Learning objects management and evaluation in an e-learning enviroment

@article{citeulike:354146, abstract = {One of the problems that have emerged with e-learning systems was how to represent information and knowledge in a standardized form. So, in the year 2000 the Learning Objects Metadata Working Group (a working group of the Learning Technology Standards Committee), in order to represent information, developed the IEEE (Institute of Electrical Electronics Engineers) LOM (Learning Object Metadata) standard, which referring to them "enables computer agents to automatically and dynamically compose personalized lessons for an individual learner" (IEEE LOM, 2002). This standard proposed a representation through metadata (data about data) that has descriptive information about a resource so it can be easily retrieved and reused. Metadata has very well known advantages such as simplicity, compactness, robustness, verifiability and many others. IEEE LOM provides a semantic representation of information providing an ontology in which concepts are clearly an d unambiguously identified, also providing a set of semantic relation types which allow representing meaning by linking concepts together (Mendes, Sacks, 2004). The IEEE LOM standard also introduced the concept of learning objects that can be defined as "any digital or non digital entity that can be used, reused and referenced during technology supported learning" (IEEE LOM, 2002), in order to divide information in independent meaningful chunks of information, so it can easily be manipulated and accessed regarding users' necessities. The standard presented before defines a conceptual model for metadata definition with a hierarchical structure, composed by several elements and sub-elements, but it had no specific format to allow the interaction with computers, to promote metadata interchange and to aid programmers in the implementation of the standard. To solve this problem IMS (IMS Specifications, 2004), based on the IEEE LOM standard, developed the IMS Learning Resource Meta-Data Best Practice and Implementation Guide (IMS LRM) specification, defining a way to represent metadata through XML (eXtensible Markup Language), giving general guidelines of how an application can use IEEE LOM elements, through the use of XML (IMS LRM, 2001). With the use of XML we have an easier way to read and exchange information, allowing the reusability of the information presented in the files in order to present it in different formats and to different audiences without the necessity of reprogramming (Bray, Alpaoli, Sperberg-Macqueen, 2004). So, to develop our platform we had to choose the most adequate technological standards and specifications in order to reach our objectives of multipurpose, independence of the learning domain, reusability and interoperability of resources and courses, since several standards and specifications have been developed to structure pedagogical contents and to allow the characterization of a wide variety of learning environments (Wiley, 2003). Here we present AKHME (Adaptive Hypermedia Knowledge Management E-learning Platform), a platform that supports features of knowledge representation and knowledge management based on metadata described by the specifications. In this platform teachers have at their disposal tools to create didactic materials and to evaluate, import and retrieve quality educational resources, and students can acquire knowledge through quality learning objects, as well as through the more appropriate learning technique based on their characteristics, the learning activities available, the instructional design, their learning style and the learning objects characteristics. In this paper we will initially present the analysis of current approaches to e-learning and a comparative analysis of standards and specifications in order to find the best to develop our system and then we will describe the platform in order to give an overview and to context the system and we will analyze the learning object management and evaluation in this system. Finally we will present some conclusions and future work.}, author = {Rego, Hugo and Moreira, Tiago and Garc\'{i}a}, citeulike-article-id = {354146}, editor = {de Salamanca, Universidad }, howpublished = {Online}, institution = {IUCE}, journal = {Teor\'{i}a de la Educaci\'{o}n: Educaci\'{o}n y Cultura en la Sociedad de la Informaci\'{o}n}, keywords = {avaliacion, estandar, evas, lom}, month = {October}, organization = {Universidad de Salamanca}, posted-at = {2005-10-18 18:15:22}, priority = {2}, title = {Learning objects management and evaluation in an e-learning enviroment}, url = {http://www3.usal.es/\~{}teoriaeducacion/rev\_numero\_06\_2/n6\_02\_art\_rego\_moreira\_garcia.htm}, volume = {6 (2)}, year = {2005} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:354146 L3 - citeulike-article-id:354146 TI - Learning objects management and evaluation in an e-learning enviroment JF - Teoría de la Educación: Educación y Cultura en la Sociedad de la Información VL - 6 (2) OR - Universidad de Salamanca N2 - One of the problems that have emerged with e-learning systems was how to represent information and knowledge in a standardized form. So, in the year 2000 the Learning Objects Metadata Working Group (a working group of the Learning Technology Standards Committee), in order to represent information, developed the IEEE (Institute of Electrical Electronics Engineers) LOM (Learning Object Metadata) standard, which referring to them "enables computer agents to automatically and dynamically compose personalized lessons for an individual learner" (IEEE LOM, 2002). This standard proposed a representation through metadata (data about data) that has descriptive information about a resource so it can be easily retrieved and reused. Metadata has very well known advantages such as simplicity, compactness, robustness, verifiability and many others. IEEE LOM provides a semantic representation of information providing an ontology in which concepts are clearly an d unambiguously identified, also providing a set of semantic relation types which allow representing meaning by linking concepts together (Mendes, Sacks, 2004). The IEEE LOM standard also introduced the concept of learning objects that can be defined as "any digital or non digital entity that can be used, reused and referenced during technology supported learning" (IEEE LOM, 2002), in order to divide information in independent meaningful chunks of information, so it can easily be manipulated and accessed regarding users' necessities. The standard presented before defines a conceptual model for metadata definition with a hierarchical structure, composed by several elements and sub-elements, but it had no specific format to allow the interaction with computers, to promote metadata interchange and to aid programmers in the implementation of the standard. To solve this problem IMS (IMS Specifications, 2004), based on the IEEE LOM standard, developed the IMS Learning Resource Meta-Data Best Practice and Implementation Guide (IMS LRM) specification, defining a way to represent metadata through XML (eXtensible Markup Language), giving general guidelines of how an application can use IEEE LOM elements, through the use of XML (IMS LRM, 2001). With the use of XML we have an easier way to read and exchange information, allowing the reusability of the information presented in the files in order to present it in different formats and to different audiences without the necessity of reprogramming (Bray, Alpaoli, Sperberg-Macqueen, 2004). So, to develop our platform we had to choose the most adequate technological standards and specifications in order to reach our objectives of multipurpose, independence of the learning domain, reusability and interoperability of resources and courses, since several standards and specifications have been developed to structure pedagogical contents and to allow the characterization of a wide variety of learning environments (Wiley, 2003). Here we present AKHME (Adaptive Hypermedia Knowledge Management E-learning Platform), a platform that supports features of knowledge representation and knowledge management based on metadata described by the specifications. In this platform teachers have at their disposal tools to create didactic materials and to evaluate, import and retrieve quality educational resources, and students can acquire knowledge through quality learning objects, as well as through the more appropriate learning technique based on their characteristics, the learning activities available, the instructional design, their learning style and the learning objects characteristics. In this paper we will initially present the analysis of current approaches to e-learning and a comparative analysis of standards and specifications in order to find the best to develop our system and then we will describe the platform in order to give an overview and to context the system and we will analyze the learning object management and evaluation in this system. Finally we will present some conclusions and future work. KW - avaliacion KW - estandar KW - evas KW - lom AU - Rego, Hugo AU - Moreira, Tiago AU - García A2 - de Salamanca, Universidad PY - 2005/10/04/ UR - http://www3.usal.es/~teoriaeducacion/rev_numero_06_2/n6_02_art_rego_moreira_garcia.htm ER -