Learning Content Repositories and Learning Management Systems Based on Customization and Metadata

A conceptual modeling of an adaptive or a flexible learning content management (LCM) system is an initialized step toward successful implement of a distance education system on Internet. Its aim is at planning and accomplishing the responsiveness to the learning content (re)configuration required for meeting the students' learning goals. Since learning content is composed of the relative learning objects, their (re)configurations and reuses are essential to the construction (modification) of a new (existing) studying subject (content). The alternatives of appropriately aggregating a number of relative learning objects to structure the learning subject certainly is to the success of the LCM system implementation. This paper thus presents such a conceptualization that is able to model an adaptive LCM system by defining its learning object constituents as the respectively reusable active objects represented in the nature of the object-orientation (OO) software. The aspect of the proposed OO-based active objects instruments the modeling process of an adaptive LCM system.

E-Learning is a fast, just-in-time, learning process, which is becoming popular in distributed and dynamic environments such as the World Wide Web. The core of E-Learning is Learning Content Management System (LCMS). Traditional LCMS supports search of learning objects based on keywords. The conventional approach provides relevant as well as non-relevant results as they do not consider user's context. Also, precise search of non-textual resources such as audio-visual or multimedia based resources is not possible as these are not simple document files where keywords could be searched. The learner has to spend large amount of time in screening the learning resource to determine the best suiting his/her current learning requirements. In this paper an ontology based LCMS has been discussed. Ontology is a formal description of concepts in a real-world domain and helps to store the semantic information of that domain. It is more expressive than any other standard database model and facilitates knowledge sharing and reuse, i.e. a common understanding of various contents that reaches across people and applications. Developed LCMS incorporates semantic capabilities with the help of ontologies to enable semantic based contribution and retrieval of learning objects. Two very useful ontologies are created to describe the learner profile and the learning content. These ontologies have been used to classify the learning material, organize topics of a course and store the information pertaining to learner's profile. The proposed OLearner LCMS facilitates a resource contributor to contribute the resource to the OLearner portal with the metadata corresponding to the learning content and learner profile ontologies. These ontologies are further useful for a learner in searching a more precise and appropriate learning object.

An ontology has been proposed in this paper, which arranges metadata, and defines the relationships of metadata on learning objects belong to academic courses and user profiles. This ontology has been incorporated with proposed architecture, as a critical part of this architecture what consists of a set of components which synergies to achieve a higher usability to the learner. The ontology is utilized for effective retrieval of learning content, customizing learning management systems (LMS), and an integrating learning content to reuse them. It has been specified in ontology inference language (OIL) and in resource description framework (RDF) for exchange of ontology. The ontology and user profile management components have been introduced into a typical open sourced LMS. Proposed ontology maps user preferences with learning content in searching learning object and amalgamates them to build new course objects. Hence it increases the learner- orientation and usability of e-learning systems.

The education sector is experiencing an unprecedented shift in how students learn and progress through their education. With the large amounts of digital learning content available, teachers are increasingly turning to sources such as online tutorials and eBooks for their teaching needs. Schools often make use of a Learning Content Management System (LCMS) to store learning material, which is catalogued based on the curriculum followed in the school. However, the amount of content indexed in the LCMS is often limited by the ability to manually label and catalogue content. In this paper, we describe our LCMS called the Learning Content Hub (LCH), which not only offers the features of a traditional LCMS including document search and retrieval, document security, user role management, etc., but also provides the ability to automatically analyze and label documents. LCH provides a framework for easily extending the analytics support and exposes application programming interfaces that can be used to build custom education applications for which the content needs can be met using the LCH. We discuss experimental results of the analyzers in our system as well as our experience of deploying this system in a U.S. school district.

Learning management systems are characterized by the fact that the scenarios of their operation are related to various aspects of educational activity, which in turn requires costs for the creation of professional training programs, electronic educational resources and their exploitation. These problems confirm the relevance of research aimed at developing models of life cycles for electronic educational resources, programs and qualification levels of specialists, as well as at creating effective tools for automated management of the learning process. The purpose of this study is to optimize the life cycles of electronic educational resources, training programs, employer requirements and increase efficiency in managing the continuous process of training specialists. Analytical studies of life cycle models of electronic educational content, learning and educational activity management systems, content management systems were carried out in the work in order to select and develop tools for automated design and filling of educational resources, as well as synthesis of the life cycle management system of its main components. Models of the life cycles of the main components of the educational environment have been developed, which allow for their coordination and optimization for the system of automated management of training processes and professional development. Distinctive features of the models are the comprehensive synchronization of the life cycles of all components with the assessment of the effectiveness of this process, as well as adjustment to the changing requirements of the external environment. A model for synchronizing the life cycles of the components of the educational environment, including electronic educational content and a system for managing learning and professional development processes, has been developed. A feature of the model is a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of the synchronization process at all its stages for the automated selection and/or synthesis of personalized training programs and electronic resources in accordance with the changing requirements of standards and employers.

Background/Objectives: This study discusses quality control measures for use in distance education institutions that are part of the academic credit bank system of lifelong education in South Korea. Methods/Statistical Analysis: This study proposes a standard model, which measures quality control from two perspectives, namely, learning content and Learning Management Systems (LMS). Findings: This model will operate as a guideline for the development of a quality control system in distance education institutions. As self-directed learning programs are important in measuring quality control from the content viewpoint, this paper suggests pre-quiz narratives, thinking, formative assessment, regular tests, assignments, and discussion methods. Application/Improvements: The study aims to contribute to the field of quality education by ensuring that the distance learning education system in South Korea meets a specific level of education quality in the future.

Learning Management Systems (LMS) in e-learning have functionality for monitoring learning activities. The statistics generated from learning performances can be processed for tutors and a group of learners to improve their quality of teaching and learning. However the current LMS are not designed to facilitate personalised learning support for an individual learner, e.g. adaptive delivery, constructive feedback on assessment and real-time learning activities monitoring. This paper presents a learner-oriented tracking approach for one-to-one support. Technical components of this approach can be embedded in the LMS to effectively facilitate learning experience of the individual learner and quality of learning content design. A learner-oriented tracking model relies on the information from a Learner’s Profile and educational requirements. This determines initially suitable learning content (learning objects) and delivery methods and also provides monitoring information about learners’ experiences.

Currently the challenges in e-Learning are converging the learning content from various sources and managing them within e-learning practices. Data mining learning algorithms can be used and the contents can be converged based on the Metadata of the objects. Ensemble methods use multiple learning algorithms and it can be used to converge the Learning Objects from Learning Management Systems (LMS) and Knowledge Objects from Knowledge Management System (KMS). This can increase the performance of the learning system, especially when there is different content available from a variety of models. In this research, Data mining ensemble techniques are used so that an appropriate learning content is delivered to the learner. By converging, the learning content from various sources the Learning system pedagogies can also be revolutionized and a right learning path can be provided to the learners. This research work uses various classification techniques for converging and are evaluated using statistical measures.

The increasing demand for World Wide Web (Web) based courses has imposed some challenges in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) field, in particular when considering the education supported by the Web. One of the emerging needs of education supported by the Web is related to the Learning Objects (LO) usage inside Learning Management Systems (LMS). Besides production of "good quality" LO, it must be provided efficient methods concerning their storage and dissemination. However, some difficulties have been reported by teachers of Web based courses: "expensive costs" for LO authoring; lack of tools for sharing these materials; and negative practical experiences for reusing them in an LMS. Some proposals to mitigate these problems have been the development of Learning Object Repository (LOR) tools, mainly in order to facilitate the dissemination of LO. Despite the progress already achieved, there are still several barriers for their adoption by teachers such as lack of easy integration between LMS environment and LOR. In general, current integrations are not simple for typical users. In this context, the target of this project is to presents an innovative LOR, the Interactive Repository of Digital Contents -iRepository. Its model provides seamless integration with a particular LMS and offers several resources to help teaching and learning processes, such as registry of LO educational effectiveness. As a practical contribution, the fundamentals of iRepository model were implemented for an specific LMS, the Moodle system.

The rapid development of information technology (IT), especially in education, influences all educational institutions to adopt eLearning. E-learning as a primary means of instruction is expanding significantly at the college and university level. However, most of these colleges and universities tend to emphasize on its benefits only. This does not mean that eLearning is without deficiencies. Studentsâ?? interactions, attention and communications are relatively low in the current Learning Management Systems (LMS). LMS is missing the direct relation between learning content and studentsâ?? collaboration and in an inappropriate educators approach towards eLearning. Additionally, collaboration among learners themselves in real time is not supported by LMS. Simultaneously, the growth of social networking sites (SNS) including Facebook, twitter and others are also rising among todayâ??s college students. The main aim of this research is to propose a comprehensive model for eLearning, which might be a roadmap for educational institutions over the whole world to adopt. The focus of this new model will be on incorporation and integration of social networking platform (SNP) with LMS to overcome some of the limitations of LMS in order to improve the quality of educational process to make it much better, attractive and more cooperative.

Learning content is increasingly diverse in order to meet learner needs for individual personalization, progression, and variety. Learners may encounter material through different content, which invites a measurable comparison method in order to tell when delivered content is sufficient or similar. Content recommendation and generation similarly motivate a fine-grained measure that enhances the search for just the right content or identifies where new learning content is needed to support all learners. Complexity offers a fine-grained way of measuring content which works across instructional domains and media types, potentially adding to existing qualitative and quantitative content descriptions. Reductionist complexity measures focus on quantifiable accounting which practitioners and computers in support of practice can use together to communicate about the complexity of learning content. In addition, holistic complexity measures incorporate contextual influences on complexity that practitioners typically reason about when they understand, choose, and personalize learning content. A combined measure of complexity uses learning objectives as a focus point to let teachers and trainers manage the scope of reductionist elements and capture holistic context factors that are likely to affect the learning content. The combined measure has been demonstrated for automated content generation. This concrete example enables an upcoming study on the expert acceptance and usability of complexity for differentiating between hundreds of generated scenarios. As the combined complexity measure is refined and tested in additional domains, it has potential to help computers reason about learning content from many sources in a unified manner that experts can understand, control, and accept.

Introduction: Integrating subject matter in organ-systems-based courses is now the norm in medical education. This is valuable at the course level and organ-system level. However, at the session level, many basic scientists have observed essential content from their disciplines being discarded when solo-taught by faculty from other disciplines. This has had the effect of content experts re-siloing their content in sessions that were intended to cover integrative content. Such siloing forces students to integrate the separated components themselves. Even when designated for co-teaching, many sessions created by only one faculty member effectively sideline the other instructors attending the sessions. Hypothesis: A deliberative process for improving the incorporation of discipline-based learning objectives and content into the material for multidisciplinary co-taught sessions improves both co-teaching opportunities and student learning. Methodology: The authors offer the term “micro-integration” as a deliberative, 4-step process for converting an individually created session into an effective multidisciplinary session. (1) Once a session on a topic is identified for co-teaching as part of a larger curricular plan, a session lead is identified. This person often teaches most of the session’s content. (2) In creating a multidisciplinary, integrated session, topics from other disciplines (in both basic and clinical sciences) that complement or complete the integration are identified. Each content expert creates learning objectives that correspond best to their discipline. (3) Each expert creates discipline-specific content that covers their individual learning objectives for that session. (4) The group collaboratively creates the final product. As an example, in one first-semester session on “Action Potentials and the Neuromuscular Junction,” most of the material—learning objectives and the content of the session—was prepared by a physiologist. Two learning objectives on the microbiology of botulism and tetanus were also incorporated. Finally, another learning objective and related content on the clinical presentation of these two disorders was included. Together, these highlighted the importance and relevance of physiology, microbiology, and clinical medicine on the same topic, presenting medical students with an integrated, clinically relevant understanding of action potentials and synaptic transmission. Data and summary of results: At a medical school that has an integrated pre-clinical curriculum, micro-integration was the norm for many sessions. Reaction from students to these micro-integrated sessions has been generally positive. Faculty also reported feeling empowered by micro-integration. An unexpected but welcome result of this process involved item writing. Because each content expert was aware of specific knowledge each of their peers were contributing, they were better able to write integrated formative and summative examination items that prioritized their learning objectives while also tying into others’ learning objectives. These learning objectives and related examination items were tracked all the way up to the course level to match content taught with overall learning objectives for each organ system. In general, micro-integration was used in three types of sessions: (1) Basic scientists from different disciplines (e.g., anatomy and physiology) coordinating their learning objectives and content across a common topic; (2) Basic science sessions incorporating clinical relevance to the original material (e.g., biochemistry and clinical medicine); and (3) Clinical sessions incorporating basic science material (e.g., clinical medicine and pharmacology). Conclusion: Micro-integration is a new, deliberate approach to creating contextualized, just-in-time educational materials at the session level that may improve the content and quality of co-teaching to undergraduate medical students. This process of session-specific curriculum development could be helpful, both for overcoming faculty resistance to integration of their learning objectives and content in undergraduate medical education, and for improving the quality of examination items. None. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

The scholarly investigation of discourse in teaching and learning is multi-disciplinary, theoretically rich, and highly technical. Researchers with backgrounds in education, cognitive psychology, computer science, and the social sciences apply a diverse set of techniques to understand how student discussions affect learning. Aided by big data coming from learning content management and massive open online course systems, these researchers have an unparalleled opportunity for insight into the teaching and learning process. In this paper we summarize some of the challenges and opportunities arising out of three workshops on Educational Discourse. These workshops convened both expert and emerging scholars to discuss the (i) ethical, (ii) technical, and (iii) infrastructure barriers to building a research community focused on computer-mediated educational discourse. Of particular note is that while computational infrastructure exists for storing and manipulating educational discourse, there is a need for a sociotechnical infrastructure upon which community members can come together to engage in joint work.

Online teaching and learning for the professional development of workers in service is ever pervasive and continually growing. Yet, studies of teaching and learning with technology are mostly conducted in K-12, pre-service, or higher education contexts resulting in a lack of attention given to the in-service or professional development field. This study aims to alleviate the issue by investigating online courses in a professional development context, particularly in a government institution such as the Financial Education and Training Agency (FETA) under the Indonesian Ministry of Finance. By conducting a study in the institution providing online professional development courses, this study focuses on adult learners. There are also more studies investigating learners compared to instructors, even though the latter are reportedly struggling in conducting online courses. One of the struggles instructor faces includes choosing relevant technologically enhanced andragogy that are in line with the learning contents and intents. This happened amidst the growth of online professional development courses due to increasing demand accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Online learning needs to be improved not only in terms of quantity but also quality. By analysing 148 curriculum documents known as the course syllabi, followed by interviewing three gatekeepers and seven instructors conducting online courses at FETA, and informed by prevailing theories of education and educational technology adoption, the present study aimed to uncover practice-based considerations in crafting online course curricula for professional development. Frameworks used in this study include the adult learning principles of andragogy, the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy, and the Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition (SAMR) model. The study found the distinction between various types of online courses for professional development: distance learning, webinars, and web-based learning courses. Distance learning can be supplemented with prerequisite and/or action learning. Web-based learning can be limited to specific learners or opened to the general population of learners depending on the learning content. The study also found connections between learning objectives and the use of technology in online courses. The considerations in choosing internet-assisted course types and relevant technologies for online courses include learning content. Characteristics of learning content are considered, such as range, specificity, and confidentiality. These characters correspond to the specification of learners which are adult learners. Both content and audience are considered in crafting online course curricula. The findings gathered through this study may not only sharpen the crafting of online course curricula but also assist in providing effective support for online teaching and learning. It provides a better understanding of the connection between learning content and the use of technology for online courses in a professional development context meant for adult learners. Such a better understanding of instructors’ considerations helped explain why online course curricula are crafted with certain approaches. It is hoped that the considerations borne by this study can be useful in guiding the practice of designing the curricula for online courses in professional development contexts for adult learners while assisting in providing relevant support for instructors.

Learning Content Management System ATutor, according to data found in this study, has multitudes of faulty User Interface and Interactive controls that should be resolved appropriately as per learners' needs. In relation to this, Learning Management Systems (LMS) and Learning Content Management Systems (LCMS) act as efficacious facilitators in educational environment. This study has evaluated the quality of LMSs, LCMSs and ATutor as case in Human Computer Interaction checklist to increase the fluency of these systems. This research has been assessed ATutor an Open Source Learning Content Management System based on Human Computer Interaction criteria in terms of Conceptual Graphic Design and Interaction Design that had been conducted on a General Survey Model based on descriptive analysis data. Appropriate suggestions to faulty controls including solutions for elimination of redundancy and errors in some controls, substitution of proper technologies and expansion on system capabilities in other controls has been provided based on this assessment. Keywords: ATutor, Conceptual Graphical Models, Interaction Design, Learning Content Management Systems, Learning Management Systems