Using IMS Learning Design to Model Curricula

Tattersall, C., Janssen, J., van den Berg, B., & Koper, R. (2006). Using IMS Learning Design to model curricula. In R. Koper & K. Stefanov (Eds.). Proceedings of International Workshop in Learning Networks for Lifelong Competence Development (pp. 37-42). March, 30-31, 2006, Sofia, Bulgaria: TENCompetence Conference. Retrieved June 30th, 2006, from http://dspace.learningnetworks.orgThe traditional notion of the curriculum as a fixed list of topics to be studied sequentially is under strain as pressure for flexibility in education increases. However, curriculum flexibility can lead to curriculum complexity, hindering learners in the development of their competences. This article presents a formal model for the description of curricula, designed to underpin guidance support systems for learners. The article compares the model to other work in the area, illustrates its application with a number of case studies and concludes with a discussion of the broader e-learning infrastructure required in implementing the approach.This work has been sponsored by the EU project TENCompetenc

Learning roadmaps for Higher Education

An integrated platform for the support of teaching activities as been developed and deployed at the Aveiro Norte Polytechnic School of the University of Aveiro. In this paper we present an approach to Learning Roadmaps for Higher Education based on this platform. The aprend.e platform – Electronic Integrated System for Learning and Training - has at its core a Learning Management System with a number of plugins. It represents a new challenge for the University of Aveiro for higher education and is already being at its core is the concept of learning roadmaps that act upon two fundamental axes: education and learning. For the teachers, it aims at becoming a self-supporting tool that stimulates the organization and management of the course materials (lectures, presentations, multimedia content, and evaluation materials, amongst others). For the students, the learning roadmap aims at promoting self-study and supervised study, endowing the pupil with the capabilities to find the relevant information and to capture the concepts in the study materials. The outcome will be a stimulating learning process together with an organized management of those materials

Metadata for describing learning scenarios under European Higher Education Area paradigm

In this paper we identify the requirements for creating formal descriptions of learning scenarios designed under the European Higher Education Area paradigm, using competences and learning activities as the basic pieces of the learning process, instead of contents and learning resources, pursuing personalization. Classical arrangements of content based courses are no longer enough to describe all the richness of this new learning process, where user profiles, competences and complex hierarchical itineraries need to be properly combined. We study the intersection with the current IMS Learning Design specification and the additional metadata required for describing such learning scenarios. This new approach involves the use of case based learning and collaborative learning in order to acquire and develop competences, following adaptive learning paths in two structured levels

Supporting sustainable e‐learning

This paper draws upon work carried out within phase one of a national forum for support staff, funded by the UK Learning and Teaching Support Network Generic Centre. It sets out themes in current Learning Technology research within the context of institutional practice. It reports the responses of a range of e‐learning support staff to new developments in the reuse and sharing of Learning Objects. The article highlights tensions across support units, inconsistencies in support provision and confusion over issues concerning different modes of teaching. It also forewarns a growing gap between institutional practice and research in the development of approaches to sustainable e‐learning

Combining Social- and Information-based Approaches for Personalised Recommendation on Sequencing Learning Activities

Hummel, H. G. K., Van den Berg, E. J., Berlanga, A. J., Drachsler, H., Janssen, J., Nadolski, R.J., & Koper, E.J.R. (2007). Combining social- and information-based approaches for personalised recommendation on sequencing learning activities. International Journal of Learning Technology, 3(2), 152-168.Lifelong learners who assign learning activities (from multiple sources) to attain certain learning goals throughout their lives need to know which learning activities are (most) suitable and in which sequence these should be performed. Learners need support in this way finding process (selection and sequencing), and we argue this could be provided by using personalised recommender systems. To enable personalisation, collaborative filtering could use information about learners and learning activities, since their alignment contributes to learning efficiency. A model for way finding has been developed that presents personalised recommendations in relation to information about learning goals, learning activities and learners. A personalised recommender system has been developed accordingly, and recommends learners on the best next learning activities. Both model and system combine social-based (i.e., completion data from other learners) and information-based (i.e., metadata from learner profiles and learning activities) approaches to recommend the best next learning activity to be completed.This work has been sponsored by the EU project TENCompetenc

Towards a learning path specification

Janssen, J., Berlanga, A., Vogten, H., & Koper, R. (2008). Towards a learning path specification. International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Lifelong Learning, 18(1), 77–97.Flexible lifelong learning requires comparability and exchangeability of courses, programmes and other types of learning actions both in a national and international context. This paper argues that in order to achieve comparability and exchangeability a uniform and meaningful way to describe learning paths towards attainment of learning outcomes is needed. The paper identifies the requirements for a learning path specification drawing on a study of literature in the field of curriculum design and lifelong learning, and lessons learned from recent initiatives which aimed to enhance comparability and exchangeability of learning actions. Two existing specifications designed to describe learning programmes, XCRI and IMS-LD, are investigated to see whether they can fulfil the identified requirements. The fact that IMS-LD has a generic way to define completion of learning paths and its constituent parts as well as an expression language to describe all kinds of conditions make IMS-LD a more likely candidate. A learning path model is presented identifying the main elements of a learning path specification and mapping them onto IMS-LD.The work on this publication has been sponsored by the TENCompetence Integrated Project that is funded by the European Commission's 6th Framework Programme, priority IST/Technology Enhanced Learning. Contract 027087 [http://www.tencompetence.org