Hello all,
Good to have some simple use cases, and a warning about modelling
complex processes such as those with conditional steps.
Interestingly the same issues have been discussed over the last
week on the main public-vocabs list in relation to an inquiry
about checklists[1].
Of course these use cases aren't new, and so there is already work
from which we might draw inspiration. Two of these spring to my
mind.
* OAI-ORE (Object reuse and exchange) [2] is a sematic model for
describing aggregations of web resources which was serialized by
extending Atom. Use cases included papers in a journal, and
images, data, sections within a paper. Very similar use cases to a
table of contents. Ordering was less important to them but was
considered, and lead to some complexity (it came down to the
truthfulness of saying X comes after Y, which is true only in some
specific context, which is hard to say when all you have is a
triple in a global graph). As far as I know ORE hasn't been widely
implemented, but the model seems functional.
* IMS Simple Sequencing [3] "defines a method for representing the
intended behavior of an authored learning experience" which
includes that rabbit hole of complexity, e.g. supporting use cases
such as "if the learner passes this test then proceed otherwise go
to these remedial exercises". I think this was perhaps more widely
implemented since the sequencing and navigation element of SCORM
2004 was derived from it. I like the note by Rustici pointing out
the the "simple" refers to scope not ease of implementation [4].
Beyond Simple Sequencing lies IMS Learning Design...
Anyway, my feeling is that any LRMI/Schema work on collections and
courses as collections should be focused on description and
discovery. Runtime requirements, issues such as ordering,
sequencing, and flow control are complicated enough to be left to
other specifications (that includes the use ol in HTML for
ordering, for example). There does need (I think) to be a little
more structure than a simple list. It does need to be
hierarchical: the collection of resource used in a lesson can be
part of a collection of lessons that is a module, which can be
part of a collection of modules that is a course or programme--all
I'm saying is that you need to have collections of collections, I
don't think it will be at all useful to try to get into
nomenclature to distinguish between what is a
module/course/programme. Also there may be need for relationships
other than hasPart, I don't think a recommended text for a course
has the same relationship to that course as one of the lessons.
To be explicit, two/three use cases in that:
- to be able to find an educational collection of learning
resources (creative works and/or events and/or educational
collections) which is structured in such a way as to facilitate
learning a specified topic/skill/competence. [this definition
applies equally to courses and textbooks]
- to be able to identify the parts of a course and the resources
external to that course which are referenced by it.
Phil
1. thread "Semantically marking up a "checklist" or process" at
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-vocabs/2013Sep/thread.html
2.
http://www.openarchives.org/ore/
3.
http://www.imsglobal.org/simplesequencing/
4.
http://scorm.com/scorm-explained/technical-scorm/sequencing/