What is a taxon schema?
A taxon is a collection of things grouped together according to their basic similarities. For example, an educational taxonomy may be defined as University > Faculty > Department > Specialties and so on. Schemas define the structure, content, and semantics of documents, and in this case, XML documents. In the context of Brightspace, taxon schemas are classification systems that can be used to categorize resources like learning objects. This enables users to browse for resources in Brightspace Learning Repository organized by categories in defined schemas.
Only views in the IEEE LOM family support taxon schemas. The actual taxon schemas available to a user when entering metadata depend on the view selected. When editing a view, you can specify which of the taxon schemas are available in that view.
By changing a view’s available schemas, you specify the classification systems available to a user when using the view to enter metadata for a resource.
Taxon schema types
Brightspace comes with 2 basic taxon schema types:
- Bloom's Taxonomy
- GEM - Subject Keyword
Define your taxon schema in an XML file
To add a schema, you must have an XML file that defines the schema. You can use the XML Sample File and the comments in it as a guide to creating your own.
- From the Admin Tools menu, click Metadata Administration.
- On the Taxon Schemas page, in the Import a Taxon Path Schema area, click the XML Sample File link.
- Edit the sample file with an XML or text editor.
Import your taxon schema from an XML file
Once you've defined your taxon schema in an XML file, you can import it back into Brightspace.
- From the Admin Tools menu on the minibar, click Metadata Administration.
- On the Taxon Schemas page, in the Import a Taxon Path Schema area, enter your schema details.
- To select the schema you want to import, click Browse. Locate your file and click Open.
- Click Import.