Where object metadata can appear

An object’s metadata can be located under any applicable element in the manifest file, depending on the type of object and whether the object is a sub-element in the file. Manifest and organization-level metadata is applied to the highest level object in the package. Metadata for modules can also appear at the item level, and metadata for topics or files can appear at the item or resource-level. A package is identified as a module if there is only one child <item> tag underneath the <organization> tag, and that <item> tag has at least one child <item> tag of its own.

If metadata for a single object is found under multiple elements, Brightspace Learning Repository uses the following order of precedence: <manifest>, <organization>, <item>, <resource>.

For example, if you are uploading a content package consisting of a module with three topics, and there is metadata under the <manifest> element and under the highest <item> element, both are applicable to the module. The upload utility takes the metadata from the <manifest> element and discards the metadata from the <item> element. Say that one of the topics in the package has metadata under its <item> element and also under the associated <resource> element. In this case Brightspace Learning Repository uses the metadata for the <item> element, while the metadata for the <resource> element is discarded.

Object	Object package type	Object package sub-element
Course	manifest, organization	n/a
Module	manifest, organization, item	item
Topic	manifest, organization, item, resource	item, resource
File	manifest, organization, item, resource, link	item, resource