Pedagogically informed metadata content and structure for learning and teaching

In order to be able to search, compare, gap analyse, recommend, and visualise learning objects, learning resources, or teaching assets, the metadata structure and content must be able to support pedagogically informed reasoning, inference, and machine processing over the knowledge representations. In this paper, we present the difficulties with current metadata standards in education: Dublin Core educational version and IEEELOM, using examples drawn from the areas of e-learning, institutional admissions, and learners seeking courses. The paper suggests expanded metadata components based on an e-learning system engineering model to support pedagogically informed interoperability. We illustrate some examples of the metadata relevant to competency in the nurse training domain

An evaluation of pedagogically informed parameterised questions for self assessment

Self-assessment is a crucial component of learning. Learners can learn by asking themselves questions and attempting to answer them. However, creating effective questions is time-consuming because it may require considerable resources and the skill of critical thinking. Questions need careful construction to accurately represent the intended learning outcome and the subject matter involved. There are very few systems currently available which generate questions automatically, and these are confined to specific domains. This paper presents a system for automatically generating questions from a competency framework, based on a sound pedagogical and technological approach. This makes it possible to guide learners in developing questions for themselves, and to provide authoring templates which speed the creation of new questions for self-assessment. This novel design and implementation involves an ontological database that represents the intended learning outcome to be assessed across a number of dimensions, including level of cognitive ability and subject matter. The system generates a list of all the questions that are possible from a given learning outcome, which may then be used to test for understanding, and so could determine the degree to which learners actually acquire the desired knowledge. The way in which the system has been designed and evaluated is discussed, along with its educational benefits

Transforming a competency model to assessment items

The problem of comparing and matching different learners’ knowledge arises when assessment systems use a one-dimensional numerical value to represent “knowledge level”. Such assessment systems may measure inconsistently because they estimate this level differently and inadequately. The multi-dimensional competency model called COMpetence-Based learner knowledge for personalized Assessment (COMBA) is being developed to represent a learner’s knowledge in a multi-dimensional vector space. The heart of this model is to treat knowledge, not as possession, but as a contextualized space of capability either actual or potential. The paper discusses the automatic generation of an assessment from the COMBA competency model as a “guideon- the–side”

Transforming a competency model to assessment items

The problem of comparing and matching different learners’ knowledge arises when assessment systems use a one-dimensional numerical value to represent “knowledge level”. Such assessment systems may measure inconsistently because they estimate this level differently and inadequately. The multi-dimensional competency model called COMpetence-Based learner knowledge for personalized Assessment (COMBA) is being developed to represent a learner’s knowledge in a multi-dimensional vector space. The heart of this model is to treat knowledge, not as possession, but as a contextualized space of capability either actual or potential. The paper discusses the automatic generation of an assessment from the COMBA competency model as a “guide-on-the–side”

Towards a competency model for adaptive assessment to support lifelong learning

Adaptive assessment provides efficient and personalised routes to establishing the proficiencies of learners. We can envisage a future in which learners are able to maintain and expose their competency profile to multiple services, throughout their life, which will use the competency information in the model to personalise assessment. Current competency standards tend to over simplify the representation of competency and the knowledge domain. This paper presents a competency model for evaluating learned capability by considering achieved competencies to support adaptive assessment for lifelong learning. This model provides a multidimensional view of competencies and provides for interoperability between systems as the learner progresses through life. The proposed competency model is being developed and implemented in the JISC-funded Placement Learning and Assessment Toolkit (mPLAT) project at the University of Southampton. This project which takes a Service-Oriented approach will contribute to the JISC community by adding mobile assessment tools to the E-framework

Interactivity within IMS Learning Design and Question and Test Interoperability

We examine the integration of IMS Question and Test Interoperability (QTI) and IMS Learning Design (LD) in implementations of E-learning from both pedagogical and technological points of view. We propose the use of interactivity as a parameter to evaluate the quality of assessment and E-learning, and assess various cases of individual and group study for their interactivity, ease of coding, flexibility, and reusability. We conclude that presenting assessments using IMS QTI provides flexibility and reusability within an IMS LD Unit Of Learning (UOL) for individual study. For group study, however, the use of QTI items may involve coding difficulties if group members need to wait for their feedback until all students have attempted a question, and QTI items may not be able to be used at all if the QTI services are implemented within a service-oriented architecture

From collaborative virtual research environment SOA to teaching and learning environment SOA

This paper explores the extension of the CORE VRE SOA to a collaborative virtual teaching and learning environment (CVTLE) SOA. Key points are brought up to date from a number of projects researching and developing a CVTLE and its component services. Issues remain: there are few implementations of the key services needed to demonstrate the CVTLE concept; there are questions about the feasibility of such an enterprise; there are overlapping standards; questions about the source and use of user profile data remain difficult to answer; as does the issue of where and how to coordinate, control, and monitor such a teaching and learning syste

Improving the pedagogical expressiveness of IMS LD

The IMS Learning Design specification (LD) was introduced in order to describe any learning and teaching scenario in a formal way. Its high level of generality, however, may make it difficult for teachers and instructional designers to apply it to their learning and teaching scenarios. This limitation suggests the need to explicitly separate and identify the roles of learner and teacher, identify more carefully the teaching activities of evaluation and feedback, and integrate more fully learning objectives into learning activities. The paper suggests an expanded IMS LD model to make the learning and teaching components more explicit. Benefits and impacts of an improved model include reuse of learning content, automated processes for metadata creation and search, providing additional detail to the participating teacher and learner descriptions, increasing the granularity for such descriptions, and making more precise the different steps in the learning and teaching process by defining relevant data and structures such as competence, evaluation, artefact, and feedback