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Improving Learning Object Description Mechanisms to
Support an Integrated Framework for Ubiquitous
Learning Scenarios
María Felisa VerdejoCarlos Celorrio
Emilio Julio Lorenzo
LTCS Group - UNED
WMUTE 2006, Athens
Outline
Introduction Enlace Project Ubiquity in Learning Processes Educational network infrastructure
Metadata for Tool’s Objects Automatic Metadata Generation Integration by Tool Wrapping Conclusions
Introduction
Mobile and ubiquitous technologies have demonstrated potential to enrich learning and teaching inside and outside the classroom.
An increasingly number of experiences are being reported.
However all these technologies are often a range of unintegrated options.
ENLACE Project
Spanish National Research Project http://www.enlace.uned.es
Explores the design of an innovative educational environment
Technology seamlessly supporting the flow of learning activities in different contexts and settings
Enlace Project Students are engaged both in
individual and collaborative activities compiling information analyzing and representing
data building models to explain and
predict behaviour exchanging and discussing
their findings linking their view with real
problems
Ubiquity in Learning Processes The learning workflow includes
activities for a long term period (to be carried out
either in sequence, parallel, or overlapping in time)
in different scenarios (classroom, home, computer lab, field trips…)
Ubiquitous context challenging the integration issue through the school curriculum location time social organization levels across devices interoperability connectivity
Ubiquity in Learning Processes
Smooth flow throughout the scenarios of activities
Users can create artefacts that will be reused in other tools, in other devices, or even different students in different contexts.
Sustain seamless data and tool interoperability, through an educational network infrastructure a variety of mobile devices computer tools connectivity conditions
Educational network infrastructure
The backbone of the technological infrastructure is a Learning Object Repository (LOR)
a) a persistence mechanism for tools
b) a web interface foraccessing artefacts
Metadata is akey factor
Internet (Web Services)
Main LOR
Modeling Space
Field trip
Computer lab
WI-FI ad hoc (http)
PdaCards CARDS Local LOR
Internet
Cards
A
B
Outline
Introduction Metadata for Tool’s Objects Automatic Metadata Generation Integration by Tool Wrapping Conclusions
Metadata for Tool’s Objects
LOR as a service for external tools...
1. a declarative way for defining specific metadata.
2. mechanisms for automatic metadata generation
GOAL: generalized framework for the external tools.
Metadata for Tool’s Objects
A LO type in the repository defines the description for a class of LOs General Metadata Schema + other Tool’s Specific
Metadata schemas the format of content (i.e. multimedia material, XML
files, models following tool specific formats).
Metadata for Tool’s Objects
Metadata items are grouped in Metadata Schemas.
Each metadata item has a value type Text, for storing any kind of string text. Number, for integer or real numeric values, possibly
delimited with maximum and minimum values. Predefined formats of interest, as for instance, date, time
and position for storing GPS data. Vocabulary, for predefined set of values. Terms of an ontology
Metadata for Tool’s Objects
The LOR provides mechanisms for definingnew LO types for tools ina declarative way
An example: Observation Card Object from CARDS tool
Specific Metadata
General Metadata
Outline
Introduction Metadata for Tool’s Objects Automatic Metadata Generation
The Method Extraction sources Conflict resolution criteria
Integration by Tool Wrapping Conclusions
Automatic Metadata Generation
Metadata is seen as a key feature for enhancing the search in digital repositories.
How this metadata is created? 1) The author of the resource creates the metadata using
editing tools 2) A professional cataloguer creates metadata (as
librarians currently do) and 3) Methods for automatic generation of metadata are
applied. We want a completely automatic metadata
generation mechanism
The Method
Automatic metadata generation process includes two steps:
1. Tool extraction of metadata field values.
2. Combining metadata field values.
Extraction sources
LO types in the LOR includes information about how the metadata fields will be populated.
Extraction sources for automatic metadata generation: 1) Tool’s own context 2) Default values 3) The object itself 4) The portal context 5) Inference from an ontology that models the different
concepts underlying the metadata domains..
Conflict resolution criteria
Defined at the moment of the LO type declaration.
A list of ordered candidates.
Tool’s metadata generated values has preference over the LOR’s generated ones.
Outline
Introduction Metadata for Tool’s Objects Automatic Metadata Generation Integration by Tool Wrapping Conclusions
Integration by Tool Wrapping
Many tools are not prepared for interoperating directly with the LOR’s web services interface.
The idea for handling this problem is to use a mechanism allowing 1) to define an “external” metadata model suitable to
describe potential outcomes from that tool 2) to wrap the non-compliant tool to produce
a) appropriate metadata values from its output using the metadata model
b) to generate input data to feed the tool from a selected LO.
Integration by Tool Wrapping
CARDS is an authoring system for defining models for data collection and the metadata associated to these models.
ModellingSpace is a collaborative modelling tool to create models to represent and understand natural phenomena, physics laws, trigonometric rules, etc.
CARDS
MODELING SPACE
Integration by Tool Wrapping
An example of this flow in a topographic profiling activity.
CARDS TOOL
MODELING SPACE TOOL
LOR
PDACARDS
Outline
Introduction Metadata for Tool’s Objects Automatic Metadata Generation Integration by Tool Wrapping Conclusions
Conclusions
Storing and retrieving the products generated by students from different devices and tools
Many diverse tools can be potentially integrated in the networking infrastructure, either by web services interoperability or by tool wrapping.
The definition of an LO type allows to specify and implement a variety of automatic metadata generation methods to create a rich description of an artefact.
Conclusions
Perspectives Scenario and activity design Pilot evaluation Broaden participation Tool integration Agent technology
Configuration layer with functionality adaptation to dynamically deploy the required services customized for a certain learning scenario
Improving Learning Object Description Mechanisms to
Support an Integrated Framework for Ubiquitous
Learning Scenarios
María Felisa VerdejoCarlos Celorrio
Emilio Julio Lorenzo
LTCS Group - UNED
WMUTE 2006, Athens