Improving Interoperability Through Better Re-usability Elisabetta Di Nitto Roberto Tedesco Politecnico di Milano - DEI Politecnico di Milano - DEI Via Ponzio 34/5 Via Ponzio 34/5 Milano, Italy Milano, Italy dinitto@elet.polimi.it tedesco@elet.polimi.it ABSTRACT The model-oriented strategy refers to the idea of having Interoperability among heterogeneous systems can be reached standard, semantically-rich data models shared by various by adopting and combining at least two strategies: one systems. Sharing the same data model enables the possi- interface-oriented and the other model-oriented. The first bility of reusing the same data in different systems, and one refers to the idea of defining well-known interfaces that dramatically increases the interoperability among such sys- systems should expose. The second one refers to the idea tems. of having standard, semantically-rich data model shared by Within the context of e-learning, SCORM [1] offers, among various systems. The SCORM standard supports the model- the other features, a rich data model that can be used to oriented integration strategy by offering, among the other define and share Learning Objects (LOs). We argue that, features, a rich data model that can be used to define and despite the fact that it is the most emerging and promising share Learning Objects. We argue that, despite the fact that standard, SCORM does not address properly some key is- it is the most emerging and promising standard, SCORM sues, such as specification of metadata describing LOs, and does not address properly some key issues, such as specifica- composition of LOs. As we discuss in this paper, such is- tion of metadata and LO composition. As we discuss in this sues affect directly the possibility of re-using instructional paper, such issues affect directly the possibility of re-using materials both within the same e-learning system and, even instructional materials both within the same e-learning sys- more, across different systems. tem and, even more, across different systems. Within the The assumption we start from is that an e-learning system Virtual Campus approach we have proposed some exten- (or a set of interoperating e-learning systems) addresses the sions to the SCORM object model that aim to address the needs of three main classes of actors: Authors, Teachers, above issues. and Learners. Authors design and build courses, possibly modifying and composing LOs; Teachers enact and manage courses, exploiting available LOs; finally, Learners attend Categories and Subject Descriptors courses by consuming LOs, possibly, with the supervision of K.3.1 [Computers And Education]: Computer Uses in Teachers. Given such a scenario, we distinguish between two Education kinds of re-use activities: re-use for authoring and re-use for teaching. The former activity, at authoring time, requires a data model for LOs that is rich enough to support re- General Terms use of parts, creation of LOs that reassemble existing ones, Standards for interoperability, metadata models modification of the workflow that defines the way LOs will be executed (sequencing in the SCORM terminology). The latter, at the time a course is given, requires mechanisms Keywords and metadata that simplify the publication of the LOs and SCORM, Learning Object, metadata, composition, aggre- their enactment. gation, sequencing In this paper, based on the experiences we gained within the Virtual Campus project [6], we propose some extensions to SCORM aiming at supporting re-use for authoring by em- 1. INTRODUCTION powering the mechanisms for LO composition and at sup- Interoperability among heterogeneous systems can be reached porting re-use for teaching through the definition of proper by adopting and combining at least two strategies: one metadata for LOs. The paper is structured as follows. In interface-oriented and the other model-oriented. The first Section 2 we discuss some limitations of the LOM metadata one refers to the idea of defining well-known interfaces that specification, and propose our extensions. In Section 3 we systems should expose. By exploiting such interfaces, sys- discuss about the limitations of the SCORM content aggre- tems can call each other services thus enabling exchange of gation model, and introduce our approach. In Section 4 data, execution of queries on remote data, etc. The Simple we focus on enhancing the SCORM aggregation/navigation Query Interface (SQI) [10] is an example of such an interface model, presenting our model for LO composition. In section for the e-learning domain. 5 we present Virtual Campus as a proof-of-concept platform. Copyright is held by the author/owner(s). In Section 6 we discuss some related approaches aiming at WWW2005, May 10–14, 2005, Chiba, Japan. offering mechanisms for composition of instructional mate- . rial. Finally, in Section 7 we draw some conclusions. Our extensions to the LOM mainly aim at providing sup- port to all the aforementioned activities, explicitly express- ing some LO properties the LOM does not consider. 2. METADATA SPECIFICATION In particular, as for the software needed for LO fruition, The Learning Object Model (LOM) offered by SCORM is the LOM seems to concentrate on the specification of the based on the idea that instructional material is enveloped in client-side expected characteristics (browser and OS), but metadata describing the instructional material itself. The does not address to issues of describing the server require- union of the instructional material and of the correspond- ments as well. Thus, in order to support automatic config- ing metadata is a Learning Object (LO). Examples of LO uration (point A), we modify the LOM metadata 4.4 Re- metadata are the Language of the instructional material, the quirements, adding a new field expressing whether require- Description of the LO content, etc. ments regard client- or server-side. Moreover, we propose to While experimenting with LOM, we have realized that it adopt the CC/PP [13] (Composite Capabilities/Preference has the following weaknesses: Profiles) standard to express requirements and capabilities clients and servers have to meet. 1. The exact meaning of some metadata is difficult to be We have also extended the LOM with some additional specified (e.g., Semantic Density, Difficulty, etc.) As metadata that are summarized in Table 1. We can state a result, Teachers tend to fill them with values that the level of supervision a given LO requires (e.g., if a tu- are in the middle of the available scale, making them tor should be available during fruition of the LO) whether completely useless. the LO requires group (cooperative) study, whether some artifacts have to be created at the end of fruition, whether 2. Some important aspects about LOs cannot be expressed. the LO requires communication facilities among Learners, As an example, there is no way to say whether a given and whether the communication or cooperation have to be LO has been designed to support group study or indi- synchronous or asynchronous. vidual study. Such metadata can have various uses. In particular, they can help addressing the issues related to point B, for in- 3. The defined metadata are not fully machine-processable. stance, if the cooperation attribute is set, based on the in- Some of them are defined as free-text (e.g. Installation formation contained in the Techinical attribute, the runtime Remarks,) while others rely on vocabularies which are platform could automatically configure a version-control server not precise enough to allow for a full-automatic pro- which makes it easy for Learners to work on shared docu- cessing. ments. In addition, if the supervision mode is set to tu- tored, an up-load facility could be configured in order to The LOM has been clearly defined in order to improve allow Learners to send created documents, and Teachers to search and discovery of instructional material. However, we manage and evaluate them. argue that metadata can also be exploited to support many The aforementioned metadata can also effectively sup- other activities. In particular, we think at the following port both automatic tutoring of Learners and LO evaluation ones: (points C and D), since they permit to collect information on Learners’ preferences and attitudes. As a result, profiles A Automatic configuration of software needed for fruition can be built and exploited to guide the tutoring process. of a LO. Following the metadata specification, the In addition to the introduced extensions, our modified platform could automatically configure pieces of soft- LOM supports the concepts of non-electronic LO, precondi- ware required for the LO to be viewed and exploited tions, and postconditions. In the following we discuss these by Learners. As an example, a video streaming server extensions. required by a given LO could be automatically config- In our model, LOs can represent either digital contents ured in order to work with the e-learning platform. available in the LO repository or live lectures held in class- rooms, the metadata Access Modality and Place highlight B Automatic configuration of software supporting the LO this difference. In doing so, we give the opportunity to seam- fruition. As an example, Teachers could configure the lessly mix electronic and regular learning. system in such a way that LOs requiring asynchronous Finally, we can specify properties which must hold before communication are provided with a forum, the ones the execution of a LO (Preconditions), as well as properties requiring synchronous communication can exploit a which will be true at the end of LO fruition (postconditions chat, while cooperative LOs can take advantage of a or, as we call them, Learning Objectives). Both Precondi- shared, versioned repository. Notice that such a pieces tions and Learning Objectives can predicate on data stored of software are not part of the LO requirements as they in the Learner’ profile, and on Time. just represent supporting tools. C Tutoring. Metadata expressing instructional require- 3. CONTENT AGGREGATION ments can be useful to provide Learners with person- The goal of the SCORM Content Aggregation Model (CAM) alized automatic tutoring. In fact, they could be used [2] is to provide mechanisms that allow instructional mate- to support selection of the most appropriate LO for rials to be aggregated. The CAM is based on three com- a learner, depending on his personal preferences and ponents: Assets, Sharable Content Objects (SCOs), and attitudes. Content Organizations. Such components are enacted by means of the SCORM Run-Time Environment (RTE) [3]. D Evaluation. Metadata could be used by Teachers in The RTE “describes a common content object launch mech- order to analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of LOs. anism, a common communication mechanism between con- Field name Field description Supervision Mode The level of supervision on Learners’ activities: “none” (no supervision), “tutored” (a tutor is available; during fruition learners can explicitly request his/her supervision), “supervised” (the supervisor is always present during the instructional process), “driven” (Learners act in a passive way, by strictly following the Teacher’s instructions.) Cooperation Attribute Whether Learners should take the LO in cooperation. Communication Attribute Whether Learners will be provided with communication facilities, while exploiting the LO. Synchronism Attribute In case of a cooperative or communicative LO, it specifies if the LO must be taken syn- chronously by all learners or asynchronously. Group Cardinality The cardinality of the group involved into the fruition of the LO. Meaningful group cardi- nalities are “1” (self-study), “2” (pair study, both learner-learner and learner-instructor), “m” (group study). Note: 2 is the minimum group cardinality for cooperative LOs and the maximum one for non-cooperative LOs. Artifact Attribute Whether the LO requires Lerner(s) to produce an artifact. Access Modality Situated (in a specific physical location, e.g. a live lecture held in a classroom), or Digital Place The physical location name. If Modality is Digital, this field is ignored Precondition on time Constraints on time that have to hold before the LO is taken. Precondition on user profiles The skills and knowledge a learner must have in order to exploit the LO. It can also predicate on administrative constraints that have to be fulfilled by the user before exploiting the LO (e.g., he/she must have payed the enrollment fee.) Learning objective on time The min/max amount of time required/allowed to complete the LO. Learning objective on user Educational objectives of the LO in terms of skills a learner can obtain by exploiting it. It profiles can also express objectives that are not strictly educational (e.g. the fact that the learner achieves some kind of degree by completing the LO.) Table 1: Examples of Virtual Campus LOM extensions to the IEEE LOM. tent objects and [the server], and a common data model for Metadata 1 1 Learning Object (LO) tracking a learners experience with content objects.” Assets are defined as “the most basic form of a learning resource (...). [In other terms, they] are an electronic representation of media.” Assets can be grouped to produce other Assets. A SCO is “a collection of one or more Assets that represent Content 0..* 1..* Atomic LO (ALO) Complex LO (CLO) a single launchable learning resource.” They represents “the lowest level of granularity of a learning resource” that com- municates with the RTE. Notice that, since Assets do not interact with the RTE, they cannot be launched. Finally, a Content Organization is a tree composed of so-called Ac- Figure 2: The Virtual Campus LO model. tivity items which can be mapped on SCOs or Assets (see Figure 1, extracted from the CAM specification.) All of these components can be tagged with LOM metadata. objects, with diverse re-usability properties and limitations. Such a non-homogeneous model has an impact on the pos- sibility of re-using LOs in different contexts. In our approach we overcome such a problem by defining an unique model for Learning Objects, allowing simple and powerful recursive composition. In particular, as shown in Figure 2, we define an Atomic LO (ALO) as a LO whose instructional material is a file (we call it content) and a Complex LO (CLO) as a LO whose instructional material is an aggregation of Learning Objects. Being a LOs, a Com- plex LO can be threated exactly as any other LO. Indeed, it has associated a set of metadata, some of which can be automatically derived from the metadata of the component LOs (e.g., Size) and some others that need to be manually inserted by the author of the Complex LO. Figure 1: SCORM Content Organization. All of the aforementioned components could be named as 4. SEQUENCING AND NAVIGATION “Learning Object,” as they provide contents, optionally de- An important aspect of e-learning is to allow the Teacher scribed by means of metadata. However, SCORM actually to define a path through the LOs that would guide the do not provide a clear vision of what a Learning Object Learner in the way she/he takes the instructional material. should be, since the model defines three diverse kinds of Such a path can be specified in term of rules that state, for instance, the precedence relationships between LOs, the fact Basic IsRequiredBy that some LOs may be optional, etc. Concepts Calculus The SCORM Sequencing and Navigation (SN) book [4] is focused on this issue and defines the required behaviors References and functionality that the system must implement to pro- IsRequiredBy cess sequencing information at run-time. More specifically, History of Geometry Exam mathematics it describes the branching and flow of Activities in terms of T an Activity Tree, taking into account the Learners interac- tions with LOs and a sequencing strategy. An Activity Tree IsRequiredBy Limits Algerbra represents the data structure that the system implements to Mathematics reflect the hierarchical, internal representation of the defined Activities. Moreover, SN defines a Cluster as a specialized form of a Activity that has sub-activities. IsRequiredBy Relying on the aforementioned concepts, SCORM SN de- Mathematics Physics fines several Sequencing Control Modes (e.g., Sequencing Control Choice, Sequencing Control Choice Exit, Sequenc- IsAlternative To Chemistry Chemistry ing Control Forward Only), Sequencing Rules (a set of con- A B Engineering, ditions that are evaluated in the context of the Activity first year for which the Sequencing Rule is defined), Limit Conditions (conditions under which an Activity is not allowed to be delivered), etc. Figure 3: CLO definitions. In our opinion, SN specification is far too complex to be effectively implemented. Moreover, the idea to separate con- tent specification and sequencing specification, on one hand have to complete “Mathematics” before entering “Physics,” makes the standard more flexible but, on the other hand, while “Chemistry A” (or alternatively “Chemistry B”) can further complicates the implementation. be taken anytime with respect to the Mathematics and Physics We propose the integration of both aggregation and se- pair. quencing in a single specification that we call LO composi- It is interesting to note that “Mathematics”, being reused tion. in this context, appears as a black-box. Its internal complex- In our approach, Authors define each CLO in terms of a ity is hidden thus allowing for an easy composition. Even graph where nodes univocally represent LOs (either Atomic more interesting is the fact that, in such a representation, or Complex) while edges represent relationships between the less arcs are drawn, the more freedom is left to Learn- LOs (see Figure 3). Rounded-corner rectangles inside a CLO ers. As an extreme example, a simple collection of LOs, represent particular CLOs called Inner CLOs. They provide with no arcs at all, permits the design of a course in which a mechanism to aggregate LOs, but, differently from other all possible paths are allowed. CLOs, they do not have an identity and cannot be reused LOs can be (re)used either to define other LOs or to pro- outside the context of the CLO in which they are defined. vide them to the learners. Before making them available They can indeed participate in any relationship connecting to learners, LOs go through two more steps where all de- two generic LOs. tails needed for enactment are provided. In the first step, Relationships indicate the presence of instructional con- the Teacher can further constrain the fruition paths of a straints between two LOs in the context of a containing CLO learning object. Such additional constraints are defined on (outside that CLO, the relationship is no longer valid). A a workflow representation of a CLO that is automatically generic relationship from x to y in the context of z, with x, y obtained from its original definition. being LOs (either Atomic or Complex) and z a CLO (on In- For instance, Figure 4 shows the workflow representations ner CLO), is represented by an arrow from x to y inside z, of the two CLOs defined in Figure 3. In this representation, labeled with the relationship name. The relationships are LOs are mapped into activities that represent the fruition named IsRequired, IsAlternativeTo, References, and IsRe- of the corresponding LOs. The syntax is similar to a UML quiredOnFailure. Their meaning is summarized in Table 2, activity diagram. In particular, simple arrows connecting where, for the sake of brevity, we omit the indication of the activities represent a sequence, vertical bars enclose paral- CLO where the relationship takes place. lel activities, and diamonds are used to indicate alternative The example shown in Figure 3 defines two different CLOs. activities. The stereotype <> denotes the fact The first one, “Mathematics,” is composed of several LOs. that the corresponding path is not mandatory. “Basic concepts” and “Algebra” are both required by the in- If needed, the Teacher can customize the automatically ner CLO enclosing “Calculus”, “Geometry”, and “Limits”, derived workflows by performing any of the following ac- so they should be taken in the first place. The “History of tions: mathematics” is left as an optional activity and, in case it 1. elimination of alternative paths by selecting a single is taken, it must follow “Basic concepts” that references to path or a subset of the available ones; it. “Exam” is a special kind of LO that we call Test-LO (it is labeled with T). It is used to model assessments learners 2. elimination/forcing of optional activities; have to go through. If they are failed the whole CLO have to be repeated. 3. forcing the order of fruition in case of parallel activi- The second CLO, “Engineering first year,” is composed re- ties. using “Mathematics” as well as some other LOs. Learners All these operations preserve the consistency between the Relationship Description IsRequiredBy A IsRequiredBy B indicates that LO A must be completed before starting LO B; i.e., the Learner has to possess A-related knowledge in order to achieve a correct understanding of B. However, the IsRequiredBy relationship does not mean that Learners must complete A immediately before B: Learners are allowed to make use of other LOs after A and before B’s fruition. IsAlternativeT o A IsAlternativeT o B indicates that A and B are mutually exclusive, although they are both valid since their instructional function is considered to be identical. Two LOs connected by an IsAlternativeT o relationship are automatically enclosed within an Inner CLO. Ref erences A Ref erences B indicates that A cites B as a source of more details on a topic related to A itself. Taking B at fruition time is not compulsory: Learners can thus decide whether to make use or to ignore this information. Many Ref erences can enter or depart from the same LO. In this case, Learners can make use of one or more of the corresponding LOs. RequiresOnF ailure A RequiresOnF ailure relationship always connects a Test-LO with some other LO. If the Test-LO is failed, then the LO at the other end of the RequiresOnF ailure relationship has to be taken by the learner. If no RequiresOnF ailure is specified, learners failing a Test-LO have to re-start the fruition of the whole CLO. Table 2: Relationships between Reusable-Level LOs. Basic concepts Calculus [Fail] Reusable LO <> editor Learner Teacher Reusable History of math. Geometry Exam LOs Didactical-level PDF doc. PowerPoint doc. Java applet ... [Pass] Complex LO Author User Web Interface generator & Limits Didactical- editor Algebra Mathematics level Tutoring and Validation Instrumented Fruition LOs Module (TVM) Engine (IFE) Fruition-level LO tailoring tool Fruition- Workflow engine Mathematics Physics level Teacher LOs Raw Contents Profile DB Fruition DB data Chemistry A Authoring Fruition Chemistry B Engineering Environment Environment Fruition first year Enhanced-SCORM Environment package adapter Figure 4: Workflow description of CLOs. Figure 6: Virtual Campus high-level architecture Calculus [Fail] 5. THE VIRTUAL CAMPUS PROJECT Basic concepts Algebra Geometry Exam Relying on the aforementioned concepts we developed Vir- [Pass] Limits tual Campus, an e-learning platform for the design, deploy- Mathematics ment, fruition, and evaluation of learning materials. As for the design phase, its main objectives are to support re-use and composition of LOs and to enable the defini- Engineering Chemistry A Mathematics Physics first year tion of the fruition flow for a given Complex LO. As for the fruition phase, the main objective it to support vari- ous learning modalities (individual or cooperative, distance Figure 5: Customization of workflows. or co-presence, etc.) and to provide some tutoring features that help the Learner when needed. The Virtual Campus platform is composed of two main resulting workflow and the corresponding high-level descrip- subsystems (see Figure 6): The Authoring Environment, tion since they further constrain the way LOs are used by and the Fruition Environment. Learners. The Authoring Environment provides Teachers with a graph- Figure 5 shows a possible customization of workflows de- ical editor (see [6]) to define ALOs and CLOs. Then, an picted in Figure 4. automatic generator produces a first version of the work- In the last refinement step for LOs, the Teacher trans- flow associated to a CLO and then supports Teachers in forms a LO (usually a CLO) in such a way that it can be customizing it by means of a specialized workflow editor. offered to Learners as a course. This is accomplished by Finally, a LO tailoring tool supports the insertion of all specifying information needed to enact the LO, such as the fruition-related details. See Figure 7 and Figure 8. course edition, the enrollment method, start and end dates, CLOs and Courses can be both serialized in a SCORM the course calendar, announcements, the Teacher’s name, package in order to support export of data toward other e- the list of already enrolled students, etc. At this point the learning platforms. Our extensions to the SCORM models Course is ready for fruition and can be published. have been organized within a SCORM package in such a Figure 9: The Fruition Environment showing a co- operative LO way that other SCORM compatible platforms would ignore Figure 7: The CLO editor. them, but they would still be able to import the atomic LOs belonging to the package. The Fruition Environment is based on a RTE-compliant engine (called IFE) that enables fruition of LOs by Learners. IFE also supports the sequencing of CLOs (see [7] for de- tails.) by exploiting a workflow engine that “executes” the fruition workflow associated to a CLO, thus guiding Learn- ers and Teachers in the execution of the activities related to the usage of the LO. See Figure 9. A tutoring module (called TVM, see [9]), starting from us- age data, defines models for some aspects of LOs and Learn- ers and, relying on them, provides Teachers with reports and graphics about the performance of the Virtual Campus plat- form and about learning behaviors of her/his students. In the cases when Learners could choose among multiple paths through LOs, TVM tries to provide them with suggestions about the most appropriate instructional path to follow. 6. RELATED WORK Our approach to improve re-usability is centered on sup- porting LO composition. The language we propose is based both on the usage of relationships at the higher level of ab- straction, and on a workflow-like representation at a more detailed level. In the following we present the approaches we are aware of in the two areas. 6.1 Relationship-based systems These systems allow teachers to define a course structure by means of logic relationships among the course compo- nents. MediBook [12] is an example of such systems. Medi- Book is tailored to the medical domain; the important med- ical concepts are formalized and related to each other by Figure 8: The workflow editor. semantic relationships. In turn, LOs are associated with concepts and are connected through so-called rhetorical rela- tionships (e.g. LO-A deepens LO-B, LO-C is-part-of LO-D). MediBook uses the LOM standard to define LOs metadata and to store rhetorical relationships. Learners can navigate through both the rhetorical relationships structure or the semantic relationships structure. In this last case, they dis- cover LOs starting from the associated concepts. As a future work we plan to include the SQI specification An alternative approach, described in [11], uses a sort of into Virtual Campus. We believe, in fact, that the combi- “direct prerequisite” relationship to order LOs (e.g. LO-A is nation of an improved LO model and a standard interface a direct prerequisite for LO-B). The matrix associated to the is the most promising answer to the interoperability issue. resulting graph shows the total number of direct and indirect Another aspect that merits further investigation is the defi- prerequisites between two LOs. When learners choose a LO nition of proper guidelines to support Authors and Teachers to exploit, it is possible to calculate the list of required LOs. in the design of LOs. Clearly, the more their LOs correspond An integer-programming model is then built, taking into to fine granularity learning materials, the more such materi- account further constraints (e.g. the time effort required by als are reusable and applicable in various contexts. Indeed, a given LO). By minimizing the model target function, some the mechanisms to compose fine granularity LOs are essen- LOs are removed from the list. A sequencing procedure tial in this case in order to avoid all difficulties of having a determining the “best” schedule on the remaining LOs is huge, non-organized collection of LOs. then executed. A similar approach, described in [5], uses the same re- 8. REFERENCES lationship and adds weights in order to represent the diffi- [1] ADL. SCORM 2004 2nd edition - overview. culty to access a given topic coming from a previous one. http://www.adlnet.org/, July 2004. To choose a path, learners select it from the whole graph [2] ADL. 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