Working with eXe

Acknowledging that quality learning design is about striking a balance between what to teach (content) and how to teach it (form), eXe has developed around form elements we call instructional devices or iDevices. iDevices include a range of pedagogical forms e.g. objectives, advance organizers, and learning activities which constitute the equivalent of the 'teacher talk' in content resources designed for online learning. In other words iDevices are structural elements that describe learning content and distinguish teaching content from other forms of content like text books or journal articles.

Authoring Window

The authoring window (to the right of the screen) displays the editable areas in the iDevice templates selected. Various editing tools are available to assist in the development of text. 

Adding an iDevice

You can choose to add an iDevice by click on Activity and then define your activity in the editor.

Formatting content using Rich Text Editor

Using the iDevice rich text editor you enter your content as you would if you were using standard word processing type applications. Formatting of your content at this stage is relatively simple and the editing toolbar located above each editable frame provides some basic formatting, searching and linking functionality. 

iDevice Control Buttons

Each iDevice comes with a standard set of iDevice control buttons. These controls are described below.

·         Green check mark

Each time you enter content into a field you must click on the check mark. This records the content in the iDevice and switches the view to preview mode. Note that this does not save your work!!!

·         Blue undo arrow

By clicking on the blue undo arrow, you will undo any changes that might have made to the iDevice since opening it for edit. Please note that some iDevice editing functions (for example, Add or Remove a Question or Option in any of the quizzing iDevices) do not support an undo, and will result in the arrow appearing as:  

·         Red X

By clicking on the red X you will delete the iDevice and any content entered.

·         Up and down arrows

The up and down arrows allow you to change the order of the iDevices displayed on your screen.

·         Move To menu

You can move iDevices containing content between and within nodes. This is done by opening the drop down menu and selecting the node you wish to move it to.

·         Edit iDevice

The page and pencil icon that appears in preview mode beneath each iDevice enables you to edit that particular iDevice. This is done by clicking on the icon which opens the iDevice in edit mode.

 The Properties Tab

The properties tab allows capturing relevant project related data. Within this tab you will find three sub-tabs created to collect the data.

The Package tab allows you to record basic project information like project title, author details and taxonomy. Authors can now also add a header graphic to a package which will display in the title area of the screen page.

The Metadata tab allows you to enter details which may prove useful for searching at a later stage. eXe currently supports Unqualified Dublin Core for IMS Content Packages. That same metadata is wrapped in a subset of the IMSLRM (which itself is a subset of the IEEE-LOM) for SCORM 1.2 exports.

If the metadata entries are not filled in, eXe uses the package title, author, and description as fallback values. If you don't set the package title either, eXe will default to using the package filename.

The Export tab allows you to select additional SCORM export features.  SCORM features will be listed in this tab as they are developed and can be selected by activating the relevant checkboxes.

In eXe 1.0, the only feature available is for the addition of next and previous links to be made for SCORM exports. This feature adds next and previous page navigation buttons to each page when viewed through an LMS browser. At present this feature has been tested with the Moodle and Interact LMS. It relies on special functionality in the LMS and so should not be expected to work in all cases.

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eXe Menus and Toolbars

Loading files

Native eXe files are held as .elp files.  When authoring existing files in eXe, a file must be loaded to the eXe before they can be edited. eXe files are saved as .elp extensions.

Loading .elp files to eXe Select in the toolbar. The window opens allowing authors to browse to the folder or file sought.  Select the file by double clicking on the file or selecting the file with a single click and clicking .  The file will open in the eXe authoring window.   Save content   You must use the procedure described below to save your .elp file. The green checkmark closes edit mode for each iDevice but does not save your package. Any edits made to iDevices will be lost if not manually saved using the procedure outlined below.   Save authored content   Select from the menu in the toolbar. The window opens allowing authors to enter a file name for the project. A dialogue message is displayed confirming the location of the saved file.

Exporting content

Content created in eXe can be exported as a web package ready for publishing to a web server, as a SCORM 1.2 package for delivery to a SCORM compliant LMS, an IMS Content Package, a Single Web Page suitable for printing, a plain text file for display on mobile devices, or iPod Notes files.

To export a package

·         For the Web

Select from the menu in the toolbar. Select and then choose either or .  If you select select the folder you want to export to by selecting a folder from the window, or create a new folder and click.

A new folder can be created to store files by clicking on the button in the window. Label the newly made folder and click .

You can also export your web site as a zip file. This will help if you need to email your site to a webmaster, or if you have an LMS that can unzip files itself (like Moodle).

·         For SCORM / IMS Content Package

Select from the menu in the toolbar.  Select the SCORM 1.2 or IMS Content Package. The window will be displayed and you will be prompted for the package title.  Enter the package title and click . A similar process occurs for the IMS Content Package export. Packages exported this way are saves as .zip files.  You do not need to unzip these files in order to import into an LMS.

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Preferences

The Preferences dialog found under currently enables you to change the language in which the eXe interface is rendered. Select a language from the dropdown list and hit OK to change to another language. Your selection will be remembered when you restart eXe.

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Style

eXe currently offers seven page styles. Each style combines a different colour theme and icons appropriate to a theme.  Styles are selected from the menu on the toolbar.