Xerte Essential Training

Aim and Objectives

What is Xerte
Understand what Xerte can do
Examples
Development procedure
Consider good practice in your context
Get started using Xerte
Where to find further help regarding Xerte
Create your first Xerte learning object

The purpose of this training is to give you a comprehensive introduction to Xerte and a quick getting started guide on setting up your first project.

Xerte is an online tool that allows you to create interactive learning objects and webpages.

What is Xerte

2004 — 2018

The Story So Far

Nottingham University
Flash base visual editor
Simple Form Templates
Open source
Communities began to grow
HTML5 - based editor

Flipped & blended learning
Distance learning
Active learning activities
Reinforcing knowledge
Stimulating discussions
Microlearning

What could it be used for?

Pre-sessional teaching
Providing feedback
Revision resources
Resource banks
Student projects

Free and open source
Available to all staff and students
Supported by the University
Easy to create learning resources
Collaborate authoring
HTML5
Accessibility
Instant updating

Why XERTE?

Separation of content from runtime / delivery technologies
Suitable for non-technical users as well as power users
SCORM and xAPI
69 page types (increasing)
Cardiff University Theme

You can use Xerte to...

Create responsive webpages
Introduce text in dynamic ways
Upload and embed images
Upload and embed audio and video
Add hotspots to images
Sync audio and video with text
Create multi-media galleries
Include interactive and non-linear navigation
Create self-assessments with feedback

How Does It Work

See a full Xerte demo

Examples

Teaching / Structured Flow

A structured teaching resource that combines presenting text and multimedia content with interactions to check knowledge.

https://xerte.cardiff.ac.uk/play_9227

Examples

Content / Revision Flow

A revision resource that contains content and interactions that can be used in small sections at any time.

https://xerte.cardiff.ac.uk/play_8700

Examples

Embedded Resource

An embedded resource in another system to add interactivity to static content.

Learning Central Demo

Additional Examples

Embed almost anything
Advanced Menu
Branching scenarios
Extending XERTE

And many more...

Development

Plan

Design

Build

Review

Open: Workflow for developing online learning resources

Planning your resource

Aim

Audience

Use

Context

Flow

Download planning worksheet (.docx)

Aim

What do you want to achieve?

I want…

“to make sure students understood my lecture on…”

“my students to learn about … online so that we can spend class time discussing it rather than teaching it”

“to give my students more chance to practice doing …”

“my students to create a resource on … that their peers can use to revise from”

Audience

Who is going to use the resource?

Who are the primary learners?

Use

How will your resource be used?

Individuals

Groups

To learn

To support

Context

How does this fit with everything else?

Required Knowledge

Post Knowledge

Xerte

...

Lecture 3

Workshop 3

Xerte

...

Learning timeline

Module timeline

Flow

How will your resource flow?

Teaching / structured flow
Revision / contents flow
Embedded resource

Multimedia Design Principles

Content

Display

Interaction

Multimedia Design Principles

Building your resource

STEP BY STEP HELP IN USING XERTE

Accessing Xerte
Creating your first project
Project options and page options
Page type guides
Project properties and managing projects
Sharing and Publish your project
Extra features

Accessing Xerte

URL: https://xerte.cardiff.ac.uk/

User your University username and passwor

Workspace

After logging in you will be taken to the Xerte workspace. This is where you can create new projects and organise existing projects.

Workspace

The workspace is divided into three main sections:

Project Panel
Project Details
Project Template

Project Panel

Project Details

Project Template

Creating A New Project

1.On the right-hand side, click on the “+ Create” button under “Xerte Online Toolkit”

2. Enter a name for your project,

Then click “+ Create”:

Note: The editor will open automatically once you do this. To open the editor in the future, double click on your project in the list of projects or select one and click on

Editor

Open the editor by either creating a new project or selecting an existing project from the project panel and clicking the Edit button.

Editor

The pages and nested pages in your project are listed here.

The buttons at the top allow you to add and remove pages from your project:

Insert - opens a menu from which pages of various types can be added to the project (see 'Adding pages' section below);
Import pages - inserts a copy of pages from other projects into the current project (only available in projects using the Xerte Online Toolkit template);
Duplicate - makes a copy of the selected page;
Delete - permanently removes the selected page or nested page.

Project Tree

Editor

The page wizard (form) is where you are prompted to enter the information that is needed to create the selected page.

The fields shown here are different for every page type. Some pages might require you to upload media (an image, audio or video file) or select an option from a drop down list.

Click the arrow at the top of text fields to reveal a 'WYSIWYG' (what you see is what you get) toolbar where you can customise the text in a variety of ways.

Use the buttons in the top right to save and view changes:

Play - Save and preview (opens in a new window)
Publish - Save only

Page Wizard

Editor

Optional Properties Panel

Many pages contain additional functionality that can be accessed via the optional properties panel.

Some optional properties are unique to particular page types, while others (in the general section) can be added to pages of any type.
Click the add button to add a property to the page wizard

Create First Project

Enter the name of your learning object in the “Learning Object Title” field. This will be displayed at the top of every page as the first line of the header
Set the “Theme”
Set the “Display Mode” to “Fill Window”
Un-check the “Responsive Text” checkbox
Tick “Show Toolbar” at the bottom of the screen.

Xerte Project Options

https://community.dur.ac.uk/lt.team/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Xerte_Project_Options_v3.5.pdf

Adding A Page

Click on the plus button on the top left of the screen.
Select “Text” > “Title Page” > “At End”
Fill in the blank text fields in the middle
Check the optional properties
Click "Play" to preview the project

Page Categories

https://xerte.cardiff.ac.uk/play_8815

Content pages
Navigator Pages
Menu/Connectors Pages
Interactive Pages
Misc pages

Page Types Demos

Xerte Page Examples - University of Nottingham

Xerte Demo - Durham University

Xerte Template Demo - Cardiff University

Managing Your Project

Releasing projects

In the workspace, select the project you would like to release;
Click the Properties button to open the project properties window;
Select the Access tab;
Check the Public box;
Click the Change Access button.

Restricting Access

Private - only available to the creator and anyone they have given editing access to;
Public - available to anyone on the internet via a URL;
Password protected - available to anyone with a CU account;
Other - only available via links from specified sites. For example, you can make a project only work when accessed via a link from a specific Learning Central module.

Collaboration

Shared authoring
Ownership
Updating

Work Together

It is possible to work collaboratively on Xerte projects with other members of the university (both students and staff):

In the workspace, select the project you would like to release;
Click the Properties button to open the project properties window;
Select the Shared settings tab;
Enter the names of the people that you want to share the project with and click the Add user button.

Exporting Your Project

Giving a Project

When sharing a project, all of the editors work on a single version of the project. It is possible to give a copy of a project to another user instead of giving them access to your version of it.