A form is provided for each of these tasks. There are radio buttons across the top of the Manifest Maker dialog box that let you switch between these forms.Manifest Maker creates a SCORM 1.2 manifest file named imsmanifest.xml. The resulting manifest file should pass the SCORM 1.2.6 conformance test. SCORM allows metadata to be stored in the manifest file or in a separate XML file. Manifest Maker will always store the metadata in a separate file named imsmetadata.xml. We'll refer to these two files as the manifest.
The manifest is created based on the files and other information contained in your site. To define a site, use the Dreamweaver Site menu and select Define Sites.... If you are unfamiliar with the term site, please read the Dreamweaver documentation to learn how to create and use sites.
The files created by Manifest Maker (imsmanifest.xml and imsmetadata.xml) are saved in the root level directory of your site. When you add or remove files or references within your site you will need to update the manifest. Simply run Manifest Maker again to recreate the manifest.
There are different types of manifests. Manifest Maker creates a Content Aggregation type of manifest. A content aggregation is a collection of Shareable Content Objects (SCOs). We'll refer to this type of manifest as a course.
Manifest Maker provides a quick and easy way to create a manifest. However, Manifest Maker handles only the minimum number of elements required to pass the SCORM conformance test. If you need to add additional data to your manifest you can directly edit the XML files with Dreamweaver or you can use other commercial products.
Manifest Maker will easily create a manifest that contains a single SCO. It can also create a manifest that contains multiple SCO's but with some limitations. In many cases, some manual editing of the manifest will be needed for manifests with multiple SCO's (see the SCOs section for more information).
This is version 2.0 of Manifest Maker for ADL SCORM 1.2. Check for the latest version of Manifest Maker extension at http://exchange.macromedia.com.
The complete description of manifests and conformance requirements can be found in the ADL SCORM Specification (http://www.adlnet.org/). The ADL site also hosts an excellent forum (discussion group) on implementing SCORM. Additional information about the manifests can be found on the IMS site (http://www.imsglobal.org/).
Tom King created Manifest Maker a few years ago. The original Manifest Maker was a very popular tool in the early days of SCORM. It was downloaded more than 20,000 times. Over time, the SCORM specification changed so much that Manifest Maker no longer created manifests that would pass the conformance test. So, Leo Lucas, the founder of e-Learning Consulting has developed a new version of Manifest Maker to support the most recent conformance test for SCORM 1.2. e-Learning Consulting provides comprehensive e-Learning consulting services and inexpensive, innovative e-Learning Software. The software includes:
When Manifest Maker starts, it looks for an existing manifest (it looks for the file imsmanifest.xml in the root directory). If it finds an existing manifest file, it reads it and populates the dialog box with the information from the existing manifest. If Manifest Maker cannot find a manifest, it provides these default values:
After Manifest Maker is done looking for an existing manifest it creates a lit of all of the files in your site. This can take several minutes if you have hundreds or thousands of files in your site.
To create the manifest, you will perform three tasks:
A form is provided for each of these tasks. There are radio buttons across the top of the Manifest Maker dialog box that let you switch between these forms.
To create the metadata for your manifest, simply fill in the fields in the Metadata Form. To create a conforming manifest you MUST provide a value for every field. The following is a brief description of each field. Refer to the SCORM 1.2 specification and conformance documentation for a complete understanding of the data items ( http://www.adlnet.org/).
Manifest ID: This string is used to distinguish one manifest from another. In SCORM 1.2 there is no specific format for the Manifest ID but it can not be blank and can not contain spaces.
Version: Indicates the version number of this manifest. Use this to keep track of different versions of your manifest. Note that this number is not the version number of the IMS or ADL specification that the manifest is intended to comply with.
Title: The name of your course.
Description: The description of your course.
Catalog Name: SCORM 1.2 defines this as specifying the name of a known cataloging system. However, there is no common definition for these known cataloging systems. So, enter a name that will be useful for the consumers of your course(s). This might be your company name or the brand name of your content.
Catalog Entry: Provide an entry name within the catalog. For example, if your catalog name is "EasyLearn" then your catalog entry might be a part number within the catalog such as "100".
Lifecycle Version: Indicates the version of your course. Examples: "2", "1.0", "1.0 alpha".
Lifecycle Status: This describes the level of completeness. You can only enter one of these values: "Draft", "Final", "Revised" or "Unavailable".
Educational Resource : The SCORM 1.2 specification recommends you use one of these values: "Exercise", "Simulation", "Questionnaire", "Diagram", "Figure", "Graph", "Index", "Slide", "Table", "Narrative-Text", "Exam", "Experiment", "Problem-Statement", or "Self-Assessment".
Cost: Specifies if payment required to use this course. You can only enter one of these values: "yes" or "no".
Copyright: Is there a copyright or some other restriction on the use of this course. You can only enter one of these values: "yes" or "no".
Rights Description: A description of the rights associated with this course. For example, "Copyright 2004, all rights reserved".
Classification Purpose : The SCORM 1.2 specification recommends you use one of these values to describe how the course can be classified: "Discipline", "Idea", "Prerequisite", Educational Objective, "Accessibility Restrictions", "Educational Level", "Skill Level", or "Security Level".
Copy XSD Files: When this is checked, Manifest Maker copies all of the required IMS and ADL XSD control documents to the local site root where the imsmanifest.xml is written. XSD files are used by the manifest file. You will need these files to create a SCORM package. The XSD files copied by Manifest Maker are the same as the XSD files distributed in the SCORM 1.2.6 conformance test.
You use the SCOs Form (shown below) to define the SCOs for your manifest.
The SCOs form provides a list of all of the launchable files within your site. A file is considered launchable if its name ends with:
To create your manifest, you must select the files that launch your SCOs. After you select the launch files, add them to the list of SCOs by clicking the "Add SCO" button. If you have a course with a single SCO, select the one file that launches that SCO. If your course has more than one SCO, select all of the files that launch the SCOs. Once you have added your SCOs you can change their sequence by clicking on the "Up" and "Down" buttons.
You use the SCOs Form to create the <organization> section of the manifest. Each SCO will be entered as an <item> in the default organization. Each <item> tag needs a title. Manifest Maker uses the <title> tag in your SCO's launch file.
There are many ways to structure a course with multiple SCOs. Manifest Maker uses a simple approach.
If you would like a different organization, you can modify the manifest file with Dreamweaver.
You use the Resources Form to select the resources for your manifest (the <resources> section of the manifest). When Manifest Maker starts, it inserts all of the files in the list of resources and selects them. You may want to eliminate some of these files from your resources (for example, you may have some files in your site that are not part of the course). If you want to remove a file from the list of resources, simply unselect the file by clicking on it while holding down the control key.
You need to make sure your manifest will pass the SCORM 1.2 conformance test. The conformance test software is free. You can download the conformance test software from ADL (http://www.adlnet.org/). Once you download it, you install it and conduct a self-test. The SCORM tools and jargon can be confusing. The ADL forum can help you get through the steps.
Creating a manifest is one of three things you need to do to create a SCORM-based course. To create a SCORM based course you need to:
Manifest Maker is provided free of charge. There is no direct support for it. However, if you need more help you can read all of the SCORM 1.2 documents and ask questions about manifests on the ADL forum (the forum is free and the participants are usually helpful and friendly). It will take some time to read though the hundreds of pages that make up the SCORM documentation. If you need quick results, you can hire an expert to help you and your development team implement SCORM.