Building and Use of a LOM Ontology

Building and Use of a LOM Ontology

Ghebghoub Ouafia, Abel Marie-Hélène, Moulin Claude, Leblanc Adeline
Copyright: © 2010 |Pages: 17
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-61520-859-3.ch007
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Abstract

The increasing number of available resources that may be used during e-learning can raise problems of access, management and sharing. An e-learning application therefore shares the same problem of relevance to the Web concerning the access to learning resources. Semantic web technologies provide promising solutions to such problems. One main feature of this new web generation is the shared understanding based on ontologies. This chapter presents an approach to index learning resources semantically using a LOM ontology. This ontology was developed to clarify the concepts, and to describe the existing relations between elements of the LOM standard. The author present also our tool based on this ontology which allows to describe learning objects and helps retrieving them.
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Learning Objects Indexing

The basic idea behind the creation of learning objects is the ability to build components or small units that can be reused several times in different learning contexts.

Adopting this concept of small reusable units, Reigeluth and Nelson explain that often when teachers or learning content creators access for the first time to a learning material, they break it down into its components, and then assemble these components in order to build a material that supports their educational goals [Nelson & al. 1996].

In order to find these learning materials to use or reuse them, they must be described efficiently. A resource that is not indexed is an unexploitable resource and is difficult to retrieve. To develop and promote standards for learning technology, the IEEE2 consortium created in 1996 the Learning Technology Standards Standing Committee (LTSC).

Learning Objects

The definition of a learning object gave rise to several debates. In the document representing the LOM (Learning Object Metadata) 1.03 standard, a learning object is defined as any digital or non-digital entity that can be used, reused or referenced during learning, education or training activities.

This definition is seen by Wiley as wide as it may include an object, a person or an idea [Wiley, 2002]. Polsani (2003) refines it by adding that a learning object is an “ independent and self-standing unit of learning content that is predisposed to reuse in multiple instructional contexts” [Polsani, 2003].

In our work, we have adhered to the Wiley definition that considers that a learning object is a learning material that can be selected, combined with another according to the needs of teachers and learners. It is also a learning content that should exist as such, and can be searched and indexed easily.

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