Blackboard xpLor

What if  course content could be changed in one place and then updated with minimal effort across those different platforms (Bb Learn, Angel, or Moodle)? That is exactly what xpLor can do. It is "a master learning object repository in the cloud. It is a rich authoring environment where you can create content just as you can in an LMS (Learning Management System), including high-stakes assessments. It has a powerful search capability to search on metadata, content, or even aligned standards. It has sharing functionality that allows you to control how you share, and with whom. It has built-in copyright protection you can apply to your work." (Bb Inc, 2014).

xpLor was built on open standards to make it work with as many systems as possible (Learn, Moodle, Angel, Sakai, etc)  and to ensure that we can use the largest amount of content currently available.   There are two open standards at the heart of xpLor: Common Cartridge and LTI

Common Cartridge defines the content type. You can import any common cartridge into xpLor, whether it comes from your LMS or from another repository. LTI allows Bb to deliver content to your LMS without import and export. All content lives in xpLor permanently and all you add to your LMS is an LTI link. That link allows the content to be delivered in such a way that it appears as native content.  It also allows for passing grades and completion information to the grade book. LTI also allows Bb to deliver content from other repositories just as if it were native in xpLor. These standards allow  to make it easy for all of you to develop, share, and deliver open educational resources.

xpLor OR Content Management?

Together, xpLor and Content Management create a complete learning content solution that provides personal, course, institutional, and global content management capabilities for all of your learning content.

• Content Management: File management system for personal, course, and institutional document management, sharing, and reuse.

• xpLor: Cloud-based, global learning object repository for authoring, copyright, sharing, and discovery of rich educational materials and open educational resources.

When do you put content into Content Management?

When do you put content into xpLor?

When you want to... Reuse a file across multiple courses that you teach Make a file available to students for authoring, editing, collaborating, and sharing Share and/or collaborate on a file with colleagues at your institution Share and/or collaborate on a file with others who are outside of your institution, using a pass Manage a file or folder straight from my desktop using Blackboard Drive Provide granular permissions (read, write, manage, remove) Share a file with others based on Blackboard Learn Institution Roles Manage a file using eReserves Create custom metadata schemas Create workflows

When you want to... Reuse a learning object Share a learning object with others who are outside your institution Share a learning object across multiple LMSs Collaborate with others on a learning object Put a Creative Commons license on a learning object Create an Open Educational Resource (OER) Add a learning object to an existing xpLor Collection Publish a learning object to an xpLor Channel

Here are some additional resources on xpLor.

• Blackboard xpLor Help
  
  • Instructor

NOTE: Content created from information provided by Blackboard Inc.