digital systems and services for open access to education and learning

University of PiraeusDepartment of Digital Systems

Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (CE.R.T.H.) Information Technologies Institute (I.T.I.)

D. G. Sampson and P. Zervas November 2012

Advanced Digital Systems and Services for Education and Learning (ASK)

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Digital Systems and Services for Open Access to Education and Learning

Demetrios G. Sampson and Panagiotis Zervas

Department of Digital Systems, University of Piraeus, Greece Information Technologies Institute, Center for Research and Technology Hellas,

Greece

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs-NonCommercial License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd-nc/1.0 or send a letter to Creative Commons, 559 Nathan

Abbott Way, Stanford, California 94305, USA.





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Open Educational Resources (OERs)Definition

Open Educational Resources (OERs) are defined by UNESCO as the:

“technology-enabled, open provision of educational resources for

consultation, use and adaptation by a community of users for non-

commercial purposes”

UNESCO, Forum on the Impact of Open Courseware for Higher Education in Developing Countries-Final Report, http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001285/128515e.pdf. 2002





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• According to (Geser, 2007) OERs have three (3) core features:• they are available for open and free of charge access by educational

institutions and end-users such as teachers and learners, • they are licensed for re-use, free from restrictions to modify, combine and

repurpose, as well as they are designed for re-use in open content standards and formats and

• with regard to software tools, their source code is open and licensed for re-use.

Open Educational Resources and Learning Objects (1/2)

Geser, G. (Ed.) (2007) Open Educational Practices and Resources, OLCOS Roadmap 2012. Salzburg Austria: Salzburg Research Edumedia Research Group. Retrieved March 21, 2021 from: http://www.olcos.org/cms/upload/docs/olcos_roadmap.pdf





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• Learning Objects (LOs) are a common format for developing and sharing educational content and can be defined as: “any type of digital resource that can be reused to support learning” (Wiley,2002).

• Thus, once can claim that OERs are related to LOs assuming open access licensing (Friesen, 2009 Lane & McAndrew, 2010).

Open Educational Resources and Learning Objects (2/2)

Friesen, N. (2009). Open educational resources: new possibilities for change and sustainability. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 10( 5)Lane, A. and McAndrew, P. (2010), Are open educational resources systematic or systemic change agents for teaching practice? British Journal of Educational Technology, 41(6), pp. 952-962.Wiley, D. (Ed.) (2002). The instructional use of learning objects. Bloomington. IN: AECT. Retrieved February 20, 2007, from http://reusability.org/read/





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Title: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS)

Description: This Learning Object explains Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection and how that turns into AIDS. It stresses risk factors, screening, and prevention. This is a MedlinePlus Interactive Health Tutorial from the National Library of Medicine, designed and developed by the Patient Education Institute.

Material Type: Audio Lecture

Source: OER Commons (http://www.oercommons.org/)

Learning Objects Examples (1/4)





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Title: DNA from the Beginning

Description: DNA from the Beginning is an animated tutorial on DNA, genes and heredity. The science behind each concept is explained using animations related to DNA topics, an image gallery, video interviews, problems, biographies, and links related to DNA.

Material Type: Simulation

Source: MERLOT (http://www.merlot.org/)






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Title: The Ear

Description: An overview of the ear. Do you manage to put the names right?

Material Type: Drill and Practice

Source: Learning Resource Exchange (LRE) (http://lreforschools.eun.org/)






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Title: Hot potatoes quiz - Flash

Description: Hot Potatoes quiz: multi-choice quiz covering the basics of Flash.

Material Type: Quiz

Source: JORUM (http://resources.jorum.ac.uk/)






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• LOs and their associated metadata are typically organized, classified and stored in web-based repositories which are referred to as Learning Object Repositories (LORs).

• McGreal (2004) has defined LORs as systems that “enable users to locate, evaluate and manage learning objects through the use of “metadata,” namely, descriptors or tags that systematically describe many aspects of a given learning object, from its technical to its pedagogical characteristics”.

• Most of the existing LORs adopt the IEEE LOM standard (IEEE LTSC, 2005) or an application profile of the IEEE LOM standard for describing their LOs, aiming to facilitate search and retrieval of them among different LORs (McGreal, 2008).

• However, in most cases LORs include limited explicit information about their hosted LOs’ learning and educational context of use, that is information about the teaching-learning process that they can be used in.

• For this purpose, there are international efforts for designing and developing web-based repositories of learning designs.

Learning Object Repositories (LORs)

IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee (LTSC) (2005). Final Standard for Learning Object Metadata. Retrieved 26 October 2011, from http://ltsc.ieee.org/wg12/files/IEEE_1484_12_03_d8_submitted.pdf McGreal, R. (2008). A typology of learning object repositories. In H.H. Adelsberger, Kinshuk, J. M. Pawlovski & D. Sampson (Eds.), International Handbook on Information Technologies for Education and Training (pp. 5-18), 2nd Edition, Springer.





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Learning Object Repositories (LORs)Examples

OER Commons, USA Learning Resource Exchange, EU

Le@rning Federation, Australia Jorum, UK

MERLOT, USA





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LOR Name Educational Sector

Subject Domain

Region Coverage License Number of

UsersNumber of Total

LOs[1]

ARIADNE All Sectors Cross-Disciplinary International

Open under Creative

Commons N/A 819.177

(Large LOR)

LRE School Education

Cross-Disciplinary

Regional (Europe)

Open under Creative

CommonsN/A 294.429

(Large LOR)

COSMOSSchool and

Higher Education

Science Education

Regional (Europe)

Open under Creative

Commons2.519 230.128

(Large LOR)

AMSER All Sectors Science Education

National(USA)

Free under Custom License,

Openness depending on

the LO

N/A 134.637(Large LOR)

MERLOT Higher Education

Cross-Disciplinary International

Open under Creative

Commons103.479 34.181

(Medium LOR)

OER Commons All Sectors Cross-Disciplinary International

Open under Creative

CommonsN/A 32.448

(Medium LOR)

Connexions All Sectors Cross-Disciplinary International

Open under Creative

CommonsN/A 21.556

(Medium LOR)





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From LORs to Open Learning Designs (Open LDs) and Learning Design Repositories (LDRs)

LO #1

LO #2

LO #N

….. Learning Object

RepositoryLearning Design

Repository

Open LD #1…..Move to…





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As a result, there are international efforts for designing and developing web-based repositories of learning designs, assuming that learning

design can offer an explicit description of the pedagogical context of use where all key design parameters (namely, educational

objectives, pedagogical model, participating roles, tools and assessment methods) are formally described (Sampson et al., 2011;

Paquette et al., 2008; Griffiths & Liber, 2008)

From Learning Object Repositories (LORs) to Learning Design Repositories (LDRs)

Griffiths, D. & Liber, O. (2008). Opportunities, achievements, and prospects for use of IMS LD. In L. Lockyer, S. Bennett, S. Agostinho & B. Harper (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Learning Design and Learning Objects: Issues, Applications, and Technologies (pp.87-112), Hershey. Paquette, G., Marino, O., Lundgren-Cayrol, K. and Léonard, M. (2008). Principled construction and reuse of learning designs. In L. Lockyer, S. Bennett, S. Agostinho & B. Harper (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Learning Design and Learning Objects: Issues, Applications, and Technologies (pp. 869–890), HersheySampson, D., Zervas, P. & Sotiriou, S. (2011c). COSMOS: A Web-based Repository of Learning Designs for Science Education, Advanced Science Letters, 4(11/12), pp. 3366-3374





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Open Learning Designs (Open LDs)Definition

An Open Learning Design (Open LD) is defined as: “the description of the teaching-learning process, which follows a specific

pedagogical model or practice that takes place in a unit of learning (e.g., a course, a learning activity or any other designed learning event) towards addressing specific learning objectives,

for a specific target group in a specific context or subject domain”

R. Koper and B. Olivier, “Representing the Learning Design of Units of Learning”. Educational Technology & Society, vol. 7 no. 3, 2004, pp. 97-111





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Title: Developing Research-Based Thinking

Description: In this Open LD you will be reflecting upon the value of research based learning and teaching, and designing a research study of your own.

Pedagogical Model: Research-based learning

Source: LAMS LD Repository (http://lamscommunity.org/lamscentral/)

Open Learning Designs Examples (1/3)





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Title: Proteins

Description: In this unit we explore how proteins are the 'doers' of the cell. They are huge in number and variety and diverse in structure and function, serving both the structural building blocks and the functional machinery of the cell. Just about every process in every cell requires specific proteins. The basic principles of protein structure and function which are reviewed in this unit are crucial to understanding how proteins perform their various roles.

Pedagogical Model: Guided Research

Source: iCOPER LD Repository (http://www.icoper.org/repository/learning-design)






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Title: Cosmic Collisions

Description: An examination of the cosmic battles being waged between celestial bodies

Pedagogical Model: Inquiry-based Teaching

Source: COSMOS LD Repository (http://www.cosmosportal.eu/)






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Open Learning Designs (Open LDs) Organization, Classification and Storage

Open LDs along with their associated metadata can be organized, classified and stored in web-based repositories which are referred to as Learning Design Repositories (LDRs).

LDRs are built so as to support storage, discovery, retrieval, use, re-use and sharing of Open LDs and Open LD templates (that is, Open LDs without specific educational content) among educational communities.





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Title: Explore, Describe, Apply

Description: The strategy used in this learning design is problem-based and has been applied to a subject in a graduate certificate of online learning although the strategy could be used in many undergraduate and postgraduate subjects.

Pedagogical Model: Problem-based Learning

Source: Learning Designs Repository (http://www.learningdesigns.uow.edu.au/)

Open LD Templates Examples (1/2)





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Title: Inquiry-based Teaching

Description: This strategy is often contrasted with more traditional expository methods and reflects the constructivist model of learning, often referred to as active learning, so strongly held among science educators today.

Pedagogical Model: Inquiry-based Teaching

Source: COSMOS LD Repository (http://www.cosmosportal.eu/)

Open LD Templates Examples (2/2)

Consider Other Explanations

Phase 4Discussion

Phase 1Question Eliciting Activities

Exhibit Curiosity

Phase 3Creation

Phase 5Refl ection

Communicate Explanation

Explanation based on Evidence

Gather Evidence from Observation

Define Questions from Current Knowledge

Phase 2Active I nvestigation

Propose Prel iminary Explanations or Hypotheses

Plan and Conduct Simple Investigation





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Learning Design Repositories (LDRs)Existing LDRs

LAMS Repository, AustraliaThe Canadian LD

Repository, Canada

iCOPER LD Repository, EU

OSR LD Repository, EUCOSMOS LD Repository, EU





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LDR Name Educational Sector

Subject Domain

Region Coverage License Number

of Users

Number of LDs / Number of

LD Templates[1]

The LAMS Repository All Sectors Cross-

DisciplinaryInternationa

lOpen under

Creative Commons 6.779 875 / 0

iCOPER LD Repository All Sectors Cross-

DisciplinaryRegional(Europe)

Open under Creative Commons N/A 520 / 0

COSMOSSchool and

Higher Education

Science Education

Regional (Europe)

Open under Creative Commons 2.519 450 / 5

Open Science Resources

School Education

Science Education

Regional (Europe)

Open under Creative Commons 2.312 158 / 2

The Learning Designs Repository

Higher Education

Cross-Disciplinary

Regional(Australia)

Free under Custom License N/A 32 / 5

DialogPlus Repository All Sectors Cross-

DisciplinaryNational

(UK)

Free under Custom License, Openness depending on the

LD

N/A N/A





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Learning Design Repositories (LDRs)Populating LDRs - Requirements

The process of populating LDRs requires: Authoring Tools that can represent the pedagogical design adopted in

the educational scenarios (that is, a structured flow of learning activities populated with resources and facilitated by certain tools and devices, where teachers and students participate assuming certain roles).

Strategies for using these tools so as to express the learning designs following consistent and commonly recognized terms among the educational practitioners of a given community





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Learning Design Repositories (LDRs)Tools for Populating LDRs

Learning Activity Management System

(LAMS) ReCourse

MOT+ LD Editor

ASK Learning Designer Toolkit (ASK-LDT)

Open Graphical Learning Modeler

(OGLM)





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The term Open Educational Resources (OERs) has emerged, aiming to promote open access to digital educational resources that are available online for everyone at a global level (Caswell et al., 2008).

In response to this emerging trend several OER initiatives have been developed worldwide by large institutions such as MIT‘s OpenCourseWare (OCW), Stanford‘s iTunes and Rice University‘s Connexions, or by communities (or consortiums) such as MERLOT and OER Commons (Ehlers, 2011).

The expected benefits of OERs for learners and teachers can be summarized as follows (Geser, 2007): they are free to use and publicly available, they can be used and/or reused in teaching and learning (usually with attribution to the creator), they can be repurposed, that is, modified/adapted for different educational context of use, they can improve teaching by building on other people’s work and their development is a global movement and as a result educational communities across borders can be created around

them.

Problem Definition (1/3)

Caswell, T., Henson, S., Jensen, M. & Wiley, D. (2008). Open Educational Resources: Enabling universal education. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 9(1), 1-11.Ehlers, U.D. (2011). Extending the Territory: From Open Educational Resources to Open Educational Practices, Journal of Open, Flexible, and Distance Learning, 15(2)Geser, G. (Ed.) (2007) Open Educational Practices and Resources, OLCOS Roadmap 2012. Salzburg Austria: Salzburg Research Edumedia Research Group. Retrieved March 21, 2021 from: http://www.olcos.org/cms/upload/docs/olcos_roadmap.pdf





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• The term OER is subject to different interpretations such as open educational content, open courseware and open source software (Friesen, 2009).

• Thus, OERs are not limited to open educational content and they can be of different granularity and different formats (Lane & McAndrew, 2010).

• Nevertheless, existing OER initiatives do not treat their OERs differently according to their granularity levels and consequently they adopt a flat model for supporting the main stages of a typical e-Learning chain, namely, creation, publication, discovery, acquisition, access, use, re-use and delivery of OERs.


Friesen, N. (2009). Open educational resources: new possibilities for change and sustainability. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 10( 5)Lane, A. and McAndrew, P. (2010), Are open educational resources systematic or systemic change agents for teaching practice? British Journal of Educational Technology, 41(6), pp. 952-962.





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The main drawback of this approach is that OERs are treated in a non-modular manner without considering the different levels of granularity (namely, educational content, learning

activities, educational courses, education and/or training programmes), and the different tools and services needed to handle the particularities of each

granularity level This leads to a limited organic relation of current OER initiatives to the

rest of Learning Technologies developments, which eventually confine their potential to accessing a Digital Library of Educational Resources.

To overcome this problem: we propose a hierarchical open access framework that considers different

hierarchical elements for supporting the main stages of a typical e-Learning chain and

we present a set of tools that support this framework.






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Within this context, to deal with the different levels of granularity (namely, educational content, learning activities, educational courses, education and/or

training programmes), and the different tools and services needed to handle the particularities of each

granularity level, we propose a hierarchical open access framework that considers different hierarchical elements for supporting the main stages of a typical e-

Learning chain and we present a set of tools that support this framework

A Hierarchical Open Access Framework





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EducationalContent

Learning Activities

Educational Courses

Education and/or Training

Programmes

Hierarchical Open Access Framework:Elements

Learning ObjectsEducational Metadata (EM)

Hierarchical Elements





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Hierarchical Open Access Framework:Main Stakeholders

EducationalContent

EducationalContent

Learning ActivitiesLearning Activities

Educational Courses

Educational Courses


Programmes


Programmes

Learning ObjectsLearning ObjectsEducational Metadata (EM)

Educational Metadata (EM)



ParticipateParticipateDeliver

Deliver

Design and Develop

Design and Develop

Design and Develop

Teacher / Educational Content Supplier

Teacher / Instructional Designer

e-Learning Services Provider Teacher / Learner

Search / Select





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• Educational Content: This is the lowest level of the hierarchical open access framework and it includes: • Open Educational Resources (OERs) in the form of Learning Objects (LOs) and • Educational metadata that are used to describe the different educational characteristics and attributes of a LO

(Currier, 2008) • Learning Activities: This is the second level of the hierarchical open access framework and for the purpose of our work, a

Learning Activity (LA) is defined as: “the interaction of learner(s) with other(s) (peers and/or tutors) and with a learning environment (optionally involving educational content, tools and services), which emerges as a result of performing a task following a specific pedagogical strategy in order to achieve one or more learning objectives” (Beetham, 2007).

• Educational Courses: This is the third level of the hierarchical open access framework and it can be developed as a sequence of LAs following a specific pedagogical strategy (Alonso, 2005). Moreover, for the purpose of our work we consider that an educational course is delivered entirely online and can be facilitated by desktop and/or mobile devices towards addressing one or more learning objectives (Sampson & Zervas, 2011)

• Education and/or Training Programmes: This is the highest level of the hierarchical open access framework and it can be developed as a synthesis of educational courses. An education and/or training programme typically includes the educational courses that constitute it, as well as the virtual classrooms that are used for supporting the delivery of the educational courses and may lead to a competences-based qualification (Sampson & Zervas, 2012)

Hierarchical Elements: Revisited

Alonso, F., Lopez, G., Manriques, D. & Vines, J. M. (2005). An instructional model for web-based e-learning education with a blended learning process approach, British Journal of Educational Technology, 36(2), 217–235.Beetham, H. (2007). An approach to learning activity design. In Beetham, H. & Rhona, S. (Eds.) Rethinking pedagogy for a digital age: designing and delivering e-learning (pp. 26–40). Routledge. Currier, S. (2008). Metadata for Learning Resources: An Update on Standards Activity for 2008, ARIADNE, 55.Sampson, D. & Zervas, P. (2012). Mobile Learning Management Systems in Higher Education. In A. Azevedo & R. Babo (Eds.), Higher Education Institutions and Learning Management Systems: Adoption and Standardization (162-177), IGI GlobalSampson, D. & Zervas, P. (2011). Supporting Accessible Technology-Enhanced Training: The eAccess2Learn Framework, IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies (TLT), 4(4), 353-364





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• Educational Content Suppliers: this is the entity responsible for designing and developing independent open educational resources in the form of LOs. The Educational Content Suppliers need to be able to characterize their newly developed LOs with educational metadata and offer them to existing Learning Object Repositories (LORs) for future use and re-use by instructional designers and/or teachers. The proposed hierarchical open access framework provides them with the technological means for tagging their LOs with appropriate educational metadata.

• Instructional Designers: They define learning objectives and they design appropriate LAs and educational courses that will lead to the accomplishment of these objectives. They are responsible:

• For designing LAs by selecting appropriate LOs (previously developed by educational content suppliers and/or teachers) following a specific pedagogical strategy and

• For designing educational courses by sequencing appropriate LAs (previously developed by them or by other instructional designers and/or teachers) following a specific pedagogical strategy.

The Instructional Designers need to be able to design and develop LAs and educational courses following specific pedagogical strategies and represent them in a common machine understandable format for offering them to existing Learning Design Repositories (LDRs) for future use and re-use by other instructional designers, teachers and/or e-Learning services providers.

Thus, the proposed open access hierarchical framework provides Instructional Designers with the technological means for (a) searching and selecting LOs and (b) designing and developing Learning Activities and educational courses.

• E-Learning Services Providers: this is the entity responsible for delivering education and/or training programmes as a synthesis of appropriate educational courses (previously designed by Instructional Designers and/or teachers). The proposed open access hierarchical framework provides them with the technological means to deliver Education and/or Training programmes, as well as individual Educational Courses to Learners.

Main Stakeholders: Revisited (1/2)





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• Teachers: Their role is threefold:• They can design and develop new LOs to support their learning activities, possibly

describe them with educational metadata and offer them to a LOR for future use by other instructional designers and/or teachers,

• They can design and develop LAs by selecting appropriate LOs following a specific pedagogical strategy and educational courses by sequencing appropriate LAs following a specific pedagogical strategy and offer them to a LDR for future use by other instructional designers and/or teachers,

• They can participate to educational courses and education and/or training programmes, so as to support learners in the attainment of their learning objectives.

• Learners: These are the final users of the educational courses and the main participants in education and/or training programmes. Thus, the proposed hierarchical open access framework provides them with the technological means to participate in education and/or training programmes, as well as to individual educational courses using desktop and/or mobile devices.

Main Stakeholders: Revisited (2/2)





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ASK Tools for Supporting the Proposed Hierarchical Open

Access Framework

D. Sampson and P. Zervas, "A Hierarchical Framework for Open Access to Education and Learning", International Journal of

Web Based Communities (accepted for publication)





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EducationalContent

Learning Activities

Educational Courses


Programmes

Hierarchical Open Access Framework: Tools for supporting the 1st Hierarchical Element

Learning ObjectsEducational Metadata (EM)






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The ASK Learning Objects Metadata Authoring Toolkit 2.0 (ASK-LOM-AT 2.0) – (1/2)

Open source web-based tool that facilitates the educational content suppliers, the instructional designers and/or the teachers in authoring educational metadata for their LOs, LAs and educational courses, as well as, in organizing and offering them through existing LORs and LDRs.

The main functionalities include: (a) educational metadata authoring by using a step-by-step wizard or by using a single web-form, (b) browse and preview existing metadata records that have been authored by other users of the tool, (c) browse and edit metadata records that a specific user has previously authored and stored in the tool metadata repository, (d) import and edit metadata records in XML format following the IEEE LOM standard, and (e) export metadata records in XML format following the IEEE LOM standard and import them to existing LORs.





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ASK Learning Objects Metadata Authoring Toolkit 2.0(ASK-LOM-AT 2.0) – (2/2)

• ASK-LOM-AT 2.0 is available from: http://www.ask4research.info/asklomat/

• A customized version of ASK-LOM-AT 2. 0 is currently used by:

• More than 1.000 Science Education Teachers in PATHWAY Project (http://www.pathway-project.eu/)

• PATHWAY ASK-LOM-AT 2.0 is available from: http://www.ask4research.info/pathway-asklomat/





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• D. Sampson, P. Zervas and G. Chloros, "ASK-LOM-AT 2.0: A Web-Based Tool for Educational Metadata Authoring of Open Educational Resources", in Proc of the 3rd IEEE International Conference on Technology for Education (T4E 2011), Chennai, India, 14-16, July 2011

Related Publications





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ASK Learning Objects Metadata Authoring Toolkit (ASK-LOM-AT) – (1/2)

Conformant to IEEE LOM Standard

Authoring and Management of EM

Step-by-step Wizard for EM Authoring

Stand alone application for Microsoft Windows OS





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ASK Learning Objects Metadata Authoring Toolkit (ASK-LOM-AT) – (2/2)

Customized versions of ASK-LOM-AT has been used by 15 Science Education Content Providers and 1.500 Science Education Teachers in

OSR Portal (http://www.osrportal.eu/) and COSMOS Portal (http://www.cosmosportal.eu/)

4 Language Learning Content Providers and Training Organizations, and 60 Language Learning Trainers in Mobile2Learn Portal (http://www.mobile2learn.eu/)

5 Training Organizations for People with Disabilities and 70 Disabled People Trainers in eAccess2Learn Portal (http://www.eaccess2learn.eu/)

Customized versions of ASK-LOM-AT are available to download from: http://www.osrportal.eu/~osrgr/en/toolbox [Registered Users] http://www.cosmosportal.eu/cosmos/en/toolbox [Registered Users] http://www.mobile2learn.eu/services/index.php?sec=tools [Registered Users] http://www.eaccess2learn.eu/services/index.php?sec=tools [Registered Users]





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• D. Sampson, P. Zervas and S. Sotiriou, "Science Education Resources Supported with Educational Metadata: The Case of the OpenScienceResources Web Repository", Advanced Science Letters, Special Issue on Technology-Enhanced Science Education, vol. 4(11/12), pp. 3353-3361 (9), American Scientific Publishers, ISSN 1936-6612, November 2011

• D. Sampson, P. Zervas and S. Sotiriou, "Learning Object Repositories for Science Education: The OpenScienceResources Repository", in Proc. of the 11th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT 2011), Athens, Georgia, USA, 6-8 July 2011 [BEST POSTER AWARD]






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The ASK Learning Objects Metadata Application Profiling Toolkit (ASK-LOM-AP) (1/2)

Open source web-based tool that facilitates educational content suppliers to develop and manage Application Profiles (APs) of the IEEE LOM standard.

The main functionalities include: (a) the development and management of new IEEE LOM APs by using a step-by-step wizard conformant with guidelines from International Organizations such as IMS Global Learning Consortium and European Committee for Standardization (CEN/ISSS), (b) the export of the XML Schema of a developed IEEE LOM AP with all the modifications, in accordance with the base schema of the IEEE LOM Standard.





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ASK Learning Objects Metadata Application Profiling (ASK-LOM-AP) – (2/2)

The source code of ASK-LOM-AP Tool is available from SourceForge: http://sourceforge.net/projects/asklomap/

ASK-LOM-AP was uploaded on 23 April 2010 and until today, it has been downloaded 155 times [April 2012].





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• D. Sampson, P. Zervas and G. Chloros, "Supporting the Process of Developing and Managing LOM Application Profiles: The ASK-LOM-AP Tool", IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies (TLT), (ISSN 1939-1382), vol. 5(3), IEEE Computer Society, September 2012

• D. Sampson, P. Zervas and G. Chloros, "Towards Community-based Open Educational Resources: Tools for Developing and Managing IEEE LOM Application Profiles", in Athanassios Jimoyiannis (Ed.), Research on e-learning and ICT in Education, pp. 283-294, Springer, ISBN 978-1-4614-1083-6, January 2012

• G. Chloros, P. Zervas and D. Sampson, "ASK-LOM-AP: A Web-Based Tool for Development and Management of IEEE LOM Application Profiles", in Proc. of the 10th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT 2010), Sousse, Tunisia, IEEE Computer Society, 5-7, July 2010






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The ASK Learning Objects Social Tagging Toolkit 2.0 (ASK-LOST 2.0) - (1/2)

Open source web-based tool that facilitates instructional designers and/or teachers to add tags to LOs, LAs and educational courses that are stored in LORs and LDRs exploiting social tagging.

The main functionalities include: (a) guided tagging, where the user is presented with his/her tags previously used for characterizing other digital educational resources (referred to as Personal Tags), as well as, with tags that are most frequently used by other users regarding this specific LO, LA or educational course (referred to as Popular Tags), (b) auto-suggested tagging, where the user is presented with suggested tags that have been used by other users and are relevant with the tag that the user is typing, (c) creation of user’s personal collection, where he/she has the capability to save to his/her personal list, LOs, LAs or educational courses uploaded by other users and browse the tags that these users have used, (d) browsing via tag cloud, and (e) social networking support





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ASK Learning Objects Social Tagging (ASK-LOST 2.0) – (2/2)

ASK-LOST 2.0 is being used by more than 1500 Science Education Teachers as part of the OSR Portal (http://www.osrportal.eu/)

The source code of ASK-LOST 2.0 Tool is available from SourceForge: http://sourceforge.net/projects/asklost

ASK-LOST 2.0 was uploaded on 15 May 2010 and until today, it has been downloaded 87 times [April 2012].





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• P. Zervas, D. Sampson and M. Aristeidou, "Investigating the Effect of Users Tagging Motivation on the Enhancement of Digital Educational Resources Metadata Descriptions", in Proc. of the IADIS International Conference Cognition and Exploratory Learning in Digital Age (CELDA 2012), Madrid, Spain, IADIS Press, 19-21, October 2012

• D. Sampson, P. Zervas and A. Kalamatianos, "ASK-LOST 2.0: A Web-based Tool for Social Tagging Digital Educational Resources in Learning Environments", in B. White, I. King, and P. Tsang, (Eds.), Social Media Tools and Platforms in Learning Environments: Present and Future, chapter 23, pp 387-398, Springer, 2011

• A. Kalamatianos, P. Zervas and D. Sampson, "ASK-LOST 2.0: A Tool for Social Tagging of Digital Educational Resources on the Web", in Proc. of the 9th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT 2009), pp. 157-159, Riga, Latvia, IEEE Computer Society, July 2009 [BEST SHORT PAPER AWARD]






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eAccess2Learn Web Repository (http://www.eaccess2learn.eu/) – (1/2)

Enables search and retrieval of accessible LOs and LDs

Web Repository with accessible LOs and LDs suitable for Disabled People

Training

Enables storage of accessible LOs and LDs along with their EM

Conforms to W3C WCAG 1.0





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eAccess2Learn Web Repository (http://www.eaccess2learn.eu/) – (2/2)

eAccess2Learn Web Repository includes [April 2012]: 3.051 Learning Objects (in the form of rich html files with images) 313 eTraining Courses (in the form of Learning Design Packages) for

three disability categories (namely motor disabled, low vision and color blind people)

There are 546 Registered Users [April 2012] eAccess2Learn Web Repository has received [April 2012]:

20.949 Search Requests 10.482 Downloads 98.292 Visits





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• D. Sampson and P. Zervas, "Supporting Accessible Technology-Enhanced Training: The eAccess2Learn Framework", IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies (TLT) , (ISSN 1939-1382), vol. 4(4), pp. 353-364, October 2011

• D. Sampson and P. Zervas, "Technology-enhanced Training for People with Disabilities: The eAccess2Learn Framework", in Proc. of the 2nd International Conference on Intelligent Networking and Collaborative Systems (INCoS 2010), Thessaloniki, Greece, 24-26, November 2010 [BEST PAPER AWARD]

• D. Sampson, "Competence-related Metadata for Educational Resources that Support Lifelong Competence Development Programmes", Educational Technology & Society, 12 (4), 149-159, October 2009

• D. Sampson, P. Karampiperis and D. Fytros, “Developing a Common Metadata Model for Competencies Description", Interactive Learning Environment, Special Issue on Learning Networks for Lifelong Competence Development, vol. 15(2), pp. 137-150, Routledge , August 2007

• D. Sampson, D. Fytros and P. Zervas, "Supporting Lifelong Learning Programmes: Defining an Accessibility and Competence Based Application Profile for Educational Metadata", in Proc. of the 11th IASTED International Conference on Computers and Advanced Technology in Education (CATE 2008), Heraklion, Crete, Greece, October 2008

• P. Karampiperis and D. Sampson, "Facilitating Learning Objects Reusability in Different Accessibility Settings", in Ulf-Daniel Ehlers and Jan M. Pawlowski (Eds.), Handbook on Quality and Standardisation in E-Learning Chapter 20, pp. 248-262, Springer, ISBN 3540327878, May 2006

• P. Karampiperis and D. Sampson, “Supporting Accessible Hypermedia in Web-based Educational SystemsQ Defining an Accessible Application Profile for Learning Resources", The New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia, Special Issue on Accessible Hypermedia and Multimedia, vol. 10(2), pp. 181-197, Taylor & Francis, December 2004






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Mobile2Learn Web Repository (http://www.mobile2learn.eu/) – (1/2)

Enables search and retrieval of mobile assisted Language Learning

LOs and LDs

Web Repository with LOs and LDs suitable for Language Learning supported by Mobile Devices

Enables storage of mobile assisted Language Learning LOs and LDs along

with their EM





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Mobile2Learn Web Repository (http://www.mobile2learn.eu/) – (2/2)

Mobile2Learn Web Repository includes [April 2012]: 719 Learning Objects suitable for English Language Learning (in the form of

flash files) and supported by mobile devices 132 mobile Training Courses (in the form of Learning Design Packages)

addressing A1, A2, B1 and B2 learners/students of English Language according to the Europass Language Passport Levels

There are 1.027 Registered Users [April 2012] Mobile2Learn Web Repository has received [April 2012]:

24.135 Search Requests 14.679 Downloads 43.180 Visits





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The COSMOS Repository

• The COSMOS Repository (http://www.cosmosportal.eu/) has more than 1.650 registered users

• It provides access to science education learning objects (LOs) and Learning Designs (LDs) for schools and higher education institutions.

• It includes more than 100.000 LOs and over 350 LDs.

• It was developed in the framework of an EU-funded project





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The OpenScienceResources Repository

• The OpenScienceResources Repository (http://www.osrportal.eu/) has more than 1.100 registered users

• It provides access to science education learning objects (LOs) and learning designs (LDs) offered by European Science Centers and Museums.

• It includes more than 1.300 LOs and over 110 LDs.

• It was developed in the framework of an EU-funded project (http://www.openscienceresources.eu/)





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The OpenDiscoverySpace Repository

• The Open Discovery Space (http://www.opendiscoveryspace.eu/) aims to include more than 1.500.000 LOs and LDs by aggregating open licensed LOs and LDs from a federated network of seventy five (75) existing LORs and LDRs in Europe.

• The main outcome of Open Discover Space project will be a community-oriented social platform where teachers, students and parents from all around Europe will be able to search and retrieve LOs and LDs on their topics of interest.

• It is expected that at the end of the Open Discover Space project the Open Discover Space portal will be the biggest federated network of existing LORs and LDRs in the world





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• D. Sampson and P. Zervas, "Supporting Open Access to Mobile Assisted Language Learning Resources and Practices: The Mobile2Learn Framework", IEEE Transactions on Learning Technology, November 2012 (submitted for publication),

• D. Sampson and P. Zervas, "Open Access to Mobile Assisted Language Learning supported by the Mobile2Learn Framework", in Proc. of the 12th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT 2012), Rome, Italy, IEEE Computer Society, 4-6 July 2012

• P. Zervas and D. Sampson, "Enhancing Educational Metadata with Mobile Assisted Language Learning Information", in Proc. of the 10th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT 2010), Sousse, Tunisia, IEEE Computer Society, 5-7, July 2010

• D. Sampson, "Exploiting Mobile and Wireless Technologies in Vocational Training", in Proc. of the 4th International Workshop on Wireless, Mobile and Ubiquitous Technologies in Education (WMUTE 2006), pp. 63-65, Athens, Greece, IEEE Computer Society, November 2006

• D. Sampson, "Supporting Vocational Education and Training through Mobile Learning Environments", in Proc. of the 6th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT 2006), pp. 1176-1177, Kerkrade, The Netherlands, IEEE Computer Society, July 2006






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EducationalContent

Learning Activities (LAs)

Educational CoursesEducation and/or

Training Programmes

Hierarchical Open Access Framework: Tools for supporting the 2nd and the 3rd Hierarchical Elements

LAs Design and Delivery

Educational Content

Course Design and Delivery

Learning Activities






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The ASK Learning Design Toolkit (ASK-LDT) – (1/2)

Stand-alone tool that enables instructional designers and/or teachers (a) to express their pedagogical strategies, in the form of LD templates, using a common machine understandable way, and (b) to design and develop educational courses using a reference set of pre-defined learning design templates

The main functionalities include: development of new educational courses based on pre-defined LD templates using a graphical interface, (b) characterization of the learning activities of an Educational Course by using a common vocabulary of terms based on “Dialog Plus Learning Activities Taxonomy”, (c) assignment of LOs (html pages, images, videos etc.) to the LAs of an educational course or change the existing ones, and (d) save educational courses as Packages (zip format) conformant with IMS Learning Design Specification, and share them through existing LDRs.





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ASK Learning Design Toolkit (ASK-LDT) – (2/2)

ASK-LDT has been used by: 5 Science Education Pedagogical Designers in COSMOS Portal (http://www.cosmosportal.eu/)

for designing Generic Science Education Pedagogical Templates 650 Science Education Teachers in COSMOS Portal (http://www.cosmosportal.eu/) for

developing Science Education Scenarios based on Reference Generic Science Education Pedagogical Templates

60 Language Learning Trainers in Mobile2Learn Portal (http://www.mobile2learn.eu/) for developing Mobile Training Courses based on reference Generic Mobile Training Course Templates (suitable for Language Learning)

70 Disabled People Trainers in eAccess2Learn Portal (http://www.eaccess2learn.eu/) for developing eTraining Courses based on reference Generic eTraining Course Templates (suitable for Disabled People Training)

ASK-LDT is available for download from: http://www.cosmosportal.eu/cosmos/en/toolbox [Registered Users] http://www.mobile2learn.eu/services/index.php?sec=tools [Registered Users] http://www.eaccess2learn.eu/services/index.php?sec=tools [Registered Users]





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• D. Sampson, P. Zervas and S. Sotiriou, "Sharing of Open Science Education Resources and Learning Designs in Europe: The European Initiatives OpenScienceResources, COSMOS and PATHWAY", in Rory McGreal, Wanjira Kinuthia and Stewart Marshall (Eds.), Open Educational Resources Knowledge Cloud, AU Press

• D. Sampson, P. Zervas and S. Sotiriou, "COSMOS: A Web-Based Repository of Learning Designs for Science Education", Advanced Science Letters, Special Issue on Technology-Enhanced Science Education, vol. 4(11/12), pp. 3366-3374 (9), American Scientific Publishers, ISSN: 1936-6612 November 2011

• D. Sampson and P. Zervas, “Designing and Sharing Inquiry based Learning Designs: the PATHWAY ASK Learning Designer Toolkit” in Proc. of the EDEN2011 Open Classroom Conference, Athens, Greece, 27-29, October 2011

• D. Sampson, P. Zervas and S. Sotiriou, “From Learning Objects Repositories to Learning Design Repositories: The COSMOS Learning Design Repository” in Proc. of the 11th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT 2011), Athens, Georgia, USA, IEEE Computer Society (ISBN:9781612842097), 6-8, July 2011

• D. Sampson and P. Karampiperis, “Towards Next-Generation Activity-Based Learning Systems", International Journal on E-Learning vol. 5(1), pp 129-150, Chesapeake, AACE Press, January 2006

• D. Sampson, P. Karampiperis and P. Zervas, "ASK-LDT: A Web-Based Learning Scenarios Authoring Environment based on IMS Learning Design", International Journal on Advanced Technology for Learning (ATL) (ISSN 1710-2251), vol. 2(4), pp. 207-215, ACTA Press, October 2005






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ASK-Course Description Metadata-European Credit Transfer System (ASK-CDM-ECTS) – (1/2)

Conformant to Course Description Metadata (CDM-ECTS) Application

Profile

Facilitate description with European Credit Transfer System (ECTS)

compatible information European HEIs, as well as, their study programmes

and academic courses

Step-by-step Wizard for EM Authoring of academic courses’ LOs (conformant to IEEE

LOM)

Web-based application accessible via web-browser

Facilitate search and retrieval of academic courses offered by

European HEIs





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ASK-Course Description Metadata-European Credit Transfer System (ASK-CDM-ECTS) – (2/2)

ASK-CDM-ECTS is available (in Greek) from: http://www.ask4research.info/ask-cdm-ects/

ASK-CDM-ECTS will be used (during 2012-2014) in the framework of a nationally-funded project entitled: “Academic Open Courses at University of Piraeus” that aims to make available for open access to the wider public more than 460 academic courses offered by University of Piraeus, Greece





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• D. Sampson and P. Zervas, "Supporting Open Access to European Academic Courses: The ASK-CDM-ECTS Tool", Campus Wide Information Systems, vol. 30(1), Emerald, January 2013

• D. Sampson and P. Zervas, "Open Access to European Higher Education Courses based on the CDM-ECTS Specification", in Proc. of the 4th IEEE International Conference on Technology for Education (T4E 2011), IIT Hyderbad, India, IEEE Computer Society, 18-20, July 2012

• D. Sampson, P. Zervas and R. Limnatitis, "ASK-CDM-ECTS: A Tool for facilitating Common European University Course Description towards Higher Education Integration", in Proc. of the 9th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT 2009), pp. 154-156, Riga, Latvia, IEEE Computer Society, 15-17 July 2009






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The ASK Mobile Learning Design Player (ASK-Mobile-LD-Player) – (1/2)

Stand-alone tool suitable for smart phone devices with windows mobile or android operating system that facilitates e-Learning Services Providers to deliver educational courses that have been retrieved from an existing LDR and they are conformant with the IMS LD Specification

The main functionalities include: (a) enrolment of multiple roles/actors (individual learners, groups of learners and teachers), (b) navigation to the LAs of an educational courses using a graphical interface, and (c) rendering of HTML-based educational content and flash files.





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ASK Mobile Learning Design Player (2/2)

ASK Mobile Learning Design Player has been used by 4 Language Learning Training Organizations and 60 Language Learning Trainers in Mobile2Learn Portal (http://www.mobile2learn.eu/), so as to provide Mobile Training Courses to their learners.

ASK Mobile Learning Design Player is available for download from: http://www.mobile2learn.eu/services/index.php?sec=tools

[Registered Users – Stand Alone Version] http://www.mobile2learn.eu/repository/index.php?

sec=search_tr [Registered Users – Web Version]





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• P. Zervas and D. Sampson, "Mobile Learning Design Players", in M. Ally and A. Tsinakos (Eds.), Mobile learning development for flexible learning, AU Press, January 2013

• D. Sampson and P. Zervas, "Enabling Interoperable Mobile Learning: Evaluation results from the use of the SMILE PDA Learning Design Player", in Proc. of the 5th International Workshop on Wireless, Mobile and Ubiquitous Technologies in Education (WMUTE 2008), Beijing, China, IEEE Computer Society, March 2008

• D. Sampson, K. Götze and P. Zervas, "Delivering IMS Learning Design Activities via Mobile Devices", in Proc. of the 7th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT 2007), pp. 367-368, Niigata, Japan, IEEE Computer Society, July 2007 [BEST POSTER AWARD]






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The ASK Context-Aware Mobile Learning Design Player

• A client side application for smartphones and tablets with Android operating system.

• The tool is able to capture during run-time learner’s contextual elements instances and evaluates them by parsing properties, global elements and conditions of the IMS-LD Level B specification





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• D. Sampson and P. Zervas, "Context-Aware Adaptive and Personalized Mobile Learning Systems", in Demetrios G. Sampson, Dirk Ifenthaler, Pedro Isaias, and Michael J. Spector, (Eds.), Ubiquitous and Mobile Informal and Formal Learning in Digital Age, Springer, January 2013

• P. Zervas, D. Sampson, S. Gomez and R. Fabregat, "Tools for Context-Aware Mobile Educational Content Adaptation", in Demetrios G. Sampson, Dirk Ifenthaler, Pedro Isaias, and Michael J. Spector, (Eds.), Ubiquitous and Mobile Informal and Formal Learning in Digital Age, Springer, January 2013

• S. Gomez, P. Zervas, D. Sampson and R. Fabregat, "Delivering Adaptive and Context-Aware Educational Scenarios via Mobile Devices", in Proc. of the 12th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT 2012), Rome, Italy, IEEE Computer Society, 4-6, July 2012

• P. Zervas, S. Gomez, R. Fabregat and D. Sampson, "Tools for Context-Aware Learning Design and Mobile Delivery", in Proc. of the 11th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT 2011), Athens, Georgia, USA, 6-8, July 2011

• P. Zervas, S. Gomez, R. Fabregat and D. Sampson, "Designing Tools for Context-Aware Adaptive Mobile Learning", in Proc of the European, Mediterranean & Middle Eastern Conference on Information Systems 2011 (EMCIS2011), Athens, Greece, (ISBN: 978-1-902316-85-7), 30-31, May 2011






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The ASK Mobile SCORM Player (1/2)

Stand-alone tool suitable for smart phone devices with android operating system that facilitates e-Learning Services Providers to deliver educational courses which are conformant with SCORM

The main functionalities include: (a) import and deliver educational courses conformant with SCORM 2004 to learners’ mobile devices, (b) sequencing and navigation to the learning activities of an Educational Course based on learner’s choices and achievements during run-time, (c) rendering of HTML-based educational content and flash files.





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ASK Mobile SCORM Player (2/2)

The executable application of ASK Mobile SCORM Player is available from SourceForge: http://sourceforge.net/projects/ask-mobilescorm/

ASK Mobile SCORM Player was uploaded on 2 July 2010 and until today, it has been downloaded 148 times [April 2012].





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EducationalContent

Learning Activities

Educational Courses


Programmes

Hierarchical Open Access Framework: Tools for supporting the 4th Hierarchical Element

Virtual Classrooms

Educational Courses

HierarchicalElements





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The ASK Mobile Moodle (http://www.mobile2learn.eu/moodle/)

It is a customization of a Moodle (http://moodle.org/) following the W3C Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0, so as to be accessible via mobile devices. It facilitates e-Learning Services Providers to deliver education and/or training Programmes to learners’ mobile devices

The main functionalities enable: (a) learners to access Moodle via any type of mobile device, (b) learners to enroll in and attend educational courses via their mobile device, check for new educational courses’ material, upload assignments, send questions to their teachers and communicate with their classmates and teachers through discussion forums, (c) teachers to conduct basic educational course’s management tasks via their mobile device such as: monitor their learners’ progress, identify and download newly uploaded learners’ assignments, answer learners’ questions and communicate with their learners through discussion forums.





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• D. Sampson and P. Zervas, "Mobile Learning Management Systems in Higher Education", in Ana Azevedo and Rosalina Babo (Eds.), Higher Education Institutions and Learning Management Systems: Adoption and Standardization, pp. 162-177, IGI Global, ISBN 1609608844, 2012

• D. Sampson, P. Papapaulou, P. Zervas and C. Papanikou, "Supporting Higher Education Teaching through Wireless and Mobile Devices: The Case Study of mobile Moodle", in Proc. of the AACE E-Learn 2008-World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare and Higher Education, Las Vegas, USA, AACE, November 2008






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The ASK 3D Virtual Classroom Simulation (ASK 3D VCS) - (1/2)

It is a customization of Moodle, supported by 3D Virtual Worlds (such as Second Life), namely, the SLOODLE

It aims to provide e-Learning Services Providers with a platform for delivering education and/or training programmes to their learners by exploiting the Second Life VW.

The ASK 3D VCS consists of four (4) different rooms: (a) Lectures’ Room, (b) Lab Room, (c) Library Room and (d) the Assessment/Quiz Room. All these virtual rooms feature tools that can support learners to execute different types of LAs based on the educational design.





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The ASK 3D Virtual Classroom Simulation (ASK 3D VCS) - (2/2)





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• D. Sampson and P. Kallonis, "3D Virtual Classroom Simulations for supporting School Teachers’ Continuing Professional Development", in J. Jia (Ed.), Educational Stages and Interactive Learning: From Kindergarten to Workplace Training, IGI Publishers , February 2012

• D. Sampson and P. Kallonis, "Teachers' Training in Exploiting 3D Virtual Worlds for teaching and learning", in Pedro Isaias, Dirk Ifenthaler, Kinshuk, Demetrios G. Sampson and Michael J. Spector, (Eds.), Towards Learning and Instruction in Web 3.0. Advances in Cognitive and Educational Psychology, Springer, ISBN 978-1-4614-1538-1, January 2012

• P. Kallonis and D. Sampson, "A 3D Virtual Classroom Simulation for supporting School Teachers' Training based on Synectics - 'making the strange familiar'", in Proc. of the 11th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT 2011), Athens, Georgia, USA, IEEE Computer Society, 6-8 July 2011

• P. Kallonis and D. Sampson, "Implementing a 3D Virtual Classroom Simulation for Teachers' Continuing Professional Development", in Proc. of the Workshop on Virtual Worlds for academic, organizational, and life-long learning (ViWo 2010) in the 18th International Conference on Computers in Education (ICCE 2010), Putrajaya, Malaysia, Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education, November 2010

• P. Kallonis and D. Sampson, "Exploiting Virtual Worlds For Teachers' Professional Development", in Proc. of the IADIS International Conference Cognition and Exploratory Learning in Digital Age (CELDA 2010), Timisoara, Romania, IADIS Press, 15-17, October 2010






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Conclusions-Future Work It has been identified that existing initiatives do not pay special attention to the different granularity

levels of OERs and as a result they adopt a flat model for supporting the main stages of a typical e-Learning chain, namely, creation, publication, discovery, acquisition, access, use, re-use and delivery of OERs.

As a result, this leads to a limited organic relation of current OER initiatives to the current developments of Learning Technologies, which eventually confines their potential to accessing a repository of educational resources. In this paper, in order to deal with the different levels of granularity (namely, educational content, learning activities, educational courses, education and/or training programmes), and the different tools needed to handle the particularities of each granularity level, we proposed a hierarchical open access framework, so as to support the main stages of a typical e-Learning chain.

In this framework, we identified the main stakeholders and we presented a set of tools, which empower them within the various stages of a typical e-Learning chain.

Future work includes the development of widget-based clients of the tools that support the presented open access hierarchical framework following the W3C Widgets standard that allows web applications to be integrated with other web-applications, as well as to run on mobile devices like native apps

digital systems and services for open access to education and learning

Documents