Item Creation
      Back to home
      1. Knowledge Base
      2. Best Practices for Working with Multiple Users in a Small-scale Authoring Scenario Part 2: Workflow
      3. Item Creation

      Creating new items

      There is a lot of information in the User Guide on how to create items  - about adding interactions to your items, but also about how to use supporting materials. To consider the possibilities for configuring the interactions in your items, see the section on Configuring interactions. 

      Items are usually created by item authors in their own workspaces (scratch folders), as discussed in Part 1. Item authors can develop items individually, or in collaboration with other item authors. Lesson 2 shows the steps you need to follow to develop test items collaboratively.

       

      What if authors need to collaborate on some items?

      Sometimes it’s useful to collaborate on creating items. One item author may contribute the text to a particular item, for example, and another the graphics. To enable two item authors to work on the same item without accidentally overwriting each other's work, Item History can be used. The Item History function enables different versions of the same item to be maintained. Using Item History, both authors can see the history of an item (i.e. look at the different versions of it) and save new versions of the same item (with each author contributing their part). Make sure you have the correct extension installed (TAO extension: taoRevision) for this.

      To use Item History, open the item in question, then click on History in the blue bar. You can modify the item and then save a version of it with a message. The message would normally reflect the status of the item, or a specific change that has been made. You can then save it by clicking on Commit, and the new version will be saved with the time and user information as well as the message.

      Note: it’s possible to revert to a former version of the item if necessary - for example, if the item has been changed in error. See the chapter on Managing different versions of an item in the User Guide for more information on Item History.

      In the image in the example below, Ian has put the text into an item asking what the capital of Argentina is, along with the message "flag needed". Iris can now open it and add the graphic depicting the Argentinian flag, then save a new version.

      Ian's version of the item without a flag

       

      As you can see on the image, these multiple versions are kept in a folder called “Shared”. Both Ian and Iris have write-permission for these items.