ISO/IEC TR 18120:2016

TECHNICAL ISO/IEC TR
REPORT 18120
First edition
Information technology —
Learning, education, and training
— Requirements for e-textbooks in
education
Technologies de l’information — Apprentissage, éducation et
formation — Exigences pour les livres de texte électroniques dans
l’éducation
PROOF/ÉPREUVE
Reference number
ISO/IEC TR 18120:2016(E)
©
ISO/IEC 2016

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ISO/IEC TR 18120:2016(E)

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ISO/IEC TR 18120:2016(E)

Contents Page
Foreword .v
Introduction .vi
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Symbols and abbreviated terms . 3
5 Stakeholder inputs . 5
5.1 Overview of e-textbook pilots submitted . 5
5.2 Overview of conceptual model captured from use cases . 5
5.2.1 Technical scenarios for using e-textbooks . 5
5.2.2 Educational scenarios for using e-textbooks . 6
5.3 Results of online survey . 7
5.3.1 Overview . 7
5.3.2 Base content standard. 8
5.3.3 Metadata . 8
5.3.4 Annotations . 8
5.3.5 Interactivity and learning support . 9
5.3.6 Reorganization and re-sequencing . 9
5.3.7 Digital rights . 9
5.4 Summary of potential benefits of an e-textbook standards . 9
6 Key requirements for e-textbooks .10
6.1 Foundational e-book and packaging standards .10
6.1.1 Requirement for foundational e-book and packaging standards .10
6.1.2 Current standards environment for e-books and content packaging .10
6.1.3 Market conditions for e-books and content packaging .11
6.1.4 Key recommendations for foundational e-book and packaging standards .12
6.2 Metadata .12
6.2.1 Key requirements .12
6.2.2 Current standards environment .12
6.2.3 Market conditions .13
6.2.4 Key recommendations .13
6.3 Annotations.13
6.3.1 Key requirements .13
6.3.2 Current standards environment .14
6.3.3 Market conditions .14
6.3.4 Key recommendations .14
6.4 Reorganization and re-aggregation . .14
6.4.1 Key requirements .14
6.4.2 Current standards environment .14
6.4.3 Market conditions .15
6.4.4 Key recommendations .15
6.5 Interactivity and learning support .16
6.5.1 Key requirements .16
6.5.2 Current standards environment — www.w3.org/TR/html .16
6.5.3 Market conditions .17
6.5.4 Key recommendations .17
6.6 Digital rights .18
6.6.1 Key requirements .18
6.6.2 Current standards environment .19
6.6.3 Market conditions .19
6.6.4 Key recommendations .19
7 Recommendations for future work .19
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ISO/IEC TR 18120:2016(E)

7.1 General .19
7.2 Recommendations for e-textbook standards .19
7.3 Recommendations for technical works combined with IDPF and other organizations .20
7.4 Recommendations for supporting education-specific standardization .20
7.5 Calls for technical demonstrations .20
Annex A (informative) E-textbook pilots submitted by NBLOs .22
Annex B (informative) Conceptual use cases submitted by NBLOs .29
Annex C (informative) Survey of stakeholder requirements .34
Annex D (informative) Examples of current technologies .65
Bibliography .68
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ISO/IEC TR 18120:2016(E)

Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are
members of ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical
committees established by the respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical
activity. ISO and IEC technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the
work. In the field of information technology, ISO and IEC have established a joint technical committee,
ISO/IEC JTC 1.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are
described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular the different approval criteria needed for
the different types of document should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the
editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject
of patent rights. ISO and IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent
rights. Details of any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the
Introduction and/or on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www.iso.org/patents).
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation on the meaning of ISO specific terms and expressions related to conformity assessment,
as well as information about ISO’s adherence to the World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the
Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) see the following URL: www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html.
The committee responsible for this document is ISO/IEC JTC 1 Information technology, Subcommittee
SC 36, Information technology for learning, education and training.
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ISO/IEC TR 18120:2016(E)

Introduction
In the last few years, there has been a dramatic rise in the popularity of e-books, driven principally
by the development of mobile devices including tablets and smartphones. A number of e-book formats
have emerged to support this trend, the most prominent of which is EPUB 3, originally developed by the
International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) and discussed in ISO/IEC/TS 30135 (all parts).
At the same time, standards for digital learning content have not made significant progress. Advanced
Distributed Learning (ADL) produced the latest major revision of Shareable Content Object Reference
Model (SCORM®) in 2004; the IMS Global Learning Consortium (IMS Global) produced the Common
Cartridge specification in 2008; and both of these standards are based on the ISO/IEC 12785 series
and the ISO/IEC/TR 29163 series. While the digital learning content area was stagnant, data-driven
approach for usage of content has been growing rapidly. Progress in recent years includes the
development of the Experience API (Tin Can API or xAPI) version 1.0, a specification released in April
2013 which is commonly considered the successor to SCORM.
While conventional e-books and the ISO/IEC 12785 series both support packaged content installed
locally on a user’s device or learning management system/virtual learning environment (LMS/VLE)
on the web, considerable advances were in cloud computing and Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA).
The latter approaches anticipate that much activity will be distributed across different servers accessed
remotely using packaged content on user devices.
ISO/IEC/JTC 1/SC 36 has consequently identified a requirement for new standards for digital learning
content that
— leverage common standards being used with digital publishing technologies for e-books,
— support packaged content for installation on a mobile device and usable off-line for learning
activities, and
— support integration with cloud services, when this environment is available.
At the same time, the popularity of e-books raise a number of challenges for learning, education and
training (LET) content. These challenges can be articulated as a series of comparisons (see Table 1).
Table 1 — Comparison major characteristics between e-book and learning content
e-Book Characteristics Learning Content Characteristics
Interpretation of an actual book as an aggregation Aggregated content by granularity of learning object,
of static text, graphics and pagination that can be required with dynamic pagination (linear or multiple
a
flipped. paths), and interactive digital media and activity such
as assessment on the web.
General environment of e-book and player are locally General environment of learning content is on the web,
installed and protected by strong copyright protection in particular via LMS/VLE. Content is controlled and
software such as Digital Rights Management (DRM). protected by authorization of the learning platform
without using DRM.
Standards are dedicated profile for e-books content Standards are very diverse and heterogeneous per
based on web specifications, such as HTML5, CSS and characteristics of content, service, or teaching and
Java Script. Currently, EPUB 3 has taken a position as learning model. However, almost all standards have
both a de-jure and a de-facto standard. adopted web specifications including an e-book profile.
a
“Book” means complete aggregated content bound with a spine.
The purpose of this document is to propose an approach which ensures that the benefits, advantages,
and outlooks of both e-books and LET content are maximized. In particular, this document aims to
identify the requirements for e-textbooks which are expected to adopt e-book technology in LET. The
substantive parts of this document are presented in Clauses 5 to 7.
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Clause 5 investigates LET stakeholder requirements as collected in 2012,
— summarizing information about e-textbook pilots submitted by NBLOs and interested parties,
further details of which are included in Annex A,
— summarizing conceptual use cases submitted by NBLOs and interested parties, further details of
which are included in Annex B,
— summarizing the LET requirements gathered or collected from the online survey sent to stakeholders,
further details of which are included in Annex C, and
— drawing out from these consultations key requirements for e-textbook functionality.
Clause 6 reviews the technology/market capability as of 2013 (with some updates to 2015) by
— reviewing the available standards that support the requirements to functionality listed in
Clause 5, and
— drawing conclusions as to the best way to implement the required functionalities for potential
e-textbook standards.
Clause 7 makes specific recommendations for future standardization work to support e-textbook.
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TECHNICAL REPORT ISO/IEC TR 18120:2016(E)
Information technology — Learning, education, and
training — Requirements for e-textbooks in education
1 Scope
This document makes recommendations that are intended to build consensus on which International
Standards for e-textbooks can be developed. This document is a follow up to the collection of inputs
from interested parties and aims to
— review the current state of the e-textbook market,
— summarize LET requirements for e-textbooks based on use cases and survey of interested parties,
— review existing data standards that are referenced by potential e-textbook standards,
— describe key terms and concepts that underpin any further discussion on e-textbook standards,
— propose a set of functionalities that will be required for e-textbook reader software,
— make recommendations for any modification to existing data standards, and
— make recommendations for any new data standards that might be needed.
2 Normative references
There are no normative references in this document.
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
• IEC Electropedia: available at http://www.electropedia.org/
• ISO Online browsing platform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp
3.1
aggregation
process of combining e-textbook components (3.2) to form new composite components (3.3)
3.2
atomic component(s)
smallest unit of content component that can no longer be divided
3.3
composite component(s)
component (3.2) that is composed of at least two other content components
Note 1 to entry: A composite component is one of two types of content components forming part of the content
structure of the e-textbook Information Model. The other is an atomic component.
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3.4
digital content
usable information in an e-textbook (3.9), either as a single or multiple logical unit(s)
EXAMPLE Text, images, media, interactive items represented visually in digital form.
Note 1 to entry: Digital content will generally depend on appropriate software services that may be required to
render or deliver other functionality associated with the digital content.
Note 2 to entry: A logical unit of usable (or re-usable) information is a logical package.
Note 3 to entry: A logical package may contain one or more logical units of digital content.
3.5
digital learning content
digital content (3.6) displayed within an e-textbook (3.9) including both static and interactive items for
use in LET
3.6
digital content
single or multiple logical unit(s) of useable information in an e-textbook (3.9)
Note 1 to entry: A digital resource can be referenced via an unambiguous and stable identifier in a recognized
identification system (e.g. ISBN, ISAN, UPC/EAN, URI).
3.7
e-book
structured digital content (3.6) in which searchable text is prevalent, and which is often seen as a
metaphor of a printed book or pamphlet
Note 1 to entry: An e-book is usually an aggregation of digital content compressed into a single document, and
from this perspective is regarded as a content package.
3.8
e-reader
computer hardware with appropriate software capable of loading and rendering an e-book (3.7) and
providing functional support required to deliver digital content (3.6)
3.9
e-textbook
structured aggregation (3.1) of digital content (3.6) intended to support LET activities and which uses
an e-textbook reader (3.12)
3.10
e-textbook fixed page
virtual surface of controlled size, and fixed layout (3.14), for the purposes of displaying digital content
(3.6) of an e-textbook (3.9)
3.11
e-textbook flowable page
virtual surface whose size and geometrical properties can be adapted to the e-textbook (3.9) reader or
user choices for the purposes of displaying digital content (3.6) of an e-textbook
3.12
e-textbook reader
hardware with the appropriate software capable of loading and rendering an e-textbook (3.9) and
providing the functional support required to deliver interaction (3.14) and learning support (3.18)
3.13
fixed layout
digital content (3.6) that is attached to a particular position on an e-textbook fixed page (3.10)
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3.14
interaction
behaviour and data exchange within an e-textbook (3.9) context that occurs between a user and the
digital content (3.6)
Note 1 to entry: Substantive changes do not include standard embedded video controls (start/stop/pause/fast
forward, etc.) or changing presentation (e.g. increasing font size, highlighting, zoom, etc.).
3.15
ITLET system
set of one or more computers, associated software, peripherals, terminals, human operations, physical
processes, information transfer means, that form an autonomous whole, capable of performing
information processing and/or information transfer
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 20006-1:2014, 4.12]
3.16
learning device
computer hardware capable of accessing an e-textbook reader (3.12) and running an e-textbook (3.9)
EXAMPLE Desktop computer, table, mobile phone or smartphone.
Note 1 to entry: Computer hardware used to support learning, education and training capable of accessing an
e-textbook.
3.17
learning service
processes or sequence of activities designed to enable learning
[SOURCE: ISO 29990:2010, 2.13]
3.18
learning support
functionality that is initiated by interaction (3.14) with an external service or digital content (3.6)
EXAMPLE Assignments, reporting of results, learning activities dependent on communication between
students and teachers, discussion forums.
3.19
media
digital assets, which may include separately or bundled together, text, audio, video, image, pictures,
animation, or graphics within an IT system.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC/TR 24725-3:2010, 2.4]
4 Symbols and abbreviated terms
API Application Program Interface
CMS Content Management System
a, b
CSS3 Cascading Style Sheets
DF Disk free (UNIX)
DITA Darwin Information Typing Architecture
DRM Digital Rights Management
EPUB 3 Electronic publication, a free and open e-book standard by IDPF,
also a multipart standard ISO/IEC 30135
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ICT Information and Communication Technology
IDPF International Digital Publishing Forum
IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
IMS IMS Global Learning Consortium, Inc.
IT Information Technology
IT System Information Technology System
ITLET Information Technology for Learning, Education and Training
LCMS Learning Content Management System
LET Learning, Education and Training
LRMI Learning Resource Metadata Initiative
LRS Learning Record Store
LTI Learning Tools Interoperability (IMS)
(www.imsglobal.org/activity/learning-tools-interoperability)
LMS Learning Management System
LOM Learning Object Metadata
MLR Metadata for Learning Resources
NBLO National Body or Liaison Organization
OAinEPUB Open Annotation in EPUB
OER Open Educational Resources
Q&A Question and Answer
QTI Question and Test Interoperability (IMS specification)
REL Rights Expression Language
SCORM Sharable Content Object Reference Model
SOA Services Oriented Architecture
SVG Scalable Vector Graphics (W3C)
TEI Text Encoding Initiative
W3C World Wide Web Consortium
xAPI Experience Application Programming Interface,
also known as Tin Can API or Experience API
XML eXtensible Mark-up Language
a
  CSS (2015), Cascading Style Sheets, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CascadingStyleSheets#CSS3.
b
  W3Schools (2010), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Snapshot 2010, www.w3.org/TR/css-2010/, http://
www.w3.org/TR/css-2010/.
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5 Stakeholder inputs
5.1 Overview of e-textbook pilots submitted
When this document project was initiated in 2012, China and Korea submitted use cases describing
pilot experiments in K-12, which included the use of e-textbooks before, during and after class. In case
of Korean pilot, e-textbook (which they called digital textbook) services for teachers were set-up for
the classroom environment (including learning models, lesson plans, etc.). The log-in status of students
was checked automatically, student computer screens could be monitored by the teacher to see what
they were learning, and students were given feedback from the teacher. In addition, assignments and
assessments were used to report learning outcomes. E-textbook services were provided for students
using tablet PCs instead of (traditional) paper-based textbooks. Digital textbook software was
installed onto student devices. Various multimedia resources were used to motivate student learning,
to facilitate the provision of the teacher feedback, to check assignments, and to improve the student’s
learning experience using new media.
In the Chinese pilot, e-textbooks were used in a technical environment equipped with projectors,
electronic board, and learning platforms that integrated digital courseware, teaching tools and other
teaching software. The teachers were responsible for preparing lessons, collecting resources in the
learning platform before class. They taught, interacted, monitored student activity and provided
feedback on the platform in class; and they provided supplementary instruction after class when this
was required by students. Students used the platform to prepare for their lessons, to interact with other
students and with the teachers during learning; and to review their learning and do further homework
assignments after class.
5.2 Overview of conceptual model captured from use cases
Specific application scenarios are described from two aspects. The first part is based on use cases from
different nations; the second part is based on the stakeholder survey conducted by project editors
of this report from different countries and areas. The pilots were done between November 2012 and
March 2013.
5.2.1 Technical scenarios for using e-textbooks
The main features of e-textbooks and how they worked by connecting tools and services within the
learning device and/or from outside are highlighted by describing the application
...