LO Technical guidance

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Inhaltsverzeichnis

1 Technical guidelines for the use of Learning Objects (LOs)
2 Metadata
3 Learning Object Metadata (LOM)
4 Learning Resource Exchange (LRE)
5 Structure of LOM (shortened)
6 Accessibility and Usability
7 Copyright for LO
8 Open Source & Freeware
9 Social Software
10 Subject Oriented Programmes (Freeware/Shareware/Open Source)
11 Tools for creating Learning Objects
12 Related Topics
13 Contributors

Technical guidelines for the use of Learning Objects (LOs)

Technical Guidance

To be able to exchange learning objects and teaching materials with other platforms and web portals and to use them for other subjects and topics or in other countries, it makes sense to provide them with metadata.

Metadata

Metadata or meta-information is generally data, which contains information about other data. Thus information on qualities (kind, type) of an object is also called metadata. While the concept "metadata" is relatively new, the principle is an ancient library practise.

Learning Object Metadata (LOM)

Learning Object Metadata (LOM) is an open standard for metadata to the description of learning objects, which was published in 2002 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

In most learning materials the contents (eContents) are closely connected with the application, for which they were developed. In view of the high costs, which come with the development of such resources, ways had to be found for exchange of such contents between different applications and uses. In addition, the resources must first be provided with metadata which are standardised and describe the learning contents in a widely understandable way. If learning contents are combined with metadata in this manner, they are called learning objects (LOs). The Learning Object Metadata (LOM) standard was developed to make the exchange, search, procurement and use of learning objects easier. It allows the sharing and exchanging of learning objects through the development of repositories, which also consider cultural and language differences.

Learning Resource Exchange (LRE)

To be able to use web-based teaching materials and learning materials in Europe means an invaluable advantage for teachers and pupils. Thus a European solution had to be found. Common (Metadata-) standards made it possible that teaching materials and learning materials from whole Europe can now be found, used, provided with keywords and tags and re-used. The EU projects CALIBRATE and MELT (http://www.melt-project.eu/Melt-Portal/Index.iface) exactly had this aim. Users need not know anything about LRE to work with it. They simply visit the respective LRE portal or repository - this is an example for successful standardization.

Structure of LOM (shortened)

1. General Category (in general): Basic description of the learning object. 2. Lifecycle Category (life cycle): History and topical state of the learning object as well as related learning objects. 3. Meta-Metadata Category (meta-metadata): Features of the metadata description in general. 4. Technical Category (technical details): technical conditions and specifications. 5. Educational Category (educational details): education characteristics and educational description. 6. Rights Category (rights): Terms of utilisation of the learning object and copyright issues. 7. Relation Category (related resources): Relations with other learning objects. 8. Annotation Category (remark): Remark about the educational use and information about the origin of comments 9. Classification Category (classification): Classification in a classification system (object. curriculum).

This detailed characterisation helps searching for special contents and document formats as well as finding out whether certain teaching programmes are suitable for own purposes.