Options for Customizing

TILT will remain at http://tilt.lib.utsystem.edu/ as a resource accessible to any individual or group who would like to use it on our server at no charge. We will continue to maintain and manage that site. yourTILT is available for those who wish to customize all or part of the tutorial and manage that site themselves. There are three general options for customizing yourTILT:

1. Excerpt a small portion to integrate into another online program.
   Educators may choose to incorporate part of the content into their own instruction tutorials and programs. Some may wish to use only a small portion of text, adding information about local library resources available to their students. Others may want to extract an interaction without requiring students to take an entire module. For those choosing to excerpt a portion of the tutorial, keep in mind that the interactions may need programming adjustments to work outside of TILT. Navigation will need to be replaced by a new interface for those pages or by placing this content within course management software, such as WebCT. This option is the easiest and requires the least initial set-up and ongoing maintenance.
2. Load site "as is" on a local server.
   Coordinators of instruction may wish to host TILT on their own site without making changes to the content or programming. Local hosting will allow students to access the information perhaps from a faster server and allow instruction coordinators access to statistics about local students' use. As content and programming updates for TILT are released, the site could be downloaded and re-installed on that campus' server. Although this option requires someone with the expertise to manage a large site, the institution could rely on content and programming updates from the TILT developers and simply reinstall new versions as they are released.
3. Load an adapted version on a local server.
   Some instruction programs may wish to use the design and organization of TILT while tailoring the content for their institution. This option allows institutions to add information about specific local resources, change interactions, or alter large sections such as the quizzes. Statistics and registration could be adapted to systems that mesh with other school programs. Institutions that tailor and load the entire site should have people with programming expertise as well as staff to attend to the ongoing content maintenance. Any future updates released by the TILT developers would have to be incorporated piece-meal by staff at that institution in order to preserve the changes already made at their site. This option is the most complex and time-intensive, but also the most customizable.

Adaptations, translations, and additions to yourTILT are encouraged. Whichever option you choose, be aware that no technical support can be provided by the original TILT development team. If you do not wish to pursue local loading or modification you are welcome to use TILT at http://tilt.lib.utsystem.edu/.

tilt@utlists.utexas.edu
Last updated: July 11, 2003