Maps
All about Maps (aka labyrinths)
A map is a set of Nodes, joined together by Links. In its simplest form, the user will start at the beginning of a Map, move through the Nodes until they reach the end of the map. Each Node represents a new page in the story.
Linear map example
Some maps are linear, like a novel, where you read through from beginning to end.
To get started, once you have logged in to the OLab Designer at https://demo.olab.ca/designer, you will see a list of existing Maps.
You can create a Map manually or you can start with a template to speed things up.
The first thing you should do is to rename your Map, using the title area here:
Insert screenshot from main Designer panel when available.
As shown in the first example up above, the commonest pathway design is linear. But a Map can have any pathway layout that you want.
Hub and spoke map
Some maps have a central starting point but you can visit the pages in any order, like a textbook or reference tome.
Some maps are like choose-your-own-adventure books. Depending on the choices you make, you are lead to different choices and consequences.
A Map usually has a single starting point, the Root Node (indicated by the yellow star), but there can be more than one in some designs.
A Map commonly has multiple possible endings, not all of which are happy.
OLab is very flexible. It is entirely up to the map author to decide what is a good pathway or design, how many endings there should be and how many constraints to place on the user’s choices. OLab will allow any learning design or pathway.
Historically, the Map in OLab, and its predecessor OpenLabyrinth, was the container which held together Nodes, Links, Questions, Files, Counters etc. A Map could be exported from one OLab server to another -- all of its objects would be moved with it.
This is still generally true in OLab4. But we have also introduced the concept of Scoped Objects, which means that the objects contained within a Map can be more easily reused.
To make a Map more useful, there are several attributes. These are the Map Details, which can be found under the My Map menu at the top of the Designer page. Not all of these attributes make a difference to how the Map is played: some of them simply describe what the Map is for or how it was created.
Basic Details
It is helpful if this suggests the purpose of the Map, but the author can be as creative as they wish.
A short paragraph, describing the contents or the purpose of the Map. This description can be quite long but only the first paragraphs are read in most lists of Maps.
You know how keywords work, surely. It does help to be consistent in their use but OLab does not enforce this.
Author's name. Not editable at present
There is also a secondary set of tabs on the Map Details editor, where you can change how the map plays, add notes for other authors and a few more advanced details.
Appearance tab
** not fully tested yet. This depends on Themes as Scoped Objects
**more info about open/closed/private/keyed maps and how this relates to Roles, Courses, ACLs etc.
Content Details
Notes about the learning design, customizations to how the map works or special coding and scripts.
These are also the map publishing details. These are mainly for use when publishing maps to a repository.
Advanced Details
Toggle for xAPI realtime or not. This can slow down map performance so be cautious if multiple users are expecting to play this map simultaneously.
** In OLab 4.6 this is being deprecated. If you want this function to continue, we will need funded projects to support it being properly integrated into OLab4.6
Toggle on if this map is to be used as a Template in the creation of other maps. It will not then show in the list of playable maps.
Last modified 5mo ago