Tutorial TS4
Learning Object Metadata: a new Standard for Metadata

Half day, Level Intermediate

Lecturer

Maciej Macowicz
LEAO Laboratoire d'enseignement assisté par ordinateur
Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
Email: maciej.macowicz@epfl.ch

Note: for personal reasons, Prof. Erik Duval had to cancel his lecture. He appointed Maciej Macowicz for his replacement.

Abstract

This tutorial is intended towards:

Attendees will learn about the scope and purpose of the "Learning Object Metadata" (LOM) standard, being finalized by the IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee <http://ltsc.ieee.org/>. The underlying hierarchical data model will be presented. All of the data elements will be covered in some detail. We will explain how LOM deals with value spaces, data types, vocabularies, classifications, and extensions. Binding and conformance related issues will be discussed. Guidelines for the actual use of LOM in practice will be presented. Tool sets and infrastructures, as well as experiences based on actual use, will illustrate LOM applications.

Detailed Outline

In this tutorial, participants will be guided through the Learning Object Metadata (LOM) structure, which includes metadata on general, technical, educational and other characteristics. A toolset from the ARIADNE Foundation <http://www.ariadne-eu.org/> will be used to describe sample resources. Searches across a distributed Knowledge Pool System of learning objects with detailed metadata will be compared with more conventional web searches.

The intent of the workshop is that participants will acquire a basic understanding of the scope and status of the Learning Object Metadata standard. They will be able to judge how relevant LOM is for their context. They will also have some practical experience with the application of LOM through one toolset based on that standard.

The basic structure of the tutorial will be as follows

  1. Introduction
    1. Metadata: what and why
      1. Subjective versus objective
      2. Multiple metadata instances per learning object
    2. Standards and Interoperability
    3. LOM: scope and purpose
  2. The LOM Data Model
    1. Data elements, categories
    2. Value Spaces
    3. Datatypes
      1. LangString
      2. DateTime
      3. Duration
      4. Vocabulary
    4. List values
    5. Vocabularies
  3. The LOM Base Schema
    1. General
    2. Life cycle
    3. Meta-metadata
    4. Technical
    5. Educational
    6. Rights
    7. Relation
    8. Annotation
    9. Classification
  4. Binding Issues
    1. XML DTD
    2. XML Schema
    3. RDF (Schema)
  5. Conformance
  6. An example Infrastructure: ARIADNE
    1. Indexation tool
    2. Knowledge Pool System
    3. Demo
    4. Lessons from Actual Use
  7. Wider Context
    1. Internationalization and Localization
    2. Standards Organizations:
      1. Learning Technologies:
        1. IEEE LTSC, CEN/CENELEC ISSS LTWS, ISO/IEC JTC1 SC36
        2. ARIADNE, IMS, ADL, OKI, etc.
      2. Metadata: Dublin Core, MPEG-7
  8. Putting LOM to use
    1. Describing resources
    2. Finding resources
    3. Re-using resources
  9. Research Directions
  10. Conclusion

Lecturer's Biography

Erik Duval is a professor at the research unit on hypermedia and databases, in the computer science department of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium.

His current research interests include: hypermedia data models, the design and implementation of distributed hypermedia systems, metadata, and the application of information and communication technology in education and training.

He coordinates the development of the Knowledge Pool System (a distributed database of reusable pedagogical documents) for the ARIADNE Foundation, is the technical editor for the standard on Learning Object Metadata, and chairs the CEN/ISSS Learning Technologies Workshop. Erik teaches courses on Human-Computer Interaction and Multimedia, both at the university and in corporate training settings.

Relevant publications include:

The tutorial proposed here will be presented as a hands-on workshop at EdMedia 2002 <http://www.aace.org/>.