CopperCore An Open Source Learning Design Engine Hubert Vogten, 20 September 2004

Contents ­Introduction ­Technical overview ­CopperCore in more detail ­A demonstration of CopperCore ­What next?

CopperCore Introduction ­not to build another e-learning system but take a more modular approach and build an engine ­it should be very simple to integrate this engine into other products. So connectivity was essential. ­Developers should be shielded from all the IMS LD complexities and be able to integrate LD quickly ­not to build any real user interface for the engine to save resources ­start with level A and continue with level B and C later on ­provide all code under the GNU General Public License as Open Source ­the engine should be installable using only other Open Source products ­This engine was has seen the light under the name CopperCore at

Time-line and Milestones July 2003Start of the development September 2003Start coding level A November 2003 First release of CopperCore for Alfanet January 2004 CopperCore on SourceForge February 2004Integration within Alfanet March 2004Start of development of level B April 2004 Participation in JISC framework July 2004CopperCore level B for Alfanet September 2004Start with development of level C November 2004 Level C + SOAP for JISC project (Service Based Leaning Design System)

Technical choices ­due to many unknowns proven technology was chosen where possible ­Java version 2 programming language ­we decided to build CopperCore on a full fletched J2EE application server ­advantages: ­scalability and robustness and maintainability ­different types of interfaces are available ­in potential database independency (we didn’t use this to the max) ­-largely externally configurable ­disadvantages ­slightly more complex installation ­steep learning curve ­p2p not as obvious anymore

Technical choices ­JBoss Open Source application server (no proprietary extensions used) ­JBuilder 9/X development environment (no proprietary extensions used) ­Very simple relational database through JDBC (supported DBMS SQL server and PostgreSQL) ­use of Open Source libraries only

CopperCore Technical View ­Based on ideas described in article (‘Implementing a learning design engine as a collection of finite state machines’: ) ­Provides three Application Programming Interface ­dealing with administrative processes like publishing, enrolment and run management ­dealing with run-time delivery of learning materials ­dealing with time dependent events ­All API’s make extensively use of XML

CopperCore base features ­Full support for IMS LD level A and B. Level C in progress ­Encapsulation of the complex LD rules ­Multi platform support ­Extensive technical and semantical validation ­Flexible republication ­Late property binding ­Full HTML/XHTML pass-through ­Low system requirements, high performance ­Freely available from

CopperCore add-ons ­Clicc (Command Line Interface CopperCore) ­very basic access to the administrative API ­Simple publication service including validation routines ­a basic web interface allowing the validation and publication of IMS LD manifests ­Example LD player fully supporting Level A and B ­very simple LD player showing off the use of the run-time delivery API

CopperCore Integration CopperCore authentication authorization conferencing QTI LIP searching policy management user management

CopperCore Integration in Alfanet CopperCore

CopperCore integration in JISC Framework Service Based Learning Design

What next? Things are brewing right now around LD ­Editors that produce LD this year: ­Reload editor will have support for LD level A ­Chronotech Editor already produces level A ­eLive LD ­Alfanet LD Editor (currently level B) ­Canadian activities (MOT+, LORNET, …) ­Projects ­UNFOLD, ALFANET, TELCERT, JISC, RELOAD, LORNET, eLive, CarlosIII, … ­TDP programme OTEC/OUNL ­PhD projects in Germany, France, Spain, China, … ­…

Demonstration