Vocabularies for the DC-Ed Application Profile
The DC-Ed Community decided at the DCMI Conference in Mexico that one
task for 2007 would be defining a candidate list of jurisdictional and
non-jurisdictional vocabularies for the DC-Ed Application Profile. See
the ![[WWW]](Vocabularies_files/moin-www.png){kind=small}
DC Education Working Group Session Report for more information.
The focus of this work has been gathering and evaluating vocabularies
for Type and Instructional Method. There has been a lot of progress in
these two areas, however, submissions and suggestions for vocabularies
for inclusion are still welcome. Vocabularies for Subject and Audience
will be looked at in 2007/2008 after the DC2007 conference.
This page will be the focal point for making public information about
these vocabularies. Gathering of information and discussion will take
place on the Community Mailing List. Please join the group if you'd like to take part, or email ![[MAILTO]](Vocabularies_files/moin-email.png){kind=small}
Sarah Currier or Diane Hillmann.
Defining a Candidate List of Vocabularies
In March 2007, Diane Hillmann sent to the DC-Ed e-mail list
a draft of four possible criteria for determining whether vocabularies
may be included in the DC-Ed AP. There was some discussion on the list.
Then, on April 16, 2007, Sarah Currier presented the same four
criteria to a meeting of the JISC-CETIS Metadata and Digital Repositories Special Interest Group, which also sparked a lively discussion. See the March 2007 archive of the e-mail list, and Sarah's JISC CETIS MDR SIG Meeting Report on the SIG discussion for further information.
The draft Four Criteria for Candidate Vocabularies seem to be generally accepted as a good thing
in the sense of encouraging potential interoperability. However, there
are misgivings in the community about the fact that virtually no
vocabularies will meet all of the criteria in the foreseeable future,
and that this might inhibit people putting vocabularies forward for
inclusion. There are other issues, to do with maintenance of
vocabularies, and ownership of widely used vocabularies, e.g. the
standard IEEE LOM vocabulary for Learning Resource Type does not itself meet the criteria.
The following ideas for ways forward have been under consideration:
* Devising a clear statement about what it means for DC-Ed to recommend a vocabulary as part of its AP.
* Writing a clear introduction to the four draft criteria emphasising that these are good things for interoperability and reusability, but that they are something to work toward, and that vocabularies that don't meet all four will be considered.
* Beginning to list candidate vocabularies here on the DC-Ed Wiki, showing all vocabularies, noting which of the criteria they meet and how.
These ideas will be further put to the DC-Ed Community via the e-mail list, and more news will be posted here when it's available.
Candidate Vocabularies for Instructional Method and Type
The DC-Ed Community Moderators have collated a list of all the
vocabularies they could find for these two properties. The list may be
viewed here.
It consist of two tables of vocabularies, noting their jurisdiction
(i.e. the geographic area to which the vocabularies apply), and notes on
whether they meet the four draft criteria.
If you know of a vocabulary that could be included in either table, or
have further information about the vocabularies listed, please contact
Co-Moderator Sarah Currier.
Clearly, it would be easy for the list to become a de facto registry of
vocabularies, and there are many other properties of vocabularies that
could be noted here. Discussion is ongoing within the DC-Ed Community
regarding what needs to be recorded. Please feed back to the Moderators
or via the DC-Ed e-mail list.
Sources of Information About Relevant Vocabularies
JISC-CETIS Pedagogical Vocabularies Review
In 2006 JISC-CETIS published three review documents as a result of a
study on the current landscape relating to pedagogical vocabularies. Report 1
is the Pedagogical Vocabularies Review, which inventories existing
pedagogical vocabularies, including flat lists, taxonomies, thesauri,
ontologies and classification schemes, relevant to the UK post-16 and HE
education sectors, with reference to current work in Europe. The
pedagogical vocabularies described in this report include those that
cover mainly instructional method, but due to the blurring of the two
areas in some vocabularies, resource type as related to education is
also covered. DC-Ed work and some relevant American vocabularies are
also included. Contact Sarah Currier for more information.
Becta Vocabulary Bank
Becta is the British Education Communications and Technology
Association, a central educational agency. Their vocabulary bank aims
to be the premier repository for controlled curriculum vocabularies used
in UK education. These vocabularies are freely available to providers
of digital learning resources to the education sector. Vocabularies are
searchable, browsable and downloadable in ZThes format.
At present, the vocabularies mainly cover curriculum areas by subject.
However, it is likely that other educational vocabularies will be
submitted in future. For instance, the ACLearn
(Adult and Community Learning) vocabulary that is currently held in the
Bank includes sub-nodes for Teaching Resources by Type, and for Course
Delivery, which includes instructional method terms.
JISC-CETIS Metadata and Repositories Special Interest Group
This SIG maintains an informative website with up-to-date information
on everything relating to educational metadata, including application
profiles and vocabularies.