Linked Data as a new environment for Learning Analytics and education
Mathieu d’Aquin (@mdaquin, mdaquin.net)(Knowledge Media Institute, The Open University, UK)Stefan Dietze (L3S Research Center, DE)
Linked Data
Open University Website
Open UniversityVLE
KMi Website
Mathieu’s Homepage
Mathieu’s List of
PublicationsMathieu’s
The Web
M366 Coursepage
Person: Mathieu
Publication: Pub1
Organisation:The Open University
Course: M366
Country: Belgium
Book: Mechatronics
author
workFor
availableIn
offers
setBook
The Web of Linked Data
From Linked Data to the Semantic Web
Gene Ontology
FMA OntologyLODE
BIBO
Geo Ontology
DBPedia Ontology
Dublin Core
FOAF
DOAP
SIOC
Music Ontology
Media Ontology
rNews
Example: data.open.ac.uk
Data.open.ac.uk
Course information: 580 modules/ description of the course, information about the levels and number of
credits associated with it, topics, and conditions of enrolment.
Research publications: 16,000 academic articles / information about authors, dates, abstract and venue of the
publication.
Podcasts: 2220 video podcasts and 1500 audio podcats / short description, topics, link to a
representative image and to a transscript if available, information about the course the podcast might relate to and license information regarding the content of the podcast.
Open Educational Resources: 640 OpenLearn Units / short description, topics, tags used to annotate the resource, its
language, the course it might relate to, and the license that applies to the content.
Youtube videos: 900 videos / short description of the video, tags that were used to annotate the video,
collection it might be part of and link to the related course if relevant.
University buildings: 100 buildings / address, a picture of the building and the sub-divisions of the building
into floors and spaces.
Library catalogue: 12,000 books/ topics, authors, publisher and ISBN, as well as the course related.
Others…
A global data space for education data
The Open University
University of Bristol
University of Southampton
mEducator
University of Muenster, DEOrganicEduNet
Data.gov.uk education
Orgs., Buidings, Locations
Learning resources
Research ouputs
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http://data.linkededucation.org/linkedup/catalog
What’s the use in Learning Analytics
/* Naïve view */Learning Analytics is an application of data analytics on educational data, in
learning environment and for the purpose to improve the learning and teaching experience.
So, Linked Data used to find, collect and process large amounts of interconnected data to be used in analytics. But It is not only the input! Can be used to complete local data, enrichment them, or for interpretation of the results.
Considering Bienkowski, Feng, and Means areas of LA/EDM application (Week 3):• Modeling user knowledge, behavior, and experience… and connect them to information
about the context of learning• Creating profiles of users… that can be interlinked through common objects• Modeling knowledge domains… through online knowledge sources that can be numerous
and collectively built• Trend analysis… that can be interpreted through related them to external sources of
information• Personalization and adaptation… using indirect connections to other reference entities
Example of simple application: Map of OU buildings
Interactive map of Open University Buildings in the UK
Each dot is a location where buildings can be found. Going over the dot give information about the building there (floors, spaces, car-parks, etc.)
Spaces
Floors
ID Address Post-code
Buildings
bat1
bat1-address
Postcode-mk76aa
name “Berrill building”
data.open.ac.uk
Milton Keynes
inDistrict
Buckinghamshire
inCounty
Mk76aa-location
location
lat long
52.024924 -0.709726
data.ordnancesurvey.co.uk
Simple recommendation: Study at the OU
Each topic as a linked data URI. Each course as a linked data URI. Each resource as a linked data URI. They are all connected. Use SPARQL to answer the question:
“What are the resources related to this topic or to courses on this topic”
Less simple recommendation: Talis Aspire
Lecturers from different universities put their reading lists online. Publishing using the principles of linked data means that all resources are globally identified, creating a network of resources and reading lists.Recommendations can then trivially exploit globally all these local contributions.
Even less simple recommendation:DiscOU
data.open.ac.uk
Semantic Indexing
Semantic Index
Named Entity
Recognition
Podcasts, OpenLearn Units and Articles
Semantic Entities (Dbpedia)
Indexes
BBC Programme or iPlayer page
Synopsis
Similarity-Based Search
Indexes
Interface
Resource descriptions
Resources URIs + common topics
Not one scenario: An infinite recombination of data and purposes
Complex analytics in a lightweight way
http://uciad.info
Analytics across datasets
Academics in “Arts and Humanities” most often involved with the media (in number of news items)
Topics most commonly mentioned by news outlets own by the BBC (in number of news items)
From the Open University From news clippings From DBpedia.org
Complex analytics with rich background information
Conclusions
Linked data essential to learning analytics: interconnected sources of information to analyze learning activities and their context.
- Use of local data together with reference data- Informed recommendation mechanisms- Re-purposing of open data- Lightweight ways to integrate data in rich analytics interfaces- Analytics combining insight from multiple sources of
information - Ways to explore results through the lens of external,
background information
A few links can open the way to numerous new forms of analytics. Can be overwhelming Managing heterogeneity, consistency and noise becomes even
more of an issue Still requires specialized, technical skills
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Links and References
http://linkeddata.org - http://linkeddatabook.com http://data.open.ac.uk - http://lucero-project.info http://linkeduniversities.org - http://linkededucation.orghttp://linkedup-project.eu - http://linkedup-challenge.orghttp://data.linkededucation.org/linkedup/catalog http://talisaspire.com/ - http://discou.info - http://uciad.info
d'Aquin, M. and Jay, N. Interpreting Data Mining Results with Linked Data for Learning Analytics: Motivation, Case Study and Direction, LAK 2013, http://oro.open.ac.uk/36660/
Kessler C., d’Aquin M. and Dietze S. (eds) Semantic Web Journal Special Issue on Linked Data for Science and Education. http://iospress.metapress.com/content/m87017012802/
d’Aquin M. Linked Data for Open and Distance Learning. Commonwealth of Learnin report. http://www.col.org/resources/publications/Pages/detail.aspx?PID=420
d'Aquin, M., Allocca, C. and Collins, T. DiscOU: A Flexible Discovery Engine for Open Educational Resources Using Semantic Indexing and Relationship Summaries, Demo ISWC 2012. http://data.open.ac.uk/applications/iswc2012-demo.pdf
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