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Metadata and Learning Object Standards
Different forms of Metadata existed long time ago, library indexing system is a good example. The readers can find out information on the author, the publisher and the summary from the index cards before reading the book itself. In general, Metadata simply means "data about data" or "description on a group of data".
Metadata was first used as web page descriptions in the online technologies. It was heavily relied on by the search engines to index the web site contents in the early stages of the Internet. Although this role has been reduced a little now days by the search engines like Google and Yahoo but are still being used as an important referencing element.
In the elearning industry, metadata is used to describe courseware or learning objects. From IMS to SCORM, metadata functions as a core element in the learning technology standards.
Metadata in learning object was first introduced in IEEE and IMS learning technology standards. The metadata definations introduced is called LOM (Learning Object Metadata). It is based on Dubling Core Metadata Element Set (by DCMI) , a metadata description for web contents. Approximately 2/3 of LOM is based on Dublin Core and the other 1/3 are descriptions that are used in education and online learning. DCMI is also closely related to IMS and ADL.
There are 15 elements in the Dubling Core Metadata Element Set:
1. Content Items:
| Title |
Name given to a resource. |
| Subject |
Topic of the resource. Expressed as keywords or phrases. The use of controlled vocabulary and formal classification schemes is encouraged. |
| Description |
A textual description of the content of the resource, including abstracts (in the case of document-like objects) or content descriptions (in the case of visual resources). |
| Source |
A string or number used to uniquely identify the work from which the resource was derived, if applicable. |
| Language |
The language used in the Resource |
| Relation |
The relationship of this resource to other resources, eg. Images in a document, chapter in a book, item in a collection. Use of this element is currently considered experimental. |
| Coverage |
The spatial and/or temporal characteristics of the resource. Use of this element is currently considered experimental. |
2. Interlectural Items:
| Creator |
Person or organization primarily responsible for creating the intellectual content. |
| Publisher |
Entity responsible for making the resource available. |
| Contributor |
Person or organization not specified in a creator element who has made significant intellectual contributions to the resource. |
| Rights |
A link to a copyright notice, or information about terms of access. Use of this element is currently considered to be experimental. |
3. Instantiation Items:
| Date |
The date the resource was made available in its present form. Recommended best practice - 8 digit number in the form yyy-mm-dd. |
| Type |
Category of the resource. Should be selected from an enumerated list that is under development in the workshop series. |
| Format |
The data format of the resource used to identify the software and possibly hardware that may be needed to display or operate the resource. Should be selected from an enumerated list that is under development in the workshop series. |
| Identifier |
String or number to uniquely identify the resource, eg. URL, URN, ISBN. |
General syntax for embedding Dublin Core entry;
<META NAME="DC.Element name" CONTENT="value of element">
Learning standards use these 15 elements to describe the basic information of the web based learning contents. Additional elements are added in LOM and IMSmenifest metadata descriptions such as targeted learner, pre-requested knowledge base, learning object indexing etc.
In the near future, metadata will not only help educators to archive and locate valuable learning data efficiently, it will also help the computer to intellegently select useful knowledge packages for the learners based on the meta descrptions. A new age of computer based "software agent" or "knowledge agent" is waiting for us.
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