ECML Standard v1.0

Adopted Specification - Sep 2015

Current Version - 1.0

Status - Active

Overview ECML is a distribution and publishing format for publishing Learning Content on the EkStep Genie Canvas and compatible platforms. ECML provides a specification to weave narrative, interactivity and learning content into a single seamless experience that is suitable for both mobile and web publication.

Architecture Description & Rationale

The ECML specification consists of three parts:

ECML Content Documents v1.0 - Consists of the core markup language specification to declaratively define and weave content. ECML Container Format v1.0 - Defines the format and processing structure of packaging an ECML publication into a single-file (ZIP) container. ECML Item Overlay Format v1.0 - Defines the format specification to weave learning content - Assessment Items and Language Dictionary resources into the publication. There is also a developer guide that is a supplement this specification that explains with examples how to implement common use cases using the ECML Specification. ECML - How to Guide

Rendering and Interactivity Capabilities ECML provides support for complex layout, rich interactivity and multi-media support for publications. It is envisaged that ECML will be used to publish a wide variety of content on the Genie Canvas platform - ranging from Stories to Worksheets, Screeners and Learning Games.

Graphic Rendering

Ability to layout graphic objects on a 2 dimensional canvas with z-ordering Support for drawing basic shapes such as circle and rectangle Each graphic element is an image, or other type such as text, or a math equation Layout algorithms - e.g. a stack of coins or a grid of Apples and Oranges to add. Animations

Simple sprite animations (e.g. character movements, celebrations etc) Since this is not intended to be a full game, no 3D movements etc are envisaged Effects and Transitions - in future, add the ability to have a list of effects (such as the entry, exit and emphasis effects in powerpoint) Interactivity

Drag-and-drop - drag enable containers, specific drop zones Click Graphic - e.g. touch on a toad and it jumps and makes a croaking sound Click Text - e.g. touch a particular word in the story and it shows info about it Zoom - Emphasis on a particular text/graphic object on touch Playback - Play audio files with synchronized text highlighting Navigation

Navigation between different stages/scenes of a narrative E.g. to go from splash -> welcome screen -> question -> score -> end Or movement between different scenes in a story Input

Accept text user input in the form of keyboard input Support custom metaphors for input - e.g. drag-and-drop of apples Define placeholders to accept templated text or parameters Events

Define handlers for known events such as on "Next" - showing an animation of the spaceship taking off, or a page turning ##Multimedia Capabilities and Roadmap

The ECML publication allows adding audio resources to the publication. Supported file formats are .mp3 and .aiff. Additionally, the rich interactivity required for learning content also demands integration with speech technologies such as speech synthesis or speech recognition that are part of the future roadmap.

Playback of audio in response to interactivity Highlighting text in sync with audio playback (Coming Soon) Embedding video resources (Coming Soon) Highlighting text in sync with video playback (Coming Soon) Text-To-Speech synthesis in Indian languages (Coming Soon) Speech dialog in Indian languages (offline and online) (Coming Soon) ##Fonts and Indian Language Support

ECML publications will be in many different Indian languages. Support for language is an inherent part of the content documents and is specified using xml:lang attribute. This allows packaging resources for different languages and rendering in the appropriate language.

When it comes to Indian languages, the font becomes a key component of rendering the content correctly. The container specification allows defining and embedding fonts as part of the ZIP container so that the renderer can take advantage of that.

Telemetry The renderer for the ECML content should take care of generating telemetry in accordance with the Telemetry Specification. The Genie Canvas renderer automatically generates telemetry events such as:

OE_START OE_END OE_INTERACT OE_ASSESS Telemetry event generation can be turned on/off via the content markup. Default strategy is to generate the events unless turned off.

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Copied from Common Design Wiki (private repo). Last edited at source on 20 July 2016.