An IMS-Learning Design Editor for a Higher Education Blended Learning Scenario García-Robles, Rocío Ferrer, Laura Cagigas, Daniel Computer Architecture and Technology Department, University of Seville rocio@atc.us.es laura@atc.us.es dcagigas@atc.us.es Abstract The IMS-Learning Design has been developed to support the creation of reusable and pedagogically neutral learning scenarios and content. Although it is especially suitable for eLearning, there is a lot of interest on using it in higher education blended learning scenarios. However there are some related key issues which must be managed such as cultural bias and the need for expensive human resources to design and develop specification compliant units of learning. They can be addressed by the design of ad-hoc editors supporting concrete learning design units of learning. We suggest some solutions to overcome these limitations, based on our experience designing the user interface of an IMS-LD compliant editor, GDUS+. We also explain our user centering approach, and give some conclusions about the benefits of using IMS-LD. 1. Introduction The Learning Design (LD) specification aims to represent the 'learning design' of 'units of learning' (UoL), in a semantic, formal and machine interpretable way [1]. A UoL can be any instructional or learning event of any granularity, e.g. a course, a workshop, a lesson or an informal learning event. A 'learning design' is defined as the description of the teaching-learning process that takes place in the UoL [2]. The key principle in LD is that it represents the learning activities and the support activities that are performed by different persons (learners, teachers) in the context of a UoL. These activities can refer to different learning objects that are used during the performance of the activities (e.g. books, articles, software applications, pictures), and it can refer to services (e.g. forums, chats, wiki's) that are used to collaborate and to communicate in the teaching-learning process [2]. The Learning Design specification can be seen from (at least) four different perspectives: (1) An educational modeling language; (2) an eLearning methodology; (3) a set of applications; (4) and an interoperability specification [3]. The afore-mentioned specification has been developed to meet some specific requirements: Completeness, Pedagogical expressiveness, Personalization and Compatibility [4]. In the framework of the department of the University of Seville (US) in which the GDUS+ has been designed, completeness and pedagogical expressiveness are considered key issues for several reasons. Firstly, because blended learning solutions demand innovative pedagogic approaches, and IMS- LD can support them. Secondly, because the use of GDUS+ tool could be extended in the future to other subjects taught by other departments whose educational approach may differ, so pedagogical flexibility and neutrality are required. GDUS+ stands for “Guías Docentes de la Universidad de Sevilla”. It is an extension of a tool of mandatory use at University of Seville (GDUS), which supports the teachers’ community to describe teaching planning. GDUS+ can be considered as a specific purpose tool, distant from specification according to the LD tool design graphic [2]. 2. Special requirements for designing an IMS-LD editor for a higher education blended learning scenario Before taking the decision of designing an ad-hoc editor, we were thinking about using other already available tools, such as: RELOAD [5], MOTPlus [6], etc. We were also looking for innovative approaches such the ones proposed by the following tools: DBAT- LD [7], ModX [8] and WebLD [9] . The most innovative ones are still in an experimental stage. The other analyzed editing tools are very powerful because they support largely several