Standards, Metadata, Learning Object Repositories, Portals

Dr Charles Duncanwww.intrallect.com

3 April 2003

Agenda

Introduction

UK Organisations

Standards

Metadata and beyondLearning object repositories

Portals

Bringing it together

The future: learning design?

Introduction

• Charles Duncan– Senior lecturer, Edinburgh University,

1980-2002– Project manager of many e-learning

projects 1985 – present, including EuroMET winner of European Academic Software Award 1998

– CETIS EC SIG co-chair 2000-2002– Co-founder and CEO, Intrallect, 2000 –

Intrallect provides

• Solutions for Learning Object Management– Strategic consultancy– Software– Bespoke development and

customisation

UK Organisations

• Schools – Primary (5-12)– Secondary (12-18)

• Further Education (FE) Colleges– Vocational (16 + )– “In work” Training

• Universities (Higher Education HE)

Learning and Teaching bodies

• JISC1

– CETIS– RDN (Resource Discovery Network)– Regional Centres

• LTSN• ILTHE• HESDA (Cooke Report2)• BeCTA

– NLN• ALT (SURF)• Others

– UKOLN– UK-MEG

CETIS

• Centre for Educational Technology Interoperability Standards– IMS, SCORM, CEN/ISSS, etc– News and email discussions– SIGS (coordinated)

• Metadata and digital repositories• Pedagogy• Accessibility• Assessment• Educational content

Standards

• Why are standards needed?– Sharing – Reuse– Interoperability– Avoid proprietary systems– Promotes new activities (or does it?)

IMS

StudentInstructor

Registry/Authority

Collected learning resources

Pedagogy

Competencies

Activities

Course

Delivery system

Dialogue

Tests/ assessment

Administration

Library

Vocabulary

METADATA

ENTERPRISE

QUESTION and TEST INTEROPERABILITY

SIMPLE SEQUENCING

DIGITALREPOSITORYINTEROPERABILITY

COMPETENCYDEFINITION

LEARNING DESIGN

LEARNERINFORMATIONPROFILES

Other bodies

• ADL– SCORM

• IEEE – LTSC

• Learning Object Metadata (LOM)3

• CEN/ISSS– Internationalisation of LOM

• ISO and national standards bodies

Metadata and Beyond

• IEEE Learning Object Metadata– First e-Learning standard

• Application profiles– CanCore, SingCore, UKCMF4

• Internationalisation– CEN/ISSS

IEEE LOM

Application profiles

• Mandatory and optional fields• Agreed vocabularies• Agreed use of indentifiers5

• Mapping educational levels6

• Common classification system• Minimise/exclude extensions

• What skills are needed for metadata creation?7

Accessibility

AccessibleGUI

AlternativeUI

AccessibleMultimedia

KeyboardAccess

AccessibleLanguage AccessibilityNotes

EquivalentResource

FunctionalityMetadata

Magnifcation

ColourContrast

VisualReadability

AccessibleAlerts

TextContent

TextAccessibility

video

Transcription

Captioning

signing

VideoContent

audio

Transcription

Captioning

signing

AudioContent

images

Captions

ALT text

LongDesc

See notes fields formetadata vocabularies.

Learning Object Repositories

• Networked storage of learning objects8

– To promote sharing and reuse– Learning object economy

Digital Repositories are..

• Not portals…– Safe, organised, reliable storage

• Not libraries…– Not quite, but good analogy– Many people can put books on the

shelves• Not VLEs…

– No prescribed pedagogy– Interoperability through standards

Digital Repository Interoperability

Finding objects

Task

• Search • Gather• Alert • Browse

DR Response

• Expose– Object?– Metadata?– Selected

metadata?– Priority?

Browse

Requesting objects

Task

• Request– ID?– Unique?

DR Response

• Deliver– Raw– Streamed– Packaged– Metadata only?

Publishing objects

Task

• Publish– Metadata?

• Deliver– From one

repository

DR Response

• Store– Metadata?

• Store– In another

repository

Aggregator tool

Task

• Aggregate– Metadata?

DR Response

• Deliver– Update Metadata?

• Store aggregation

preparing presentations

IMS Package

College VLE

URL

URL

Very useful lesson plan for geography field trips

Roles

• Librarian• Contributor• Borrower• Casual user• Administrator• Software Agents

– Alert, search, browse, aggregate, deliver, harvest

Some examples

• SeSDL: Scottish electronic Staff Development Library– http://www.sesdl.scotcit.ac.uk/

• MERLOT: US and Canada– http://www.merlot.org/

• intraLibrary: – http://www.intrallect.com/

Positioning IntraLibrary

IntraLibrary is a Learning ObjectManagement System, which means it :

– is a strategic technology which underpins a mixed learning environment9

– improves the management of all learning assets

– leads to better quality teaching material with less effort

Current Situation?

Using a LOMS

intraLibrary Demonstration

• http://www.intrallect.com/

Portals

• One-stop shop?10

– How many? – People change their context

• Must be adaptable– by providers– by institutions– by individuals

Resource Discovery Network

?

? ?

Humbul

EEVL

SOSIG Example

Bringing it together

• Key technologies11

– Z39.50 for searching– OAI PMH for exposing metadata– RSS for alerting– OpenURL for resolving “appropriate

copy”

JISC Information Environment

The future: Learning Design

• Ability to define learning activities12

• Capable of handling collaborative learning

• Design independent of implementation

• Ability to share and reuse designs

MSG-CAL granularity

course Structure, size and duration of a course are totally determined by teachers

modulemodulemodule Largest part of MSG-CAL, about 45 minutes long,

complex navigation includes sequences and choices

modulemoduleunit-of-study Between 5 and 10 per module, includes specific

reference library, external URL and communications groups. Knowledge objects arranged linearly

modulemoduleknowledge-object Between 2 and 4 per unit of study. Equivalent to

a web page. Usually contains one interaction

modulemoduleresource Fundamental resources such as images,

animations and video.

Interaction/ problem-solvingName Interaction

MCQ (multiple choice question)

Multiple choice question. The question, options and feedback may all include images. There can be many questions in a quiz or only one. More than one correct answer is allowable.

Matrix question Similar to a multiple choice question but there can be several choices such as true/false or visible/ir/wv.

Image hotspot Question in which the answer is given by clicking on an area in an image. Multiple correct and incorrect answers are possible. Multi-spectral images are supported through toggling images from one channel to the next.

Drag and drop Both text-based and image-based drag and drop exercises are possible. These require the student to correctly place objects in defined locations. Multiple correct locations are possible and mismatched numbers of draggable objects and drop locations are also possible. Useful for getting students to label diagrams or construct logical process sequences.

Animation Animate sequences of images with ability to play in single-step, loop or swing modes. Student can control play speed. Includes ability to play only every second image to simulate first generation Meteosat.

Slide show Sequences of images with extended captions with forward and backward paying under student control.

Knowledge objects Units of study Modules

Creating new lessons

Contact details

Charles DuncanC.Duncan@intrallect.comhttp://www.intrallect.com/+44 (0)870 234 3933

Intrallect LtdBraehead Business ParkBraehead RoadLinlithgow EH49 6EPScotland

References1 Acronym definitions, acronyms.doc

2 FINAL REPORT of the TQEC on the Future Needs and Support for Quality Enhancement of Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, Jan 2003, cooke_report.pdf

3 LOM (Learning Object Metadata), LOM_WD6_4.pdf

4 UK Common Metadata Framework, Draft X4L Application Profile, UKCMF_X4L_v0p2p2.doc

5 Identifiers for Learning Objects, a discussion paper from Intrallect, 4 Feb 2003, identifiers.doc

6 (Not) an Idiot’s Guide to Metadata, Charles Duncan, Lorna Campbell and Gerry Graham, submitted to ALT-C 2003, duncan-campbell-graham.doc

7 Quality Assurance for Digital Learning Object Repositories: The Power of Metadata, Sarah Currier, Jane Barton, submitted to ALT-C 2003, currier_bartron_03.doc

8 Digital Repositories: e-Learning for Everyone, Charles Duncan, eLearn International, Feb 2003, elearninternational_edin_feb2003.doc

9 The Value of Managing Learning Objects, Charles Duncan, Intrallect White Paper, Jan 2003, loms_value.pdf

10 JISC Information Environment Architecture, Baseline Portal Functional Specification, Andy Powell, Mar 2002, ie.html

11 The DNER Technical Architecture: scoping the information environment, Andy Powell, Liz Lyon, May 2001, dner-arch.pdf

12 The pedagogical and technological basis of 2nd generation e-learning in satellite meteorology, Charles Duncan, EUMETSAT Satellite Data Users Conference, Sept 2002, eml.doc