Metadata and Language Learning Objects

New Models of Publication, New Environments for Sharing

Curricula

GLOCALL ConferenceNovember 2-7, 2007

Andrew RossBrown University

Stuff: Yours, ours, theirs.

• Yours: lessons, activities, assessments, realia, curricula.

• Ours: locally-shared materials -- the “filing cabinet”, course management systems.

• Theirs: textbooks, ancillary materials, media, enrichment sites.

The LP and iTunes

• Atomization of content– Song, not album– Activity, not textbook

• Playback and mashup– “LP” model: primacy of textbook, linear

curriculum, ancillaries to fill lacunae.– iTunes model: Non-linear approach to curriculum

development.

iTunes as Metaphor

• Move to content module and “chunked” content.

• Micropublication– Chapter, not book– Lesson, not module– Activity, not lesson

• Repository– Where does microcontent live?

Learning objects and repositories

• Models– Local hosting – Web portal (MERLOT, Realia Project)– Content management systems (Drupal,

Fedora, Dspace)

• Agnosticism, not dogma

Architecture

LO

LO

LO

LO

User

Registry DB

Wrapping the package

Content

• Granular

• Compound

• Standards-based

• Linked

• Versioned

• Rated

Formal Metadata

• Minimal, global, essential– Unique ID– Creator– Date– Version– Link– Rights

Folksonomy

• Space for informal metadata– Chinese 1A, 101, Beginning, First-year– Hard, moderate, easy– Part of Lesson 5– Goes with x textbook, accompanies y video

• Separate layer, Darwinian selection of terms by community

Language Learning Object (LLO) Metadata

• Shared terminology– Targeted level, skill, objective– Instructional process– Associated objects– Sequence– Mappable

• Vocabulary, not architecture

Metadata as lingua franca

Formal metadata

LLO metadata

Folksonomic metadata

• No current common vocabulary for describing language learning objects.• No consensus on quantity and schema for LLO metadata.• No universally-accepted standard for formal metadata

IALLT, Heinle and Metadata• Cengage-Heinle:

– Developing a Web 2.0 site to aggregate learning objects and user communities (wiki, blog, repositories …)

– Generalized taxonomies and folksonomic openness.

• IALLT:– Developing controlled vocabularies for LLOs;

standards for learning object composition, granularity.

– IALLT will be responsible for the standard’s development and dissemination; Heinle will use IALLT standard metadata vocabularies for its learning materials.

Why this model?

• Commercial publishing buy-in critical.

• Sole responsibility for database/ repository architecture is unsustainable.

• Folksonomies and informal peer review systems are critical to usability.

• Granular content facilitates mashups, flexible curricula.