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This paper models authoring course practices on the SCORM-compliant Content Repository Management System (CRMS) and presents three new invaluable components: the Ontology-Based Outline Authoring Tool (OBOAT), the Visualized Online Course Authoring Tool (VOCAT), and the Visualized Online Simple Sequencing Authoring Tool (VOSSAT). The pivotal role that ontologies play in authoring SCORM-compliant learning objects is again reconfirmed based on their ability to provide an outline of precisely- defined terms that can be communicated among teachers by means of visualized presentations. Teaching materials that require outlining most likely rely on conceptual models in the form of ontologies that open up new ways for teachers to move from a learning object-oriented view to a content framework-oriented view. In the same vein, VOCAT and VOSSAT both offer user-friendly interfaces on the Web. While the former allows teachers to compile teaching materials, the latter enables them to devise their own instructional strategies. The prime contributions of this study are newly-devised innovative tools that teachers can easily use to author teaching materials that will suit their teaching contexts, including their students¡¦ needs and backgrounds. Finally, we discuss the implications of this study for education.

Keywords: SCORM, content repository management system (CRMS), RDF/RDFS, ontology, IMS SS

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Received July 7, 2004; revised February 1, 2005; accepted May 18, 2005.
Communicated by Robert Lewis.