In episode 59 of the Content Strategy Experts Podcast, Alan Pringle and Kaitlyn Heath discuss how you can apply the Learning and Training specialization to your content.
I think the conditional processing is a huge benefit as well. You can have a lot more interactivity built in without that human interference.
— Kaitlyn Heath

Related links:

* DITA Learning and Training (podcast)
* DITA for learning content: The Learning and Training specialization 

Twitter handles:

* @alanpringle
* @kheathScript

Transcript: 
Alan Pringle:     Welcome to The Content Strategy Experts podcast brought to you by Scriptorium. Since 1997, Scriptorium has helped companies manage, structure, organize and distribute content in an efficient way. In Episode 59, we look at the DITA learning and training specialization.
AP:     Hello, everyone. I’m Alan Pringle. Today I have Kaitlyn Heath here with me.
Kaitlyn Heath:     Hi.
AP:     Hey there. Let’s talk today a little bit about the learning and training specialization that is part of the DITA XML standard. Let’s start the conversation first with defining exactly what that specialization is. Tell us a little bit about it overall.
KH:     The learning and training specialization is designed for instructional content. You can put things like your learning plan. You can do your entire course. Then you can also have things like your assessments or your questions and however you design those.
AP:     Because it’s part of the bigger DITA ecosystem, how does it fit in with that?
KH:     It’s designed to fit in and be able to be reused along with your other DITA content. You’re doing things like you would normally do in DITA, like using small topics and putting individual questions in their own topics, and then you’re able to reuse those in different kinds of maps that are designed specifically for learning and training or your standard DITA maps.
AP:     If you can use a standard DITA map, does that mean that you can mix, say, a standard DITA topic with the learning and training content?
KH:     Yes, of course you can. You can use all of your normal DITA content, let’s say even your specialized DITA content, within these new learning and training specialization topics, but you will have to use the specific elements in most of those cases that are designed specifically to fit within them.
AP:     There is a really big mix and match kind of scenario here.
KH:     Yeah. Yeah, I think that’s exactly how it was designed to work.
AP:     Yeah, so if you have a task, for example, that someone in your tech comm department has written, for example, and you’re in the training department and you need to reference that, you could just pull that into your stuff.
KH:     Exactly. You might need to use the specific learning and training element, but then you would be able to reference that .DITA topic. In the learning and training specialization, learning content topics, which is where the bulk of your instructional material is going to go, you are allowed to embed other DITA topics within them as well. If you are writing a task that is mostly going to go in your instructional content but you want to be able to reference that ID later, you can embed that topic directly within your learning content topic.
AP:     I’ve tinkered a little bit with the learning and training specialization, and I have to say I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of elements because there’s a lot.