overview of the aspect project
DESCRIPTION
An Overview of the progresses of the ASPECT project as in mid-January 2010.TRANSCRIPT
ASPECT: A Short Overview
David Massart, EUNLondon - Jan. 13, 2010
Disclaimer
• The work presented here is partially supported by the European Community eContentplus programme - project ASPECT: Adopting Standards and Specifications for Educational Content (Grant agreement number ECP-2007-EDU-417008).
• The author is solely responsible for the content of this presentation. It does not represent the opinion of the European Community and the European Community is not responsible for any use that might be made of information contained therein.
Adopting Standards and Specifications for Educational Content
• 30-month Best Practice Network (Sept 08-Feb 11)
• European Commission eContentplus programme• Aims at– Developing best practice approaches to implementing
standards for educational content discovery and use– Improving the adoption of learning technology
standards and specifications– Impacting on pre-standardization activities
ASPECT Assumption
Use & Reuse of Digital Educational Content
=Added-Value for Schools in Europe
Reusability Requires
• Educational content to be:– Reusable: Standards for content use– Discoverable: Standards for content discovery
• Best practices to maximize benefits of applying standards to content used in schools
• Supporting emerging standards that map to and are influenced by best practices
• Metadata
• Vocabulary
• Protocol
• Query Language
• RegistryContent discovery
Scope & Structure
• Content Packaging
• Identifier
• Access Control
Content discovery
Content use
Scope & Structure
Content use
Content discovery
Best practices
Scope & Structure
Content use
Content discovery
Best practicesImplementation of best practice
Scope & Structure
Content use
Content discovery
Best practicesImplementation of best practice
Scope & Structure
Content use
Content discovery
Best practicesImplementation of best practice
Scope & Structure
Content use
Content discovery
Best practicesSchool pilotsImplementation
of best practice
Scope & Structure
Content use
Content discovery
Best practicesSchool pilotsImplementation
of best practice
Scope & Structure
Content use
Content discovery
Best practicesSchool pilotsImplementation
of best practice
Scope & Structure
Reusable Content
• Simple assets (e.g., text, images, short videos) that can generally be directly rendered in a web browser
• More complex resources that usually consist of multiple components (e.g., text, images, simulations, videos, assessment exercises, etc.) that need to be combined in a precise way in order to provide end-users with a meaningful learning experience
Content Packaging
• Packaging all the required components in a zip file together with a manifest describing how these components have to be rendered
• Packaged content– Is more ‘interoperable’– Can be more easily exchanged and reused in
learning platforms that comply with the relevant content packaging specifications
Content Packaging Specifications
• Differ by the kinds of interactions they make possible between the content and its users
• ADL SCORM: Self-paced training situations where a single learner works independently with no instructor intervention
• IMS Common Cartridge (CC): Blended learning situations where traditional teaching is combined with web-based e-learning
• Watch the ASPECT videos on SCORM and CC at http://aspect-project.org/node/40
Metadata
• Machine-readable descriptions of digital learning content
• Provides information necessary to – Create searchable catalogs of learning content– Assess usefulness of learning content– Get access to relevant content
Metadata Application Profiles
• Adaptation, constraint, and/or augmentation of a metadata specification to suit the needs of a particular community
• The intention being to define a profile of a specific schema for its application to a particular community
• E.g., The LRE Metadata Application Profile http://fire.eun.org/LREMAPv4p0.pdf
Managing Metadata:LRE Service Centre (provided by ASPECT)
• http://lreservicecentre.aspect-project.org • Metadata Application Profile Registry• Transformer Service• Vocabulary Bank for Education (VBE)• Validation Service• Translation Service• and more …
Metadata Application Profile Registry
• Providing consistent documentation of APs will enable vendors to more easily build products and services that span multiple communities with simple configuration settings for localization
• The growing number of publicly documented APs will allow subsequent adopting communities to select and reuse elements of existing APs, rather than develop from first principles
Transformer Servicehttp://lrecoretest.eun.org:6080/mtdTransformer/
Validation Servicehttp://ariadne.cs.kuleuven.be/validationService/validateMetadata.jsp
ASPECT
• Produces best practices for content exchange and (re-)use
• Implements tools to support these practices• Validate them with the EUN Learning Resource Exchange
(LRE) • For more information, please check:– Our Interim Report (Nov 09):
http://aspect-project.org/sites/default/files/docs/ASPECT_D1p3p1.pdf
– The ASPECT website: http://aspect-project.org– The LRE website: http://lre.eun.org