Interoperability of Curricula by using Competencies

http://calibrate.eun.org


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Interoperability of Curricula by using

Competencies

Presented by David Massart

On behalf of Frans Van Assche

TenCompetence Workshop - 11 January 2007 2



CALIBRATE project

One of the objectives: To research machine-readable descriptions of national curricula and investigate mapping approaches that can improve the semantic interoperability between systems in the discovery, evaluation and use of learning resources

Example: If a teacher in Austria tags a resource according to the Austrian national curriculum can a teacher in Flanders find it when browsing the Flemish regional curriculum if it is indeed on the same subject?




Challenges

Interoperability of Curricula Linking resources to curricula using the LOM

and perhaps other ways




Curricula at different levels




Real Curriculum Example

1.1 Number theory1.1.1 Concept formation/knowledge of facts

The pupils1 can associate natural, whole and rational numbers with realistic and meaningful

contexts;2 know the symbol rules for whole and rational numbers;3 know that the properties of the operations in the set of natural numbers remain

valid and can be expanded in the sets of whole and rational numbers;4 distinguish and understand the various notations of rational numbers (fractional

and decimal notation);5 use the appropriate terminology in relation to operations: addition, sum, terms of a

sum, subtraction, difference, multiplication, product, factors of a product, division, quotient, dividend, divisor, remainder, percent, square, square root, power, base, exponent, opposite, reciprocal, absolute value, average.




Tagging the curriculum

A curriculum item can be expressed as a set of targeted competences (see bullets)

1 The pupils can associate natural, whole and rational numbers with realistic and meaningful contexts;

Associate natural numbers with realistic and meaningful context Associate integers with realistic and meaningful context Associate rational numbers with realistic and meaningful context

A competence is defined in terms of <Action expression, Topic>– Example:

Topic: integers Action expression: Associate with realistic context




Topic Taxonomy




Action Expression Taxonomy

Anderson and Kratwohl (2001) Kratwohl, Bloom, and Masia (1964)Dave (1975)




T o p i c T a x o n o m y

A c t i o n v e r b

T a x o n o m y

T o p i c T a x o n o m yT o p i c T a x o n o m yN a t i o n a l / R e g i o n a l

C u r r i c u l u m

C o m p e t e n c y

T a x o n o m y

Referenced by

Refers to

Narrower term

C u r r i c u l u m

I t e m

Contains

Taxonomies

The pupils can associate natural, whole and rational numbers with realistic and

meaningful contexts

Associate integers with realistic and meaningful

contexts

Integer

Associate with realistic context




Linking resources and curricula

By Extension By Intension

Linking a particular

curriculum item

(or competency) to one

or more resources

Linking a particular

resource to one

or more curriculum items

(or competencies)

CI-046 could make use

of LO-007 , LO-876,

Or LO-432

LO-432 could be used in

support of CI-046, CI-321,

Or CI-642

CI-046 could make use

of LOs with age 8-9 and

Language nl and

Competency C-067

LO-432 could be used in

Support of curriculum

Items with competencies

C-067 or C-531




Intensional description of resources

Possible LOM elements:Keyword, Coverage, Structure, Aggregation Level, Interactivity Type, Learning Resource Type, Interactivity Level, Semantic Density, Intended End User Role, Context, Typical Age Range, Difficulty, Typical Learning Time, Language, Classification (discipline, purpose).







Finding resources to the curriculum



2 The pupils know the symbol rules for whole and rational numbers;

Recall symbol rules for integersRecall symbol rules for rational numbers

12 Resources

8 Resources




Relating resources to the curriculum



2 The pupils know the symbol rules for whole and rational numbers;

Recall symbol rules for integersRecall symbol rules for rational numbers

Relate

Relate




Other ways of finding resources

Interviews of teachers– Browsing the Topic taxonomy possibly up to

competencies– Browsing the Action expression taxonomy

possibly up to competencies

• Relaxing the search




T o p i c T a x o n o m y

A c t i o n v e r b

T a x o n o m y

T o p i c T a x o n o m yT o p i c T a x o n o m yN a t i o n a l / R e g i o n a l

C u r r i c u l u m

C o m p e t e n c y

T a x o n o m y

Referenced by

Refers to

Narrower term

C u r r i c u l u m

I t e m

Contains

TaxonomiesNumber as BT of

Integer

Associate as BT of Associate with realistic context




Preliminary Evaluation

Teachers– Focusgroup confirms usefulness

Scientific– Grounded into a long tradition

Some Ministries confirm usefulness Try it yourself

– Try to find resources suitable for developing the competency “Associate integers with realistic and meaningful context” with Google










Discussing The Approach Makes interoperability possible by making use of two smaller controlled vocabularies

Builds on proven technologies, i.e. thesauri, and well-known vocabularies for the action expressions

Allows for relaxing the search criteria building upon the hierarchical structure of the two vocabularies

Is resilient to change in curricula and to the addition of new curricula

Fits very well with the current practice of describing learning objects (section 9 of the IEEE LOM standard can be used without alteration)




Contact / Information

Frans Van Assche <[email protected]>

Documents

Interoperability of Curricula by using Competencies