confolio user guide

Confolio Tool Usage Guide

ECP-2006-EDU-410012

Organic.Edunet


Dissemination level Confidential

Delivery date 03 March 2010

Status Final

Author(s)Nikos Palavitsinis, Kostas Stratis, Hannes Ebner, Andreas Katrakilis, Nikos Manouselis

eContentplusThis project is funded under the eContentplus programme1,

a multiannual Community programme to make digital content in Europe more accessible, usable and exploitable.

1 OJ L 79, 24.3.2005, p. 1.


1. Getting started with Confolio................................................................................................31.1. Logging in...................................................................................................................31.2. Choosing your organization’s folder..........................................................................31.3. Creating folders – checking the annotated LOs..........................................................5

2. Content Resources................................................................................................................62.1. Case A: Uploading a content file................................................................................6

How to complete the “Upload file” dialog box..................................................................6How to complete the “Metadata Editing” dialog box.........................................................7Storing the Metadata.........................................................................................................14

2.2. Case B: Uploading a URL to a content file..............................................................142.3. How to complete the “Upload file” dialog box....................................................14

2/16


1. Getting started with Confolio

1.1. Logging in To log in to the Organic.Edunet Repository Tool you open a Firefox Browser (it does not support other browsers for the time being) and you type in the address http:\\oe.confolio.org. You login using the option on the top right of your screen by typing the username and password that was sent to you by e-mail.

Figure 1.1: The Confolio homepage and the login area.

3/16


NOTE: The present screenshots and any other following screenshots taken from the Repository Tool may become outdated after changes in the implementation of Confolio. If such is the case, please contact the developing team for clarifications.

1.2. Choosing your organization’s folderAfter logging in you should see the contents of the Overview portfolio, which basically consists of links to the portfolios of all content providers. Please click on the link with the abbreviation of your organization; you will then be forwarded to your organization's portfolio. Check the Figures 1.2 & 1.3 below to see how the overview looks like.

Figure 1.2: Available partner portfolios

Figure 1.3: Folders of AUA

4/16


1.3. Creating folders – checking the annotated LOsIn Figure 1.4 you can see how a folder should look like. If this is the folder you will store your annotations in, then you do not need to do anything. In case you need to create a different folder to store the annotated LOs, then you should choose the “Folder” button to create a new folder.

Figure 1.4: Folder in confolio – “New Folder” button

Inside your organization's portfolio you see a few buttons for creating resources. They are located at the bottom of the user interface. The two most important ones are “File...” for uploading files, and “Link...” for the creation of references to already existing resources on the Internet. The respective processes are presented in the present chapter as well as to the next one.

Figure 1.5: Possible operations on a folder

When a folder is selected, it expands, thus revealing the permitted actions that can be performed on the specific folder. Each folder can be edited (change name, and other metadata), removed, copied and cut in order to be pasted somewhere else. Also, on each folder the user can apply accessibility restrictions to certain users.

When you click edit, a new dialog box will appear containing all the folder details. Please ignore the other options and only use the field “Title” in case you need to change the folder’s name (Figure 1.6).

5/16


Figure 1.6: Renaming a folder

6/16


2. Content Resources

2.1. Case A: Uploading a content file The following steps – instructions consider the uploading/annotation of physical learning objects that you have as an electronic file on your hard drive and not LOs that are accessible in some URL on the internet. This procedure is explained further on.

Figure 2.7: The “Upload file” dialog box

How to complete the “Upload file” dialog box1. Click the Browse button to locate the file in your hard drive2. Choose the Format type of the file from the pull down menu3. Choose the Type of the LO from the pull down menu4. Give a title to the LO you are uploading in the Title field5. Provide a brief description of the LO you are uploading in the Description field6. You do NOT need to change the access rights values.7. Click the Finish button on the bottom right to continue to the next screen.

In Figure 2.2 you can see the “Upload file” dialog box, filled with the metadata of and academic article on Pest Incest Management for Organic Crops. As you can see, the Description field will automatically expand as you insert text, so do not hesitate to provide a comprehensive description of the LO.

7/16


Figure 2.8: The “Upload file” dialog box filled

How to complete the “Metadata Editing” dialog box

Mandatory Elements

Title

Figure 2.9: The “Title” element

As you can see, the Title element can take multiple values according to the language of the title. As a mandatory element, it must take at least one description in any of the consortium languages, preferably English. Using the “+” and “-” buttons you can add or remove descriptions in multiple languages.

8/16


LanguageAgain, the Language element (Figure 2.4) can take multiple values since the languages of the LO can be multiple. For example, a document that maps agricultural terms from English to Greek and Spanish. In the case of annotating the learning resources of your organization, most probably, the language will be your native one. This is not the case when it comes to public resources that are mainly available in English.

Figure 2.10: The “Language” element

DescriptionThe Description element (Figure 2.5) can take multiple descriptions in different languages. You can add/remove descriptions with the use of the “+” and “-” buttons.

Figure 2.11: The “Description” element

Copyrights and Other RestrictionsAs far as copyrights are concerned, the only thing that the content annotators have to provide is whether or not there are copyrights and other restrictions on the LO. If the value is “Yes” then the field with the description of the copyrights should also be filled.

Figure 2.12: The “Copyrights and Other Restrictions” element

9/16


Creative Commons Licenses

Figure 2.13: The Creative Commons values drop down list

If the resource is already characterized with a creative commons license, the user can indicate this by selecting one of the values above. If the user is the owner/author of the resource these values can also be used to indicate the intellectual property rights that apply to this resource.

Recommended Elements

KeywordIn the Keyword element you are supposed to provide with a couple (or more) keywords that describe the LO and can be used in the case of an advanced search. If you need to insert more than one keywords, please use the the “+” and “-” buttons to add more keywords. DO NOT write all the keywords in one field (e.g. separated by commas) as this feature is NOT supported. So, if you need to provide three keywords, your dialog box should look like Figure 2.7.

Figure 2.14: An example for the “Keyword” element (Three keywords are provided here)

StructureThe element Structure defines the structure of the LO.

Figure 2.15: Screenshot of the “Structure” element

10/16


ContributionThe element “Contribution” stores data about the entities (i.e., people, organizations) that have contributed to the state of the LO during its life cycle (e.g., creation, edits, publication). This element can store multiple contributors of an LO. For example, a content provider may upload a specific LO without providing extensive details about it. Some days later, another contribution can be made by the author of the LO that complements the previous description with details such as typical age range, intended end user role, etc.

Figure 2.16: Screenshot of the “Contribution” element

FormatThe Format element is used to store the exact format of the LO. In the final implementation of the Confolio tool, this field will be controlled by a pull-down menu with the most common format types along with the option for the user to describe the format if it is not in the proposed list. For the time being, you do not need to change anything to the Format field.

Intended End User RoleIntended End User Role is intended to indicate the role of principal user(s) for which this learning object was designed. Note that you can add more user roles using the “+” and “-” buttons.

Figure 2.17: Screenshot of the “Intended End User Role” element

11/16


Typical Age RangeTypical Age Range is intended to indicate the typical age of the user of the LO. There is also the possibility of entering multiple age ranges. Nevertheless these age ranges should not be overlapping for the same LO. For example, there is no reason to have an age range of “18-21” and another one “20-25”. Either minimum or maximum value can be set to U (undefined) meaning that then the range is extended in that way.

Figure 2.18: Screenshot of the “Typical Age Range” element

ContextContext indicates the principal environment within which the learning and use of this LO is intended to take place.

Figure 2.19: Screenshot of the “Context” element

CostCost element is used to indicate if the use of the LO requires any payment.

Figure 2.20: Screenshot of the “Cost” element

12/16


Ontology Term

Figure 2.21: Screenshot of some Organic.Edunet ontology terms

The ontology terms that characterize each LO can be retrieved from the Organic.Edunet ontology. The user that annotates the LO must browse through the ontology terms using the “+” and “-” signs until he finds the term that best fits the LO described. In the example examined, the LO has to do with Pest Control so we concluded to the term “PestControl” that is marked and by double clicking on it, we selected it.

13/16


Figure 2.22: Alternative way of browsing through Organic.Edunet ontology terms

The ontology terms can also be retrieved by typing the desired term. This functionality is designed for more experienced users that are already familiarized with the terms. While the user types in letters, the system provides suggestions for possible matches to the ontology.

Ontology Relationships

Figure 2.23: Relationships for the Organic.Edunet ontology terms

The user can use the drop down list to provide information on the type of the relationship that exists between the resource and the ontology term. For example, the resource about the Insect Pest Management on Organic Crops, “provides data on” (relationship) PestControl (ontology term).

14/16


Storing the MetadataWhen you insert all the mandatory and recommended elements, you should choose the “Done” option on the bottom of the metadata dialog box. By doing this, you simultaneously store the metadata you inserted. If you wish, you can edit these metadata afterwards and store any changes by clicking the same button again. Be careful because if you click on “Cancel” the changes you make will be deleted!

2.2. Case B: Uploading a URL to a content fileIn the case of a link to a web resource, please note that file you are annotating should be already online either because the organization hosts its own content website (BMLFUW case) or because the organization describes publicly available resources (Intute case).

Figure 2.24: The “Link to web resource” dialog box

2.3. How to complete the “Upload file” dialog box1. Click the Browse button to locate the file in your hard drive2. Choose the Format type of the file from the pull down menu3. Choose the Type of the LO from the pull down menu4. Give a title to the LO you are uploading in the Title field5. Provide a brief description of the LO you are uploading in the Description field6. Click the Finish button on the bottom right to continue to the next screen.

In Figure 3.2 you can see the “Upload file” dialog box, filled with the metadata of and academic article on Pest Incest Management for Organic Crops. As you can see, the Description field will automatically expand as you insert text, so do not hesitate to provide a comprehensive description of the LO.

15/16


Figure 2.25: The “Link to web resource” dialog box filled

All the other metadata elements follow the same logic in the case of the “Link to a web resource” as well.

16/16

confolio user guide

Documents