Searching SCORM metadata in a RDF-based e-learning P2P network using XQuery and Query by example

Стандартизація в галузі розробки засобів е-навчання приносить значний ефект, даючи змогу інтегрувати без жодних змін і модифікацій електронні освітні ресурси, що були створені для одних програмних середовищ, в інші. На сьогодні основним стандартом інтеграції засобів е-навчання поки що залишається SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model), створений ініціативною групою ADL (Advanced Distributed Learning) ще в 2001 р., який з багатьох причин вже не відповідає сучасним вимогам: може працювати тільки в браузері, не підтримує роботу з мобільними застосунками в режимі офлайн тощо. Тому в 2013 р. ADL запропонувала новий стандарт xAPI, що регламентує спосіб збору та збереження в розташованих у мережі сховищах – Learning Record Store (LRS) – даних про формування компетентностей осіб у рамах їх формальної, неформальної та інформальної освіти впродовж життя. Однак цей стандарт не зміг замінити SCORM через свою надмірну гнучкість. Для подолання цього недоліку ADL у 2016 р. було прийнято окремий профіль специфікації стандарту xAPI, що одержав назву cmi5, який чіткіше формалізує алгоритм взаємодії між призначеною одиницею (Assignable Unit – AU) навчального контенту, LRS, і системою управління навчанням (Learning Management System – LMS). У статті проаналізовано відмінності нового стандарту cmi5 від його попередників – SCORM і xAPI; наведено актуальний перелік програмних засобів, що підтримують cmi5, а також виконано тестування роботи з cmi5 у програмі створення електронних курсів iSpring Suite і хмарній системі управління навчанням SCORM Cloud. Зроблено порівняльний аналіз вмісту пакетів SCORM, xAPI та cmi5, а також операторів, які записуються в LRS при виконанні цих пакетів. Наведено огляд плагінів для роботи зі SCORM, xAPI та cmi5 у LMS Moodle та результати їх тестування.

SCORM (sharable content object reference model) is an international specification for e-learning. It provides sharable content, compatible run-time environment and learning profile. SCORM is a popular standard for e-learning and has the advantages of accessibility, adaptability, affordability durability, interoperability, and reusability. However SCORM don't have complete evaluation mechanism, we integrated SPC table to strengthen SCORM assessment.

Travel Recommender Systems (TRS) are increasingly becoming popular to support the tourism industry. A TRS allows tourists to get an informed recommendation for travel planning via an artificial intelligence based engine. Current TRSs do not provide tourists with the facility to visualise their complete holiday itinerary; i.e. location, transportation, accommodation, attractions and entertainment etc. The tourist has to browse through individual web pages to build a mental picture of the planned tour. Our aim is to develop a system that would allow the tourists to visualise their plan within the TRS to enhance their tour planning experience. The Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) provides the ability to create interactive and reusable content. Even though the SCORM standard was originally created for Learning Management Systems (LMSs), we postulate that it can be used for developing a tour visualisation tool. With the increase in the number of tourists using online information systems to plan and structure holidays, research and development has responded with the development of Travel Recommender Systems. However, current TRSs cannot provide the facility to visualise a complete tour as the content available on different web sites cannot be combined into a single presentation. The Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) can be used as the base model to create interactive and reusable content for visualising information. We build on the SCORM standard to development a Tour Recommendation using Image-based Planning (TRIP) system model that can provide tourists with a visual experience of their proposed travel itinerary. The TRIP system would enhance the user’s experience and involvement in holiday planning, and improve the reusability of tourism information. It can be envisaged that, as the TRIP system will facilitate the process of tour planning and visualisation, it will give a substantial boost to tourism.

The human mind needs order to understand anything and, in this respect, standards are essential because they impose order on the world. More specifically, standards are bringing great new benefits to the e-learning realm. For instance, by adhering to standards, courseware builders can construct components completely independent of the management systems under which they are intended to run—that’s interoperability. There is a tough struggle nowadays to find the most appropriate specification for learning content and to assure it is fully operative across the existing LMSs (Learning Management Systems) in the market. In that authors view, SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) is coming afloat, outplaying most —if not all— its competitors. For that reason, the authors have been using SCORM learning objects to manage their course in Moodle for their students of English at the University of Alicante, obtaining so far satisfactory results. The authors’ purpose in this article is twofold: on the one hand, they give an account of the problems they have met using SCORM in Moodle and how they have solved them. On the other, they explain the guiding aims of their Language Blend, which broadly said are the following: to set up a standard in language learning by means of a framework, wherein e-learning and in-person lectures merge strategically so that the benefits of both are enhanced.

There are many educational contents in digital format and it would be very good if they could be reused in mobile contexts. This paper seeks to achieve this objective by providing access to educational contents packaged in SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model). In this way user can reuse in any context the educational contents that already exist using mobile devices to access them. SCORM is a set of standards and specifications to share, reuse, import and export learning objects. Its main objective is to enable sharing and reusing educational contents between different systems. In this paper we propose an application which allows access SCORM objects from the mobile. This application is being used in real environments for several companies of e-learning.

The sharable content object reference model (SCORM) is a set of specifications and guidelines for the representation and operation of asynchronous distance learning. Since it was announced in late 1990s, the reference model has been used by software developers and academics in the development of authoring tools, learning management systems, and repositories for distance learning content. To date, most e-learning systems have been based on multimedia and Web technologies on personal computers. Our project, Hard SCORM, advances the field by implementing an integrated system which allows learners to read SCORM-compliant textbooks using multimodal multimedia devices. Hard SCORM employs a pen-like optical character reader device (called Hyper Pen) as an input mechanism. A computer, a personal digital assistant, or a cellular phone can be used for user behavior supervision using the hard SCORM machine. With an authoring tool, specially designed tags are printed in textbooks and recognized by hyper pen for user navigation control. In this way, users can read hardcopy textbooks in a traditional manner while the process of reading conforms to the SCORM specification. Part of the implemented system (Pocket SCORM on PDA) received the 2005 Brandon Hall Excellence in Learning Awards. The system has also been used by an airline company for online security checking and a high school for online mobile learning

This chapter describes the most relevant standards for content management within the e-learning context. The first part of this chapter is devoted to the concept of Learning Object, which is presented and studied as a way of management learning content inside e-learning environments. The central part of the chapter is an introduction to e-learning technical standards, where the principal actors in e-learning standardization efforts are presented, together with the main areas of standardization and the most important initiatives in progress. The final part describes the most popular content management standards and specifications, such as IEEE LOM (Learning Object Metadata), SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) and IMS Content specifications (IMS Content Packaging, IMS Question and Test Interoperability Specification and IMS Digital Repositories Specification).

This paper presents a prototype of a work support and training tool for control engineers (Autaki). The concept for the work support tool and the prototype of the tool are results of a study in which the core task and competence development of control engineers were analyzed. Novel techniques and modern design methods were used in the development of the Autaki application. For example, the architecture of the application is based on SOA (service oriented architecture) which makes it flexible and accessible. Also generally accepted reference models, such as SCORM (sharable content object reference model) and IMS LOM (IMS learning object metadata), were used when structuring the content of the application. AJAX (asynchronous Java script and XML) techniques, on the other hand, were utilized for making the user interface more interactive and comfortable.

This paper proposes a new approach to automatic retrieval and composition of Learning Objects (LOs) in an Adaptive Educational Hypermedia System (AEHS) using multidimensional learner characteristics to enhance learning effectiveness. The approach focuses on adaptive techniques in four components of AEHS: Learning Paths, LO Retrieval, LO Sequencing, and Examination Difficulty Levels. This approach has been designed to enable the adaptation of rules to become generic. Hence, the application to various domains is possible. The approach dynamically selects, sequences, and composes LOs into an individual learning package based on the use of domain ontology, learner profiles, and LO metadata. The Sharable Content Object Reference Model is employed to represent LO metadata and learning packages in order to support LO sharing. The IMS Learner Information Package Specification is used to represent learner profiles. A preliminary evaluation of the developed system indicates the system’s effectiveness in terms of learners’ satisfaction.

The need to ensure flexibility, compatibility, interoperability and reduce costs of production and maintenance of resources can be obtained with the use of internationally recognised specifications as Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM), IEEE Learning Object Metadata (IEEE LOM) or Instructional Management System-Learning Design (IMS-LD). In this way, the research aims to verify whether a development model of Units of learning (UoL) based on open source online tools for authoring and execution of UoLs, that meet the criteria of usability and without deep knowledge of programming language by developers provide effectively increased implementation or the re-use of UAs complete or parts in different Electronic Learning Systems (ELS). For this, we intend to conduct a survey of authoring tools or editors and players to perform an analysis of competitors in order to identify the potential, general operating characteristics. Thus, to perform the surveys will be used as collection instruments: questionnaires and interviews with samples from groups of users and developers of educational content. Already the evaluations of the tool developed will be carried out by groups of users that include samples of all those in potential, in order to ensure the production of reusable content. Therefore, it is expected that the authoring tool and your player can assist in the development of UoLs for different ELS from a lean and simple semantics, which facilitates and ensures interoperability, changes, adjustments, maintenance and reuse of the UoLs.

The sharable content object reference model (SCORM) includes a representation of distance learning contents and a behavior definition of how users should interact with the contents. Generally, SCORM-compliant systems were based on multimedia and Web technologies on PCs. We further build a pervasive learning environment, which allows users to read SCORM-compliant textbooks with multimodal learning devices. Respecting the learning contents for supporting such learning environment, an efficient authoring tool was developed for serving this goal. Some specific tags were defined to specify the corresponding information or interactions that cannot be performed in the hardcopy books. These tags can be printed in SCORM-compliant textbooks and recognized by Hyper Pen to facilitate the affinity between the physical textbooks and digital world. Therefore, users can read the SCORM-compliant hardcopy textbooks in a traditional manner. The authored course contents will be the same while applying to the multimodal learning devices with different layouts.

This article presents a study about the development of digital educational games in the format of learning objects (LOs) from educational games produced by students of Mathematics at one Teaching Institution. The games developed by the students are all hand-made, using only recyclable materials and aims to teach specifics concepts of mathematics for a certain age group. However, it is not all games that can be turned into LOs. According with that, this study will show which rules are necessary to be possible turn one of the four games mentioned in a LO, using the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) pattern and attach it on the e-learning platform.

While it is often argued that technology could act as a change agent and transform educational practices, individuals, communities, government and society holding their own ideological beliefs limit such a liberalisation of the educational system. To show that the use of educational technology is part of a dialectical struggle this article explores the: current use of technology in the classroom; development of standards and approaches to learning technology; and the use of computer and video games. The design, development, integration and use of technology in the classroom is driven by individual and institutional ideologies that support current hegemonic constructions maintained through observation and control systems. The development of standards for learning management systems (for example the Sharable Content Object Reference Model and the associated Learning Object Metadata Standard) underpin the concept of Reusable Learning Objects (RLO). The conceptualization, development, deployment and use of RLOs is ideologically driven and has little to do with contemporary ideas of learning and everything to do with fundamental and totalitarian ideologies of instruction. The blended approach to learning, where technology is introduced into existing courses where appropriate, sees technological objects (such as digital information, discussion boards, and chat sessions) as an additional component to existing courses. The use of technology in such a way does not allow for the re-conceptualisation of existing ideological practices and therefore limits educational transformation. Computer game technology could be used as a powerful tool to support learning. However, many supporters of the use of games in education argue for the use of simulations that are either ideologically suspect (for example the use of game software used to train military personal as a useful educational device) or based on model-using rather that model-building. An analysis of successful computer games shows that players are presented with either realistic environments that include complex multifaceted characters involved in richly textured narratives or are designed to support male fantasies (both erotic and authoritarian), inculcate self-discipline (especially through reflex), include control-and-monitoring (preparing workers for a global economy) and are gender exclusive. This article argues that technology can only be used within specific idiosyncratic, homological and inclusive ideologies that in most cases reproduce the past into the future, which is making real a neo-liberal dream. South African Journal of Higher Education Vol. 21 (6) 2008: pp. 655-671

In this paper, a new component-based Semantic Web Application (SWA) for Web-Based Education (WBE) is presented. This SWA is based on the IEEE 1484 LTSA (Learning Technology System Architecture) specification and the software development pattern of the Intelligent Reusable Learning Components Object Oriented (IRLCOO). IRLCOO are a special type of Sharable Content Object (SCO) according to the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM). SCORM 2004 is used to create reusable and interoperable learning content. The SWA that is described in this paper is used to develop authoring and evaluation tools oriented to offer application level interoperability under the philosophy of Web Services (WS). Other used technology is AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript And XML), this is used for communication between component and LMS’s API. Jade, Struts, Servlets, JSPs and JavaBeans implement the functionality of the system under the model MVC. The new component-based model is blended with metadata (SCORM 2004, RDF, XML), to be used for the rule-based inference engine known as Jena and Joseki server for implement a semantic platform.KeywordsResource Description FrameworkContent SystemLearner AgentDidactic MaterialSharable Content Object Reference ModelThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

This study investigated the impact of graphical user interface (GUI) design on the efficiency and effectiveness of map-based tasks on mobile devices, using time-based weather data as a case study. Three different GUI designs (button-type, circle-type, and slidebar) were tested in a between-subjects design, with 50 participants completing a set of map-based tasks on each GUI design. The results showed that GUI design significantly affected the effectiveness of map-based tasks. Participants performed better at tasks involving the search for the highest and lowest temperature amplitudes on the button-type GUI whereas the circle-type GUI showed lower effectiveness for tasks involving the search for day temperatures. Analysis of the visual attention distribution based on fixation count revealed that different GUI designs led to different patterns of visual attention. The study highlights the importance of considering GUI design in the development of mobile map applications, particularly for map-based tasks involving time-based data. The study shows that separating the date from the time navigation panel reduces necessary visual focus on the GUI itself and is a valuable insight for future GUI design.