An object based authoring tool for creating SCORM compliant course

In this paper, based upon the concept of object oriented methodology (OOM), the complicated sequencing rules can be modularized into several basic components with corresponding sequencing rules in SN, called sequencing object (SO). Each SO is like a middleware, which represents a basic sequencing building block as a cluster in activity tree (AT) with some corresponding sequencing rules on the SCORM view and represents a basic sequencing graph on the users´ view. By appropriately combining these SOs, users can easily construct a complex structure of course with desired learning guidance. Then, a transformation algorithm is also proposed to firstly transform the created graph based course structure into activity tree (AT) with related sequencing rules, and then package the transformed activity tree and related physical learning resources into a SCORM compliant course file. Moreover, the authoring tool can be easily upgraded by importing a new SO instead of redesigning the tool only for new SCORM version. Finally, a SCORM compliant course built by the object based authoring tool is executed on the SCORM RTE system. The results show that our approach is workable and efficient.