- Correlation Resource

Correlation Resource

The use of the conformsTo property assumes that the learning objectives of the educational resource are coextensive with those of the achievement standard to which that educational resource is being correlated. With the exception of educational resources designed specifically to address the learning objectives defined by a particular achievement standard, the correlation between educational resource and an achievement standard will usually be less than perfect. Use of a separate correlation resource makes it possible to make statements about the "strength of fit" of the correlation (as well as about other characteristics).

Characteristics of a correlation resource

Achievement standard: Reference to an achievement standard to which the educational resource correlates.
Correlation Factor: The degree of fit between the educational resource and the achievement standard to which that educational resource is being correlated.
Authority: Identification of the creator of the correlation.
Method of creation: Identification of the means by which the correlation was created--e.g., human, machine-derived, hybrid (human & machine).
Description: Discussion of the analytic methods used in making the correlation.

The Correlation Resource is necessary to meet a number of needs of teachers searching for educational resources. In daily practice, teachers use correlations of resources to standards for two separate, but related tasks:

Information Search and Retrieval. Consistently represented achievement standards can enhance information retrieval recall and precision by allowing a teacher to retrieve all and only resources addressing a specific achievement standard. Information about the learning objectives of a resource is frequently as important as its subject, and, on occasion, even more important. All teaching and learning activities include either explicit or implicit higher-level learning objectives that find expression in the promulgated achievement standards. Having the ability to target resources based on those standards can optimize limited teacher time spent searching. In addition, cross-mappings among similar standards in different jurisdictions enabled by unique identification and representation of standards makes it possible to expand searches to discover resources correlated to similar standards in other jurisdictions.
Resource Compliance. The political imperative for accountability in primary and secondary education means that teachers not only use the correlations for the general purposes of search and retrieval, but also to help them be accountable in their responsibilities to the children in their classrooms, the children’s parents, the school, district and the nation. As a result, this task is permeated with issues of trust and levels of teacher confidence in the quality of a correlation. Research confirms that where the “consequences of use of information” or the “act or commitment based on information” are considered significant by the information seeker, they exercise heightened scrutiny in making information quality judgments. An information seeker’s trust is gained only when he or she sees the creator of the information as a “cognitive authority.” Thus, cognitive authority is concerned with how people trust one another’s opinions and is a conditional state of credibility bestowed by a trusting individual on someone or an agency. In essence, cognitive authority is rooted in identity and reputation and is concerned about “who knows what about what.” Thus, being able to identify the creator of the correlation and his or her affiliation will be necessary to building cognitive authority and trust.

These two tasks demand different levels of accuracy and precision in the correlation. A teacher might be quite satisfied for purposes of search and retrieval with correlations that manage to retrieve and to collocate resources more or less addressing an achievement standard. However, that teacher is likely to be dissatisfied with such results when looking for resources correlated with precision and authority in order to complete part of the fabric of his or her local curriculum. Thus, quality as “fitness for purpose” must be measured against both of these tasks. The Correlation Resource is necessary to accommodate the more particular demands of accountability.

Properties and Controlled Vocabularies

TABLE OF PROPERTIES AND CONTROLLED VOCABULARIES
Label	Decription	URI
Correlation Resource (and Related) Properties
Has Correlation	The described educational resource has a standards correlation resource.	http://purl.org/ASN/schema/core/hasCorrelation
Creator	An entity primarily responsible for making the [correlation] resource.	http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/creator
Conforms To	A reference to an established standard to which the resource conforms.	http://purl.org/dc/terms/conformsTo
Correlation Method	The method used to generate the correlation. ['human,' 'machine-derived,' 'hybrid']	http://purl.org/ASN/schema/core/correlationMethod
Correlation Factor	The strength of fit among concepts of interest in the educational resource and the standard. ['major," 'minor,' 'broad,' 'narrow']	http://purl.org/ASN/schema/core/correlationFactor
Description	An account of the correlation principles used to generate the resource.	http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/description
Correlation Factor Controlled Vocabulary
Major Correlation	Major overlap of concepts of interest between the educational resource and the achievement standard.	http://purl.org/ASN/scheme/CorrelationFactor/MajorCorrelation
Minor Correlation	Minor overlap of concepts of interest between the educational resource and the achievement standard.	http://purl.org/ASN/scheme/CorrelationFactor/MinorCorrelation
Broad Correlation	The standard covers all of the concepts of interest in the educational resource as well as concepts of interest not found in the educational resource.	http://purl.org/ASN/scheme/CorrelationFactor/BroadCorrelation
Narrow Correlation	The educational resource covers all of the concepts of interest in the standard as well as concepts of interest not found in the achievement standard.	http://purl.org/ASN/scheme/CorrelationFactor/NarrowCorrelation
Exact Correlation	The concepts of interest in the educational resource and the standard statement are co-exstensive.	http://purl.org/ASN/scheme/CorrelationFactor/ExactCorrelation
Method of Correlation Controlled Vocabulary
Human	A correlation created by a human.	http://purl.org/ASN/scheme/ASNCorrelationMethod/Human
Machine Derived	A correlation created by a machine (e.g., natural language processing).	http://purl.org/ASN/scheme/ASNCorrelationMethod/MachineDerived
Hybrid	A correlation created through machine/human interaction (e.g., an automated "suggester" system).	http://purl.org/ASN/scheme/ASNCorrelationMethod/Hybrid

Example

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> 
    <dcxf:descriptionSet xmlns:dcxf="http://dublincore.org/xml/dc-xml-full/2007/06/19">

        <!--BEGIN DESCRIPTION OF EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE -->
        <dcxf:description dcxf:resourceURI="http://whyfiles.org/107flood/index.html">

        <dcxf:statement dcxf:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/title">
             <dcxf:literalValueString xml:lang="en-US">Flood of Evidence</dcxf:literalValueString>
        </dcxf:statement>
 
        ...

        <dcxf:statement dcxf:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/conformsTo" 
             dcxf:valueURI="http://purl.org/ASN/resources/S100AB7D" /> 
        <dcxf:statement dcxf:propertyURI="http://purl.org/ASN/schema/core/hasCorrelation" 
             dcxf:valueRef="correlation" /> 
               
        </dcxf:description>
        <!-- END DESCRIPTION OF THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE -->
  
  
        <!-- BEGIN RELATED DESCRIPTION OF STANDARD CORRELATION -->
        <dcxf:description dcxf:resourceID="correlation">
    
        <dcxf:statement dcxf:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/creator" 
             dcfx:valueURI="http://example.org/agents/JBillings">
             <dcxf:valueString>James Billings</dcxf:valueString>
        </dcxf:statement>

        <dcxf:statement dcxf:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/conformsTo" 
             dcxf:valueURI="http://purl.org/ASN/resources/S101582F" />        

        <dcxf:statement dcxf:propertyURI="http://purl.org/ASN/schema/core/correlationFactor" 
             dcxf:valueURI="http://purl.org/ASN/scheme/CorrelationFactor/MajorCorrelation" />

        <dcxf:statement dcxf:propertyURI="http://purl.org/ASN/schema/core/correlationMethod" 
             dcxf:valueURI="http://purl.org/ASN/scheme/ASNCorrelationMethod/Human"> 
             <dcxf:valueString>Human</dcxf:valueString>
        </dcxf:statement>

        <dcxf:statement dcxf:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/description">
             <dcxf:literalValueString xml:lang="en-US">This correlation was originally derived 
             by machine with human evaluation of the result.</dcxf:literalValueString>
        </dcxf:statement>      
        
      </dcxf:description>
    </dcxf:descriptionSet>

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