=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2256/SWEPHD18_paper_09
|storemode=property
|title=Towards Creating the Unified Bank of Learning Objects for Electronic Educational Environment and its Protection
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2256/SWEPHD18_paper_09.pdf
|volume=Vol-2256
|authors=Sergey Sychev,Alexander Chirtsov
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==Towards Creating the Unified Bank of Learning Objects for Electronic Educational Environment and its Protection==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2256/SWEPHD18_paper_09.pdf
Towards developing the Unified Bank of learning objects for
Electronic Educational Environment and its Protection
Sergey Sychov Alexander Chirtsov
Department of Physics
University ITMO LETI University, University ITMO
St-Petersburg Russian Federation St-Petersburg Russian Federation
sergey.v.sychev@gmail.com alex_chirtsov@mail.ru
ABSTRACT
The article deals with the ways of developing the Electronic 1 Introduction: Education as a strategic
Educational Environment (EEE) based on a set of learning resource
objects constituting the Unified Bank of Learning Objects. The The rapid growth of the "digital" component in all spheres of
algorithms of functioning for learning objects and the network human activity emphasizes the importance of industries related
formed from them are considered. The concept of the core of to knowledge [1]. In turn, the development of the Internet, as
knowledge is introduced as a system of established and accepted well as the availability of e-communication, led to the emergence
scientific ("textbook") knowledge used by the “educational of distance education as independent industry that demonstrates
community” for developing the theoretical foundations of the explosive growth assisting transformation of education, into
educational courses. primary sector of the economy. In monetary terms, for example,
Taking in account the information explosion happening now the global e-Learning market is forecast to surpass 243 billion
which leads to erosion of knowledge, the issue of protecting of U.S. dollars by 2022 [2].
the core of fundamental scientific knowledge and the world An example of effective approach to e-education policy at the
cultural heritage from destruction and unauthorized change with state level is the Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) [3]
the use of permitted blockchain algorithm is considered. initiative. It is supported by USA government and US
Department of Defense. This fact demonstrates that the US
CCS CONCEPTS considers the problems of education and distance learning as an
important element of national security. Education (and, above
• Applied computing → Education; Redundancy; • Computer
all, technical education) is a strategic resource and an important
systems organization → Dependable and fault-tolerant
competitive advantage of the state. The necessity of such an
systems and networks → Reliability
approach is mentioned recently by the number of authors
demonstrating that the tendency is global [4], [5], [6], [7]. The
KEYWORDS
attitude towards education as a strategic resource leads to the
knowledge transfer, core of knowledge, MOOC, Educational need not only to assess the quality of electronic information and
System, blockchain, erosion of knowledge, network of educational resources but also to set and develop their standards
knowledge, epistemology, learning object at the state level. At the same time, developing such standards in
a global scale is an effective base for international collaboration
ACM Reference format:
that implies answering the following questions:
Sergey Sychov and Alexander Chirtsov. 2018. Towards developing the
Unified Bank of learning objects for Electronic Educational Environment • What is knowledge?
and its Protection. In Proceedings of the 2018 Workshop on PhD Software • What knowledge should we transfer?
Engineering Education: Challenges, Trends, and Programs (SWEPHD2018).
• How to regulate the transfer of knowledge?
St. Petersburg, Russia, 6 pages.
• How to transfer knowledge effectively?
• How to ensure an undistorted transfer of knowledge?
• How to minimize costs when organizing the transfer of
Copyright © 2018 for the individual papers by the papers' authors. Copying knowledge?
permitted for private and academic purposes. This volume is published and
copyrighted by its editors.
The 2018 Workshop on PhD Software Engineering Education: Challenges, Trends,
and Programs, September 17th, 2018, St. Petersburg, Russia
2 Knowledge Objects and Knowledge Network
The problem of the definition of the term of knowledge refers
to the field of epistemology and until now had no final solution.
The original definition was given by Plato and examined by him
St-Petersburg, September 2018, Russian Federation S.Sychov and A.Chirtsov
in Dialogues [8]. However, for our purposes, the concept known core. Its dependence on interpretation by the social environment
as pragmatism [9],[10] is more satisfactory. This conception is reduced, as there is a consensus of responsible experts
proclaims that the result that we want to obtain by applying concerning the content and nature of well-established objects of
definition of knowledge is essential for constructing the knowledge.
definition body. Thus, we interpret knowledge as the system of
information objects, systematic study of which allows us to
understand a scientific picture of the world, implement
competencies related to technological literacy, correctly interpret
the world cultural heritage and restore them in the event of
unforeseen damage to these information phenomena. With such
an approach, it is essential that transferred knowledge be an
integral part of scientific and technological literacy [11].
Generally, knowledge possesses the following features [12]:
• Knowledge has a practical aspect
• Knowledge can be personal or group
• Knowledge has a regulatory structure
• Knowledge has an internal network structure
• Knowledge has an external network structure
• Knowledge is dynamic Figure 1: The scheme representing the relative
• Knowledge is related to public institutions arrangement of knowledge units belonging to the core of
Using these characteristics, we can define a unit of knowledge, special courses, and scientific frontiers
knowledge (object of knowledge, knowledge object) as a
structural information object associated with specific skills and There were researchers [14], [15] who tried to determine the
practice of testing and evaluation. The simplest examples of such standard knowledge core for science, mathematics, and
a unit, is the Pythagorean Theorem, force diagram or calculation technology that would be optimally useful for every high school
of interest, etc. In turn, knowledge units are connected both with graduate, and not just for those who aspire to a scientific or
each other and with the subject of knowledge - man and the technical career. For this purpose, a team of scientists from the
object of knowledge the outside world. field of chemistry and physics found that few college students
Understanding of knowledge as a system of interconnected understand the nature of the particles and the significance of the
knowledge units is now presented in the works of a number of periodic table, not to mention the importance of the standard
authors, for example [13]. The effect resulting from particle model. Thus, despite the apparent need to define the
representation of knowledge in the form of a "knowledge core of knowledge, the difficulties concerning this process are
network", as a result of interconnectedness of knowledge units obvious. There is an evaluation of the number of educational
[14] defined as "connectivism". The knowledge network is objects in the physics course for secondary school [16]. The
further immersed in a network of relationships with the outside modeled structure contained 24 thematic blocks, approximately
world. In accordance with this approach, learning is a process of five educational objects in each. Thus, about 100 educational
study of this network. The result of changing the subject's objects per school subject. An alternative evaluation made in
relationship with the outside world after mastering knowledge is [17] explores ~ 600 objects of knowledge (and, accordingly,
the effect of a particular value. learning objects) for the course of algebra (however, the authors,
in this case, used smaller objects).
3 The Core of General Science Knowledge
Knowledge objects representing the most loaded nodes of the 4 Micro-Modular Architecture Approach for
network of knowledge constitute the core of knowledge - the MOOC Design
most valuable objects of general scientific knowledge and of the Now, the dominant approach in e-education is developing of
world cultural heritage. Their correct understanding ensures MOOC (massive open online courses). Examples of publicly
both the communication integrity of the community (society) accessible portals that allow training in a large number of
that has mastered these objects of knowledge, and the effective disciplines using MOOC are “Coursera” [18], and “Open
use of other knowledge objects. Education” [19], (however, the actual number of such portals is
The core of knowledge undoubtedly refers to explicit more extensive). There is a large number of approaches in the
knowledge, as opposed to an implicit knowledge ("tacit classification of MOOC and methods of design, described in
knowledge"), "hidden," for example, in the teacher-student numerous studies and reviews, for example: [20], [21], [22].
relationship. Additionally knowledge objects can be separated However, the universally recognized MOOC standard has not
into "universally recognized" and those that are in the stage of yet been fully developed, and a significant number of authors
development. Only "universally recognized" objects refer to the and teams use their own standards for designing courses.
Towards developing the Unified Bank of Learning Objects for
St-Petersburg, September 2018, Russian Federation
Electronic Educational Environment and its Protection
Nevertheless, it is possible to divide MOOC into those that are
centered around the concept of large-block modules (the
Bologna system, up to the conglomeration of training courses),
and build on the basis of a micro-modular architecture.
This approach, which advocates organizing MOOC as a
system of micromodules of shared access, has a significant
historical perspective. His first formulation could be attributed to Figure 2: The scheme representing the relative
1967 [15]. Further development of the concept and its arrangement of knowledge units belonging to the core of
popularization was provided by the head of the committee on knowledge, special courses, and scientific frontiers
the standards of educational technologies IEEE (Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers) H. Wayne Hodgins. 5 A General Scheme of Work and Integration
Following the proposed [20] concept of epistemic atomism, the
of the Learning Object
optimal learning object is an integral educational unit that is
self-sufficient for the study of a particular knowledge object and The sequence of transitions between learning objects
is corresponding to a single issue of a school or university determines the sequence of the course.
curricular. In Fig. 3 shows the scheme of the functioning of the learning
A learning object is a means of studying an object of object with the minimum necessary configuration, containing
knowledge that constitutes a single concept [20]. It can also be the following components:
defined as the smallest independent structural element • preliminary testing unit
containing three components united by a single goal of learning:
• resulting testing unit
• educational materials (demonstrate and explain the
• reference to the previous course object
knowledge object)
• reference to the subsequent course object
• training exercises (allow achieving the learning goal)
• evaluation system (allows assessing the degree of • reference to the objects necessary to understand this
achievement of the learning goal) learning object
Thus, the learning object differs from the object of • educational material
knowledge, in that it not only contains the object of knowledge,
but also contains means of explaining and verifying the degree
of understanding of the given object of knowledge.
In addition, a learning object is characterized by the following
parameters:
•training time is usually from 2 minutes to 15 minutes.
•is self-sufficient - each learning object can be taken
independently
•is reusable: one learning object can be used in several
contexts for several purposes
•can be aggregated - learning objects can be grouped into
larger collections of content, including traditional course
structures Figure 3: General scheme of the organization of a
•contains metadata - each learning object has descriptive learning object
information that makes it easy to find it by searching The Pythagorean Theorem, for example, can be integrated
The relationship between primary learning materials, into the course of teaching school geometry, locksmith, joiner,
learning objects and the training courses built on them is and tin works, into the initial course of physics, astronomy and
illustrated by a diagram constructed following Autodesc's geography (Fig. 4).
ideology [23] (Fig. 2). By this scheme, objects can be combined
with increasing degree of generalization:
Primary media and text files -> Information objects ->
Learning objects -> Sections -> Courses and modules
St-Petersburg, September 2018, Russian Federation S.Sychov and A.Chirtsov
Figure 5: The general structure of the unified
Figure 4: An example of integration for the training educational environment
module - "The Pythagorean theorem" (illustrative)
The presence of learning objects of several levels of 7 The Problem of Knowledge Erosion
complexity and the possibility of additional "settings" and
When developing electronic educational resources, authors
adaptation: the possibility to connect additional content and
and developers pursue very diverse goals. Along with solving
comments - can meet the specific requirements of specific
urgent problems of transferring knowledge to students and
courses using a set of approved training facilities.
establishing a basis for further research in developing areas of
knowledge, there are negative trends in the growth of the
6 Unified Bank of Learning Objects and number of information resources. Sometimes the content and
Educational Environment style of presentation do not meet the criteria for education
These learning objects may compose a bank of learning quality. Multiple interpretations of the basic part of knowledge
objects and assignments with open (free) access for being used as inevitably lead to its distortion, involuntary or deliberate
bricks in the construction of the MOOC. In order to develop mistakes, and inaccuracies. At the same time, there is a process
learning objects in a quick manner, the texts of existing of erosion of knowledge associated with a general information
textbooks, supplemented with audio, video, and testing elements explosion and the emergence of an excessive number of
may be used. Further, they can be edited with regularity every interpretations of the established theories and concepts [13], as
two years, by the appropriate commissions. well as their active replicating in the media and information
Efforts concentrated on educational objects evaluating and networks . This leads to the effect denoted by the term "erosion
designing will allow developing of the core around which the of knowledge" [45].
Unified Electronic Educational Environment may be centered. On the mathematical level objects of knowledge being
Public modules exclude charging. At the same time, they information packages undergo distortion in accordance with C.
should be protected from plagiarism by automatic content Shannon theory [27], on the sociological level this phenomenon
checking. Educational objects of third-party authors after was mentioned by Umberto Eco [28] , M. Fucko [29] and other
certifying can be paid elements in different MOOC. In this case, authors. The easiness of digital form of knowledge replication
it is reasonable to organize - a distributed system of leads to the fact that numerous distorted forms of original
micropayments based on Smart Contracts using permitted conceptions infest accessible e-resources and increase risk their
blockchain [24],[25], [26] in which part of the payment is sent to incorrect understanding. In case the distorted conceptions
the rights holder of the learning object in the case when during belong to the core of knowledge, the practical consequences may
the completion of the MOOC the user addressed the special paid be strikingly destructive.
module. In IBM presentation, it is estimated that every 18 months
Mechanisms mentioned above provide the base foe “structured data are growing at 32%, unstructured data are
developing Unified Electronic Educational Environment. It may growing at 63% and replicated data are growing at 49%” [30],
solve the following tasks: that means that proportion of unstructured data in the total
amount of data is constantly increasing.
• organize an accessible Unified Bank (repository) of The core of knowledge becomes hidden with irrelevant and
learning objects imperfect information that in turn leads to the disintegration of
• ensure the safety of educational objects related to the the integrity of the scientific picture of the world, its
core of knowledge fragmentation. Fragmentation of the scientific picture of the
• ensure the possibility of developing MOOC with the world, leads to the impossibility for a subject to derive clear
use of certified learning objects causal relationships and understand scientific (and cultural)
• ensure the possibility of testing with the use of landmarks.
learning objects Within the framework of the described approach, the
following urgent tasks have to be solved:
Towards developing the Unified Bank of Learning Objects for
St-Petersburg, September 2018, Russian Federation
Electronic Educational Environment and its Protection
• protecting the core of general scientific knowledge spontaneous distortion and requires a complete, guaranteed
from the deformation of meaning; undistorted transferring to the trainees as representatives of the
• avoiding unnecessary duplication when using online following generations. Effective protection of the core of
courses of concepts related to the core of general knowledge from unqualified audits should be combined with a
scientific knowledge. regulatory mechanism that provides the possibility of its editing
• ensuring the formulation of the main cultural, only in case of a steady consensus of experts.
historical and ideological concepts in accordance with Thus, the Electronic Educational Environment due to its
the requirements and position of the scientific and importance should be implemented in the form of a distributed
educational community database, allowing recovery in case of damage, and edited by
• saving the world's cultural heritage in undistorted consensus experts.
form. The educational environment presented above, should have
the following properties:
• providing a possibility of flexible design for 1. be distributed
educational courses, which will combine, protection of
2. consist of a sufficient number of synchronized copies
meanings and concepts related to the general scientific
core of knowledge as well as the cultural heritage, and 3. be resistant to unauthorized changes and partial
the possibility of personalized presentation of these destruction of media
concepts. Blockchain as a means of record keeping, ensuring the
preservation of records and preventing unauthorized changes to
8 The SCORM Standard in Developing them, was introduced into the modern appeal by Satoshi
Learning Objects Nakamoto [37]. The concept of Blockchain is now primarily
associated with crypto-currencies [38], [25] but on the other
Educational objects developing has to take advantage of hand this algorithm allows strong protecting of a valuable base.
already existing concepts such as metadata and SCORM. Stratification of Knowledge areas and access to their change will
Metadata are described in accordance with the standard specified ensure that only the experts admitted to this field will be able to
by IEEE [31]. They obey the standards developed for SCROM edit a certain area of the records, and a wide range of people,
[32] (Sharable Content Object Reference Model ). including from other areas of knowledge, can use them in
SCORM is the set of specifications and standards developed building the MOOC.
in organizations such as IMS, AICC, ARIADNE and IEEE LTSC
and then merged into a single SCORM system and finally
presented by the ADL collaboration.
10 Conclusions
Such objects have the properties of the Sharable Content Summarizing the previously identified priorities in the
Object (SCO) [5]). That is, they have communication capabilities development of the Unified Electronic Educational Environment,
within the framework of the LMS (Learning Management we can formulate the following conclusions:
System) in accordance with the SCROM RTE standards and Developing UEEE based on learning objects and following
correspond to a structurally small object of knowledge internationally developed and approved standards may save
(corresponding to the concept of Knowledge Node - knowledge recourses and ensure mutual understanding of scientific core
units [33], [34].) Compliance with this standard, developed by knowledge.
the international consortium ADL (Advanced Distributed Compatibility of learning objects with the international
Learning) [3 allows to include modules and knowledge objects standard SCORM enable a possibility to include into courses
developed by third parties in the MOOC. It is important, since various modules developed by international developers, as well
the ADL, which unites dozens of laboratories in the field of as the possibility local modules to be connected to international
electronic communications, artificial intelligence, and cognitive courses. The Open Education platform currently being developed
psychology, employing thousands of specialists, carries out work in the Russian Federation [19] uses the Open edX standard [35],
that can not be done by specialists of any separately considered that supports converters [11], which allow loading modules
country. created in accordance with a standard for SCORM modules.
Currently, open edX [35] and Lectora[36] are successful Thus, compliance with the SCORM standard will automatically
examples of available online services for creating objects under lead to the ability to use the module in the Open edX system.
SCORM standards and organizing them in MOOC. UEEE should have the capabilities of being a national
educating center and an open depository for designing training
9 Permitted Blockchain as a Way to Protect courses. In this case, this structure will become a center around
which e-education will develop.
and Certify the Core of General Scientific
Significance of such a base implies necessity to protect it
Knowledge from distortion and damage. For this purpose permitted
Given current well-seen processes of information explosion blockchain algorithm can provide balanced solution for
and avalanche-like replication of "garbage information," the core accessibility and strong protection.
of general scientific knowledge have to be protected from
St-Petersburg, September 2018, Russian Federation S.Sychov and A.Chirtsov
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