a folder Item object.
  • The characteristic object Type must be the value imsdt_xmlv1p4.
  • The Resource object Href characteristic object is prohibited.
  • The Resource object must contain a single File object, which references the Discussion Topic descriptor XML file which conforms to the http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imsdt_v1p4 schema.
  • The Resource object may contain Dependency objects, which reference Resource objects with Type webcontent and/or associatedcontent/imscc_xmlv1p4/learning-application-resource.

7.3.1 Example Instance



  <topic xmlns="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imsdt_v1p4"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imsdt_v1p4 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_imsdt_v1p4.xsd" >

   <title>The Psychology of Faces</title>
   <text texttype="text/html">Is recognition of human emotional states learned or innate? Might there be a culture in the world that expresses joy through scowling and fear through laughter? Does your dog smile when he's happy? <br/> <img src="$1EdTech-CC-FILEBASE$../I_media_R/smiling_dog.jpg"/></text>
   <attachments>
     <attachment href="../I_00006_Media/angry_person.jpg" />
   </attachments>

</topic>
  • topic root element
  • title Title of this topic
  • text Text for this topic – if text/html can contain markup and references to both cartridge and Learning Application Object web content.
  • texttype values(TEXT/HTML or TEXT/PLAIN)
  • attachments contains one to many attachment objects
  • attachment Specifies an attachment
  • href Specifies the relative path of the attachment file – must be to a Learning Application Object web content resource.

7.4 Web Link (URL) Content Type

  • A Web Link is a Learning Application Object that represents a URL.
  • Web Link content is represented as a Resource object.
  • It may be directly referenced from a folder Item object.
  • The characteristic object Type must be the value imswl_xmlv1p4.
  • The Resource object Href characteristic object is prohibited.
  • The Resource object must contain a single File object, which references the Web Link descriptor XML file which conforms to the http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imswl_v1p4 schema.
  • The Resource object must not contain Dependency child objects.

7.4.1 Example Instance


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<webLink xmlns="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imswl_v1p4"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imswl_v1p4 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_imswl_v1p4.xsd" >
  <title>Wikipedia - Psychology</title>
  <url href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychology" target="_self" windowFeatures="width=100, height=100"/>
</webLink>
  • topic root element
  • title Title of this topic
  • url URL which the web link represents
  • href URL value
  • target any valid value for the HTML <a> tag target attribute
  • windowFeatures an optional string that can be used as the feature parameter for the standard javascript window open function

7.5 Other Specification zip or xml files: APIP, EPub3, IWB, QTI3, and Open Video

  • While a Common Cartridge can contain any application files, special support has been added for these file types. Adding this support allows the 1EdTech Common Cartridge Validator to detect and validate these files as well. Currently, the validator can check APIP, IWB, and Open Video files, which are 1EdTech specifications. EPub3 file checking may be added to the validator in the future.
  • Addition of new resource types: IWB for interactive whiteboard files, EPUB3 for EPub 3 files, APIP for Accessible Portable Item Profile, QTI3 for Question and Test Interoperability 3.0 files, and OpenVideo for Open Video files.

7.5.1 Examples

These files may be included in the Common Cartridge file, in which case they must also be included in the imsmanifest.xml file. The 1EdTech Common Cartridge Validator will attempt to check APIP, IWB, and Open Video files. Platforms supporting Common Cartridge may also choose to give these files special handling. The following is an example of the relevant sections of the manifest:


  <resource identifier="I_00003_R" type="imsapip_zipv1p0">
    <fileh ref="I_00003_R/apipv1p0_CoreTest_VC_IP_01.zip" />
   </resource>

   <resource identifier="I_00006_R" type="imsiwb_iwbv1p0">
    <file href="I_00006_R/validtest1.iwb"/>
   </resource>

   <resource identifier="I_00007_R" type="idpfepub_epubv3p0">
    <file href="I_00007_R/moby-dick-mo-20120206.epub" />
   </resource>

   <resource identifier="Resource1" type="imsov_xmlv1p0">
    <file href="item/openvideo-eg01v1.xml" />
   </resource>

   <resource identifier="Resource1" type="imsov_zipv1p0">
    <file href="item/openvideo-eg01v1.zip" />
   </resource>

   <resource identifier="Resource1" type="imsqti_zipv3p0">
    <file href="qti3assessment_1.zip" />
   </resource>

7.6 Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) Content Type

This section covers the basics of creating LTI links in a Common Cartridge, for more discussion on how CC interacts with LTI in an importing system see the section Common Cartridge in the 1EdTech Ecosystem

  • An LTI Link is a Learning Application Object that represents a self-contained LTI link.
  • LTI Link content is represented as a Resource object.
  • It may be directly referenced from a folder Item object.
  • The characteristic object Type must be the value imsbasiclti_xmlv1p0.
  • The Resource object Href characteristic object is prohibited.
  • The Resource object must contain a single File object, which references the LTI Link descriptor XML file, which conforms to the http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsbasiclti_v1p0 schema.
  • The Resource object must not contain Dependency child objects.
  • It may include a LineItem to be imported into a gradebook.

7.6.1 LTI XML Example

An LTI link is a simplified and self-contained LTI link. The LTI link is defined in the resource section of an 1EdTech Common Cartridge as follows:


    <resource identifier="I_00010_R" type="imsbasiclti_xmlv1p4">
      <file href="I_00001_R/BasicLTI.xml"/>
    </resource>

The href in the resource entry refers to a file path in the cartridge that contains an XML description of the LTI link.



<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<cartridge_basiclti_link xmlns="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imslticc_v1p4"
   xmlns:blti = "http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsbasiclti_v1p0"
   xmlns:lticm = "http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imslticm_v1p0"
   xmlns:lticp = "http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imslticp_v1p0"
   xmlns:li="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/lti-ags"
   xmlns:xsi = "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
   xsi:schemaLocation = "http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imslticc_v1p4 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_imslticc_v1p4.xsd
                         http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsbasiclti_v1p0 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/lti/v1p0/schema/xsd/imsbasiclti_v1p0p1.xsd
                         http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imslticm_v1p0 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/lti/v1p0/schema/xsd/imslticm_v1p0.xsd
                         http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imslticp_v1p0 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/lti/v1p0/schema/xsd/imslticp_v1p0.xsd
                         http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/lti-ags https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/lti-ags/v2p0/schema/xsd/lineitem_v1p0.xsd ">
  <blti:title>Grade Book</blti:title>
  <blti:description>Grade Book with many column types</blti:description>
  <blti:launch_url>url to the LTI launch URL</blti:launch_url>
  <blti:secure_launch_url>secure url to the LTI launch URL</blti:secure_launch_url>

  <li:lineItem>
    <li:scoreMaximum>100</li:scoreMaximum>
    <li:label>Chapter 1 Quiz</li:label>
    <li:resourceId>chapter1quiz</li:resourceId>
    <li:tag>quizzes</li:tag>
  </li:lineItem>

  <blti:custom>
    <lticm:property name="keyname">value</lticm:property>
  </blti:custom>

  <blti:extensions platform="my.lms.com">
    <lticm:property name="keyname">value</lticm:property>
  </blti:extensions>

  <blti:icon>url to an icon for this tool (optional)</blti:icon>
  <blti:secure_icon>secure url to an icon for this tool (optional)></blti:secure_icon>
  <blti:vendor>
    <lticp:code>vendor.com</lticp:code>
    <lticp:name>vendor.name</lticp:name>
    <lticp:description>This is a vendor of learning tools.</lticp:description>
    <lticp:url>http://www.vendor.com/ </lticp:url>
    <lticp:contact>
      <lticp:email>support@vendor.com </lticp:email>
    </lticp:contact>
  </blti:vendor>
  <cartridge_bundle identifierref="BLTI001_Bundle"/>
  <cartridge_icon identifierref="BLTI001_Icon"/>
</cartridge_basiclti_link>

For LTI 1.1, The URL to which the LTI Launch is to be sent is contained in launch_url and secure_launch_url. Although non-secure URLs are allowed by the specification, it is recommended that only secure URLs are use.

For LTI 1.3, non-secure URLs are not allowed. Also, for those upgrading from LTI 1.1 to 1.3, it is important to note that due to switching to the OIDC login flow, the launch_url will not be the direct URL launched to when a user clicks an LTI link. Those URLs will instead be referenced in the claim https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/lti/claim/target_link_uri.

The presence of a lineItem in a cartridge_basiclti_link implies that the LTI link points to a resource that will return a score. The importing system should create a gradebook item associated with the LTI link if supported.

The icon and secure_icon are both optional and indicate a URL to be used for an icon to the tool.

Once the LTI link is defined in the resources section of the cartridge manifest, it can be referenced in the organization section of the manifest as needed:


<item identifier="BasicLTI1" identifierref="I_00010_R">
   <title>Homework Problems</title>
</item>

The TC will generally display the title in the item entry in the user interface rather than title in the basic_lti_link entry.

The optional custom section can contain a set of key value pairs that were placed in the link in the system that originally authored the link. For example if the link were a section in an eTextbook, there might be a setting like:


<parameter key="section">1.2.7</parameter>

These parameters are sent back to the external tool when the tool is launched. If LTI link is imported and then exported the custom should be maintained across the import/export process unless the intent is to re-author the link.

The extensions section allows the hosting TC to add its own key/value pairs to the link. The TC may use extensions to store information that the TC or authoring environment might use across an export-import cycle. In order to allow multiple sets of extensions to be contained in the same LTI descriptor, authoring environments should add the platform attribute and include an identifier that identifies the authoring environment.

It is possible to include the icon for the link in the cartridge instead of including it as a URL using the cartridge_icon entry in the descriptor. The identifierref attribute points to a link that includes the icon image and a dependency is added to the resource section of the LTI resource entry in the manifest as shown below:


<resource identifier="I_00010_R" type="imsbasiclti_xmlv1p4">

    <file href="I_00001_R/BasicLTI.xml"/>

    <dependency identifierref="BLTI001_Icon"/>

</resource>

<resource identifier="BLTI001_Icon" type="associatedcontent/imscc_xmlv1p2/learning-application-resource" >
    <file href="BLTI001_Media/learning_icon.gif" />
</resource>

7.6.2 LTI LineItem

Common Cartridge 1.4 introduces the ability to add a Line Item to an LTI link packaged in a cartridge. This Line Item is modelled after the 1EdTech Learning Tools Interoperability® Assignment and Grade Services specification. Please reference that specification for a better understanding of using a Line Item defined in a cartridge with that service.

Line Items should be imported into any system that supports grades with LTI links, regardless of whether that system is using LTI 1.1 or LTI Advantage and its services.

To add a lineItem to a cartridge_basiclti_link, first include the necessary namespace and schema location:


<cartridge_basiclti_link xmlns="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imslticc_v1p4"
                         <!-- other namespaces -->
                         xmlns:li="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/lti-ags"
                         xsi:schemaLocation="...
                         http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/lti-ags https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/lti-ags/v2p0/schema/xsd/lineitem_v1p0.xsd">

Then add one or more Line Items to the link:


  <li:lineItem>
    <li:scoreMaximum>100</li:scoreMaximum>
    <li:label>Chapter 1 Quiz</li:label>
    <li:resourceId>chapter1quiz</li:resourceId>
    <li:tag>quizzes</li:tag>
  </li:lineItem>
  • scoreMaximum (Required) The maximum score, or points possible, for the Line Item.
  • label (Required) Title of this Line Item that would display in a grade book.
  • resourceId A reference ID for the vendor's system that should be included when using the LTI Advantage Assignments and Grades service. Multiple line items can share the same resourceId within a given context. resourceId must be preserved when a context is copied if the line items are included in the copy. This property is primarily for use with [LTI-AGS-20].
  • tag A hint for the type of Line Item that an importing system may use to sort items into grading groups. Multiple line items can share the same tag within a cartridge.

For importing systems that only support one Line Item per LTI link, always use the first defined Line Item.

7.6.2.1 Extending LineItems

In [LTI-AGS-20] LinteItems are extended by adding fully qualified claim URI's, so the extension block inside a Common Cartridge uses claim instead of platform or vendor like other extensions in Common Cartridge.

The claim value and property names/values MUST follow the same rule as followed in AGS. The claim MUST be a fully qualified URL uniquely identifying the property. The value MUST be any valid JSON data. The jsonType attribute can be used on each property to specify the intended JSON type. The values are assumed to be serialized to string in the XML using standard JSON serialization ( e.g. JSON.stringify )


  <li:lineItem>
    <li:scoreMaximum>100</li:scoreMaximum>
    <li:label>Chapter 1 Quiz</li:label>
    <li:resourceId>chapter1quiz</li:resourceId>
    <li:tag>quizzes</li:tag>
    <li:extensions claim="https://www.toolexample.com/lti/score">
      <li:property name="originality" jsonType="number">94</li:property>
      <li:property name="submissionUrl">https://www.toolexample.com/lti/score/54/5893/essay.pdf</li:property>
    </li:extensions>
  </li:lineItem>

7.7 Assessment Content Type

  • Represented as a Resource object.
  • It may be directly referenced from a folder Item object.
  • The characteristic object Type must be imsqti_xmlv1p2/imscc_xmlv1p4/assessment.
  • The Resource object Href characteristic object is prohibited.
  • The Resource object must contain a single File object, which references the QTI XML file. This file must conform to the 1EdTech CC profile of the QTI 1.2.1 schema, which is /xsd/ims_qtiasiv1p2.
  • The Resource object may contain Dependency objects, which reference Resource objects with Type webcontent and/or associatedcontent/imscc_xmlv1p4/learning-application-resource.

7.8 Question Bank Content Type

  • Represented as a Resource object.
  • It must not be directly referenced from a folder Item object.
  • If a question bank is included in a cartridge, then it appears as a resource in the imsmanifest, but it is not included in the organization and reference to the question bank or its question items by any Learning Application Object is prohibited.
  • Zero or more question banks can be included in a cartridge.
  • Access to the question bank is restricted to the instructor, to whom it is provided as a resource for constructing customized assessments.
  • How the tool makes the question bank available to an instructor is undefined.
  • The characteristic object Type must be imsqti_xmlv1p2/imscc_xmlv1p4/question-bank.
  • The Resource object Href characteristic object is prohibited.
  • The Resource object must contain a single File object, which references the QTI XML file. This file must conform to the 1EdTech CC profile of the QTI 1.2.1 schema which is /xsd/ims_qtiasiv1p2.
  • The Resource object may contain Dependency objects, which reference Resource objects with Type webcontent and/or webcontent/imscc_xmlv1p4/learning-application-resource.

7.9 QTI

7.9.1 Overview

A Common Cartridge may contain either/both of two Learning Object Resource types that are based on the CC QTI Profile: Assessments and Question Banks. Generally Assessments are meant to represent an ordered question set and may include optional attributes that apply to the set as a whole. A CC Question Bank refers to a QTI Object Bank, constrained to hold just those question types supported in the CC profile. Assessments should employ the <assessment> QTI element (see section Assessments vs. Object Banks directly below). Question Banks are meant to represent unordered sets of questions with no associated attributes applying to the set as a whole (though metadata is permitted). Question banks should use the <objectbank> QTI element. In addition, question banks should have no representation in the organizations section of the manifest.

<questestinterop> is the root element for all CC QTI documents. Directly inside this will be either an <assessment>, <section> or <objectbank> structure as described in the next section.

The $1EdTech-CC-FILEBASE$ token may be used in any portion of questions, answers or feedback. It is intended to help identify paths that reference media files that are required by the assessment and are included in the common cartridge. If the files are not moved after extraction, the path following the token should be the same directory that contains the QTI file itself. The token should ALWAYS be included when making relative references to other files so that import engines can correctly handle any required path translations. Elements or multi-element constructs other than those covered explicitly below are prohibited.

7.9.2 Assessments vs. Object Banks

Assessments are represented with a single <assessment> element with required ident and title attributes and optional language attribute. The <assessment> element may contain an optional <presentation_material> element to represent information to be displayed prior to a student launching the assessment.

A <qtimetadata> element can be present where CC specific metadata elements are allowed within <qtimetadatafield> structures as follows:


<qtimetadatafield>
   <fieldlabel></fieldlabel>
   <fieldentry></fieldentry>
</qtimetadatafield>
**fieldlabel** **Fieldentry**
cc_profile cc.exam.v0p1
qmd_assessmenttype The type of assessment role. The only supported value is 'Examination'.
qmd_scoretype 'Percentage' scoring is always used.
qmd_feedbackpermitted If 'No' then students should not see any feedback for this assessment. Default is 'Yes'.
qmd_hintspermitted If 'No' then students should not see any hints for this assessment. Default is 'Yes'. Note that hints are not profiled and their presence not recommended.
qmd_solutionspermitted If 'No' then students should not see any feedback flagged as Solution for this assessment. Default is 'Yes'.
qmd_timelimit Time limit is an integer value expressed in minutes. If unspecified there is no time limit.
cc_allow_late_submission Indicates whether the time limit should be strictly enforced. Should only be provided if the qmd_timelimit was also specified. Allowed values are "Yes" and "No". The default is "Yes"
cc_maxattempts Allows specifying the maximum allowed user attempts. Allowed values are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and "unlimited". The default is 1.
language

7.9.3 Question Text

The Question Text is represented with a single <material><mattext> structure directly inside the <presentation>. The question text may be presented in either plain text or html format. If the html format is used, the mattext element must have a texttype attribute with a value of text/html. If plain text is used, the texttype value of text/plain is optional as this is the default.

While the usage of elements such as varimage are prohibited, it is possible to add references to any web content or dependency contained in the cartridge by using HTML markup:


<presentation>
   <material>
      <mattext texttype="text/html"><![CDATA[ Identify to which city belongs this monument:]]>
      <img src= "$1EdTech-CC-FILEBASE$../images/bigben.jpg" alt="" style="border: 0px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);">
      </mattext>
   </material>
   <response_str ident="QUE__2869_1_RS" rcardinality="Single">
      <render_fib>
         <response_label ident="QUE__2869_1_ANS" rshuffle="No"/>
      </render_fib>
   </response_str>
</presentation>

7.9.4 Automatic Scoring

The Scoring Variable is declared in the <outcomes> section of the <resprocessing>:


<outcomes>
    <decvar minvalue="0" maxvalue="100" varname="SCORE" vartype="Decimal"/>
</outcomes>

For all question types outside of the Essay question, scoring is done in a single with a continue flag set to No. The outcome is always a variable named SCORE which value must be set to 100 in case of correct answer. Partial scores (not 0 or 100) are not supported.

The <conditionvar> depends on the question type, but the structure is always the same:


<respcondition continue="No">
   <conditionvar><!-- will vary per question type --></conditionvar>
   <setvar action="Set" varname="SCORE">100</setvar>
   <displayfeedback feedbacktype="Response" linkrefid="correct_fb"/>
</respcondition>

Note that the <displayfeedback> is optional, see below.

7.9.5 Feedback

7.9.5.1 Overview

Feedback support is optional. One should not expect a consumer to support all feedback types, or even any of them. Feedbacks are declared using 2 elements:

In a <respcondition> a <displayfeedback> element points to an <itemfeedback>. The <displayfeedback feedbacktype="Response" linkrefid="correct_fb"/> <respcondition> defines the context when the feedback should be displayed:


<displayfeedback feedbacktype="Response" linkrefid="correct_fb"/>

Then for each <displayfeedback feedbacktype="Response" linkrefid="correct_fb"/> <displayfeedback> there should be one and only one <displayfeedback feedbacktype="Response" linkrefid="correct_fb"/> <itemfeedback>. The <displayfeedback feedbacktype="Response" linkrefid="correct_fb"/> <itemfeedback> contains the actual feedback text. It is recommended to be in a single <displayfeedback feedbacktype="Response" linkrefid="correct_fb"/> <material><mattext> structure. The text can either be plain text or HTML. If HTML, it is possible to add references to any web content or dependency contained in the cartridge.


<itemfeedback ident="correct_fb">
   <material>
      <mattext texttype="text/html">Good</mattext>
   </material>
</itemfeedback>
7.9.5.2 Feedback Ident Naming

Feedback should follow the naming convention for their ident based on their feedback type. See each feedback type for the naming to use.

7.9.5.3 General Feedback

General feedback is given as an unconditional feedback with continue flag on for further processing:


<respcondition continue="Yes">
    <conditionvar><other/></conditionvar>
    <displayfeedback feedbacktype="Response" linkrefid="general_fb" />
</respcondition>

If General Feedback is given, it should be the first <respcondition> element in the <resprocessing> section of the Item since it should always be evaluated.

The ident for the general feedback should be: general_fb

7.9.5.4 General Correct Feedback

General Correct Feedback, if present, is set in the same <respcondition> element that sets the Score to 100.


<respcondition continue="No">
      <conditionvar><!-- will vary per question type --></conditionvar>
      <setvar action="Set" varname="SCORE">100</setvar>
      <displayfeedback feedbacktype="Response" linkrefid="correct_fb"/>
</respcondition>

The ident for the general correct feedback should be: correct_fb.

7.9.5.5 General Incorrect Feedback

General incorrect feedback, if present, is the last <respcondition> element in the <resprocessing> element, right after the <respcondition> in charge of setting the score. Since the <respcondition> for setting the score has continue flag set to No, this last <respcondition> will only be evaluated if the user did not answer the correct response.

Since it relies on the presence of an automatic grading, General Incorrect Feedback is not supported for Essay questions.


<respcondition>
      <conditionvar><other/></conditionvar>
      <displayfeedback feedbacktype="Response" linkrefid="general_incorrect_fb" />
</respcondition>

The ident for the general incorrect feedback should be: general_incorrect_fb

7.9.6 Hints

Hints are not profiled and therefore it is recommended not to include them in Items.

7.9.7 LID based Question Types: True/False, Multiple Choice and Multiple Response

7.9.7.1 Overview and Profiles

LID (Logical Identifier) based questions are questions where the user must select one or multiple answers among a set of choices.

The profiles for LID based questions are:

cc.mutliple_choice.v0p1 for multiple choice questions when a single answer can be selected

cc.mutliple_response.v0p1 for multiple choice questions where multiple answers can be selected

cc.true_false.v0p1 for true/false questions

7.9.7.2 Presentation

Multiple_choice, multiple_response, and true_false questions use a element to contain the individual answers. There is a required ident and an rcardinality attribute which should be set to Single for multiple choice and true false questions and Multiple for multiple_response questions.

The <response_lid> element contains a single element with a shuffle (Yes/No) attribute to indicate whether or not scrambling of answer choices is allowed.

The <render_choice> element contains one or more elements with a required ident attribute. The < response_label > elements contain a single structure holding the text of the individual answers. The text can either be plain text or HTML text, in which case it can refer to Web Content and Dependencies contained in the Cartridge (using the $1EdTech-CC-FILEBASE$ token).

Response.rshuffle is not supported here.

7.9.7.3 Response Processing: Multiple Choice

The <conditionvar> is made of a single <varequal> element checking if the correct identifier was selected.


<respcondition continue="No">
   <conditionvar>
      <varequal respident="response_1">answer_4</varequal>
   </conditionvar>
   <setvar action="Set" varname="SCORE">100</setvar>
   <displayfeedback feedbacktype="Response" linkrefid="correct_fb"/>
</respcondition>
7.9.7.4 Response Processing: True-False

True False uses the same <respcondition> than Multiple Choice questions.

7.9.7.5 Response Processing: Multiple Answers

Only ‘All or Nothing’ grading is supported: a single combination is considered correct, all others are considered incorrect answers. The combination is expressed using a <and> containing a combination of <varequal> and <not><varequal> in the form:


<respcondition continue="No">
   <conditionvar>
      <and>
         <not>
            <varequal case="Yes" respident="response_1">answer_1</varequal>
         </not>
         <varequal case="Yes" respident="response_1">answer_2</varequal>
         <varequal case="Yes" respident="response_1">answer_3</varequal>
         <not>
            <varequal case="Yes"respident="response_1">answer_4</varequal>
         </not>
      </and>
   </conditionvar>
   <setvar action="Set" varname="SCORE">100</setvar>
   <displayfeedback feedbacktype="Response" linkrefid="correct_fb"/>
</respcondition>

As per QTI 1.2 specifications, <conditionvar> is already an implicit <and>, and so the <and> in the example above could be omitted. A consumer should support constructs with or without the <and>.

Note that the specification also permits <or> as in, for example:


<respcondition continue="No" >
   <conditionvar>
      <or>
         <varequal case ="No" respident ="response_1" >London </varequal>
         <varequal case ="No" respident ="response_1" >Londres </varequal>
      </or>
   </conditionvar>
   <setvar action ="Set" varname ="SCORE" >100 </setvar>
</respcondition>

No nesting is allowed, a <not> should only contain a <varequal>.

7.9.7.6 Response Processing: Per-answer feedback

Combinatory Responses feedback is not defined (for example, a feedback if the answer 1 and 3 are selected). However per-answer feedback is supported. If present, it must be placed directly after the general item feedback <respcondition>. There can be at most one answer feedback per answer, so it is not required to have a feedback for each answer.

Each feedback answer is in its own <respcondition> with continue flag on for further processing:


<respcondition continue="Yes">
   <conditionvar>
   <varequal respident="response_1">Answer1</varequal>
   </conditionvar>
   <displayfeedback feedbacktype="Response" linkrefid="answer1_fb"/>
</respcondition>

<respcondition continue="Yes">
   <conditionvar>
   <varequal respident="response_1">Answer2</varequal>
   </conditionvar>
   <displayfeedback feedbacktype="Response" linkrefid="answer3_fb"/>
</respcondition>

For each feedback, there must be one and only one corresponding <itemfeedback> element.

The naming convention for answer feedback is: {answer ident}_fb.

7.9.8 FIB based Questions: Fill-in-the-Blank and Pattern Matching

7.9.8.1 Overview and Profiles

Fill in the Blank and Pattern Matching are similar question types which mostly differ in how they evaluate the correct answer, either based on equality (Fill in the Blank) or on a matching rule (Pattern Matching).

The profile for Fill in the Blank is cc.fib.v0p1, the profile for Pattern Match (Simple containment) is cc.pattern_match.v0p1. The support for Pattern Matching Question type is optional.

7.9.8.2 Presentation

Fill-in-the-blank questions use a single <response_str> element with a required Ident. The <response_str> element contains a single <render_fib> element. The rows attribute, if specified, must be set to 1. The columns attribute may be set any positive integer but may be ignored.

7.9.8.3 Response Processing: Fill-in-the-Blank

Fill-in-the-blank questions are not case sensitive on grading as indicated by setting the case attribute to "No" in the <varequal> element.


<respcondition continue="No">
   <conditionvar>
      <varequal case="No" respident="response_1">London</varequal>
   </conditionvar>
   <setvar action="Set" varname="SCORE">100</setvar>
</respcondition>

Multiple alternate answers are supported, but since the support of multiple possible answers is optional, the most relevant answer should be the 1st proposed choice and a consumer that can support only one valid answer should use the 1st one.


<respcondition continue="No">
   <conditionvar>
       <varequal case="No" respident="response_1">London</varequal>
       <varequal case="No" respident="response_1">Londres</varequal>
   </conditionvar>
   <setvar action="Set" varname="SCORE">100</setvar>
</respcondition>
7.9.8.4 Response Processing: Simple Pattern Match

Simple Pattern Match is only checking for the inclusion of the answer into the response. Simple Pattern match questions may optionally be case sensitive by setting case="Yes", but the default is NOT case sensitive. To check if a string is contained anywhere in the response the varsubstring condition is used as follows:


<conditionvar>
    <varsubstring respident="response_1" case="No">expected</varsubstring>
</conditionvar>

Alternate answers are not supported (only a single varsubstring is allowed).

7.9.9 Essay Question

7.9.9.1 Overview and Profile

Essay based questions are questions where the user answers with a free unbounded text. Essay question are not expected to be automatically graded. However a sample solution can be made available to help the grader in his evaluation.

The profile for essay question is: cc.essay.v0p1 .

7.9.9.2 Presentation

Presentation is using the same construct as FIB question types.

7.9.9.3 Sample Solution

Essay questions are a bit apart from the other since they do not support automatic grading. In place they might offer a sample solution to help the grader evaluate the response.

Essay questions can indicate at most one sample answer as follows:


<itemfeedback ident="solution">
   <solution>
      <solutionmaterial>
       <material>
            <mattext texttype="text/html"><![CDATA[here is the sample solution]]></mattext>
       </material>
      </solutionmaterial>
   </solution>
</itemfeedback>

If a Solution is provided there is no need to also include a <displayfeedback> element in the <resprocessing> section since the feedback is already in a <solution> element. A consumer is expected to understand that in the context of an essay question, the <solution> element, if present, represents the sample solution.

7.9.10 Further Element/Attribute Restrictions for Common Cartridge

The setvar element supports an action attribute with values of Add, Set, and Subtract. In Common Cartridge, only Set is allowed.

The MaterialSelection selection should only allow the mattext element. In addition the texttype attribute should only allow values of text/html and text/plain and the element text must be wrapper in CDATA. Additional attributes are not allowed.

The rcardinality attribute on the response_lid and response_str elements only allow values of Single and Multiple. The value Ordered is not supported.

The rtiming attribute on the response_lid and response_str elements is not supported.

The render_fib element allows many attributes.

  1. encoding – “The coding to be used for the text. The default value of UTF-8 is assumed. This attribute is not allowed.
  2. charset – “The character set that is to be used to represent the text string. Default value is ascii-us. This attribute is not allowed.
  3. rows – The number of rows available for the data entry is optional.
  4. columns – The number of columns available for the data entry is optional.
  5. maxchars – The maximum number of characters available for the data entry is optional.
  6. Prompt – “The type of prompt presented to the participant in which the FIB data is to be entered. This is an enumeration with values of Box, Dashline, Asterisk, and Underline. Default value is Box. This attribute is not allowed as the display format is determined by the tool.
  7. fibtype – “The type of data expected. This is an enumeration with values of String, Integer, Decimal, Scientific, and Boolean. This is restricted to the default value of String. All other values are prohibited.
  8. minnumber – “The minimum number of responses that must be supplied by the participant. This attribute is prohibited. Only one response is allowed.
  9. maxnumber – “The maximum number of responses that can be supplied by the participant. This attribute is prohibited. Only one response is allowed.

The render_fib element is prohibited from having any children.

The flow element is not allowed.

7.10 Assessment in Common Cartridge

Common Cartridge supports only one role of assessment, which maps to the 1EdTech concept of ‘Examination’ (as defined by the QTI metadata attribute ‘qmd_assessmenttype’).

An assessment must contain exactly one section, which contains all questions delivered by the assessment. Multiple sections and references to questions in an object bank are not supported.

An assessment does support the use of a number of metadata attributes, which can carry additional delivery information about the assessment such as maximum attempts and time limit. These are defined in the profile.

7.10.1 Questions

The Common Cartridge supports profiles of the following question types:

  • Multiple Choice (Single Response)
  • Multiple Choice (Multiple Response)
  • True/False
  • Essay
  • Simple Fill in the Blank – single response box with multiple correct answers that are processed as an exact match
  • Pattern Match – single response box with multiple potential answers that support exact match and containment matching.

Note that support for multiple response, essay, and pattern match are optional; they are permitted exceptions for those learning platforms that do not provide these types of questions natively.

The profiles for each of these question types describe how they support:

  • feedback
  • sample solutions
  • relative scoring

In addition, questions support a number of metadata attributes, which describe:

  • a suggested weighting for the question in the assessment
  • a category for the question.

Instances of these questions may be included in an assessment or a question bank.

CC supports general feedback, general correct feedback, general incurred feedback, and per-answer feedback.

For full details refer to the profile descriptions.

7.10.2 Question Bank

The CC question bank profiles the use of the QTI object bank. A question bank represents a collection of questions that are associated with a particular learning context, but not used within it. The question bank allows for the exchange of questions to a target tool. Both the representation of a question bank, and how questions are utilized once the cartridge has been imported into the tool are tool specific. Assessments within a package cannot reference questions contained within the question bank. Multiple question banks are allowed.

The behavior of a tool in handling question banks is undefined.

7.11 UML Diagrams

A complete set of UML diagrams for QTI are available for review in the 1EdTech CC Alliance. These diagrams are large and are easier to study as separate files that can be magnified as needed. As such, they are no longer reproduced in the printed specification.

8. Metadata

8.1 Overview

The metadata for a Common Cartridge has only a few required fields, but most cartridges take advantage of the many options provided by LOM and also add information for curriculum standards metadata.

There are two primary locations inside a Common Cartridge where metadata and curriculum standard alignments are found. The first is in the metadata block that applies to the cartridge as a whole, or the manifest-level metadata. The second is for metadata that applies only to an individual resource node, or the resource-level metadata. They each use different XML namespaces which are usually named lomm for the manifest level and lomr for the resource level.

Each metadata section (e.g. lomm:general, lomm:rights, etc.) covers a different context of information, and each will be described in greater detail in its own section below. The examples here may only show one of lomm or lomr, but the descriptions and usage apply to both.

8.2 Manifest-level Metadata

Metadata that applies to the whole cartridge is found in the top-level metadata node. The namespace for this metadata is named lomm. For namespace mappings and examples see the Manifest Namespaces and XML Examples section.

8.2.1 Structure

The metadata should be the first node in the manifest, and structured like this:


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<manifest identifier="example">
  <metadata>
      <!--   These specify the type of Common Cartridge (thin/k-12) and the version   -->
      <!--   The value for the schema is different for each profile                   -->
      <schema>Common Cartridge</schema>
      <schemaversion>1.4.0</schemaversion>

      <!--  All LOM values are blocked together    -->
      <lomm:lom>

        <lomm:general>
        </lomm:general>

        <lomm:educational>
        </lomm:educational>

        <lomm:rights>
        </lomm:rights>

        <lomm:lifeCycle>
        </lomm:lifeCycle>

      </lomm:lom>

      <!--   Curriculum Standard GUIDs that apply to the whole cartridge   -->
      <csm:curriculumStandardsMetadataSet>
      </csm:curriculumStandardsMetadataSet>
  </metadata>

  <organizations></organizations>
  <resources></resources>
</manifest>

8.3 Resource-level Metadata

Each resource inside a Common Cartridge can have its own metadata that only applies to that specific resource. This allows each resource to have its own curriculum alignment for example, or to be versioned separate from other items in the cartridge.

The namespace for the resource metadata is named lomr. For namespace mappings and examples see the Manifest Namespaces and XML Examples section.

8.3.1 Structure

The metadata should be the first node in the resource, and structured like this:



<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<manifest identifier="example">
  <metadata></metadata>
  <organizations></organizations>
  <resources>

    <resource identifier="Resource16" type="imswl_xmlv1p4">
      <metadata>

        <!--  LOM values that apply to just this resource   -->
        <lomr:lom>

          <lomr:general>
          </lomr:general>

          <lomr:educational>
          </lomr:educational>

          <lomr:rights>
          </lomr:rights>

          <lomr:lifeCycle>
          </lomr:lifeCycle>

        </lomr:lom>

        <!--   Curriculum Standard GUIDs that apply to just this resource   -->
        <csm:curriculumStandardsMetadataSet>
        </csm:curriculumStandardsMetadataSet>
      </metadata>
      <file href="WebLink1/link1.xml"/>
    </resource>

</resources>
</manifest>

8.4 LOM Metadata Sections

Common Cartridge and Thin Common Cartridge have the same metadata requirements, but the K-12 profile adds additional requirements. Each section has a table showing what's required for a normal cartridge and a K-12 profile. The tables also show what fields are recommended by best practice.

This first table shows the available metadata sections that will be covered in more detail below.

Section Manifest-level Resource-level K-12 Manifest-level K-12 Resource-level
schema Required Required
schemaversion Required Required
general Recommended Required Required
educational Required Recommended Required
rights Recommended Recommended
lifeCycle Recommended Recommended
csm:curriculumStandardsMetadataSet Recommended Recommended Recommended Recommended

The sections below will give examples of information most commonly found in these top-level elements.

8.4.1 lom:general

This section covers general topics.

Field Manifest-level Resource-level K-12 Manifest-level K-12 Resource-level Description
identifier Recommended Recommended Recommended An identifier for use outside the cartridge such as an ISBN or GUID
title Recommended Recommended Required The Title of the cartridge or resource
language The language of the cartridge or resource
description description of the cartridge
keyword Recommended Required Required This field contains the single words separated by spaces related to the object. This helps organize the object within the system for easier searching and identification
coverage
structure the underlying organizational structure of the learning object. One of: atomic, collection, networked, hierarchical, linear
aggregationLevel The functional size of the resource. One of 1, 2, 3, 4

The optional metadata identifier can be used for many purposes such as identifying the same resource used in multiple cartridges, or for a Learning Object Repository (LOR) to be able to identify individual resources within a cartridge in a consistent way. Its usage is recommended along with version information in the lom:lifeCycle section to help support LOR and other search use cases.

8.4.1.1 Example lom:general XML

<lomm:general>

  <!-- Identifiers can be used for many purposes. ISBN and ISBN13 are recommended for book-related content. -->
  <lomm:identifier>
    <lomm:catalog>ISBN</lomm:catalog>
    <lomm:entry>0738132977</lomm:entry>
  </lomm:identifier>

  <lomm:identifier>
    <lomm:catalog>ISBN13</lomm:catalog>
    <lomm:entry>9780738132977</lomm:entry>
  </lomm:identifier>

  <!-- A vendor may use their own value for the catalog, or something generic like "GUID" -->
  <lomm:identifier>
    <lomm:catalog>GUID</lomm:catalog>
    <lomm:entry>9780738132977</lomm:entry>
  </lomm:identifier>

  <lomm:title>
    <lomm:string language="en-US">The title of the book or course.</lomm:string>
  </lomm:title>

  <lomm:language>en-us</lomm:language>

  <lomm:description>
    <lomm:string language="en-US">The description can be useful in systems that provide searches for Common Cartridges or systems that provide a preview.</lomm:string>
  </lomm:description>

  <lomm:keyword>
    <lomm:string language="en-US">sociology archaeology</lomm:string>
  </lomm:keyword>

  <lomm:coverage></lomm:coverage>
  <lomm:structure>
    <lomm:source>LOMv1.0</lomm:source>
    <lomm:value>hierarchical</lomm:value>
  </lomm:structure>
  <lomm:aggregationLevel>
    <lomm:source>LOMv1.0</lomm:source>
    <lomm:value>3</lomm:value>
  </lomm:aggregationLevel>

</lomm:general>

8.4.2 lom:educational

The Educational section is the container for the information that describes the key educational or pedagogical characteristics.

Field Manifest-level Resource-level K-12 Manifest-level K-12 Resource-level Description
interactivityType One of active, expositive, mixed
learningResourceType Recommended Recommended One of the pre-defined types, or a custom value as needed. See the List of Learning Resource Types for full list.
interactivityLevel One of very low, low, medium, high, very high
semanticDensity One of very low, low, medium, high, very high
intendedEndUserRole Recommended Required One of Instructor, Learner, or Mentor
context Recommended One of school, higher education, training, other
typicalAgeRange Required A range from younger age to older: 7-9, 0-5, 15, 18- (These will often be mapped to grade level in search or LOR usage)
difficulty One of very easy, easy, medium, difficult, very difficult
typicalLearningTime The duration as defined in ISO 8601:2000
description The description of the cartridge or resource
language The language of the cartridge or resource
textComplexity Recommended The scale type, one of DRA, Dale-Chall, Flesch-Kincaid, Fountas-Pinnell, Lexile, and the score for that type.

The next section Roles Metadata for locking content explains how intendedEndUserRole is used.

8.4.2.1 Example lom:educational XML

<lomm:educational>
  <!--One of Instructor, Learner, or Mentor  -->
  <lomm:intendedEndUserRole>
    <lomm:source>IMSGLC_CC_Rolesv1p2</lomm:source>
    <lomm:value>Instructor</lomm:value>
  </lomm:intendedEndUserRole>

  <lomm:language>en-us</lomm:language>
  <lomm:typicalLearningTime>PT1H30M</lomm:typicalLearningTime>
  <lomm:typicalAgeRange>7-9</lomm:typicalAgeRange>
  <lomm:description></lomm:description>
  <lomm:context>training</lomm:context>
  <lomr:textComplexity>
    <lomr:name>Flesch-Kincaid</lomr:name>
    <lomr:value>50</lomr:value>
  </lomr:textComplexity>

  <!--  While a single resource type is common, this element can be repeated if more are needed -->
  <lomm:learningResourceType>
    <lomm:value>diagram</lomm:value>
  </lomm:learningResourceType>

  <lomm:learningResourceType>
    <lomm:value>Media/Audio</lomm:value>
  </lomm:learningResourceType>

  <!-- Custom values are allowed but may reduce the interoperability in LORs and other search use cases  -->
  <lomm:learningResourceType>
    <lomm:value otherValue="superCoolMathProgramExample">Other</lomm:value>
  </lomm:learningResourceType>

  <lomm:interactivityType>
    <xs:enumeration value="active" />
  </lomm:interactivityType>

  <lomm:interactivityLevel>
    <xs:enumeration value="medium" />
  </lomm:interactivityLevel>

  <lomm:semanticDensity></lomm:semanticDensity>
  <lomm:difficulty></lomm:difficulty>


</lomm:educational>
8.4.2.2 List of Learning Resource Types

In Common Cartridge 1.4 this list of values was extended to provide greater integration with LTI Resource Search.


exercise
simulation
questionnaire
diagram
figure
graph
index
slide
table
narrative text
exam
experiment
problem statement
self assessment
lecture

# Resource Types added from LTI Resource Search: 
Assessment
Assessment/Rubric
Assessment/Preparation
Collection/Course
Collection/Unit
Collection/Curriculum Guide
Collection/Lesson
Game
Interactive
Activity 
Lecture
Text/Book
Text/Chapter
Text/Document
Text/Article
Text/Passage
Text/Textbook
Text/Reference
Text/Website
Media/Audio
Media/Images/Visuals
Media/Video
Other

Custom values are allowed but may reduce the interoperability in LORs and other search use cases. To use a custom value use the Other value and include the attribute otherValue like this:


  <lomm:learningResourceType>
    <lomm:value otherValue="superCoolMathProgramExample">Other</lomm:value>
  </lomm:learningResourceType>
8.4.2.3 Roles Metadata for locking content

There are situations where resources may need to be specified within the organization, but should not be made visible in player mode upon default import of the cartridge. One such situation is the inclusion of instructor manuals, lesson plans, instructor notes and solution files that should only be visible to instructors or perhaps instructors and mentors. In other situations, publishers may wish to provide additional, optional resources that may be selectively released to students or mentors and students, or mentors only, by the instructor at some later date. In each case, there is a need to indicate where the resources should appear within the organization even though the resources are not initially visible to learners in the cartridge player. These resources must be made visible in cartridge editors so that the settings may be modified when and if appropriate.

To meet these needs, the common cartridge applies optional “roles" metadata associated with the resource in the manifest file. If not present, then the default behavior is that the resource would be viewable by all users. If present, then it declares the roles for which the resource would be viewable.

The following supported roles are defined in the vocabulary:

IMS_GLC_CC_Rolesv1p2

Learner Instructor Mentor
CC version 1.0 X X
CC version 1.1 X X X
CC version 1.2 X X X
CC version 1.3 X X X
CC version 1.4 X X X

For example:


<lomr:lomr>
  <lomr:educational>
    <lomr:intendedEndUserRole>
      <lomr:source>IMSGLC_CC_Rolesv1p2</lomr:source>
      <lomr:value>Learner</lomr:value>
    </lomr:intendedEndUserRole>

    <lomr:intendedEndUserRole>
      <lomr:source>IMSGLC_CC_Rolesv1p2</lomr:source>
      <lomr:value>Instructor</lomr:value>
    </lomr:intendedEndUserRole>
  </lomr:educational>
</lomr:lomr>

Note: specifying a role is intended to have an effect on how a learning platform behaves. For example, content intended for an instructor should not be visible to a learner.

8.4.3 lom:rights

The Rights describe the intellectual property rights and conditions of use for this cartridge.

Field Manifest-level Resource-level K-12 Manifest-level K-12 Resource-level Description
cost Whether there is an associated cost: yes or no
copyrightAndOtherRestrictions Recommended Recommended Recommended Recommended Are there restrictions: yes or no. If an individual resource has restrictions different from manifest-level restrictions it is recommended to add details in that resource's metadata
description Details of the restrictions or cost as useful for consumers of the cartridge.
8.4.3.1 Example lom:rights XML

<lomm:rights>
  <lomm:copyrightAndOtherRestrictions>
    <lomm:value>yes</lomm:value>
  </lomm:copyrightAndOtherRestrictions>

  <lomm:cost>
    <lomm:value>yes</lomm:value>
  </lomm:cost>
  <lomm:description></lomm:description>

</lomm:rights>


<!-- Creative Commons Example -->
<lomm:rights>
    <lomm:copyrightAndOtherRestrictions>
        <lomm:value>yes</lomm:value>
    </lomm:copyrightAndOtherRestrictions>
  <lomm:cost>
    <lomm:value>no</lomm:value>
  </lomm:cost>
    <lomm:description>
        <lomm:string language="en">Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/</lomm:string>
    </lomm:description>
</lomm:rights>

8.4.4 lom:lifeCycle

The lifeCycle section is where the version of the cartridge or a resource can be specified. There are many potential uses for having explicit versioning such as being able to only import resources that have been updated.

If there is only one contributor to the content, such as a publishing company, a single contribute section is recommended at the manifest-level. In cases where each resource may come from a different contributor like in OER, a contribute section at the resource-level is recommended.

Field Manifest Resource K-12 Manifest K-12 Resource Description
version Recommended Recommended The version of the cartridge or resource.
contribute Multiple contributors are allowed.
contribute.role The role of the contributor, the available roles are listed below the example.
contribute.entity Recommended Recommended The names of the entities who made the contribution.
contribute.date The date of the contribution in ISO 8601 format.
status One of draft, final, revised, unavailable
8.4.4.1 Example lom:lifeCycle XML

<lomm:lifeCycle>
  <lomm:version>1.0.1</lomm:version>
  <lomm:contribute>
    <lomm:entity>Publisher X</lomm:entity>
    <lomm:role><lomm:value>author</lomm:value></lomm:role>
    <lomm:date><lomm:dateTime>2019</lomm:dateTime></lomm:date>
  </lomm:contribute>

  <lomm:status>
      <lomm:value>final</lomm:value>
  </lomm:status>

</lomm:lifeCycle>
8.4.4.2 List of Contributor Roles

The valid values for contribute.role are:


<lomm:value>author</lomm:value>
<lomm:value>publisher</lomm:value>
<lomm:value>unknown</lomm:value>
<lomm:value>initiator</lomm:value>
<lomm:value>terminator</lomm:value>
<lomm:value>validator</lomm:value>
<lomm:value>editor</lomm:value>
<lomm:value>graphical designer</lomm:value>
<lomm:value>technical implementer</lomm:value>
<lomm:value>content provider</lomm:value>
<lomm:value>technical validator</lomm:value>
<lomm:value>educational validator</lomm:value>
<lomm:value>script writer</lomm:value>
<lomm:value>instructional designer</lomm:value>
<lomm:value>subject matter expert</lomm:value>

8.5 Extending Metadata

You should always attempt to map all metadata values you need to include in your cartridge to existing LOM values to keep the interoperability value high, but for the cases where more data is needed, but not included in the base specification, there are two metadata extension mechanisms you can take advantage of.

8.5.1 Simple key/value Metadata Extensions

Common Cartridge 1.4 extends the LOM metadata categories to allow a new extensions area that makes adding simple additions easy and follows the extensions patterns available in other 1EdTech specifications.

The extensions are allowed in the top-level LOM element and each of the metadata collection groups for both manifest and resource level metadata: lomm:general, lomm:educational, lomm:rights, lomm:lifeCycle.

An extensions block consists of a vendor identifier, typically a domain name or something else as unique, and key/value pairs as property elements. Here is an example in the manifest-level metadata:


  <metadata>
    <schema>1EdTech Common Cartridge</schema>
    <schemaversion>1.4.0</schemaversion>
    <lomm:lom>

      <lomm:extensions vendor="my.lms.com">
        <lomm:property name="keyname">value</lomm:property>
        <lomm:property name="keyname2">value2</lomm:property>
      </lomm:extensions>

      <lomm:general>
        <lomm:extensions vendor="my.lms.com">
          <lomm:property name="generalkey">value</lomm:property>
          <lomm:property name="key2">value2</lomm:property>
        </lomm:extensions>
      </lomm:general>

    </lomm:lom>
  </metadata>

8.5.2 Custom Namespace Extensions

If you need more robust extensions than a few key/value pairs, or you want to reuse XML definitions you already have, all the LOM metadata elements also allow adding any namespaced elements inside them. This allows for high flexibility, but can be very limiting to interoperability, so this approach should be used with caution.

To use this method, declare the namespace attribute on the manifest node and then it can be used freely.

For example, if you declared a custom namespace such as xmlns:vendorx="http://example.com/xsd/vendor_packaging_metadata" you could then add those elements like this:


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<manifest identifier="K12ccvp1_invalid-test01"
          xmlns="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscp_v1p1"
          xmlns:lomr="http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/resource"
          xmlns:lomm="http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/manifest"
          xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
          xmlns:csm="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscsmd_v1p1"
          xmlns:vendorx="http://example.com/xsd/vendor_packaging_metadata"
          xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscp_v1p1 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_imscp_v1p2_v1p0.xsd
                                   http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/manifest https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_lommanifest_v1p0.xsd
                                   http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/resource https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_lomresource_v1p0.xsd
                                   http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscsmd_v1p1 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_imscsmd_v1p1.xsd">
  <metadata>
    <schema>1EdTech Common Cartridge</schema>
    <schemaversion>1.4.0</schemaversion>
    <lomm:lom>

      <vendorx:topLevelCustom>
        <vendorx:customElement>Grape Jam</vendorx:customElement>
      </vendorx:topLevelCustom>

      <lomm:general>
        <vendorx:general>
          <vendorx:customElement>Strawberry Jam</vendorx:customElement>
        </vendorx:general>
      </lomm:general>
    </lomm:lom>
  </metadata>
  <!-- Organization and Resources -->
</manifest>

8.6 Curriculum Standards Metadata

Curriculum standards metadata is supported for the cartridge, resource, and question item. The design of this support allows for at least the following:

  • Any curriculum standard can be used, as long as it supports unique identifiers. The provider of a specific standard is designated by the string-valued ‘provider’ element. In order to facilitate interoperability, 1EdTech maintaina a GUID Provider Registry, but custom, i.e. unregistered providers, are permitted. Note that the provider can be accompanied by region and version string-valued attributes. These are intended to be for descriptive value only.
  • Any cartridge, resource, or question item can be associated with 0 or more curriculum standards from 1 or more providers.
  • The provider value and GUID should be sufficient to unambiguously identify a standard.
  • An optional GUID label is supported, since this should make standards more readily apparent when examining the cartridge.
  • An optional CASE URI Link is supported, allowing for the precise identification of a competency or academic standard.

At a cartridge-level these standards should represent the cartridge as a whole, and not necessarily list all standards that each individual resource covers since those can be attached to each resource.

Possible Applications:

  • A content creator aligns cartridge, resource, or question item to specific standards.
  • An instructor or student seeks a cartridge that has material aligned to a standard with which they need additional study. A discovery tool might locate a cartridge that matches a specific standard or a similar one. Such a tool might be able to navigate standards relationships programmatically to suggest more general or more detailed content.
  • An instructor or administrator seeks to assess how students performed on a test, broken down by results per standard. A learning platform could use alignment metadata to produce such reports.

Curriculum Standards metadata can be applied at the cartridge, resources, or question item level. The approach for either the cartridge or non-assessment resources is identical and is illustrated below.

8.6.1 Example XML for standards from one source

Example for aligning to a single GUID from one source:


<csm:curriculumStandardsMetadataSet>
  <csm:curriculumStandardsMetadata providerId="CASE">
    <csm:setOfGUIDs>
      <csm:labelledGUID>
        <csm:label>ELAGSE3W7 Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.</csm:label>
        <csm:caseItemURI>https://case.georgiastandards.org/ims/case/v1p0/CFItems/370850e6-46fa-11e7-9dcf-6ce999a3c328</csm:caseItemURI>
        <csm:GUID>370850e6-46fa-11e7-9dcf-6ce999a3c328</csm:GUID>
      </csm:labelledGUID>
    </csm:setOfGUIDs>
  </csm:curriculumStandardsMetadata>
</csm:curriculumStandardsMetadataSet>

Example for aligning to two GUIDs from one source:


<csm:curriculumStandardsMetadataSet>
  <csm:curriculumStandardsMetadata providerId="CASE">
    <csm:setOfGUIDs>

      <csm:labelledGUID>
        <csm:caseItemURI>https://case.georgiastandards.org/ims/case/v1p0/CFItems/370850e6-46fa-11e7-9dcf-6ce999a3c328</csm:caseItemURI>
        <csm:GUID>370850e6-46fa-11e7-9dcf-6ce999a3c328</csm:GUID>
      </csm:labelledGUID>

      <csm:labelledGUID>
        <csm:caseItemURI>https://case.georgiastandards.org/uri/e461a252-9d61-11e7-b07d-050ac7966899</caseItemURI>
        <csm:GUID> e461a252-9d61-11e7-b07d-050ac7966899</csm:GUID>
      </csm:labelledGUID>

    </csm:setOfGUIDs>
  </csm:curriculumStandardsMetadata>
</csm:curriculumStandardsMetadataSet>

8.6.2 Example XML for standards from multiple sources


<csm:curriculumStandardsMetadataSet>

  <csm:curriculumStandardsMetadata providerId="CASE">
    <csm:setOfGUIDs>
      <csm:labelledGUID>
        <csm:GUID>370850e6-46fa-11e7-9dcf-6ce999a3c328</csm:GUID>
      </csm:labelledGUID>
    </csm:setOfGUIDs>
  </csm:curriculumStandardsMetadata>

  <csm:curriculumStandardsMetadata providerId="ASN">
    <csm:setOfGUIDs>
      <csm:labelledGUID>
        <csm:GUID>e31d880f-c142-4086-b6a6-0fe0179ed1b2</csm:GUID>
      </csm:labelledGUID>
    </csm:setOfGUIDs>
  </csm:curriculumStandardsMetadata>

</csm:curriculumStandardsMetadataSet>

8.6.3 Aligning Assessments and their items to standards

At the assessment resource level, the syntax required is slightly different. We can’t place metadata directly into the assessment description file (XML) and so we place it in the manifest and include the item’s identifier.

For the resource that holds the assessment, the curriculumStandardsMetadataSet metadata element must include the attribute resourceLabel="QTI-Assessment".

For item-level metadata, the element may include the attribute resourceLabel="QTI-Assessment" and resourcePartId=the Id of the QTI item, i.e., ident attribute of item element. This mechanism associates the curriculum standards metadata, which resides in the imsnanifest.xml file with a specific item in the assessment file.


<resource identifier="RES_MOD4_LSN4_exam1" type="imsqti_xmlv1p2/imscc_xmlv1p4/assessment" >
   <metadata>
     <curriculumStandardsMetadataSet resourceLabel="QTI-Assessment">
       <curriculumStandardsMetadata providerId="ASN">
         <!-- ... --->
       </curriculumStandardsMetadata>
     </curriculumStandardsMetadataSet>
     <curriculumStandardsMetadataSet resourceLabel="QTI-Item" resourcePartId="c10752c0-5a03-49c7-a1fd-8b7e08df80ec" >
       <curriculumStandardsMetadata domainId="ASN">
       <!-- ... --->
    </curriculumStandardsMetadata>
   </curriculumStandardsMetadataSet>

And in the referenced assessment file, the item ident attribute matches the resourcePartId in the manifest.


<assessment ident="18f098f1-e9a4-4799-8dbc-f4984d16a122" title="4_12ARegularSegmentOneExam">
   <!-- ... --->
      <section ident="8b3a8b99-3919-498e-bcfe-cea2b0759e5e" title="4_12ARegularSegmentOneExam">
         <item ident="c10752c0-5a03-49c7-a1fd-8b7e08df80ec" title="4_12ARegularSegmentOneExam">
            <itemmetadata>
               <qtimetadata>
    <!-- ... --->

8.7 Accessibility Metadata

Both the Manifest and Resource level metadata containers may include resource accessibility information. Common Cartridge uses the properties defined by WebSchemas/Accessibility which is a commonly used W3C specification based on the 1EdTech AccessForAll specification.

To include resource accessibility to your resources first include the appropriate namespace and schema location:


<manifest identifier="K12ccvp1_invalid-test01"
          <!-- other namespaces -->

          xmlns:a11y="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/common/resourcea11ymetadata"
          xsi:schemaLocation="...
                      http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/common/resourcea11ymetadata https://purl.imsglobal.org/cdm/a11y/schema/xsd/resourcea11ymetadata-20210915.xsd">

Then add the ResourceAccessibilityMetadata into the metadata element for the manifest or resource like this:


  <metadata>
    <lomr:lom>
    <!-- all LOM values      -->
    </lomr:lom>
    <a11y:ResourceAccessibilityMetadata>
      <a11y:accessibilityFeature>alternativeText</a11y:accessibilityFeature>
      <a11y:accessibilityFeature>audioDescription</a11y:accessibilityFeature>

      <a11y:accessibilityHazard>flashing</a11y:accessibilityHazard>
      <a11y:accessibilityAPI>MSAA</a11y:accessibilityAPI>
      <a11y:accessibilityControl>fullKeyboardControl</a11y:accessibilityControl>
      <a11y:accessMode>auditory</a11y:accessMode>
      <a11y:accessModeSufficient>auditory</a11y:accessModeSufficient>
      <a11y:accessibilitySummary>Statement</a11y:accessibilitySummary>
    </a11y:ResourceAccessibilityMetadata>
  </metadata>

9. Implementation Guidelines and Best Practices

9.1 Extending Common Cartridge

Common Cartridge is intended to have a high level of interoperability by including only the most widely supported content types and metadata. As you evaluate your options for extending CC, you should ensure that your cartridge can be imported in a meaningful way even if the system importing it doesn't support any of your extensions.

That means, for example, utilizing all the features of Common Cartridge before adding extensions, and ensuring that the data that can be included in CC structures is, even if it might be replicated in your custom extensions.

You should also make sure to publish documentation about the structure and meaning of your CC extensions so that those consuming the cartridges can easily evaluate the work involved in utilizing them should they choose. This can be referenced by including a comment in the manifest XML, or by properties in your extension that a developer could easily discover and browse to your documentation website.

9.1.1 New Resource Types

If you want to add a whole new resource type, as of CC 1.3, you can define your own XML definitions and work with the Common Cartridge workgroup to get them listed publicly: Extensions Registry

The mechanism and technical details can be found in the Resource Type Extensions section.

9.1.2 LOM Metadata

In Common Cartridge 1.4 two new mechanisms for extending CC's use of LOM were added. These are explained in detail in the Extending Metadata section.

LTI links had a simple extension element prior to Common Cartridge 1.4, but in 1.4 a similar element has been added to Web Links and Discussion Topics as well.

The LTI Extension has not changed since CC 1.1 and is described with an example in the Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) Content Type section.

In CC 1.4 Web Links and Discussion Topics can now use the same new simple key/value extensions element as the LOM metadata areas. For a topic this would look like:


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
  <topic xmlns="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imsdt_v1p4" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imsdt_v1p4 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_imsdt_v1p4.xsd" >

  <title>The Psychology of Faces</title>
  <text texttype="text/html">Is recognition of human emotional states learned or innate? Might there be a culture in the world that expresses joy through scowling and fear through laughter? Does your dog smile when he's happy?</text>

  <extensions vendor="my.lms.com">
    <property name="discussion_type">group</property>
    <property name="points_possible">100</property>
  </extensions>

</topic>

9.2 General Best Practices

A convention could be utilized based on some form of UID to prevent collisions with user generated web content folder names. Additionally, a subdirectory may be created to contain all Learning Application Object directories to further reduce the risk of collisions between Learning Application Object directories and those in the web content.

9.2.1 Extensions to Resources Metadata

Compliant systems must at least tolerate any structure attached to extension points.

9.2.2 Accessibility

Extensions for accessibility supported in Content Packaging v1.2 have been incorporated into the schema for Common Cartridge v1.2. However, whilst these extensions are provided for use by those wishing to provide accessibility features, their use and implementation is not mandated for general use and they will not be addressed in any conformance tests developed.

9.2.3 Metadata Rights Management

Copyright of a cartridge is defined as follows:


<rights>
  <copyrightAndOtherRestrictions>
    <value>yes</value>
  </copyrightAndOtherRestrictions>
  <description>
    <string> 2006-2007 1EdTech Consortium Inc.</string>
  </description>
</rights>

9.2.4 XML Descriptor Files

1EdTech recommends that all XML files be written using an XML editor. This will help ensure that the content of descriptor files is XML in proper form and will allow parsers to processes these files correctly.

1EdTech also recommends that XML file content use encoding for reserved characters such as ‘<’, ‘>’, ‘&’, ‘%’, etc.

9.2.5 Filenames

1EdTech recommends that filenames not contain spaces, although some systems allow this. Similarly, 1EdTech recommends that all filename references use either all lowercase or all uppercase and consistently.

9.2.6 Importing Curriculum Standards

  • Resources loaded to an importing system should be aligned to any existing standards framework already loaded into the importing system.
  • If the importing platform does not already have the standards framework loaded, the platform should prompt the user to import the framework
  • The importing platform should recognize academic standards data, even if frameworks are not recognized or available.
  • The platform should preserve the resource GUIDs so that they can be aligned once the correct frameworks are available.
  • If the importing platform cannot load the referenced framework, it should create a course-local framework using the GUIDs and labels provided in the curriculum standards metadata.

9.3 Examples of Valid Common Cartridge File Structures

9.3.1 Sample 1 – Web Content and Learning Application Objects Both in Root

0001

0002 Imsmanifest.xml

0003 --------------------

Resource 0001 (Web Content Resource)

0004 Page001.htm

0005 Images 0006 Image0001.gif

Resource 0002 (Web Content Resource)

0007 Media 0008 Audio001.mp3

0009 ---------------------

0010 LO001 Resource 0003 (Discussion Forum Resource)

0011 Welcome.forum

Resource 0004 (Associated Content Resource for Resource 0003)

0012 Welcome.gif

0013 Attachments 0014 Gettingstarted.doc

0015 LO002 Resource 0005 (QTI Assessment Resource)

0016 Studymate.qti

0017 LO003 Resource 0006 (QTI Assessment Resource)

0018 Quiz1.qti

Resource 0007 (Associated Content Resource for Resource 0006)

0019 Sample.doc

0020 Images 0021 Ques001.gif

0022 Ques002_a.gif

9.3.2 Sample 2 – Web Content in Root and Learning Application Objects in Subdirectory

0001

0002 Imsmanifest.xml

0003 --------------------

Resource 0001 (Web Content Resource)

0004 Page001.htm

0005 Images 0006 Image0001.gif

Resource 0002 (Web Content Resource)

0007 Media 0008 Audio001.mp3

0009 Data

0010 LO001 Resource 0003 (Discussion Forum Resource)

0011 Welcome.forum

Resource 0004 (Associated Content Resource for Resource 0003)

0012 Welcome.gif

0013 Attachments 0014 Gettingstarted.doc

0015 LO002 Resource 0005 (QTI Assessment Resource)

0016 Studymate.qti

0017 LO003 Resource 0006 (QTI Assessment Resource)

0018 Quiz1.qti

Resource 0007 (Associated Content Resource for Resource 0006)

0019 Sample.doc

0020 Images 0021 Ques001.gif

0022 Ques002_a.gif

9.3.3 Sample 3 – Web Content and Learning Application Objects Both in Subdirectories

0001

0002 Imsmanifest.xml

0003 Content

Resource 0001 (Web Content Resource)

0004 Page001.htm

0005 Images 0006 Image0001.gif

Resource 0002 (Web Content Resource)

0007 Media 0008 Audio001.mp3

0009 LO001 Resource 0003 (Discussion Forum Resource)

0010 Welcome.forum

Resource 0004 (Associated Content Resource for Resource 0003)

0011 Welcome.gif

0012 Attachments 0013 Gettingstarted.doc

0014 LO002 Resource 0005 (QTI Resource)

0015 Studymate.qti

0016 LO003 Resource 0006 (QTI Assessment Resource)

0017 Quiz1.qti

Resource 0007 (Associated Content Resource for Resource 0006)

0018 Sample.doc

0019 Images 0020 Ques001.gif

0021 Ques002_a.gif

9.3.4 Relative Paths

The following table illustrates all valid relative file reference scenarios for each resource

9.3.4.1 Valid Relative File References
Resource Valid Relative References
Resource 0001 Resource 0001, Resource 0002
Resource 0002 Resource 0001, Resource 0002
Resource 0003 Resource 0001, Resource 0002, Resource 0004
Resource 0004 Resource 0001, Resource 0002, Resource 0004
Resource 0005 Resource 0001, Resource 0002
Resource 0006 Resource 0001, Resource 0002, Resource 0007
Resource 0007 Resource 0001, Resource 0002, Resource 0007

The following three tables illustrate the required relative path to access another file in the root directory of another resourceAn X in a box indicates that a relative reference to files in that resource are not allowed.

9.3.4.2 Relative Paths for Sample 1

Table: Relative path to file in root of resource#.

Resource 0001 0002 0003 0004 0005 0006 0007
0001 ./ ./ X X X X X
0002 ./ ./ X X X X X
0003 ../ ../ X ./ X X X
0004 ../ ../ X ./ X X X
0005 ../ ../ X X X X X
0006 ../ ../ X X X X X
0007 ../ ../ X X X ./ ./
9.3.4.3 Relative Paths for Sample 2

Table: Relative path to file in root of resource#.

Resource 0001 0002 0003 0004 0005 0006 0007
0001 ./ ./ X X X X X
0002 ./ ./ X X X X X
0003 ../../ ../ X ./ X X X
0004 ../../ ../../ X ./ X X X
0005 ../../ ../../ X X X X X
0006 ../../ ../../ X X X X X
0007 ../../ ../../ X X X ./ ./
9.3.4.4 Relative Paths for Sample 3

Table: Relative path to file in root of resource#.

Resource 0001 0002 0003 0004 0005 0006 0007
0001 ./ ./ X X X X X
0002 ./ ./ X X X X X
0003 ../../content/ ../../content/ X ./ X X X
0004 ../../content/ ../../content/ X ./ X X X
0005 ../../content/ ../../content/ X X X X X
0006 ../../content/ ../../content/ X X X X X
0007 ../../content/ ../../content/ X X X ./ ./

9.4 Content & Assessment Issues

9.4.1 Course Essentials

Provide comprehensive information about the course and its content, including, but not limited to:

  • Full book title (including edition). If there is no corresponding book, provide the course title.
  • Author(s)
  • ISBN
  • Publisher/Imprint/Business Unit/Discipline.
  • Appropriate contact information, including editorial/author/support (email, phone number, etc.).
  • Full URLs of any associated websites, along with appropriate access information if protected.
  • A list of any special plug-ins or enabling technologies required for satisfactory use.
  • Whenever possible, develop content for the broadest base of browser versions and operating systems in current use. Keep in mind that not everyone has the latest and greatest.
  • Provide details for content (file types, how it is presented, etc.)
  • Provide appropriate copyright information, including any restrictions on the content’s use.

9.4.2 Course Design

9.4.2.1 Keep it Simple!

Specialized coding, such as custom JavaScript modules, may work beautifully in one LMS/CMS environment, but may not work at all in another. Avoid it.

Use consistent file naming, with shorter file names wherever possible.

Avoid the use of glyphs, such as curly or typographer's quotation marks, which may not render properly in some platforms. Unfortunately, curly quotes is a default setting in MS Word. When this feature is active, straight quotation marks are automatically changed to curly quotes while typing. Disable it when authoring content for the Common Cartridge.

9.4.2.2 Keep it Small!

Always keep course size in mind when designing and building a course. If any modules or features are repeated throughout the course, place them in a section that can hold these common elements. Doing this can dramatically cut down on the size of the cartridge. Optimally, a course should not be larger than 100 MB. Better yet, whenever possible, put larger, commonly-used files on a server, external to the course, and link to them there.

9.4.2.3 Use External Servers for Large and Commonly Used Files

Large files (such as PPT, Word/Excel, PDFs, movies and other media) generally should not be included within a course. Anything loaded within the course will tend to enlarge the course size and this will increase the time to download a course. When multiple instances of a course are installed on a server to support multiple sections, significant server space may be needlessly consumed with redundant content. Content stored on external servers will need to be made available to course users, though. For publishers, this will likely mean hosting content on a server that is globally accessible from the Internet. For a locally-produced university course, this may mean hosting content on a server accessible by the intended users – wherever they are, inside or outside of the university firewall.

9.4.2.4 Avoid “Platform-Specific" Language/Icons

Sometimes "platform-specific" language appears in assessments and or other pages of a course. This could be anything from instructions on how to submit a quiz for grading to module-specific information. Avoid such platform-specific language and/or icons in your course content.

9.4.2.5 Plan for Change

An instructor can alter the look/feel of a course within minutes of installing it on a server, so the design of course material should be kept clean and simple. Provide a simple yet professional banner and icon set for the course content. It may be possible to use a generic set of icons for all courses.

9.4.2.6 Make it Compatible

Some platforms support multiple correct answers, while others may not. Some CMS support tutorial mode – where questions are presented one at a time – while others may not. Some systems may re-order questions. Some systems may support feedback, but that feedback is generally for right or wrong answers and rarely support individualized feedback for each specific answer. Develop questions that will work on all platforms.

Develop assessments that the Common Cartridge currently supports:

  • Multiple choice, single response
  • Multiple choice, multiple response
  • True/false
  • Essay
  • Fill-in-the-blank
  • Pattern match (optional)

See the Common Cartridge specifications for more information about the individual question types.

An assessment may include a reading, image, hyperlink to another website, or a set of instructions at the top of the quiz that are needed for the student to answer the questions. Decide how to handle these questions. The information can be included in each question, or the question can include a link to it.

Try to keep the quizzes in a course to a reasonable number. Otherwise, an instructor may encounter problems when using the course gradebook.

9.4.2.7 Check it

Proofread and QA the course content against the original source materials, ensure that all course elements function properly, and all external resources are appropriately available.

10. Common Cartridge in the 1EdTech ecosystem

As a content portability standard, Common Cartridge is relevant to many other 1EdTech specification in some way. These sections will cover some of ways Common Cartridge interacts with other specifications.

10.1 CASE - Competencies and Academic Standards Exchange

1EdTech Competencies and Academic Standards Exchange (CASE) Service Version 1.0 is used to align learning content and activities with academic standards. In Common Cartridge the cartridge as a whole, and each individual resource can be aligned to one or many CASE GUIDs. There are many applications for aligning resources to standards that are covered in the Curriculum Standards Metadata section.

10.1.1 Example XML aligning to CASE URIs

The namespace must be declared as described in the Common Cartridge Manifest Namespaces section.

The providerID on the curriculumStandardsMetadata node should be CASE.

Fields for each GUID:

  • csm:GUID - The GUID for the item
  • csm:label - The full statement plus the human coding scheme
  • csm:caseItemURI - The full URI to the CASE item

The csm:GUID is the only required field, but the csm:label and csm:caseItemURI are recommended. 


<csm:curriculumStandardsMetadataSet>
  <csm:curriculumStandardsMetadata providerId="CASE">
    <csm:setOfGUIDs>

      <csm:labelledGUID>
        <csm:GUID>2f5e8130-46fa-11e7-b197-cd3432e719f9</csm:GUID>
        <csm:label>ELAGSE1RL1 Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.</csm:label>
        <csm:caseItemURI>https://case.georgiastandards.org/ims/case/v1p0/CFItems/2f5e8130-46fa-11e7-b197-cd3432e719f9</caseItemURI>
      </csm:labelledGUID>

      <csm:labelledGUID>
        <csm:GUID>2f5eda0e-46fa-11e7-b90a-62096a00843f</csm:GUID>
        <csm:label>ELAGSE1RL2 Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.</csm:label>
        <csm:caseItemURI>https://case.georgiastandards.org/ims/case/v1p0/CFItems/2f5eda0e-46fa-11e7-b90a-62096a00843f</caseItemURI>
      </csm:labelledGUID>

    </csm:setOfGUIDs>
  </csm:curriculumStandardsMetadata>
</csm:curriculumStandardsMetadataSet>

10.2 LTI - Learning Tools Interoperability

Common Cartridge has an important relationship with LTI. There are many use cases where links to LTI services are shared via a Common Cartridge or a Thin Common Cartridge, for example, a text book or courseware vendor may provide a cartridge to a school to import dozens or hundreds of links at once.

For examples and a description of how to create valid LTI links in Common Cartridge see the LTI Link Content Type section.

The LTI links defined by Common Cartridge are compatible with all version of LTI 1 and also LTI Advantage. However, the importing system may need to process links differently depending on what version they intend to utilize in the course. The sections below will clarify some of those considerations.

If a system supports multiple versions of LTI within a given import context, it is best practice that an imported LTI link be attempted to match the newer LTI 1.3 over LTI 1.1.

10.2.1 Working with LTI Advantage

LTI Links in previous versions of Common Cartridge are compatible with LTI Advantage. However, there are some new features and best practices in CC 1.4 that an LTI implementor should take advantage of such as added support for Line Items.

See the 1EdTech Learning Tools Interoperability® Advantage Implementation Guide for more information.

10.2.1.2 LTI Assignments and Grades Service

As described in the Line Items section above, LTI 1.4 now supports defining Line Items in an LTI link. See that section for an example and description of the new feature.

This Line Item is modelled after the 1EdTech Learning Tools Interoperability® Assignment and Grade Services specification and you should reference that document for how to utilize the Assignemtns and Grades service with Line Items defined inside an LTI link.

If a tool uses the Assignment and Grade Service, and if the platform did create a Line Item on import, the Line Item url will be communicated on launch of that LTI link in the LTI message payload as per AGS specification.

10.2.1.3 LTI Deep Linking

1EdTech Learning Tools Interoperability® Deep Linking 2.0 can work in tandem with Common Cartridge to create excellent course building user experiences.

A courseware provider could create an experience as follows:

  • Provide an initial Common Cartridge for import with dozens of links organized into lessons
  • The course designer or teacher could then use LTI Deep Linking to add individual resources

This pattern can be seen as providing the initial setup of a course with CC at the start of a course, then using Deep Linking for new resources and maintenance while the course is running.

10.2.1.3.1 Providing Cartridges via Deep Linking

Another best practice for Platforms and LMSs is to provide an LTI Deep Linking launch in the course cartridge import area for a course. This is the area the teacher or designer would normally use to import a Common Cartridge or other proprietary cartridge.

Instead of the user receiving a CC zip file via email or some other download page, they could do an LTI Deep Linking launch to an interface within the Tool Provider's site that shows custom searching and filtering options. Once the user finds the desired resources, the URL to a cartrige is returned and the LMS can download the file and import it as usual. This greatly simplifies the process for sharing cartridges to teachers and course designers!

See [LTI-DL-20] for full details on implementing Deep Linking. The details unique to this workflow would be something like:


"accept_types": ["file"],
"accept_media_types": "application/vnd.ims.imsccv1p2,application/vnd.ims.imsccv1p3,application/vnd.ims.imsccv1p4,application/zip",

10.2.2 Working with LTI 1.0 and 1.1

See the LTI Link Content Type section to understand what is required for importing LTI links into an LTI 1.0 or 1.1 system. The LTI link definition is backwards compatible with previous Common Cartridge versions, so the import and support process for existing providers has not changed.

There has been one improvement to LTI links that existing implementors should take advantage of. As described in the Line Items section above, LTI 1.4 now supports defining Line Items in an LTI link. See that section for an example and description of the new feature.

This addition solves some common use cases around importing LTI via Common Cartridge. Before this there was no specified way to mark a link as needing to be graded, so many course designers would have to do manual work to create a gradebook column for each link that needed it. This can now be automated on import by supporting the new Line Item definition.

Learning Tools Interoperability® (LTI®) Resource Search is a standard that defines how to search digital repositories for a set of resources. A Common Cartridge can include metadata that greatly improves the searchability of both whole cartridges and individual resources.

While any metadata field is potentially searchable, LTI-RS is likely to particularly utilize a few fields in particular. For guidance on how to include these metadata in your cartridge and full field definitions see the Common Cartridge Metadata section. The LTI-RS Metadata Overview may also be helpful.

The new K-12 Profile is partially intended to improve the searchability of cartridges, but there are many recommended fields for improving searchability of a Common Cartridge:

Common Cartridge Field Name Required in K-12 or Recommended Comment
lom:general:identifier Recommended Can include GUIDs but also ISBNs and vendor-specific IDs. This may include a value that works as an LTI-RS resourceUri
lom:general:title Required This is a primary search field and should include all the desired searchable terms.
lom:general:description Recommended This is a primary search field and should include all the desired searchable terms.
lom:general:keyword Required This is a primary search field and should include all the desired searchable terms. This field often lists subjects that work well for LTI-RS' subject search value.
lom:educational:intendedEndUserRole Required This value can map to LTI-RS' EducationalAudience: CC's Instructor and Learner map to Teacher and Student. CC's Mentor role may apply to the other LTI-RS values by use-case.
lom:educational:learningResourceType Recommended The LTI-RS types are supported, but additional values are available in CC. See the List of Learning Resource Types for full list of types in Common Cartridge.
lom:educational:textComplexity Recommended The complexity scale type and score.
lom:educational:typicalAgeRange Required Format updated to align with LTI-RS. May often be mapped to grade-level by LORs and search tools as described here.
lom:rights:copyrightAndOtherRestrictions Recommended May contain a value similar to LTI-RS' useRightsURL value.
csm:curriculumStandardsMetadata Recommended The Curriculum standards the cartridge and resources are aligned to.

10.3.1 Example Manifest and Resource XML for a LTI-RS searchable resource



<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<manifest identifier="resource-search-example"
          xmlns="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/thin/k12"
          xmlns:lomr="http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/thin/k12/LOM/resource"
          xmlns:lomm="http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/manifest"
          xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
          xmlns:csm="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscsmd_v1p1"
          xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/thin/k12 https://www.imsglobal.org/profile/cc/ccv1p4/thin/k12/ccv1p4_imscp_v1p2_v1p0.xsd
                      http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/thin/k12/LOM/resource https://www.imsglobal.org/profile/cc/ccv1p4/thin/k12/LOM/ccv1p4_lomresource_v1p0.xsd
                      http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/manifest https://www.imsglobal.org/profile/cc/ccv1p4/thin/LOM/ccv1p4_lommanifest_v1p0.xsd
                      http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscsmd_v1p1 https://www.imsglobal.org/profile/cc/ccv1p4/ccv1p4_imscsmd_v1p1.xsd">
  <metadata>
    <schema>1EdTech K12 Thin Common Cartridge</schema>
    <schemaversion>1.4.0</schemaversion>
    <lomm:lom>

      <lomm:general>
        <lomm:identifier>
          <lomm:catalog>ISBN13</lomm:catalog>
          <lomm:entry>9780738132977</lomm:entry>
        </lomm:identifier>
        <lomm:title>
          <lomm:string language="en-US">The title of the book or course.</lomm:string>
        </lomm:title>
        <lomm:description>
          <lomm:string language="en-US">The description can be useful in systems that
            provide searches for Common Cartridges or systems that provide a preview.
          </lomm:string>
        </lomm:description>
        <lomm:keyword>
          <lomm:string language="en-US">Sociology</lomm:string>
        </lomm:keyword>
      </lomm:general>

      <lomm:educational>
        <lomm:intendedEndUserRole>
          <lomm:source>IMSGLC_CC_Rolesv1p2</lomm:source>
          <lomm:value>Learner</lomm:value>
        </lomm:intendedEndUserRole>
      </lomm:educational>

      <lomm:rights>
        <lomm:copyrightAndOtherRestrictions>
          <lomm:value>yes</lomm:value>
        </lomm:copyrightAndOtherRestrictions>
        <lomm:description>
          <lomm:string language="en">Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/</lomm:string>
        </lomm:description>
      </lomm:rights>

      <csm:curriculumStandardsMetadataSet>
        <csm:curriculumStandardsMetadata providerId="CASE">
          <csm:setOfGUIDs>

            <csm:labelledGUID>
              <csm:GUID>2f5e8130-46fa-11e7-b197-cd3432e719f9</csm:GUID>
              <csm:label>ELAGSE1RL1 Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.</csm:label>
              <csm:caseItemURI>https://case.georgiastandards.org/ims/case/v1p0/CFItems/2f5e8130-46fa-11e7-b197-cd3432e719f9</caseItemURI>
            </csm:labelledGUID>

            <csm:labelledGUID>
              <csm:GUID>2f5eda0e-46fa-11e7-b90a-62096a00843f</csm:GUID>
              <csm:label>ELAGSE1RL2 Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.</csm:label>
              <csm:caseItemURI>https://case.georgiastandards.org/ims/case/v1p0/CFItems/2f5eda0e-46fa-11e7-b90a-62096a00843f</caseItemURI>
            </csm:labelledGUID>

          </csm:setOfGUIDs>
        </csm:curriculumStandardsMetadata>
      </csm:curriculumStandardsMetadataSet>

  </metadata>

  <organizations></organizations>
  <resources>
    <resource identifier="RESOURCE_LTI_01" type="imsbasiclti_xmlv1p4">
      <metadata>
        <lomr:lom>

          <lomr:general>
            <lomr:identifier>
              <lomr:catalog>VENDOR_ID</lomr:catalog>
              <lomr:entry>95039405-cb2d</lomr:entry>
            </lomr:identifier>
            <lomr:title>
              <lomr:string language="en-US">The title of this resource.</lomr:string>
            </lomr:title>
            <lomr:description>
              <lomr:string language="en-US">The description can be useful in systems that
                provide searches for Common Cartridges or systems that provide a preview.
              </lomr:string>
            </lomr:description>
            <lomr:keyword>
              <lomr:string language="en-US">Sociology</lomr:string>
            </lomr:keyword>
          </lomr:general>

          <lomr:educational>
            <lomr:learningResourceType>
              <lomr:value>exercise</lomr:value>
            </lomr:learningResourceType>
            <lomr:intendedEndUserRole>
              <lomr:source>IMSGLC_CC_Rolesv1p2</lomr:source>
              <lomr:value>Learner</lomr:value>
            </lomr:intendedEndUserRole>
            <lomr:textComplexity>
              <lomr:name>Flesch-Kincaid</lomr:name>
              <lomr:value>70</lomr:value>
            </lomr:textComplexity>
            <lomr:typicalAgeRange>9-12</lomr:typicalAgeRange>
          </lomr:educational>
        </lomr:lom>

        <csm:curriculumStandardsMetadataSet>
          <csm:curriculumStandardsMetadata providerId="CASE">
            <csm:setOfGUIDs>
              <csm:labelledGUID>
                <csm:label>ELAGSE1RL1 Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.</csm:label>
                <csm:caseItemURI>https://case.georgiastandards.org/ims/case/v1p0/CFItems/2f5e8130-46fa-11e7-b197-cd3432e719f9</csm:caseItemURI>
                <csm:GUID>2f5e8130-46fa-11e7-b197-cd3432e719f9</csm:GUID>
              </csm:labelledGUID>
            </csm:setOfGUIDs>
          </csm:curriculumStandardsMetadata>
        </csm:curriculumStandardsMetadataSet>
      </metadata>
      <file href="ltiresources/resource_01_lti.xml"/>
    </resource>

  </resources>
</manifest>

10.4 Open Video

The OpenVideo Standard is an XML interface for the ingestion of captured content. An Open Video manifest file can be included in a Common Cartridge and referenced as a resource like this:


<resource identifier="Resource1" type="imsov_xmlv1p0">
      <file href="item/openvideo-eg01v1.xml" />
</resource>

If a whole Open Video zip package is being included it'll look like this: 


<resource identifier="Resource1" type="imsov_zipv1p0">
  <file href="item/openvideo-eg01v1.zip" />
</resource>

If using an OV manfiest and the related files are also packaged within the Common Cartridge then each additional resource should have its own resource with the type of associatedcontent/imscc_xmlv1p4/learning-application-resource and the Open Video manifest resource should include references to the other resources as dependency nodes. For example:


<resource identifier="I_00008_R" type="imsov_xmlv1p0">
  <file href="I_00008_R/ov_v1p0.xml"/>
  <dependency identifierref="I_00009_R"/>
</resource>
<resource identifier="I_00009_R" type="associatedcontent/imscc_xmlv1p4/learning-application-resource">
  <file href="I_00008_R/primary.mp4"/>
</resource>

For more information on including files from other specifications see the Other Specification zip or xml files section.

10.5 QTI - Question and Test Interoperability

Common Cartridge supports two QTI content types: Assessments and Question Banks. These use a CC QTI Profile that is based on QTI 1.2. The QTI section explains the how to implement this profile in a Common Cartridge.

In Common Cartridge 1.4, support for including a QTI 3.0 zip file was also added. This has no effect on the native CC QTI Profile, but is intended to provide forward-looking support for newer versions of QTI. See the section Other Specification zip or xml files: APIP, EPub3, IWB, and Open Video for more details.

A. Manifest Namespaces and XML Examples

A.1 Common Cartridge Manifest Namespaces

The following tables list the namespaces applied to the available CC profiles, each with the corresponding physical location for the actual schema.

Core Cartridge Namespaces for content packaging and LOM.

Namespace Path Description
http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscp_v1p1 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_imscp_v1p2_v1p0.xsd XSD for Content Package.
http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/manifest https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_lommanifest_v1p0.xsd XSD for the CC Manifest Metadata.
http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/resource https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_lomresource_v1p0.xsd XSD for the CC Resource Metadata.

Thin Profile Namespaces for content packaging and LOM.

Namespace Path For Thin Profile Description
http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscp_v1p1 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/thin/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_imscp_v1p2_v1p0.xsd XSD for Content Package.
http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/manifest https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/thin/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_lommanifest_v1p0.xsd XSD for the CC Manifest Metadata.
http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/resource https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_lomresource_v1p0.xsd XSD for the CC Resource Metadata. (Same as Core CC)

K-12 Profile Namespaces for content packaging and LOM.

Namespace Path For K-12 Profile Description
http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscp_v1p1 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_imscp_v1p2_v1p0.xsd XSD for Content Package if using Core CC K-12.
http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscp_v1p1 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/thin/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_imscp_v1p2_v1p0.xsd XSD for Content Package if using Thin CC K-12.
http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/manifest https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/k12/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_lommanifest_v1p0.xsd XSD for the K-12 CC Manifest Metadata.
http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/resource https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/k12/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_lomresource_v1p0.xsd XSD for the K-12 CC Resource Metadata.

Shared Namespaces for all other parts.

Namespace Path Description
Shared
http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscsmd_v1p1 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_imscsmd_v1p1.xsd XSD for Curriculum Standards Metadata in the CC.
http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/imscclti https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_lomccltilink_v1p0.xsd XSD for the CC LTI Link Metadata.
http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/ims_qtiasiv1p2 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_qtiasiv1p2p1_v1p0.xsd XSD for QTI resources in the CC.
http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imswl_v1p4 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_imswl_v1p4.xsd XSD for Web Link resources in the CC.
http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imsdt_v1p4 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_imsdt_v1p4.xsd XSD for Discussion Topic resources in the CC.
http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imsccauth_v1p4 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_imsccauth_v1p4.xsd XSD for authorization data in the CC.
http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imslticc_v1p4 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_imslticc_v1p4.xsd XSD for the LTI resource link descriptor held in the CC.
http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsbasiclti_v1p0 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/lti/v1p0/schema/xsd/imsbasiclti_v1p0p1.xsd XSD for the core Basic LTI object.
http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imslticm_v1p0 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/lti/v1p0/schema/xsd/imslticm_v1p0.xsd XSD for common messaging objects in LTI.
http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imslticp_v1p0 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/lti/v1p0/schema/xsd/imslticp_v1p0.xsd XSD for common objects in LTI.
http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/lti-ags https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/lti-ags/v2p0/schema/xsd/lineitem_v1p0.xsd XSD for adding a LineItem to a CC Resource
http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/common/resourcea11ymetadata https://purl.imsglobal.org/cdm/a11y/schema/xsd/resourcea11ymetadata-20210915.xsd XSD for adding resource accessibility metadata the Manifest and Resources
CC Extension Resource Files
http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imscc_extensions/assignment https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/extensions/schema/xsd/cc_extresource_assignmentv1p0_v1p0.xsd XSD for the assignment extension resource.
http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscp_extensionv1p2 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_cpextensionv1p2_v1p0.xsd XSD for allowing extensions in Core CC.
http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/ims_openvideo_v1p0 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/ov/v1p0/schema/xsd/ims_openvideov1p0_v1p0.xsd XSD for open video files.
VDEX Files
http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsvdex_v1p0 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/vdex/v1p0/schema/xsd/imsvdex_v1p0.xsd XSD for VDEX files.
http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/LOM https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/md/v1p3/schema/xsd/imsmd_loose_v1p3p2.xsd XSD for the LOM entries in VDEX instances.

Below are example manifests templates for each available profile that match the information in these tables.

A.2 Common Cartridge Manifest Example


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<manifest identifier="K12ccvp1_invalid-test01"
          xmlns="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscp_v1p1"
          xmlns:lomm="http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/manifest"
          xmlns:lomr="http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/resource"
          xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
          xmlns:csm="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscsmd_v1p1"
          xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscp_v1p1 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_imscp_v1p2_v1p0.xsd
                      http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/manifest https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_lommanifest_v1p0.xsd
                      http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/resource https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_lomresource_v1p0.xsd
                      http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscsmd_v1p1 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_imscsmd_v1p1.xsd">

  <metadata>
    <schema>1EdTech Common Cartridge</schema>
    <schemaversion>1.4.0</schemaversion>
    <lomm:lom>
      <lomm:general>
      </lomm:general>
      <lomm:educational>
      </lomm:educational>
      <lomm:lifeCycle>
      </lomm:lifeCycle>
      <lomm:technical>
      </lomm:technical>
      <lomm:rights>
      </lomm:rights>
    </lomm:lom>
  </metadata>
  <organizations>
    <organization identifier="TOC" structure="rooted-hierarchy">
      <item identifier="root">
      </item>
    </organization>
  </organizations>
  <resources>
  </resources>
</manifest>

A.3 Thin Common Cartridge Manifest Example


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<manifest identifier="K12ccvp1_invalid-test01"
          xmlns="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscp_v1p1"
          xmlns:lomm="http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/manifest"
          xmlns:lomr="http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/resource"
          xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
          xmlns:csm="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscsmd_v1p1"
          xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscp_v1p1 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/thin/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_imscp_v1p2_v1p0.xsd
                      http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/manifest https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/thin/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_lommanifest_v1p0.xsd
                      http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/resource https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_lomresource_v1p0.xsd
                      http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscsmd_v1p1 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_imscsmd_v1p1.xsd">
  <metadata>
    <schema>1EdTech Thin Common Cartridge</schema>
    <schemaversion>1.4.0</schemaversion>
    <lomm:lom>
      <lomm:general>
      </lomm:general>
      <lomm:educational>
      </lomm:educational>
      <lomm:lifeCycle>
      </lomm:lifeCycle>
      <lomm:technical>
      </lomm:technical>
      <lomm:rights>
      </lomm:rights>
    </lomm:lom>
  </metadata>
  <organizations>
    <organization identifier="TOC" structure="rooted-hierarchy">
      <item identifier="root">
      </item>
    </organization>
  </organizations>
  <resources>
  </resources>
</manifest>

A.4 K-12 Profile Manifest Example


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<manifest identifier="K12ccvp1_invalid-test01"
          xmlns="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscp_v1p1"
          xmlns:lomm="http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/manifest"
          xmlns:lomr="http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/resource"
          xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
          xmlns:csm="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscsmd_v1p1"
          xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscp_v1p1 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_imscp_v1p2_v1p0.xsd
                      http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/manifest https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/k12/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_lommanifest_v1p0.xsd
                      http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/resource https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/k12/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_lomresource_v1p0.xsd
                      http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscsmd_v1p1 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_imscsmd_v1p1.xsd">
  <metadata>
    <schema>1EdTech K-12 Common Cartridge</schema>
    <schemaversion>1.4.0</schemaversion>
    <lomm:lom>
      <lomm:general>
      </lomm:general>
      <lomm:educational>
      </lomm:educational>
      <lomm:lifeCycle>
      </lomm:lifeCycle>
      <lomm:technical>
      </lomm:technical>
      <lomm:rights>
      </lomm:rights>
    </lomm:lom>
  </metadata>
  <organizations>
    <organization identifier="TOC" structure="rooted-hierarchy">
      <item identifier="root">
      </item>
    </organization>
  </organizations>
  <resources>
  </resources>
</manifest>

A.5 K-12 Thin Profile Manifest Example


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<manifest identifier="K12ccvp1_invalid-test01"
          xmlns="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscp_v1p1"
          xmlns:lomm="http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/manifest"
          xmlns:lomr="http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/resource"
          xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
          xmlns:csm="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscsmd_v1p1"
          xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscp_v1p1 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/thin/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_imscp_v1p2_v1p0.xsd
                      http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/manifest https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/k12/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_lommanifest_v1p0.xsd
                      http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/LOM/resource https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/k12/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_lomresource_v1p0.xsd
                      http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsccv1p4/imscsmd_v1p1 https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/cc/v1p4/schema/xsd/ccv1p4_imscsmd_v1p1.xsd">
  <metadata>
    <schema>1EdTech K-12 Thin Common Cartridge</schema>
    <schemaversion>1.4.0</schemaversion>
    <lomm:lom>
      <lomm:general>
      </lomm:general>
      <lomm:educational>
      </lomm:educational>
      <lomm:lifeCycle>
      </lomm:lifeCycle>
      <lomm:technical>
      </lomm:technical>
      <lomm:rights>
      </lomm:rights>
    </lomm:lom>
  </metadata>
  <organizations>
    <organization identifier="TOC" structure="rooted-hierarchy">
      <item identifier="root">
      </item>
    </organization>
  </organizations>
  <resources>
  </resources>
</manifest>

B. Mapping of Dublin Core Elements to LOM Metadata Elements

This section is non-normative.

**Dublin Core Element** **IEEE LOM Element** **Value Type (see documentation of IEEE LOM)**
dc:audience educational.context One of ‘higher education’, ‘school’, ‘training’, ‘other’. Specifying the educational context is for information only and is not intended to effect learning platform behavior.
dc:contributor, dc:creator, dc:publisher lifeCycle.contribute.entity with appropriate value of lifeCycle.contribute.role The value held by the Entity element shall be a character string literal that is the canonical lexical representation of a valid vCard as defined in IETF RFC 2426:1998.
dc:coverage general.coverage LangString
dc:date lifeCycle.contribute.date YYYY[-MM[-DD[Thh[:mm[:ss[.s[TZD]]]]]]]
dc:description general.description LangString
dc:format technical.format — A literal that is the canonical lexical representation of a Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension(MIME) type value from RFC 2048— The token non-digital
dc:identifier general.identifier Consists of catalog set to e.g. ‘ISBN’ and entry containing the actual ISBN number
dc:language general.language Language identifier (as defined in ISO 639-1, ISO 639-2, and ISO 3166-1) Or the token _none_
dc:relation Relation This is a structure consisting of _kind_ and _resource_
dc:rights Rights Structure containing optional _cost_, _copyrightAndOtherRestrictions_ and _description_
dc:source Not mapped ---
dc:subject general.keyword (see also classification.keyword) in general.keyword LangString, in classification.keyword choice of purpose, taxonPath, description, and LangString
dc:title general.title LangString
dc:type Educational.learningResourceType Set to “1EdTech Common Cartridge"

C. Revision History

This section is non-normative.

C.1 Version History

**Spec Version No.** **Document Version No.** **Release Date** **Comments**
Final v1.0 29 January 2009 The first formal release of the CC specification.
Public Draft v1.1 9 November 2010 The Public Draft of the CC v1.1 specification.
Revised Draft v1.1 6 December 2010 Revised Public Draft of the CC v1.1 specification.
Revised Draft v1.1 24 December 2010 Folded in architecture content and removed conformance.
Final v1.1 18 April 2011 The Final CC v1.1 specification. Correction made to the path locations of the schema files.
Final v1.2 1 October 2011 The Final CC v1.2 specification.
Final v1.3 15 July 2013 The Final CC v1.3 specification.
Final v1.3 update 30 May 2014 Errant section 4.6.1.1 on LOM metadata was removed.
Draft v1.4 published 1.0 27 April 2020 The Final CC v1.4 specification.
Draft v1.4 update 1.1 15 September 2021 Update LineItem and Accessibility sections and XSD URLs.

C.2 Changes in this version

For more details and examples see "New in Common Cartridge 1.4" section in the Common Cartridge 1.4 documentation.

  • Addition of new resource type: 'Open Video' for open video files.
  • Addition of new resource type: 'QTI 3.0' for QTI 3.0 zip files. This does not change the native support for QTI 1.2 assessments and question banks; it allows additional zip files to be included.
  • Added support for CASE links in the Curriculum Standards Metadata (CSM) specification.
  • Added ability to specify a Line Item associated with an LTI Link.
  • Added extension area to resources and metadata. Best practice section.

D. References

D.1 Normative references

[CASE-10]
1EdTech Competencies and Academic Standards Exchange (CASE) Service Version 1.0. 1EdTech Consortium. July 7, 2017. 1EdTech Final Release. URL: https://www.imsglobal.org/sites/default/files/CASE/casev1p0/information_model/caseservicev1p0_infomodelv1p0.html
[CC-1.4-CERT]
Common Cartridge 1.4 Certification Guide. Anderson, Thor; Smythe, Colin. 1EdTech Consortium. URL: https://www.imsglobal.org/spec/v1p4/cert/
[LTI-AGS-20]
1EdTech Learning Tools Interoperability® Assignment and Grade Services. C. Vervoort; E. Preston; M. McKell; J. Rissler. 1EdTech Consortium. April 2019. 1EdTech Final Release. URL: https://www.imsglobal.org/spec/lti-ags/v2p0/
[LTI-DL-20]
1EdTech Learning Tools Interoperability® Deep Linking 2.0. C. Vervoort; E. Preston. 1EdTech Consortium. April 2019. 1EdTech Final Release. URL: https://www.imsglobal.org/spec/lti-dl/v2p0/
[LTI-IMPL-13]
1EdTech Learning Tools Interoperability® Advantage Implementation Guide. C. Vervoort; J. Rissler; M. McKell. 1EdTech Consortium. April 2019. 1EdTech Final Release. URL: https://www.imsglobal.org/spec/lti/v1p3/impl/
[RFC2119]
Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels. S. Bradner. IETF. March 1997. Best Current Practice. URL: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2119

D.2 Informative references

[CC-1.4]
Common Cartridge 1.4. Anderson, Thor; Smythe, Colin. 1EdTech Consortium. URL: https://www.imsglobal.org/spec/v1p4/
[CC-1.4-IMPL]
Common Cartridge 1.4 Implementation Guide. Anderson, Thor; Smythe, Colin. 1EdTech Consortium. URL: https://www.imsglobal.org/spec/v1p4/impl/
[CC-1.4-OVERVIEW]
Common Cartridge 1.4 Overview and Migration Guide. Anderson, Thor; Smythe, Colin. 1EdTech Consortium. URL: https://www.imsglobal.org/cc/ccv1p4/overview/

E. List of Contributors

The following individuals contributed to the development of this document:

Name Organization
Thor AndersonLearning Components, Inc.
Kathryn Green1EdTech Consortium
Jill Hobson1EdTech Consortium
Bracken Mosbacker1EdTech Consortium
Colin Smythe1EdTech Consortium