Technical implementation of GITTA using XML

Techniques for the development of common agreed module content had to be elaborated to avoid gaps as well as redundancies within the course materials. Therefore we mapped the ECLASS concept into an XML structure which since 2004 is known under the name eLML, the eLesson Markup Language:

The first three levels of the eLML structure in detail. The yellow elements gave the ECLASS model its name. The blue "lesson" element is the root element of eLML.

Interactive content is mainly created using Adobe Flash and SVG. To prepare the content ready for common internet browsers the XML files are transformed using XSLT provided by eLML. The final user interface is determined by easy to maintain eLML layout templates (mostly based on CSS) and served both as XHTML and as PDF. Within the GITTA community, the authors use CVS to store and update the lessons on the central GITTA server.

Thanks to the use of standards like XML, XSLT or SVG GITTA lessons can be viewed with any web-browser (see image below) on any platform and are totally software-independent. But because eLML supports both the IMS Content Package and since 2006 the SCORM standard, the content can easily be imported into any modern Learning Management System like WebCT or OLAT. Please refer to the download page for some installation movies or to the eLML website for more technical background information.

The same GITTA lesson in different layouts using eLML layout templates (click on image for large view)