<s>
The	O
eLesson	O
Markup	O
Language	O
(	O
eLML	B-Protocol
)	O
is	O
an	O
open	O
source	O
XML	B-Protocol
framework	O
for	O
creating	O
electronic	O
lessons	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
a	O
"	O
spin-off	O
"	O
from	O
the	O
GITTA	O
project	O
,	O
a	O
Swiss	O
GIS	B-Application
eLearning	O
project	O
,	O
and	O
was	O
launched	O
in	O
spring	O
2004	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
eLML	B-Protocol
project	O
is	O
hosted	O
at	O
SourceForge	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
aim	O
of	O
eLML	B-Protocol
was	O
to	O
offer	O
authors	O
a	O
tool	O
that	O
ensured	O
conformity	O
to	O
pedagogical	O
guidelines	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
eLML	B-Protocol
is	O
based	O
on	O
a	O
teaching	O
model	O
called	O
ECLASS	O
(	O
Gerson	O
,	O
2000	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
didactical	O
guidelines	O
where	O
then	O
mapped	O
into	O
an	O
XML	B-Protocol
structure	O
that	O
allowed	O
a	O
strict	O
checking	O
if	O
the	O
author	O
has	O
correctly	O
used	O
the	O
pedagogical	O
model	O
or	O
not	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
described	O
pedagogical	O
model	O
ECLASS	O
is	O
mapped	O
onto	O
an	O
XML	B-Protocol
structure	O
using	O
XML	B-Protocol
Schema	O
,	O
as	O
shown	O
in	O
this	O
illustration	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
eLML	B-Protocol
lesson	O
always	O
starts	O
with	O
either	O
the	O
mandatory	O
introduction	O
(	O
element	O
entry	O
)	O
or	O
a	O
concise	O
listing	O
of	O
the	O
lesson	O
’s	O
learning	O
objectives	O
(	O
element	O
goals	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
XML	B-Protocol
Schema	O
ensures	O
that	O
all	O
glossary	O
terms	O
used	O
in	O
a	O
lesson	O
are	O
defined	O
in	O
the	O
glossary	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
All	O
citations	O
,	O
references	O
,	O
further	O
readings	O
etc.	O
,	O
must	O
be	O
listed	O
within	O
the	O
bibliography	O
section	O
,	O
otherwise	O
the	O
XML	B-Protocol
parser	I-Protocol
issues	O
an	O
error	O
and	O
the	O
lesson	O
is	O
not	O
valid	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Through	O
an	O
amount	O
of	O
mandatory	O
elements	O
eLML	B-Protocol
ensures	O
that	O
at	O
least	O
the	O
minimal	O
metadata	O
elements	O
are	O
filled	O
out	O
even	O
though	O
many	O
authors	O
do	O
not	O
like	O
to	O
fill	O
in	O
metadata	O
information	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
eLML	B-Protocol
metadata	O
elements	O
are	O
a	O
subset	O
of	O
the	O
IMS	O
Learning	O
object	O
metadata	O
(	O
LOM	O
)	O
that	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
store	O
data	O
about	O
the	O
length	O
of	O
the	O
lessons	O
,	O
the	O
author(s )	O
,	O
copyrights	O
,	O
the	O
required	O
knowledge	O
to	O
attempt	O
this	O
lesson	O
and	O
the	O
basic	O
technical	O
requirements	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
bibliography	O
style	O
elements	O
and	O
the	O
metadata	O
section	O
are	O
defined	O
in	O
a	O
separate	O
XML	B-Protocol
schema	O
and	O
thus	O
can	O
be	O
replaced	O
by	O
other	O
standards	O
or	O
definitions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
actual	O
content	O
within	O
a	O
unit	O
is	O
stored	O
in	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
so-called	O
"	O
learning	O
objects	O
"	O
(	O
not	O
to	O
be	O
confused	O
with	O
the	O
learning	O
objectives	O
–	O
called	O
"	O
goals	O
"	O
within	O
eLML	B-Protocol
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Thanks	O
to	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
standards	O
like	O
XML	B-Protocol
,	O
XSLT	B-Application
or	O
SVG	B-Application
all	O
eLML	B-Protocol
lessons	O
can	O
be	O
transformed	O
and	O
viewed	O
with	O
any	O
web-browser	O
on	O
any	O
platform	O
and	O
are	O
totally	O
software-independent	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
two	O
main	O
transformation	O
files	O
that	O
are	O
included	O
in	O
the	O
eLML	B-Protocol
package	O
can	O
transform	O
a	O
lesson	O
into	O
an	O
"	O
online	O
"	O
(	O
both	O
XHTML	B-Language
1.1	O
and	O
HTML5	B-Application
)	O
and	O
into	O
a	O
"	O
print	O
"	O
(	O
PDF	B-Application
)	O
version	O
(	O
using	O
XSL	B-Language
Formatting	I-Language
Objects	I-Language
)	O
with	O
one	O
click	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
More	O
transformation	O
files	O
provided	O
by	O
eLML	B-Protocol
cover	O
the	O
following	O
output	O
formats	O
:	O
ODF	B-Application
(	O
Open	B-Application
Document	I-Application
Format	I-Application
)	O
,	O
DocBook	B-Protocol
,	O
LaTeX	B-Application
and	O
since	O
2010	O
also	O
eBooks	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
ePub	O
format	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
eLML	B-Protocol
supports	O
both	O
the	O
IMS	O
Global	O
"	O
Content	O
Package	O
"	O
and	O
the	O
SCORM	O
standard	O
,	O
the	O
content	O
can	O
also	O
easily	O
be	O
imported	O
into	O
any	O
modern	O
Learning	B-Application
Management	I-Application
System	I-Application
(	O
LMS	B-Application
)	O
like	O
WebCT	B-Protocol
or	O
OLAT	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
To	O
create	O
nice	O
looking	O
templates	O
eLML	B-Protocol
offers	O
a	O
tool	O
called	O
"	O
Template	O
Builder	O
"	O
and	O
it	O
has	O
built-in	O
support	O
for	O
a	O
CSS-framework	O
called	O
YAML	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
following	O
illustration	O
shows	O
an	O
eLML	B-Protocol
lesson	O
transformed	O
into	O
many	O
different	O
layouts	O
and	O
formats	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Starting	O
with	O
version	O
5	O
,	O
eLML	B-Protocol
offers	O
a	O
wide	O
range	O
of	O
tools	O
:	O
The	O
eLML	B-Protocol
Editor	O
to	O
create	O
lessons	O
(	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
Firedocs	O
Mozilla	O
Firefox	O
XML-Editor	O
,	O
the	O
Template	O
Builder	O
to	O
create	O
layout	O
templates	O
(	O
created	O
as	O
a	O
Google	O
Summer	O
of	O
Code	O
project	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
Add-On	O
'	O
s	O
for	O
Apache	O
Lenya	O
CMS	O
etc	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
eLML	B-Protocol
7	O
release	O
a	O
new	O
transformation	O
tool	O
to	O
create	O
online	O
lessons	O
in	O
various	O
formats	O
was	O
launched	O
:	O
EasyELML	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
eLML	B-Protocol
is	O
an	O
open	O
source	O
project	O
and	O
available	O
under	O
the	O
Apache	B-Application
2	I-Application
License	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
main	O
communication	O
between	O
the	O
community	O
users	O
goes	O
via	O
the	O
SourceForge	B-Application
website	O
,	O
specially	O
via	O
the	O
eLML-Users	O
Mailinglist	O
(	O
for	O
general	O
issues	O
)	O
and	O
the	O
RFE	O
(	O
Feature	O
Request	O
)	O
Tracker	O
(	O
for	O
discussions	O
about	O
new	O
features	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
