Other Publication

Cetis’s other publications include conference papers, books and anything else that doesn’t fit into another of our categories.

Home / Archive by category "Other Publication"

Learning Resource Metadata Initiative: using schema.org to describe open educational resources.

By Phil Barker, Cetis, School of Mathematical Computer Sciences, Heriot-Watt University
Lorna M Campbell, Cetis, Institute for Educational Cybernetics, University of Bolton.
Cetis Other Publication , serial number: 2014:X01.
Topic(s): , ,

Link: Learning Resource Metadata Initiative: using schema.org to describe open educational resources (PDF).

Abstract
This paper, presented at the Open CourseWare Consortium Global Conference in Ljubljana in April 2014, discusses the Learning Resource Metadata Initiative (LRMI), an international project that aims to facilitate the discovery of educational resources through the use of embedded metadata that can be used by search engines (e.g. Google, Yahoo, Bing, Yandex) to refine the search services they offer. LRMI has extended the schema.org metadata vocabulary with terms that are specifically relevant to aiding the discovery of learning resources. In order to understand LRMI metadata it is necessary to first introduce schema.org metadata. LRMI was later funded to assist a number of services providing open educational resources in modifying their display interfaces so that they included relevant embedded metadata. In addition to synthesizing the lessons learned from these implementations, the current phase of the LRMI project is engaging with potential users, including search providers and learning resource developers, with the aim of extending the uptake and implementation of the specification.

Also available: video and slides of presentation from conference web site.
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The Benefits of Open. Open Scotland background briefing paper

By Lorna M Campbell (Cetis).
Cetis Other Publication , serial number: 2013:X02.
Topic(s): ,

Link: The Benefits of Open (PDF)
Link: The Benefits of Open (MS .docx)
This background paper presents executive summaries and links to key documents and publications relating to all aspects of openness in education.

Open Scotland is a one day summit facilitated by Jisc Cetis in collaboration with SQA, Jisc RSC Scotland and the ALT Scotland SIG. The event will provide an opportunity for key stakeholders to critically reflect on the national and global impact and opportunities of open education, provide a forum to identify shared strategic interests and work towards a more integrated Scottish approach to openness in education.
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Writing in Book Sprints

By Phil Barker, Lorna M Campbell, Martin Hawksey and Amber Thomas.
Cetis Other Publication , serial number: 2013:X01.
Topic(s):

Link: Writing in Book Sprints (OER13 Conference Paper) (PDF)
Link: Writing in Book Sprints (OER13 Conference Paper) (MS Word .doc)

Outlines a novel approach taken by Jisc and Cetis to synthesise and disseminate the technical outputs and findings of three years of HEFCE funded UKOER Programmes. Rather than employing a consultant to produce a final synthesis report, the authors decided to undertake the task themselves by participating in a three-day book sprint facilitated by Adam Hyde of BookSprints.net. Over the course of the three days the authors wrote and edited a complete draft of a 21,000 word book titled “Technology for Open Educational Resources: Into the Wild – Reflections of three years of the UKOER programmes”.
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The Learning Registry: social networking for open educational resources?

By Lorna M. Campbell and Phil Barker, (Cetis); Sarah Currier and Nick Syrotiuk (Mimas).
Cetis Other Publication , serial number: 2013:X03.
Topic(s): ,

The Learning Registry: social networking for open educational resources? (OER13 Conference paper) (PDF)
The Learning Registry: social networking for open educational resources? (OER13 Conference paper) (MS Word .doc)

This paper reflects on Cetis’ involvement with the Learning Registry and Jisc’s Learning Registry Node Experiment at Mimas (The JLeRN Experiment), and their application to UKOER initiatives. Initially funded by the US Departments of Education and Defense, the Learning Registry (LR) is an open source network for storing and distributing metadata and curriculum, activity and social usage data about learning resources across diverse educational systems.
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New approaches to describing and discovering open educational resources

By Martin Hawksey, Phil Barker and Lorna M Campbell,.
Cetis Other Publication , serial number: 2013:X02.
Topic(s): ,

Link: New Approaches to Describing and Discovering Open Educational Resources (OER13 Conference paper)(PDF)
Link: New Approaches to Describing and Discovering Open Educational Resources (OER13 Conference paper) (MS Word .doc)

This paper reports and reflects on the innovative technical approaches adopted by UKOER projects to resource description, search engine optimisation and resource discovery. The HEFCE UKOER programmes ran for three years from 2009 to 2012 and funded a large number and variety of projects focused on releasing open educational resources (OERs) and embedding open practice. The Cetis Innovation Support Centre was tasked by JISC with providing strategic advice, technical support and direction throughout the programme. One constant across the diverse UKOER projects was their desire to ensure the resources they released could be discovered by people who might benefit from them; if no one can find an OER no one will use it. This paper will focus on three specific approaches with potential to achieve this aim: search engine optimisation, embedding metadata in the form of schema.org microdata, and sharing “paradata” information about how resources are used.
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Into the wild – Technology for open educational resources

By Amber Thomas, Lorna M. Campbell, Phil Barker and Martin Hawksey (Eds).
Cetis Other Publication , serial number: 2012:X01.
Topic(s): , , ,

Reflections on three years of the UK OER Programmes.


Between 2009 and 2012 the Higher Education Funding Council funded a series of programmes to encourage higher education institutions in the UK to release existing educational content as Open Educational Resources. The HEFCE funded UK OER Programme was run and managed by the JISC and the Higher Education Academy. The JISC CETIS “OER Technology Support Project” provided support for technical innovation across this programme. This book synthesises and reflects on the approaches taken and lessons learnt across the Programme and by the Support Project.

This book is not intended as a beginners guide or a technical manual, instead it is an expert synthesis of the key technical issues arising from a national publicly-funded programme. It is intended for people working with technology to support the creation, management, dissemination and tracking of open educational resources, and particularly those who design digital infrastructure and services at institutional and national level.

Availability

Published by University of Bolton, Deane Road, Bolton, BL3 5AB

ISBN: 978-0-907311-35-5 (print on demand: book (£3.36) printed by Lulu; or free pdf to print yourself)
ISBN: 978-0-907311-36-2 (ebook, Kindle: free download; or from Amazon (77p))
ISBN: 978-0-907311-37-9 (ebook, ePub: free download)
ISBN: 978-0-907311-38-6 (ebook, pdf: free download)
(All prices are the minimum for the distribution channel)

Licence and source

Creative Commons Licence Into the wild – Technology for open educational resources by Amber Thomas, Lorna M. Campbell, Phil Barker and Martin Hawksey (Eds) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

You are free to share (to copy, distribute and transmit the work) to remix (to adapt the work) and to make commercial use of the work under the proviso that you attribute the origin of the work (if possible please include the title, the names of the editors / authors and a link to this page).

To help you re-use this work editable formats are available. We originally wrote the book using the BookType, an online collaborative authoring and publishing platform. Booktype will allow you to clone our source, contact Phil Barker if you would like to do so. There is also a Word .docx file that we used for the final published versions.

Errors and bugs?

There are some minor bugs in some versions: bullet points don’t display well on the kindle version, reference links are erratic on the ePub version (more for some readers than others), the images on the print pdf have white lines on them. We hope none of these are serious problems for you. If you do find a serious problem please contact Phil Barker.

What is a level of competence?

By Simon Grant and Cleo Sgouropoulou.
Cetis Other Publication , serial number: .
Topic(s):

Link: Full text on author’s website.
Published as: Simon Grant and Cleo Sgouropoulou (2011) What is a level of competence? In: Christian M. Stracke (ed.) Competence Modelling for Human Resources Development and European Policies: Bridging Business, Education and Training. ISBN: 9783942183536

Abstract: In areas where competence can be greater or lesser, a level of competence defines a reference point that someone may have, or may not yet have, attained. Levels may be specific to an area or, often, generic, in which case they are assessed for specific areas of ability. Levels must first be defined in frameworks, and then competence concepts can be assigned levels following those frameworks. The eCOTOOL competence model offers information structures both for defining levels and for assigning them. This is intended to contribute to effective interoperability specifications. Examples of defined levels stretch back in history to craft guilds, and today they come in many forms. Examples are here presented, which the eCOTOOL model covers well. The eCOTOOL competence model offers a good way of understanding what a level of competence is.

Keywords: level, ability, skill, competence, framework, level definition, level assignment, information model.
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Using ArchiMate to design learning environment architectures

By W. Kraan.
Cetis Other Publication , serial number: .
Topic(s):

Link: Using ArchiMate to design learning environment architectures.

Published in International Open Forum Proceedings. 24th ISO/IEC JTC1 SC36 Plenary and WG meetings, International Open Forum. Shanghai, China: Ministry of Education Information Technology Standards Committee China e-Learning Technology Standardization Committee (CELTSC), pp. 180-194.

Abstract: A desire to customise and personalise learning experiences, combined with the rise of a number of new tool integration technologies has led to a move away from monolithic Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs, also known as Learning Management Systems ‘LMSs’) towards more open and Distributed Learning Environments (DLEs). The various DLE architectures can have very different properties, however, and choosing between them can be difficult.

The Open Group’s ArchiMate standard may help in that regard. It was designed to facilitate communication about architectures between all stakeholders in an organisation. It is a visual language that aims to help conversations about IT systems, business processes, organisational structure and strategy. This paper will present a number of DLE patterns that illustrate the range of possible architectures. Both the potential of these patterns as well as the utility of the ArchiMate language in explicating them will be evaluated.

Keywords：Enterprise Architecture; VLE; DLE; LMS; learning technology
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York St. John Digital Repository: an ecological view of interactions and systems

By R. John Robertson, Helen Westmancoat and Lauren Shipley.
Cetis Other Publication , serial number: 2009:X02.
Topic(s): ,

Link: York St. John Digital Repository: an ecological view of interactions and systems (pdf).

YSJ DigiRep is a newly established digital archive at York St. John. Established to help manage learning resources and research outputs from a diverse range of subjects across the institution, YSJ DigiRep has now come to the end of its project funding. This case study examines its context, seeks to identify why it has integrated so successfully into institutional processes, and highlight potential tensions as it transitions to being an institutional service. The study draws on an ecologically influenced approach developed by the Repositories Research Team.