Having discussed two key components of this Open Environment for E-learning; an XML-based authoring and content-generation tool, and an image-manipulation application, today I will discuss an XML-based productivity suite - a word processor, spreadsheet application, and presentation tool called OpenOffice.org.
In my view, tools like DocBook XML and XMLmind XML Editor are excellent primary content creation and generation applications; they provide 
courseware developers with a familiar UI in which to create their content, while retaining the flexibility and interoperability of an XML-based structure.
One of the main benefits of using XML-based tools (as we will see in a future post) is that it facilitates a "create once, reuse many times" approach to content objects. By creating one appropriately-tagged XML-based master document, content can be refactored as a printable manual, an HTML-based guide, a PowerPoint-type presentation, and integrated into an e-learning content delivery platform, all based on one set of source XML-based information.
Now read on...
It is a truism that instructional designers, courseware developers and learning professionals (particularly in organizations) will source knowledge and learning materials from subject matter experts (SMEs) if possible. This research can be undertaken by using a range of strategies, including searching corporate knowledge-bases, interviewing SMEs, task-based collaboration, and so on.
While SMEs have the tacit and explicit knowledge, skills and domain expertise to inform your instructional design and content requirements, typically they have neither the time nor the inclination to learn a quite complex application like DocBook XML or XXE. However, we can say that the substantial majority of knowledge workers are competent in office productivity programs including word processors, spreadsheet, and presentation applications, such as those included in the Microsoft Office suite.
Sun’s OpenOffice.org is a collection of applications that provide the features expected from a modern office suite. These components are designed to reflect the functionality available in Microsoft Office.
According to their mission statement, the OpenOffice.org project aims
…to create, as a community, the leading international office suite that will run on all major platforms and provide access to all functionality and data through open-component based APIs and an XML-based file format.
Figure 1. PPT format presentation authored in OpenOffice.org
The primary benefit of OpenOffice.org for this open environment is the ability to author XML-based content to develop presentations that may be used in instructor-led classroom environments, as well as provide media developers with a PowerPoint-formatted file to facilitate insertion into the media authoring tool Microsoft Producer 2.
In my view, the real power of OpenOffice.org is that it enables courseware developers to take (for example) PowerPoint presentations developed by SMEs, modify this content, and output it in an XML-based format, allowing integration with the other tools we are discussing in this series.
In a sense, it is a "bridge": despite the much-vaunted interoperability of Microsoft XML Core Services (MSXML) in Office 2007, I would assert that there are still many issues associated with integrating MS Office-produced content into an open environment, and by extension problems using this suite if you need to integrate your content into another environment or platform.
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References:
OpenOffice.org version 3.x. [Internet] Available from: http://www.openoffice.org [Accessed 24 August 2009]
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