ContentNet: a framework for the interoperability of educational content using standard IMS
Introduction
The number of resources available on the Web continues to grow exponentially and with them the need to obtain more information about the resources that are available (IMS, 2000b). As a library uses various catalogues to find a book on a shelf, the Web also needs catalogues to find the resources available on the various servers. In the case of a library, the contents of these catalogues contain information about books, such as its author, title and publisher. In the case of the Web, the information contained in the catalogues is about the resources, which in the case of educational resources could be the title, description and format. This information about information is called meta-data (IMS, 2000a, Metadata, 2000) or, specifically in the context we are dealing with, “information about educational content available in content servers.”
With the description of the content using meta-data, the search for a content is facilitated if a search tool, which deals with this type of information, is used. With this tool, and given that the meta-data has the characteristics of the content available in the servers, the search for content becomes more efficient.
The ContentNet framework supports an educational content search tool based on meta-data. This tool, partially localized on the search server and partially on the content servers, establishes communication between the search and content servers, with the aim of allowing access to the meta-data and content available on these content servers.
This document is organized into six sections, with the first including an introduction. The second section describes the AulaNet environment. In Section 3, an introduction to the projects related to the presentation of contents is shown, with emphasis on standard IMS.
The ContentNet framework is presented in Section 4. In Section 5, there are details about the instance of the framework. This section also deals with a study of other possible instances of the ContentNet framework. In Section 6, a comparison between a search carried out using the ContentNet and using a search-engine is shown. In the last section, Section 7, the conclusions reached on the work are presented as well as proposed work to be done.
Section snippets
The AulaNet environment
The AulaNet (Lucena et al., 1998) is an educational environment for the creation, maintenance, assistance and administration of Web-based courses whose players are: administrator, student and teacher (Lucena et al., 1999b). It offers a collection of communication, co-ordination and co-operation mechanisms to the teacher so that he can customize his course according to the objectives of the learning process. The communication mechanisms include tools for: sending messages to teachers, discussion
Standards for the representation of contents
The concept of interoperability is not new. This concept originated in the last decade (Pathware, 2000), in the commercial aviation industry, with the “Aviation Industry CBT Committee” (AICC, 2000) being the first to contribute relevant specifications for the interoperability of systems.
Initiatives emerged with the intention of developing specifications establishing relationships with other initiatives that, as they come together, manage to resolve many problems and, consequently, develop
ContentNet framework
A framework is a collection of classes that represent the abstract design of a family of related problems. A framework is an architecture design that permits maximum re-use. It is represented by a collection of abstract and concrete groups encapsulated in such a way that sub-classes can be specialized for a given application (Mattsson, 1996).
A framework must be used as a starting point for the development of a collection of applications related to the same domain and should be seen as a
Instance of the ContentNet framework
An instance of the ContentNet framework was generated with the aim of checking its viability, testing its design with respect to the definition of the kernel and hot spots, and testing its implementation. When generating an instance for the AulaNet, three AulaNet servers and one search server were used, as a centralized solution was adopted in the design of the framework.
The process of generating an instance of the framework foresees two stages. The first stage is the generation of the part of
Comparison between ContentNet and a search-engine
As shown in the Appendix, the meta-data structure developed by the IMS standard and used on ContentNet is detailed and complex. The standard characterizes a content by innumerable attributes organized in nine groups: meta-data, general, lifecycle, technical, education, rights, relation, annotation and classification. Each group is responsible for describing a set of characteristics of the content. For example, technical group describes technical characteristics of the content such as format,
Conclusion and future work
Using the IMS project as a base, it is possible to construct environments that deal with the meta-data available in content servers. Through the standardized meta-data of the contents, it is possible to find desired content more efficiently. Knowing that the desired content exists, the transfer of this content between two systems that communicate with each other becomes viable.
The ContentNet framework provides support for the creation of a tool that permits the exchange of educational content
Acknowledgements
This work has been supported by CNPq/Brazil under grant No. 140646/2000-0 for Viviane T. da Silva, No. 300031/92-0 for Carlos J. P. de Lucena and No. 524557/96-9 for Hugo Fuks;. MSc.Viviane, Phd. Lucena and Phd. Fuks are also supported by the PRONEX Project under grant 7697102900.
References (23)
- ADL. (2000). Advanced distributed learning. Available at: http://www.adlnet.org (Consultation: 13 November...
- AICC. (2000). Aviation industry CBT committees. 6 November 2000. Available at: http://www.aicc.org (Consultation: 13...
- ARIADNE. (2000). Alliance of remote instructional authoring & distribution networks or Europe. Available at:...
- et al.
Unified modeling language
(1999) - CedMA. (2000). Computer education management association. Available at: http://www.cedma.org (Consultation: 9 November...
- et al.
Introduction to algorithms
(1999) - et al.
Introduction to Algorithms
(1999) - Fontoura, M. F. M. C. (1999). A systematic approach to framework development. Doctor thesis, Department of Computer...
- IEEE LTSC. (2000). IEEE Learning Technology Standers Committee. 11 September 2000. Available at: http://ltsc.ieee.org...
- IMS. (2000a). IMS Global Learning Consortium, Inc. IMS Web team, 7 November 2000. Available at:...