https://github.com/leeper/xyllabus
A Syllabus Markup Language
https://github.com/leeper/xyllabus
Last synced: 4 months ago
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A Syllabus Markup Language
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/leeper/xyllabus
- Owner: leeper
- Created: 2014-02-16T22:56:40.000Z (over 12 years ago)
- Default Branch: master
- Last Pushed: 2014-02-17T21:51:23.000Z (over 12 years ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-01-21T03:08:11.456Z (over 1 year ago)
- Size: 145 KB
- Stars: 2
- Watchers: 2
- Forks: 0
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
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README
# A Syllabus Markup Language #
This repository contains working code for a universal course syllabus markup language, tentatively called xyllabus.
## Motivation ##
Course syllabi are an integral part of contemporary higher education. They communicate almost all of the information about the content, objectives, outcomes, and prerequisites of a course. Syllabi should be open and shared - writing a syllabus from scratch is largely reinventing the wheel for the vast majority of courses. Yet, syllabi are almost always shared in proprietary or at least closed-source formats (e.g., Word or sourceless LaTeX-generated PDFs).
The aim of this project is to develop an XML schema for the course syllabus, which is sufficiently general to contain all of the content that might find its way into a syllabus for any discipline, institution, and course format.
The advantages of a markup language are substantial:
1. **Separating content and styling**: xyllabus is platform- and format-independent, meaning it can be used to create syllabi that will be printed or stored online in any other format. Migrating from one format to another should be effortless and instantaneous.
2. **Making syllabi semantic**: Syllabi should be readable by humans and computers.
3. **Measuring research impact**: The single most useful measure of scholarly impact is the citation. Yet citations are only measured when used in other research. Impactful research also plays an important role in teaching, so xyllabus will enable the tracking and measurement of research through its use in subsequent teaching.
Note: The only discussion of a syllabus markup language I am aware of is described in [a 2004 conference paper](http://mzym.susu.ru/papers/Zamishlyaeva_SYRCoDIS-04.pdf), but appears to have not been developed.
## Current Stage ##
Drafting the schema and trying out the markup.
## Next steps ##
1. XSLT (XSL Transform) templates for writing to LaTeX, ODF, Markdown, HTML, etc.
2. BibTeX and DOI integration for assigned course materials
3. Some kind of interface to write valid Xyllabus XML files
4. Write scrapers to transform existing syllabi into Xyllabus
5. Setup a syllabus archive
## Contribute! ##
This project is in its very initial stages, so all comments, suggestions, and pull requests are welcome.
## License ##
This project is released under the [Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).