D2.1 Training framework design

D2.1 Training framework design
Authors: Petru Dimitru, Riina Vuorikari, Roger Blamire, Sylvia Hartinger
Document Type: Document Distribution: Restricted (Project and EC) Status: Final
Document file: Metaschool_WP2_TrainingFrameworkDesign _V1.0_01Aug2009_EUN.doc
Version: 1.0 Date: 01 August 2009 Number of pages: 56 pages
No 141942-LLP-1-2008-1-GR-COMENIUS-CMP
0.1 About this document
This document builds on work in WP1 related to user needs and the state of the art in metadata and repositories for school resources and material in D1.1 European state of the art report on suggestions for the Training Framework. The paper provides a detailed outline of the Training Framework including a list of all suggested Training Modules, their use and content skeleton as well as their interconnections. The Training Framework defines the exact curriculum of the training programme connecting the identified user needs with the Training Modules that will address them. The Training Framework reflects the full set of competencies that we expect the participants to have acquired by the end of the training seminars
0.2 Version
Version Date / Contributor Summary of Changes 1.0 Jul 26 / PD Deliverable finalised with new descriptions of
the framework and its models
1. Introduction
1.1. Scope
This deliverable aims to present the design and specification of training enabling METASCHOOL teachers to achieve the levels of technical and pedagogical competence required to make effective use of the resources available.
The paper builds on WP1 tasks related to user oriented requirements for the training framework, to be incorporated into the methodology for the development of the training framework, and to a review of the state of the art in metadata and repositories for school resources. The Deliverables also takes into account D1.1 European state of the art report, presenting the state-of-the-art in Europe concerning learning repositories and metadata tools and a feasibility analysis concerning the implementation of the project in participating countries in terms of equipment and other constraints. Based on this, the Training Framework is suggested.
1.2. Audience
This report is addressed in the first instance to project partners involved in teacher training in the project: Ellinogermaniki Agogi (EA), Agricultural University of Athens (AUA), University of Bayreuth (UBT) EDU and Czech Centre for Science and Society (CCSS). More generally those developing professional development programmes in ICT in schools with a focus on the use of digital learning resources.
1.3. Definitions
This section outlines the terms and definitions used in this document and in the Training Framework. Most of the descriptions for these terms refer to Wikipedia.org.
BOOKMARKED ITEM, ALSO KNOWN AS AN ITEM PUT IN FAVOURITES
This is a website, a learning resource or any other digital object that the user has made a virtual link to by using a bookmarking service. Usually a bookmarked item is also given a keyword that facilitates its findability again.
CONTROLLED VOCABULARY
Controlled vocabularies are used in indexing schemes, thesauri and taxonomies. These schemes mandate the uses of predefined, authorised terms that have been pre-selected by the designer of the controlled vocabulary.
EXPERT INDEXING
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In MELT, indexing of resources can be done by two different groups: experts who are teachers or other professionals with profound knowledge of indexing, and by teachers. Expert indexing referrers to the first group.
FOLKSONOMY
A folksonomy is a user-generated metadata used to categorise and retrieve Web pages, photographs, Web links and other Web content using open-ended labels called tags. Typically, folksonomies are Internet-based. A well-developed folksonomy is ideally accessible as a shared vocabulary that is both originated by, and familiar to, its primary users.
METADATA
Metadata is "data about data." It can generally be thought of as information that describes, or supplements, the central data and helps its indexing and retrieval.
THE RT RELATIONSHIP, RELATED TERM, RT
A relationship between terms which are not members of an equivalence set; neither are subordinated or superordinated to another, but are mentally associated to such an extent that it is useful to make the link between them explicit. The RT relation is a not- hierarchical, mutual and symmetric relationship, that is: If A is a RT of B, then B is a RT of A.
SOCIAL BOOKMARKING
Social bookmarking is a web-based service to share Internet bookmarks and a popular way to store, classify, share and search links through the practice of folksonomy techniques on the Internet or Intranet.
SOCIAL SOFTWARE
Social software is defined broadly as any web-based software tool that supports or fosters group interaction. It enables people to connect and collaborate through technology- mediated communication.(Wikipedia, March 2007). There are many genres of social software: communication tools, collaborative tools like groupware and wikis, and social network sites.
SOCIAL CONTENT
Social Content is any information that people create about themselves to share with others such as preferences, blog postings, manifests of relationships.
SOCIAL CONTEXT
Social context centres on a person's heterogeneous social networks; people are known to have a variety of networks. It can be used to explain the ways that applications attempt to create networks imitating the way real-life social protocols work.
TAG
A type of metadata, generated by users and creators of the content, involving the association of descriptors with objects.
TAG CLOUD
A weighted list in visual design, can be used as a visual depiction of content tags used on a website. More frequently used tags are depicted in a larger font or otherwise emphasised, while the displayed order is generally alphabetical. Thus, both finding a tag by alphabet and by popularity is possible. Selecting a single tag within a tag cloud will generally lead to a collection of items that are associated with that tag.
TAGGING, SOCIAL TAGGING, COLLABORATIVE TAGGING
Collaborative tagging is regarded as democratic folksonomy metadata generation, i.e. rather than an individual controlling the metadata or tags about an article or other content, metadata is generated by both the creator and consumers of the content.
TAXONOMY
Taxonomy is the practice and science of taxonomic classification. Taxonomies, which are composed of taxonomic units known as taxa (singular taxon), are frequently hierarchical in structure, and commonly display parent-child relationships.
THESAURUS
A thesaurus, which is designed for indexing is a list of every important term (single-word or multi-word) in a given domain of knowledge; and a set of related terms for each term in the list.
USE-UF, THE INTRA-LANGUAGE EQUIVALENCE
The intra-language equivalence is used in thesauri to facilitate the access to documents that were indexed by the documentalist differently from what the end-user may think. A descriptor, which is a thesaurus term, can have many non-descriptors, i.e. words related to it that help users who use free natural language to better search. etb.eun.org
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VISUALIZATION
Visualization is used to describe a variety of techniques that use images, diagrams, or animations to display relations between resources, tags and people.
Abbreviations used in this document
EA Ellinogermaniki Agogi EUN European Schoolnet AUA Agricultural University of Athens UoU UmeA University (UBT University of Bayreuth BMUKK Federal Ministry of Education, The Arts, and Culture CCSS Czech Centre for Science and Society GNK Gymnazium Nad Kavalirkou PCAFS Perrotis College, American Farm School (PCAFS) LRE Learning Resource Exchange URL Unified Resource Locator
1.4. Structure
Chapter 1: contains an overview of this document, providing its Scope, Audience, Structure and References.
Chapter 2: provides background information, summarises user needs as identified in WP1, relates them to the framework of training modules and lists the expected outcomes and competences.
Chapter 3: gives an overview of each of the 21 training modules to be developed as D2.3.1.
2. Background
The results of Work Package 1 on user needs and the state of the art provided a solid background to tasks in WP2 related to the Metaschool training framework. Deliverable D1.1 Needs Analysis Report with teachers identified clear needs, while D1.2, European state of the art, considered implementation prospects, enablers and barriers in partner countries. The results of Work Package 1 on user needs and the state of the art provided a solid background to tasks in WP2 related to the Metaschool training framework. Deliverable D1.1 Needs Analysis Report with teachers identified clear needs, while D1.2, European state of the art, considered implementation prospects, enablers and barriers in partner countries. User needs D1.1 Needs Analysis Report included reports from workshops with teachers in Austria, the Czech Republic and Greece, revealing that the skill levels of participating teachers was probably higher than those of the average teacher in those countries, and the teachers were positive about ICT and more motivated to learn. The most commonly used tools before training were PowerPoint, Moodle and linked repositories, Google and Google Maps. Despite being relatively e-skilled, teachers had a low knowledge of Web 2.0. metadata tagging and learning systems, although some used wikis passively, but not publishing information themselves. Nevertheless they wanted to know more about Web 2.0, if only because it attracts their students. In general teachers wanted to:
• Be able easily to find relevant, concrete materials on a portal about their subject prepared by professionals in their own language and with a cultural focus on their own country (videos, images, data – particularly geographical data, lesson plans);
• Use systems easily – a high priority was simplicity of use • Have structured and relevant information • Access scientific repositories and new information.
Publishing their own learning content, to use communication tools like chats and to rank materials was given somewhat lower priority. It was brought up that IPR problems made it difficult for teachers to publish their own content, implying that they produced materials but without regard for or clarity about copyright. In terms of preferences, teachers wanted to:
• Make the best use of scarce time. • Learn in classrooms in small groups • Be trained in the use of specific applications with less focus on metadata
repositories, i.e. first getting concrete resources and later on publishing content in these repositories;
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Initial needs were related to using the following specific applications, tools and repositories, most of which will be included in the training modules:
• Catalogue and repository systems • Cosmos repository for sharing information about cosmos education • Confolio system for sharing information for Organic Farming education • Naturnet Redime URM repository for sharing spatial and non spatial context • Organic Edunet repository • On line educational applications • Geogame • Vitejtenazemi • Organic Garden • The Moon And Tides • Of line or Supporting tools • eXe HTML editor
However, training focused only on these topics will not address wider non-ICT issues such as the ones listed below. It will be the intent that these topics will be addressed in the training modules.
• Ensuring high levels of good content from the first contact • Linguistic and cultural barriers • Use of copyright-protected material by teachers • A rationale for the pedagogical value of using repositories. What do they make
better? What problem do they solve? • Should teachers provide their content and effort for no financial reward? • Lack of teachers’ time for projects • Lack of money in schools for ICT
There are also technological issues that need to be taken into account in the training framework. Although these issues apply more to ICT staff than subject teachers, these topics will be briefly introduced in the training modules.
• Vast differences between repositories, some providing a complete curriculum, others basic content only.
• Lack of interoperability between systems (learning platforms) used in schools. Training can focus on this practical problem by introducing the use of web-based material that is playable in a standard browser.
• The need for different metadata profiles. Protocols for online exchange, and vocabularies in different repositories.
The report concluded that the training framework should comprise three parts: non- technical, technical, and pedagogical. Non-technical aspects should focus on:
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• Why teachers should share their educational content – training has to explain advantage of collaborative sharing of educational materials and also advantage of different social networks for educational purposes
• Rules of protection of IPRs, how teachers can use different web based context on the base of methods of IPR protection
• Creative Commons Licence, the rules, advantages and restrictions Technical aspects should address IT staff and subject teachers separately. For IT staff, training should focus on:
• Interconnection of different repositories • How to localise concrete learning resources
Teacher training on technical aspects should focus on:
• WWW and educational uses for teachers • Strategies for searching information online • Learning resources and Repositories • Introduction to the concept of learning objects • Introduction to learning repositories and learning communities • Review & demonstration of popular learning repositories with school resources • General Technological Information • Role of metadata for access to educational information • Difference between Metadata search and free text (Google style search) • Explanation of different metadata profiles and differences among them • Why to use thesaurus and vocabularies • Geographical coverage of metadata and gazetteers • Methods of searching and validation of information in repositories • Searching for relevant information using metadata • How to use thesaurus for search • How to validate information on the base of different metadata profiles • Cosmos concept • Organic.Edunet concept • NaturNet URM concept • Methods of publishing data • General rules for data and metadata publishing • Publishing using different metadata profile • Using thesaurus for publishing • Using geographical coverage • Web 2.0 and popular social tools and applications • What is Web 2.0 • Popular social tools (e.g. Flickr) and scenarios for their use in the classroom • Wikipedia • GeoGame
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Subject teachers should also, crucially, receive training in the educational application of ICT, covering web 2.0 and use scenarios for science-related repositories:
• Advantages and risks of Web 2.0 in education • Integrating the wiki concept into education • How to use selected Cosmos scenarios in education • How to use Organic.Edunet scenarios in education • Scenarios based on Naturnet URM for usage of geographical information in
education • Scenarios for GeoGame in education.
European state of the art perspective D1.2 European state of the art analysed the levels of equipment in schools and teachers’ attitudes towards ICT (‘e-readiness’). The report included recommendations on training on a country by country basis. For Austria:
• Training should include case studies and examples of peers using ICT effectively (to increase teacher motivation)
• Ensure that schools have the access pre-conditions before embarking on training (because equipment levels vary between schools)
• German language training and content is preferable but many teachers are competent in English
For the Czech Republic: • Participating schools should be carefully selected and prepared (because the
schools will have to support themselves in the absence of central government support)
• Ensure that schools have the access pre-conditions before embarking on training • Ensure that the schools have the financial means to provide the required
conditions and activities (because funding is relatively low) • Czech language training and content is preferable and many teachers are not
competent in English and will not use English language resources in class • In Germany: • Training should include case studies and examples of peers using ICT effectively
(because of low motivation and skepticism about ICT) • Ensure that schools have the access pre-conditions before embarking on training
(because some schools have low levels of equipment and connectivity) • German language training and content is preferable but many teachers are
competent in English In Greece:
• More thorough training may be needed than in other countries • Access, competence and motivation may be low • Ensure that schools have the access pre-conditions before embarking on training
• Teachers will naturally use Greek-language resources and networks although some are competent in English.
In Sweden: • Training should ensure that it takes into account existing competences and
practices and not start from basics (because teachers tend to have high levels of ICT competence)
• Teachers will tend to use Swedish-language resources and networks although English is widespread and schools are open to English language resources.
Overall therefore training should have the following characteristics:
• Be flexible, allowing for different levels of ICT competence of teachers • Be in the home language, with resources in the home language, exposing teachers
to resources from other countries that ‘travel well’ , e.g. with little text or in English
• Recognise different levels of hardware provision in schools • Include case studies of classroom use that relate to the situation of teachers
undertaking the training. Designing the framework to meet user needs
• Given the needs outlined above, project partners designed a framework comprising self-contained modules of three types:
• Teaching and learning • ICT in teaching and learning • Technical training.
The modules are in English in the first part of the pilot, from which feedback from teachers will be gathered and fed into modules. At the later stage the translations and localisations (e.g. links in a module point to Greek content for Greek teachers) are taken into consideration. The modules are self-contained for flexibility and offer individual learning paths, to take into account different levels of ICT competence and experience with metadata and repositories. Some modules assume little experience with ICT and provide a general practical introduction, others build on previous knowledge. In response to needs for training on specific applications and tools, there are modules covering the most frequently mentioned products. One or two modules aim to showcase good examples of practice to ensure that the pedagogical value of the training is to the forefront and to motivate teachers to apply their training in sustained and effective day to day practice. The following table shows how the modules fit into the framework and the needs addressed. Different ways to interconnect these modules are possible, which will be highlighted in the digital version by using hyperlinks. E.g. Beginner teachers can choose to follow only modules for beginners, or they can follow a more incremental way by first taking a module for beginners and then for intermediate learners in the same topic.
D2.1 Train
16ing framework
Generic
x ~ Teachers x x
x ~ Teachers x Introduction
x ~ Teachers x
x ~ Teachers x x
Learning resources and repositories
x ~ Teachers x
~ x Teachers x
8 Intro to the tools for describing resources with metadata
~ x Teachers x
9 Social metadata and Web 2.0 tools (folksonomies & social tagging)
x ~ Teachers x
10 Web 2.0 tools in education ~ x Teachers x
Social web 11 Popular social tools (e.g. Flikr) and scenarios for their use in the classroom
x ~ x
12 Pedagogical strategies and best practices for using learning resources in the classroom
x ~ Teachers x Hands-on sessions
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x ~ x
15 Hands-on session working on resources related to organic agriculture & agroecology (use of Organic.Edunet)
x Teachers x
16 Hands-on session working on resources related to science (use of COSMOS, xlpora)
x Teachers x
x ~ Teachers x
18 Supporting teachers in sharing resources though social tagging in LRE
~ x Teacher x
19 Intro to setting up a portfolio and connecting to the outside world
~ x Teachers, ICT Staff x
20 Setting up a repository (e.g using Confolio tool) in the school's server
x ICT Staff x Technical session (for ICT staff or teachers)
21 Connecting educational repositories, e.g. Confolio and LRE as an example
x ICT Staff x
Training outcomes By the end of the training programme, it is expected that teachers’ digital competence will have increased and 21 specific learning outcomes achieved – 18 aimed at subject teachers and three at IT support staff:
1. Understand the educational benefits of the worldwide web 2. Be able to search effectively using the World Wide Web 3. Understand the concept of learning objects (Los) 4. Understand the concept of sharing resources 5. Be familiar with the concept of learning repositories and communities 6. Know how different learning repositories work and what they contain 7. Understand the concept of metadata 8. Be familiar with COSMOS
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9. Understand the concept of social metadata such as tags 10. Understand how Web 2.0 tools are used in education 11. Be familiar with popular Web 2.0 applications 12. Appreciate the benefits of using digital resources in the classroom 13. Grasp how LOs can be used in teaching and learning 14. Be able to add metadata to learning resources and upload them to a repository 15. Be able to use Organic Edunet 16. Be able to use COSMOS 17. Be familiar with searching school resources through the LRE portal 18. Be able to share resources through tags 19. a) Be familiar with Confolio as a teacher 17 .b) Be familiar with e-portfolio 20. Be able to set up the Confolio system (ICT support) 21. Be familiar with the technical interconnection between Confolio and LRE (ICT
support)
3. Training Modules
In this chapter, all suggested Training Modules are introduced with the content skeleton, each under the same headings: details, pedagogical objectives, process, evaluation, follow up and links.
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Introduction
3.1. Introduction to ICT and WWW for educational uses Main responsible partner: (EA)
Details
Become familiar with the idea of using World Wide Web for educational means. This module will give a very broad level introduction for different educational uses of Web and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).
Pedagogical objectives
This module will give a very broad level introduction for different educational uses of Web, such as teachers using Web for administrative purposes in schools; introduce the idea of Virtual learning environments (VLE) and content management systems (CMS); using Web to help teachers prepare their lessons; using Web during the lesson (e.g. demonstrative purposes, trill and practice exercises); information seeking on the web; creating content as part of an educational task; and taking part in school collaboration with educational means.
Process
The module will include brief descriptions of different tools that area available for different educational tasks that teachers have (e.g. admin tasks, preparation of lessons) and cover inspirational scenarios of educational networking projects and specific teachers’ experiences.
Evaluation
Participants will be expected to understand that different educational tasks and goals have a different set of tools to be used. The aim, objectives and evaluation method of each tasks should be also discussed.
Follow-up
The aim, pedagogical objectives and evaluation method can be reviewed throughout the design of the resource as the following modules introduce new tools and aspects.
Links
Details
Information-seeking and literacy skills are increasingly important for both student and teacher success (Haycock, 1991). There is a lot of great material on the Web - primary sources, specialized directories and databases, statistical information, educational sites on many levels, policy, opinion of all kinds, and so much more. The tools for finding it are steadily improving. Currently, searching techniques are developed to help the learners as well as teachers to find information in the World Wide Web. Nevertheless, the users can be confused with search results due to irrelevant information, misinformation, insufficient information, etc.
To search for project relevant information over the Internet using research engines and key words. To discuss and assess the validity of relevant information. To provide links to Subject Directories, Information Gateways and Specialist Databases which relate specially to education will be given.
Process
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Arrangement of the pieces of information on notice boards and attempts to interconnect them within a thematic approach to the project.
Follow-up
Identify up to 3 methods / portals/ directories which are the more user friendly and effective for searching information online
Links
Learning resources and repositories
3.3. Introduction to the concept of learning objects Main responsible partner: (EA)
Details
Free and open educational resources have become one of the most discussed topics in the field of education. Design for learning provides a new perspective on a longstanding practice more familiarly referred to as “course design” or “lesson planning” Projects such as MIT Open courseware, Open Access, Wikipedia, Wikibooks and Wikimedia Commons have challenged traditional methods of delivering education resources and also the methods of creating them.
A large amount of digital education content already exists in the form of lessons, museum collections, digital repositories and libraries. This large amount of digital content has the potential to support technology-enhanced education. However, teachers are lacking the time to investigate the potential educational added-value of the huge amount of digital resources typically returned though web search engines.
Aim of the module is:
Introduce teachers to the concept of different sources for learning resources (web-based; achieves; museum websites); introduce different types of learning resources (e.g. drill and practice; lesson plans) and different formats of learning resources (e.g. website, word document, pdf, video, sound)
Process
The module will support and expand on the notion of small, reusable chunks of instructional media. Early on Reigeluth and Nelson (1997) had suggested that when teachers first gain access to instructional materials, they often break the materials down into their constituent parts. They then reassemble these parts in ways that support their individual instructional goals.
Evaluation
Creating learning resources in object formats is seen as way to bring about increased flexibility, customization, ease of update, searchability, and manageability to rich stores
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of content and learning resources that are available from publishers or that have been created by faculty members or teachers. Participants are asked to discuss online or write a text about the advantages and disadvantages of the use of learning objects and metadata.
Follow-up
During the weeks following the training course the participants will have the opportunity through conducting specially designed mini-projects to further apply what they have learnt by producing educational resources following the learning objects paradigm
Links
3.4. Introduction to sharing learning resources Main responsible partner: (EUN)
3.12.1. Details
This module will provide a description and rational on why teachers are encouraged to share learning resources. The module also introduces the basics of Creative Commons as an underlying mechanism that allows sharing and makes it easy to understand.
3.12.2. Pedagogical objectives
To understand the basic regarding the concept of sharing; To understand provisions of copyright in education, including Intellectual Property Rights; an example of Creative Commons licensing is given; To have an overview of repositories where teachers share resources; To appreciate the features of resources that ‘share well’; To discuss issues related to sharing learning resources, e.g. remuneration for teachers.
3.12.3. Process
The module first introduces the idea of social media through a simple video. The idea of social media is also applicable for learning resources. Furthermore, the concepts of Creative Commons are introduced, with a glimpse to learning resource repositories that explicitly use such licensing scheme (e.g. LeMill, LRE, OERCommons).
3.12.4. Evaluation
Teachers are introduced a self-evaluation of the understanding of Creative Commons.
3.12.5. Follow-up
Teachers are asked to search on different repositories for resources that they can share with their colleagues. They are asked to use delicious.com (related to module 3.9) to make a collection of resources that they can share and reuse under one of the Creative Commons licensing scheme.
3.12.6. Links
Details
Learning object repositories are believed to increase the value of learning resources by providing opportunities for reuse, repurposing, or reengineering to suit a variety of purposes and end-user needs. Learning object repositories are usually provided to support a teaching and learning community (broadly defined as a group of stakeholders). Through social networking and computer-mediated communication, people work as a community to achieve a shared learning objective. It is often practiced that a particular community of users coalesce around the learning object repository and engage creating and reusing objects. The repositories that hold the learning objects have well researched user interfaces and architectures that make them easy to use and permits various levels of interactivity including search, submissions, comments/reviews, and creating personal collections. Communication tools allow interaction between community members by enabling the sharing of ideas in a variety of forms: text, audio, and video. By using asynchronous communication tools such as e-mail, threaded discussions, and bulletin boards, participants can readily exchange ideas independent of time and place
Location of suitable learning objects with reference to specific educational objectives through learning object repositories; Introduction of different types of repositories, some of which provide a complete curriculum, others basic content only; introduction to learning objects such MERLOT that has a big user community. Here, the focus is to show the benefits of such a community, details will be given to show the discipline-based review system, evaluation based on educational criteria and lesson plans and hints. Also, this module will discuss implementation issues when adapting learning objects to own educational needs in relation to possible linguistic and cultural barriers on using learning resources from repositories that originate from a country other than that of a user.
Process
After a general introduction to repositories and issues each participant should identify a hypothetical scenario of implementation. Identifying learning objects and repositories as well as relevant communities is required.
Evaluation
In many cases, repositories may be set up with the expectation or hope that a particular community of users will coalesce around it out of that broader community of
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stakeholders. Participants are asked to discuss how such a community may be encouraged, supported and developed.
Links
3.6. Review and demonstration of popular learning repositories with school resources
Main responsible partner: (EA)
Details
This module gives a more hands-on and demonstrational review on the learning resource repositories in Europe and beyond that have been introduced in D1.2. “State of the art report”.
Process
The following are some of the learning object repositories that will be reviewed: LeMill A web community of over 6000 teachers and other learning content creators. Free aces provides tools for finding, authoring and sharing learning resources. http://lemill.net/ Connexion a place to view and share educational material made of small knowledge chunks called modules that can be organized as courses, books, reports, etc. http://cnx.org/
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Filamentality A "fill-in-the-blank interactive Web site that guides you through picking a topic, searching the Web, gathering good Internet sites, and turning Web resources into learning activities." http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/ Gateway to Educational Materials (GEM) Project The key to one-stop, any-stop access to high quality lesson plans, curriculum units and other education resources on the Internet. Searchable by keyword and educational level. http://www.thegateway.org/ MERLOT MERLOT is a free and open resource designed primarily for faculty and students in higher education. With a continually growing collection of online learning materials, assignments and reviews, MERLOT helps faculty enhance instruction. http://www.merlot.org/ OpenCourseWare (MIT) MIT OCW has begun publishing online course materials that are available free of charge. They are aiming to have all of MIT's course materials available over the web in a "single, searchable" structure. Currently, the course materials are listed by course and are not searchable. http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html CAREO Campus Alberta Repository of Educational Objects (CAREO). Comprised of 5,000 multidisciplinary teaching materials, the database is searchable, and the collection is webbased. This Canadian project has been recognized as a leader in the LOR initiative. http://www.careo.org Federal Government Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE). This contains numerous educational resources, which include teaching ideas, instructional activities, photographs, maps, audio files, digitized paintings, lesson plans. http://www.ed.gov/free The Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE) http://www.dlese.org DLESE offers easy access to high quality educational resources about the Earth system. The library is governed and developed by a broad community of Earth science educators, and serves the needs of K-16 learners, in both formal and informal venues. LRE: there will be separate modules part of the framework to focus on LRE.
Evaluation
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The participants will define similarities and differences between the reviewed repositories. They should also name 3 top rated repositories according to named criteria.
Follow-up
The evaluation comments should be revisited after the completion of the module series.
Links
3.7.1. Details
In this learning module, the trainees will get acquainted with the concept of metadata. An important factor, in order to make search and retrieval of educational content more efficient is the quality and quantity of educational metadata associated with these resources. In general, the commonly accepted way to describe educational resources is the IEEE Learning Object Metadata (LOM) Standard. The module will include: introduction to metadata, educational metadata, and metadata-based searching, authoritative educational metadata schemas (DC-ed & IEEE LOM). Useful examples of simple metadata will be provided so as to provide a smooth introduction to the concept of metadata. Following this activity, the concept of metadata in education will be elaborated and specific examples will be provided. The trainees will be able to identify similarities between their everyday practice and educational metadata. Finally, after having explained the later, the trainees will be provided with some examples of educational repositories where they will perform various searches using metadata fields. In this way, they will be able to get a very good idea on how metadata work and what are the possibilities that they offer.
Introduction to the concept of metadata. Enhancement of lessons with the use of specific examples. Enhancement of teacher participation through the introduction of educational repositories where they will perform searches using metadata in practice.
3.7.3. Process
First the teachers will be presented with the basic concepts of metadata and provided with relevant examples. Following this, they will then be asked to identify examples of common use of metadata in everyday life. After becoming familiar with the basic concepts of metadata, teachers will be presented with metadata used in education. During this presentation, the teachers will be provided with specific examples of educational metadata and will be asked to identify other cases of educational metadata. Finally, teacher participation will be facilitated at the end of the session with the use of example educational repositories where teachers will be able to perform their own searches through the available content.
3.7.4. Follow-up
The teachers would be encouraged to share the resources they discover with their colleagues and share them in a small presentation. In these presentations they can explain how they searched for a specific resource and explain why this resource is useful for them and indicate if they would have been able to find it without using metadata.
3.7.5. Links
Introduction to metadata in Calibrate and Melt material, additionally wikipedia, LeMill material, etc.
3.8. Introduction to tools to describe resources with metadata (COSMOS and NatureNet) Main responsible partner: (AUA)
Details
This learning module presents the functionalities of the COSMOS Metadata Authoring Tool (COSMOS ASK-LOM-AT) which is conformant with the COSMOS IEEE LOM Science Education Application Profile and of NatureNet.
Pedagogical objectives for COSMOS
With this module teachers will be able to: Add educational metadata to learning objects. Create and manage educational metadata records of Learning Objects Local Metadata Repository. Export of individual educational metadata records as XML files.
Process for COSMOS
Evaluation for Cosmos
Participants should test their knowledge by installing and then using the Metadata Authoring Wizard by adding some metadata to their learning objects
Follow-up for Cosmos
After completing Module X, where participants are getting familiar with the use of processing tools such as ASK LOM AT Wizard and can add metadata records to their learning objects.
Links related to Cosmos
Pedagogical objectives for Naturnet URM
“Naturnet Redime URM” repository is for sharing spatial and non spatial context, it allows you to combine LOs with maps, tools for publishing of data and metadata. A
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Web-based tool, available in Czech and English languages, where others languages can be added easily.
Details for Naturnet URM
This learning module presents the functionalities of the Naturnet URM tools (Metadadat extractor, visualization client, Dataman, Mapman, Janitor) which is conformant with the ISO19115/19115 profile and Dublin Core Profile.
Pedagogical objectives for Naturnet URM
With this module teachers will be able to: Search for digital maps and other digital learning objects; Select Digital Maps; Prepare Map Composition; Edit Maps using Janitor; Edit Maps in Terrain; Publish maps; Combine Maps with other object using eXe editor; Add metadata to learning objects; Publish learning objects; and Create and manage educational metadata records of Learning Objects Local Metadata Repository.
Process Naturnet URM
The teachers will be presented with the basics of spatial and non spatial metadata and Web 2.0 tools for integration of spatial and non spatila information based on Naturnet URM. Concepts such as map discovery, composition and editing will be made clear through appropriate examples. Once these concepts are fully understood, the teachers will have the chance to provide their own maps and metadata for their favourite Websites and educational resources in order to create their own collections of learning resources combining spatial and non spatial information
Evaluation for Naturnet URM
Participants should test their knowledge by preparing map composition and updating the maps
Follow-up for Naturnet URM
Combination of maps with other objects that was provided by the teachers can be compared to the ones provided by their colleagues on the same resources. The data and metadata will be accessible for reusing by other groups.
Links for Naturnet URM
http://portal.metaschool.cz http://kavalirka.metaschool.cz http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/exe/wiki http://janitor.cenia.cz
Social Web
3.9. Social metadata and Web 2.0 tools (folksonomies and social tagging) Main responsible partner: (AUA)
3.9.1. Details
This module will present the teachers with the concept of social metadata using social bookmaking as an example. Bookmarks based on a tag can facilitate searching and sharing, and can further be aggregated through web-feeds to learners' and other teachers' blogs or websites. The module will introduce Web 2.0 vocabulary (using definitions from 1.3.) and brief about advantages and risks of Web 2.0 in education. Teachers will be presented with characteristic examples of social metadata and they will have the opportunity to provide social metadata themselves. Later, in module 3.20 information is provided how teachers can use folksonomies and social tags in using existing educational repositories.
The teachers will be familiarized with the concept of social metadata through an example of social bookmarking. They will have the opportunity to provide social tags for their favourite websites or learning resources themselves to create their own collections of learning resources with metadata that is meaningful for them. This allows participants to complement their knowledge from prior modules on the whole the process of creating metadata for a resource, and make a difference between the conventional learning resource metadata and social metadata.
3.9.3. Process
The teachers will be presented with the basics of social metadata and Web 2.0 tools that are available. Concepts such as folksonomies and social tagging will be made clear through appropriate examples. Once these concepts are fully understood, the teachers will have the chance to provide their own social metadata for their favourite Websites and educational resources in order to create their own collections of learning resources with meaning tags that can be easily shared..
3.9.4. Follow-up
Social metadata that was provided by the teachers can be compared to the ones provided by their colleagues on the same resources. In this way, teachers will get the chance of comparing and contrasting opinions and find out that social metadata heavily depends on the personal characteristics of the person providing the metadata (thus called social).
3.9.5. Links
Social bookmarking in plain English with sub-titles: http://dotsub.com/view/e843f413- 96c2-481f-bf1e-bf4548059ff1 Social tagging for Teachers (some slides and ideas from these slides can be used for social tagging and web 2.0 stuff in general: http://www.slideshare.net/vuorikari/etwinning-and-educational-resources http://www.slideshare.net/vuorikari/social-tagging-for-teachers-159732 Add here the video to using social bookmarking http://delicious..com; http://www.flickr.com Social Networking Technology in Education: http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Social_Networking_Technology_in_Education Introduction to Social Networking Tools (presentation Dr. Anna Zoakou, Researcher at Ellinogermaniki Agogi) (introduction to social networking tools; google groups, edublogs, slideshare and del.icio.us. ; hands on activity whereby teachers are asked to create their own blog and upload educational material): http://www.ruralwings- project.net/portal/shared/workpackages/wp6.b/rural-wings-training-material-delivered- from-rws-pilot-sites/rural-wings-summer-school-traning- material/summer_school_presentation_anna.pdf/view
3.10. Web 2.0 tools in education Main responsible partners: (AUA, CCSS)
3.10.1. Details
This module will elaborate further on the contents of Module 9 by focusing more on the Web 2.0 tools rather than social metadata. Examples of existing Web 2.0 tools and their use in education will be given and the use of Wikipedia, Geohra and Vitejte na zemi in classroom will be shown. Wikipedia will not be treated as a source, but in other educational ways (e.g. use the references, use as a source of discussion). Also blogs will be demonstrated as a collaboration tool or as a reflective tool. Geohra will demonstrate
active participation of students on preparation of educational materials and also social methods of education. Vitejtenazemi will support education about Environment.
The teachers will be able to use prominent Web 2.0 tools and take advantage of their capabilities in education. Teachers will have the chance to familiarize with these tools and develop their personal skills on such technologies. The ultimate goal is to provide teachers with the know-how on these technologies and their use in the classroom.
3.10.3. Process
Teachers will be presented with successful Web 2.0 tools that are implemented and will have the chance of working and familiarizing with them. Such tools include Delicious, Slideshare, Wikipedia, Writeboard, Google docs, Geohra/GeoGame, Vitejtenazemi. The teachers will be encouraged to create their own accounts and use these tools long after the completion of the specific module.
3.10.4. Follow-up
The teachers will be encouraged to use the Web 2.0 tools to upload their content, to cite articles, to create content from scratch, etc. Openness and sharing of material will be encouraged through this module and the progress of the teachers with the use of the tools described will be evaluated.
3.10.5. Links
Wikipedia – www.wikipedia.org Easy explination about wikipedia and its use. Delicious – http://delicious.com/ Slideshare – http://www.slideshare.net/ Writeboard – http://writeboard.com Google docs – http://docs.google.com GeoHra/GEoGAME geohra.kraj-lbc.cz, http://apps.esdi-humboldt.cz/projects/geohra/, http://apps.esdi-humboldt.cz/projects/geohraen/, Vitejtenazemi http://vitejtenazemi.cenia.cz/ Other links: Ambassadors links on delicious on social media
3.11. Popular social tools (e.g. delicious, Flickr) and scenarios for their use in the classroom Main responsible partner: (AUA)
3.11.1. Details
This module will provide a description and examples on popular social tools and their usage. Specific scenarios will be described and their use in the classroom will be showcased to the teachers. Such tools will include: Flickr, Youtube, Delicious, Furl, Technorati, etc.
The teachers will be able to use prominent Web 2.0 tools and take advantage of their capabilities in education. Specially designed scenarios will provide teachers with actual evidence of the educational value of using such tools inside the classroom. The overall pedagogical objective is to familiarize the teachers with the use popular social tools.
3.11.3. Process
Teachers will be provided with example scenarios that will explain the use of the aforementioned social tools (and others) in the classroom. By studying these scenarios, the teachers will be asked to use them as a basis to produce their own that will cover the topics they are teaching. Possible scenario: A teacher organizes a collection of links with pupils on a given topic. For example, during a history lesson on Napoleon, pupils are asked to spend 20 minutes searching on the Web, and to find relevant links related to Napoleon. A common tag, i.e. keyword, is agreed upon, all the sites with relevant content will be tagged by “Napoleon_history_5”. Pupils start searching the Web in groups of 2. They first log-in to their delicious account. Group 1 finds old historical maps from Napoleon era, saves it in delicious and adds tags “Napoleon_history_5” and maps. Group 2 finds sites from Napoleon museums in different places (e.g. France, Belgium, Corsica) and saves them using the same tag, always adding additional tags that are meaningful for them. After 20 minutes, the teacher asks pupils to stop searching. She goes to delicious.com and makes a search for the tag “Napoleon_history_5”. A common list of websites from all the groups is presented. Each Group will present one of their sites. Teacher further assigns a relevant homework to pupils.
3.11.4. Follow-up
Teachers can present (in a few slides) their initial scenarios before implementing them into the classroom. After the implementation, teachers can take some time to prepare a short presentation describing the way that the scenarios where implementing and maybe pointing to some specific obstacles that the came across or some opportunities that they identified.
3.12. Pedagogical strategies and best practices for using digital teaching & learning resources in the classroom
Within this module three approaches will be discussed: resource-based learning, inquiry based learning and resource based learning
Participants will become familiar with the basic concepts in the tree main approaches Use and adaptation of resources will be demonstrated through the lens of these approaches
Process
For each pedagogical strategy a scenario will be given and will be applied through access of learning repositories and online learning communities.
Evaluation
Participants will be asked to propose a scenario based on one strategy.
Links
Exploiting the potential of a resource discovered http://melt.eun.org/ww/en/pub/lre_minisite/pedagogical_support/writing_lesson_plans/ex ploiting_the_potential.htm Lesson plan template: http://melt.eun.org/ww/en/pub/lre_minisite/pedagogical_support/writing_lesson_plans/les son_plan_template.htm PBL Clearinghouse Collection of problems and articles to assist educators in using problem-based learning. https://chico.nss.udel.edu/Pbl/ Connecting learning objects to instructional design theory: A definition, a metaphor, and a taxonomy David A. Wiley, II http://reusability.org/read/chapters/wiley.doc
3.13. Practical demonstration of learning objects and their classroom use: “The organic garden content and learning objects” Main responsible partner: (EA)
Details
In learning scenarios where information is stored electronically on servers all over the world, learners have to search, localize, represent and make efficient use of the information, as well as relate the information to their personal knowledge, objectives and planned activities. This module aims to demonstrate that localising and representing the relations between learning objects helps the teacher- participant to acquire strategies for effective interaction with learning resources. Then, introducing these resources in the classroom is more straightforward. The organic garden is, here, the learning context where rich digital resources will enhance and promote the learning experience. A school garden, with a suitable structure and educational purpose can enhance the sustainable development of an ecological approach to managing agricultural products and resources. Every corner of the garden can become a small lab where students can study how fragile our environment is and what is the impact of the modern way of life on our environment. School activities that are actively related to the structure and development of the garden can be effectively promoted through rich digital content that can be retrieved through web search, identified in relevant content repositories, reused, or created from scratch.
Figure 1: Content organised around the school organic garden on http://www.ea.gr/ep/organic/content. The implementation of the organic school garden scenario draws on existing content and motivates teachers and students to reuse and adapt it to existing needs or create new. On this website http://www.ea.gr/ep/organic/content/ the content is being organised and constantly updated according to 6 main themes: Before planting, Planting, Visits, Greenhouses, Composting, Plant Care, and Harvesting and promoting products (Figure 1).
The aim of this organisation of content is to enable the learner to consider what resources are available, to show relationships among resources, activities and future tasks, to visualise content as separate and independent learning objects, or grouped into larger collections of content that could be transformed into traditional course structures. The content is structured into maps and interlinked websites with the CompendiumLD tool, an open, resource processing tool. It supports teachers and learning designers to create diagram maps, incorporate content and web addresses, show the relations between resources and activities (Compendium LD: Learning design software : http://kn.open.ac.uk/public/workspace.cfm?wpid=8690). It is being developed as a tool to support lecturers, teachers and others involved in education to help them articulate their ideas and map out the design or learning sequence. While in this module we see the exported output of Compendium LD that can be published on the web in a form of interlinked websites in Module X we will demonstrate the process of creating such maps with CompendiumLD or other resource processing tools. Overall the objective is to instil
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effective interaction with learning resources and help the participants to cope with the complexity of knowledge and information resources. Finally the module will introduce the approach of resource-based learning (RBL). RBL is a special kind of self-regulated learning that takes place in contexts when learners have to cope (self-regulated) with the complexity of knowledge and knowledge resources. In resource-based learning settings, one must “recognize and clarify learning needs, plan a strategy to address these needs, locate and access resources, evaluate their veracity and utility, modify approaches based on an assessment of learning progress, and otherwise manage their learning” (Neumann, Graber et al. 2005) (Neumann, A., W. Graber, et al. (2005). "ParIS-visualizing ideas and information in a resource-based learning scenario." Lecture notes in computer science 3426: 256.).
Process
For every of the 6 themes there exist content that is already uploaded in the Organic Edunet Confolio, while further content is suggested for uploading (Module XX elaborate on the process of adding metadata) : a) informational resources that could be added to the Confolio and b) resources generated at school sites, during scenario implementation, which could be added to the Confolio (Figure 2). Going through the content you can witness moments from Ellinogermaniki Agogi and the 9th Rethymnon primary school where the “organic school garden” scenario has been already implemented. Before the stage of enriching the resources and learning objects with metadata, a mind mapping methodology is employed as a visual-spatial strategy for generating, organizing, and visualizing structures of ideas, thoughts, and concepts, as well as a managing tool for storing and accessing information.
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Figure 2 For every of the 6 themes there exist content that is already uploaded in the Organic Edunet Confolio, while further content is suggested for uploading
Every node and icon of the map opens another map or lead to content, for example a PDF file, a power point presentation. By clicking on a map icon a new map is invoked. For example the user can access a whole map on how to present the project in the classroom (Figure 4) and to access the presentation the teacher has used in order to discuss in the classroom possible activities that the whole classroom can plan together (Figure 3).
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Figure 3 A slide on constructing greenhouses as part of the activities to plan in the organic school garden
Figure 4 : A detailed map of resources on how to introduce the project of organic school garden in the classroom
Evaluation
Participants should reflect upon the following questions: How do I organise the retrieved or created resources I use in my teaching?; What is my main concern and difficulty in doing so?; How did this module affected my usual way of organising content and resources for teaching?; Participants are also asked to contribute to the following task: “Drawing on your experience from a similar project or motivated by plan to deliver a similar project in your school please suggest further content, or modify existing content according to your specific educational needs”.
Follow-up
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After completing Module X, where participants are getting familiar with the use of processing tools such as Compendium LD and the LeMill content organisation tool, please return to this module to reflect on the exported data from processing resources and learning objects.
Links
The content you can find here http://www.ea.gr/ep/organic/content/ is addressed to the participants who would be interested to implement the “organic school garden” scenario, or parts of it and to add metadata to content. The participants are invited to navigate through these web pages and content (using the back and forth button of the internet explorer browser). Link to “eXe HTML editor”, An offline tool for preparing HTML and SCORM packages, open source.. translated to many language (de,cz,en,fr,..) Could be used to create learning resources.
3.14 Practical examples of learning resource descriptions with metadata
Main responsible partner: (EUN and X)
Details
The module outlines general rules for metadata publishing iintroducing conventional metadata such as LOM or Dublin Core. Teachers are given examples of differ publishing using different metadata profile and how to choose suitable keywords for indexing and classifying resources, for example, using thesaurus for publishing. The use of keywords could also reflect that different educational systems might have needs to describe resources differently to serve local audiences.
The goal of this module is to make teachers understand how the metadata description can be used to help the search process of the learning resource in the repository (search, browse by keywords), but also to help them evaluate whether the learning resource is relevant for their search tasks (in the other words, help them understand that a good description of a resource is important to other teachers when they are choosing the resource).
Process
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The module will introduce a resource repository where a teacher can upload a learning resource.. Then, it will show how these metadata is used for searching purposes. Third, it will show how the same metadata can be useful to help the teacher choose the right learning resource from a search result list.
Links
3.15 Hands-on session working on resources related to organic agriculture & archaeology (use of Organic.Edunet)
Main responsible partner: (AUA)
Details
This module will entail a hands-on session with the teachers that will give them the chance of working on learning resources related to Organic Agriculture and Agroecology. More specifically, the teachers will be introduced to the objectives of the Organic.Edunet project so as to achieve a common understanding of the initiative. To continue, they will have the chance to use the tools developed in the context of the Organic.Edunet project to search for resources that are already uploaded to the Organic.Edunet repository but also to upload their own resources using a test repository set up for this purpose.
This module aims at familiarizing the teachers with an existing tool for describing learning resources in a specific context. In this way, the teachers will have the chance of applying the general skills that were acquired through the previous modules in a specific application domain.
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The teachers will be introduced to the Organic.Edunet project and also to some basic concepts regarding Organic Agriculture and Agroecology. After getting to understand the project itself, the teachers will have the chance to browse through educational material using functionalities that will be made available through the Organic.Edunet Web Portal. Through the portal they will also observe the use of social metadata for the resources (such as tags, comments, etc.). After searching for resources with the use of metadata, the teachers will have the chance to describe learning resources related to Organic Agriculture and Agroecology, thus testing their comprehension of the tools that were described in other modules earlier, applied on a field that is different from their own.
Follow-up
Teachers can re-use the search capabilities and/or try to provide metadata for related resources after reading some relevant material on Organic Agriculture and Agroecology thus understanding in which degree the use of these tools is context dependent. This will help them determine whether or not they require extra skills to provide basic metadata in a field that is not of their expertise and be more careful and meticulous when providing metadata on their own subjects.
Links
Organic.Edunet Project – http://www.organicedunet.eu Confolio Tool – http://oe.confolio.org
3.16. Hands-on session working on resources related to science (use of COSMOS
Details
In this module we present the functionalities presents the functionalities of the COSMOS Metadata Authoring Tool (COSMOS ASKLOM-AT) which is conformant with the COSMOS IEEE LOM Science Education Application Profile. Also the COSMOS Authoring Engine for Learning Activities (COSMOS ASK-LDT) and provide a detailed description on how to use the COSMOS ASK-LDT in order to produce educational scenarios in the form of packages conformant to the IMS Learning Design specification.
Participants will become familiar with the basic concepts of working on resources related to science.
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Will characterize with metadata a certain learning object, store their record, then search the local repository, in order to find the metadata record that has just been stored. Then they will use the COSMOS ASK-LOM-AT in order to export the metadata record to XML format. This step is essential in order to be able to upload the learning object and its metadata record to the COSMOS Web repository, so that other users of the repository can search for it and retrieve it.
3.16.4. Evaluation
Links
The Moon And Tides http://www.ea.gr/ep/cosmos-summer-school/materials_2009/Learning-Content.pdf http://www.ea.gr/ep/cosmos-summer-school/materials_2009/Templates.pdf http://www.ea.gr/ep/cosmos-summer-school/materials_2009/Learning-Activities.pdf
3.17. Searching a school's resources through the LRE portal Main responsible partner: (EUN)
Details
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This module is aimed at teachersin schools. In it they will learn how to search online educational resources by using the Learning Resource Exchange (LRE). The LRE is a service for schools to find educational content from many different countries and providers. Anyone is free to search and browse content in the LRE. Tteachers, trainers, lecturers, instructors, tutors or learners can also register to use the LRE social tagging tool. Social tagging makes sharing of resources easy. The LRE is a service from European Schoolnet (EUN). It includes content from Ministries of Education and other partners working with European Schoolnet.
To plan and prepare a lesson using shared resources To enhance lessons with Motivational material Introductory material, demonstrations, simulations and presentations A range of exercises & activities
Process
The teachers will be made familiar with the search options and the type of resources available on the LRE in two examples: “Finding an introductory courses using the advanced search” and “Finding motivational material through social browsing”. While
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the advanced search offers a more standard approach to searching the social browsing is rather new – offering browsing by user entered tags or popularity counts.
Evaluation
Investigating into the usage of the different search options chosen by the teachers and the amount of ratings will show how users take up this resource.
Follow-up
Why not share your resources with your colleagues? You will be surprised the conversations and knowledge exchange this can inspire. Check out also “Supporting teachers in sharing resources though social tagging in LRE”.
Links
The LRE portal URL: http://lreforschools.eun.org On the portal there are several tutorials available, there is also a video clip on how to search: http://lreforschools.eun.org/LRE-Portal/tutorials See videos from teachers who used LRE: http://info.melt-project.eu/ww/en/pub/melt_project/welcome/teacher_videos.htm See a glossary of terms used with learning resources (e.g. folksonomy): http://info.melt-project.eu/ww/en/pub/melt_project/glossary.htm Download an LRE postcard: http://info.melt-project.eu/shared/data/melt/LRE_postcard_web.pdf Newsletter: http://info.melt-project.eu/shared/data/melt/newsletter/MELT_newsletter_3.html
3.18. Supporting teachers to share resources though social tagging in the LRE Main responsible partner: (EUN)
Details
In this module teachers, and those supporting teachers (e.g. ICT co-ordinators, teacher trainers), will learn how to share learning resources between teachers, librarians and learners through bookmarks and tags in LRE. Examples will be given by using the LRE
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and its social bookmarking tools called Favourites where teachers and librarians can create pre-selected and tagged lists of resources for learners to use or for other teachers to share them. Commenting and rating on bookmarked URLls can be used for recommending as well as for helping decision-making and critical thinking.
To enable teachers to use tags to create their own collections TO use tags for sharing
Links
Technical sessions
3.19. Introduction for teachers to set up a portfolio and connect to the outside world Main responsible partner: (UmU)
Details
In this learning module the ICT Support persons will get familiar with the Metaschool portfolio. In the Metaschool Portfolio teachers can, as an end-user, directly store files, links, ideas etc. and they can also collaborate with other portfolio owners by sharing information (access control). It is possible to structure information with the help of international standardized formats and publish opinions on contributions by others, in such a way that these opinions are retrievable from the contribution itself.
On successful completion of this module, teachers will have managed to: Setup a Personal portfolio Add learning resources to their portfolio Annotate learning resources Organise learning resources Commenting and, if available, rating resources Learn to share their work
Process
In the samples below we are looking at two scenarios. Setup a Personal portfolio Step 1 Register a user at http://metaschool.iml.umu.se/register Step 2 To login to the Metaschool Portfolio you open a Browser and you type in the address: http://metaschool.iml.umu.se Choose your user name and then click on Login. Write your password that is connected to your username. If you logged in successfully you will come to your start page in your portfolio folder. Here you can store for example, files as images and links.
Add resources To upload a new file to your portfolio you click on File… at the bottom of the window. A new window will open where you can browse for the file at your computer that you want to store in your portfolio. After you have chosen the file at your computer that you want to store in your portfolio, a dialog box will open where you can describe what format and type of file you uploaded. You can also give your file a Title and a Description in the dialog box. When you have filled in the information about title and description you click on the Next button.
For uploading a link to a web resource (URL) to your portfolio you are doing almost the same way as you do when you are uploading a new file. Click on the Link… button and a dialog box will open. Fill in the URL, what type of resource, title of your resource and a description. When you are done click on the Next… button. A new dialog box will open. Fill in information about title, language and a description of your uploaded resource. And then click on the Finish button
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Outcomes: Metaschool portfolio allows to setup a Personal portfolio with a flexible way of managing, integrating, and reusing resources.
Follow-up
Follow-up options: Why not share your resources with your colleagues? Providing learning materials for a course (maybe through RSS feeds). Commenting and rating other peoples work.
Links
Metaschool portfolio http://metaschool.iml.umu.se Metaschool registration: http://metaschool.iml.umu.se/register Metaschool portfolio wiki: http://confluence.iml.umu.se/display/METASCHOOL
3.20. Introduction for ICT support to set up the Confolio portfolio system (including setup of repository) using Confolio tool and connect to the outside world Main responsible partner: (UmU)
Details
In this learning module the ICT support person at a school will get familiar with how to setup a repository on a local server. Maybe there is a need for an Institutional archive, Personal portfolio or some Course construction portfolios. The ICT support personal will also learn how to connect this local repository to the Metaschool Project.
On successful completion of this module, ICT personal will have managed to: Learn how to setup a repository system (SCAM) on their own server. Learn how to connect portfolio system (Confolio) to the repository. Learn how to connect the repository to other external systems through Metadata harvesting OAI-PMH (both directions) and SQI.
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Step 1 – Installing and configure SCAM repository. Step 3 – Installing and configure SCAM OAI-PMH module Step 4 – Installing and configure SCAM Harvesting module Step 5 – Installing and configure SCAM SQI webservice module Step 6 – Installing and configure the Metaschool portfolio (confolio)
Evaluation
Outcomes: Provides a unified mechanism for accessing and managing resources and their metadata
Follow-up
Why not share your local repository and make it searchable through the Metaschool portfolio, or the other way around.
Links
Metaschool portfolio wiki http://confluence.iml.umu.se/display/METASCHOOL SCAM Project http://confluence.iml.umu.se/display/SCAM Confolio Project http://confluence.iml.umu.se/display/CONFOLIO
3.21. Connecting educational repositories, e.g. Confolio and LRE as an example Main responsible partner: (UmU)
Details
In this learning module ICT support personel will get familiar with the benefit of connecting educational repositories together. The Metaschool Portfolio has the possibility to search in external repositories like the LRE repository and OERCommons repository. An end-user can therefore search for external material, collect, combine, organise and annotate them in a flexible way inside their own portfolio, and make them searchable and reusable by others too.
On successful completion of this module, teachers will have managed to:
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Learn how to search and Collect learning resources from external repositories. Know more about annotating resources Know how to share learning resources and make them searchable.
Process
Step1: Getting started Create an Metaschool portfolio account. Get familiar with the Metaschool portfolio. Step 2: Searching for learning resources in other repositories Search learning resources in external repositories(LRE, OERCommons) from inside Metaschool portfolio. Collect, combine, organise and annotate resources inside your own portfolio. Step 3: Exchanging learning Collaborate with others by sharing information(access control). Search for the annotated resources inside Metaschool portfolio from some other portal (spider portal?)
Evaluation
Outcomes: A flexible way of managing, integrating, and reusing resources and their metadata The produced material is effortless reusable by others.
Follow-up
Follow-up options: Translate the most interesting external material you found to mother tonuge, publish them, and make available to others.
Links
0.2 Version
1. Introduction
1.1. Scope
This deliverable aims to present the design and specification of training enabling METASCHOOL teachers to achieve the levels of technical and pedagogical competence required to make effective use of the resources available.
1.2. Audience
This report is addressed in the first instance to project partners involved in teacher training in the project: Ellinogermaniki Agogi (EA), Agricultural University of Athens (AUA), University of Bayreuth (UBT) EDU and Czech Centre for Science and Society (CCSS). More generally those developing professional development programmes in ICT in schools with a focus on the use of digital learning resources.
1.3. Definitions
This section outlines the terms and definitions used in this document and in the Training Framework. Most of the descriptions for these terms refer to Wikipedia.org.
BOOKMARKED ITEM, ALSO KNOWN AS AN ITEM PUT IN FAVOURITES
This is a website, a learning resource or any other digital object that the user has made a virtual link to by using a bookmarking service. Usually a bookmarked item is also given a keyword that facilitates its findability again.
CONTROLLED VOCABULARY
Controlled vocabularies are used in indexing schemes, thesauri and taxonomies. These schemes mandate the uses of predefined, authorised terms that have been pre-selected by the designer of the controlled vocabulary.
EXPERT INDEXING
In MELT, indexing of resources can be done by two different groups: experts who are teachers or other professionals with profound knowledge of indexing, and by teachers. Expert indexing referrers to the first group.
FOLKSONOMY
A folksonomy is a user-generated metadata used to categorise and retrieve Web pages, photographs, Web links and other Web content using open-ended labels called tags. Typically, folksonomies are Internet-based. A well-developed folksonomy is ideally accessible as a shared vocabulary that is both originated by, and familiar to, its primary users.
METADATA
Metadata is "data about data." It can generally be thought of as information that describes, or supplements, the central data and helps its indexing and retrieval.
THE RT RELATIONSHIP, RELATED TERM, RT
A relationship between terms which are not members of an equivalence set; neither are subordinated or superordinated to another, but are mentally associated to such an extent that it is useful to make the link between them explicit. The RT relation is a not-hierarchical, mutual and symmetric relationship, that is: If A is a RT of B, then B is a RT of A.
SOCIAL BOOKMARKING
Social bookmarking is a web-based service to share Internet bookmarks and a popular way to store, classify, share and search links through the practice of folksonomy techniques on the Internet or Intranet.
SOCIAL SOFTWARE
Social software is defined broadly as any web-based software tool that supports or fosters group interaction. It enables people to connect and collaborate through technology-mediated communication.(Wikipedia, March 2007). There are many genres of social software: communication tools, collaborative tools like groupware and wikis, and social network sites.
SOCIAL CONTENT
Social Content is any information that people create about themselves to share with others such as preferences, blog postings, manifests of relationships.
SOCIAL CONTEXT
Social context centres on a person's heterogeneous social networks; people are known to have a variety of networks. It can be used to explain the ways that applications attempt to create networks imitating the way real-life social protocols work.
TAG
A type of metadata, generated by users and creators of the content, involving the association of descriptors with objects.
TAG CLOUD
A weighted list in visual design, can be used as a visual depiction of content tags used on a website. More frequently used tags are depicted in a larger font or otherwise emphasised, while the displayed order is generally alphabetical. Thus, both finding a tag by alphabet and by popularity is possible. Selecting a single tag within a tag cloud will generally lead to a collection of items that are associated with that tag.
TAGGING, SOCIAL TAGGING, COLLABORATIVE TAGGING
Collaborative tagging is regarded as democratic folksonomy metadata generation, i.e. rather than an individual controlling the metadata or tags about an article or other content, metadata is generated by both the creator and consumers of the content.
TAXONOMY
Taxonomy is the practice and science of taxonomic classification. Taxonomies, which are composed of taxonomic units known as taxa (singular taxon), are frequently hierarchical in structure, and commonly display parent-child relationships.
THESAURUS
A thesaurus, which is designed for indexing is a list of every important term (single-word or multi-word) in a given domain of knowledge; and a set of related terms for each term in the list.
USE-UF, THE INTRA-LANGUAGE EQUIVALENCE
The intra-language equivalence is used in thesauri to facilitate the access to documents that were indexed by the documentalist differently from what the end-user may think. A descriptor, which is a thesaurus term, can have many non-descriptors, i.e. words related to it that help users who use free natural language to better search. etb.eun.org
VISUALIZATION
Visualization is used to describe a variety of techniques that use images, diagrams, or animations to display relations between resources, tags and people.
Abbreviations used in this document
1.4. Structure
Chapter 1: contains an overview of this document, providing its Scope, Audience, Structure and References.
Chapter 2: provides background information, summarises user needs as identified in WP1, relates them to the framework of training modules and lists the expected outcomes and competences.
Chapter 3: gives an overview of each of the 21 training modules to be developed as D2.3.1.
2. Background
Details
Details
Details
Free and open educational resources have become one of the most discussed topics in the field of education. Design for learning provides a new perspective on a longstanding practice more familiarly referred to as “course design” or “lesson planning” Projects such as MIT Open courseware, Open Access, Wikipedia, Wikibooks and Wikimedia Commons have challenged traditional methods of delivering education resources and also the methods of creating them.
A large amount of digital education content already exists in the form of lessons, museum collections, digital repositories and libraries. This large amount of digital content has the potential to support technology-enhanced education. However, teachers are lacking the time to investigate the potential educational added-value of the huge amount of digital resources typically returned though web search engines.
Introduce teachers to the concept of different sources for learning resources (web-based; achieves; museum websites); introduce different types of learning resources (e.g. drill and practice; lesson plans) and different formats of learning resources (e.g. website, word document, pdf, video, sound)
Process
The module will support and expand on the notion of small, reusable chunks of instructional media. Early on Reigeluth and Nelson (1997) had suggested that when teachers first gain access to instructional materials, they often break the materials down into their constituent parts. They then reassemble these parts in ways that support their individual instructional goals.
Evaluation
Follow-up
During the weeks following the training course the participants will have the opportunity through conducting specially designed mini-projects to further apply what they have learnt by producing educational resources following the learning objects paradigm
Links
3.5. Introduction to learning repositories and learning communities
Details
3.6. Review and demonstration of popular learning repositories with school resources
Details
Details for Naturnet URM
Process Naturnet URM
Details
3.15 Hands-on session working on resources related to organic agriculture & archaeology (use of Organic.Edunet)
http://www.ea.gr/ep/cosmos-summer-school/materials_2009/Learning-Content.pdf
http://www.ea.gr/ep/cosmos-summer-school/materials_2009/Templates.pdf

Documents

D2.1 Training framework design