IMS Specification Adoption
in Canada
Participation in
Specification/Standardization
Activities
• EduSpecs: Provide an opportunity for
Canada to influence the creation of
common specifications and standards,
and thereby enable sales of Canadian
online learning materials around the
world.
• Standards Council of Canada
Participation in
Specification/Standardization
Activities
• Participating membership in:
– IMS: Accessibility, Learning Design, etc.
– ISO/IEC JTC1 SC36: Information
Technology for Learning Education and
Training
• Sponsored membership in:
– IEEE Learning Technology Standards
Committee
Featured Implementers
• Learn Alberta.ca
• eduSource
• CanCore
• A sample of the community in
Canada using IMS specifications
LearnAlberta.ca portal
"allow efficient repurposing of learning
objects to support curriculum
development and management.“
-Alberta Learning
LearnAlberta.ca portal/repository
• audience-specific: students,
teachers, parents, administrators,
content providers, curriculum
developers and other education
stakeholders
• The learning objects will support
Alberta Programs of Study, i.e.
curriculum outcomes.
• Designed to support lifelong
learning in Alberta
Content Packaging
• "defines a standardized set of
structures that can be used to
exchange content"
• Proof of concept implementation
• Makes use of the "organizations"
section of the manifest:
"describing zero, one, or multiple
organizations of the content
within a manifest"
Content Packaging
Done in conjunction with license agreement with National Geographic Soc.
Currently under development; available Fall 2003
Done in conjunction with license agreement with National Geographic Society
Done in conjunction with license agreement with National Geographic Society
Done in conjunction with license agreement with National Geographic Society
Done in conjunction with license agreement with National Geographic Society
Done in conjunction with license agreement with National Geographic Society
careo.org
Magee &
Norman,
Dublin Core
2002,
"Building
Digital
Books…"
CA*Net 4 Connected
Primary Partners
Athabasca
Univ.
Netera
NewMIC
SFU Surrey
Univ. of
Waterloo
Technologies
Cogigraph
Téléuniversité
du Québec
Tele
Education
NB
Goals:
• Create a testbed of linked and
interoperable learning object
repositories across Canada
• Provide a forum for the ongoing
development of the associated
tools, systems, protocols and
practices that will support such
an infrastructure
Goals:
• Develop and promote national
and international standards
• Be fully bilingual
• Develop a community of practice
• Be accessible to all Canadians
Work Package Teams
•
•
•
•
Repository Content Development Package Managers: NBDEN and NewMIC
Foundation - Key Participating Partners:
University of Waterloo; Cogigraph (Teleuniversite)
Digital Rights Management - Package
Managers: NBDEN with NRC
Testing and Evaluation - Package
Managers: Netera and Cogigraph (Teleuniversite)
Metadata Development - Package
Managers: Athabasca University and NBDEN
- Key Participating Partners: Cogigraph
(Tele-universite)
Work Package Teams
•
•
•
•
•
Software Development - Package Manager:
Cogigraph (Tele-universite ) Key Participating
Partners: Athabasca University; NBDEN; NewMIC
Foundation; Learning Commons, University of Calgary
(in association with Netera)
Hardware Integration - Package Managers: Netera
and NewMIC Foundation
Business and Management Models - Package
Manager: Netera Key Participating Partners: NBDEN;
Cogigraph (Tele-universite; University of Waterloo
Community Building - Package Manager: University
of Waterloo Key Participating Partner: Netera
Project Management, Co-ordination and
Communications Package Manager: Netera
Specifications:
Digital Repositories Interoperability:
– OAI Metadata harvesting (Athabasca
University as lead)
– Gateways to other recommended
protocols, including Z39.50
Learning Design for resource
description and structure
Content packaging
ECL:
IMS DRI: harvesting
Edusource
Communication Language
Metadata
Repository
1..* 0..*
uses
Metadata
Repository
Services «uses»
2..*
1..4
DRM
services
0..*
«system»
CAREO
«uses»
2..*
1..*
«call»
1..*
eduSource
Service
Registry
2..*
1..*
eLearning
Middleware
Services
1..4
1..*
ask service
Digitized
Resource
Repository
1..*0..*
Resource
Management
Services
Content Packaging
«system»
ALOHA
*1..4
1..*
2..*
«system»
SPLASH
1..4
«uses»
*
«system»
EXPLORA
«system»
AD LIB
Learning Design
for identification
of services
design by Gilbert Paquette, Technologies Cogigraph (Tele-universite)
ECL: eduSource
Communication
Protocol
•
•
"a meta-protocol to prevent code
duplication for protocol access and to
simplify maintenance when protocols
evolve"
"built inside a SOAP XML envelop on
top of HTTP to provide communication
between protocols such as OAI and
Z39.50"
eduSource Communication Protocol
Goals:
design by Mike Mattson, Learning Commons, University of Calgary
Gateway Architecture
OAI Harvesting
ECL
ECL
JXTA
P2P
ECL
Z39.50
ECL
Univ. of
ECL
IMS DRI
SOAP & XQUERY
CanCore Learning Object Metadata Application Profile
Norm Friesen
normf@athabascau.ca
www.cancore.org
CanCore



Application profile: "customization of a
standard to meet the needs particular
communities of implementers with
common applications requirements."
Subset of LOM elements: 77 down to
56; 39 are active: ALL COVERED
Guidelines document: best practice
recommendations, 175 pp.
CanCore





E-learning specifications & standards
communities are largely concerned with
syntax and technical interoperation
Effective metadata requires semantic
specification and consensus
Incorporate best practice from library and
heritage communities
Incorporate common practice from
implemenations
No other body is doing this across e-learning
projects
CanCore
Complexity decreases
LOM
Information
Model: appx.
80 elements,
little interpretation
Implementation
CanCore
Specificity and
Interoperability increases
CanCore: what LOM
metadata is NOT



Is not information to be directly
exposed to end-users
Is not for version or rights
management
Is not a content model
CanCore Guidelines
Clarification
CanCore Guidelines
Clarification
Best Practice Recommendations
CanCore Guidelines
Survey of use
Clarification
Best Practice Recommendations
CanCore Guidelines
Survey of use
Clarification
Best Practice Recommendations
Vocabulary Definitions
CanCore Guidelines
Survey of use
Clarification
Best Practice Recommendations
Technical Implementation Notes
Vocabulary Definitions
Guidelines revisions
• EduSource: primary partners
– AU, Netera Alliance, Téléuniversité du Québec,
University of Waterloo, New Media Innovation
Centre, TeleEducation New Brunswick.
• Alberta Learning
• Centre recherche LICEF
• Larger repository community:
–
–
–
–
Eisenhower National Clearinghouse
CETIS; SESDL
ARIADNE
National Library
• Your input is welcome!
Element Subsets
• Different elements are important in
different contexts
• Need to see what consensus arises
around element implementation
• Many element values set through
system development or system
customization
Patterns of use in
application profiles
• Adapted from CETIS
• Some consistency, some divergence
Legend
Required/Recommended
Optional/Conditional
Excluded/Not Supported
Sponsors
•
•
•
•
CANARIE
Industry Canada
Netera
Alberta Learning
www.learnalberta.ca
www.edusource.ca
www.cancore.ca
www.careo.org
normf@athabascau.ca