NSDL: Towards Reusable and Shareable Courseware: Topic Maps-Based Digital Libraries

在基于网络的课程支持环境中，教师的有效性和参与开放式学习和教学任务的学习者的效率关键取决于他们获得的支持：学习者检索相关信息以执行其学习任务，教师创建和维护在线教学材料。学习资源的可查找性和数字化教育资源库的可重用性和可共享性是两组相关的问题。这些问题的解决方案只有在储存库的数字内容是基于标准的情况下才是可行的。网络学习资源库的标准化不仅要从技术的角度出发，而且要从知识的角度出发，本项目为更好地理解和解决网络学习资源库的有效检索、共享、重用和交换等问题提供了一条途径。深入分析的应用程序的新的ISO标准，主题地图，在NSDL的框架内揭示了它如何比较其他语义Web解决方案沿着类似的尺寸。基于概念的数字课程库体系结构为有效的基于上下文的学习资源检索以及更深入地理解特定学科领域的本体结构提供了基础。基于主题地图的架构实现提供了一个统一的框架，基于标准的知识和信息表示和管理，这意味着可重用性，可共享性和互操作性的学习内容。支持本体感知的数字课程库的开发环境为课件作者和用户提供了一种替代解决方案，在某些情况下可以更好地满足他们的需求。该项目影响了基于Web的教育系统和数字图书馆社区，包括设计者，开发者和用户这些系统的所有成员（教师、作者），并通过它们影响各种形式的教育--正规、非正规和终身学习--的学习者。它促进了新的ISO标准的主题地图的教育目的的使用，并提供了关于本体论可以在数字图书馆和教学technology.This软件工具中发挥的作用的洞察力，提高了基于Web的学习支持环境中的学习者和教师的绩效。

The effectiveness of instructors and efficiency of learners engaged in open-learning and teaching tasks in Web-based course support environments depend crucially on the support they receive: for learners in retrieving relevant information to perform their learning tasks and for instructors in creating and maintaining online teaching and learning material. Two groups of related problems concern correspondingly findability of learning resources and reusability and shareability of digital educational repositories. A solution to these problems is only viable if the digital content of the repositories is standards-based. Standardization of e-learning repositories should be addressed not only from a technological perspective but also from a knowledge perspective.This project provides a path to better understanding and solving some problems related to efficient retrieval, sharing, reuse, and interchange of discipline-specific repositories of learning objects on the Web. An in-depth analysis of the application of the new ISO standard, Topic Maps, within the framework of NSDL reveals how it compares to other Semantic Web solutions along similar dimensions. The concept-based architecture of digital course libraries provides grounds for efficient context-based retrieval of learning resources as well as for deeper understanding of the ontological structure of the specific subject domain. The topic maps-based implementation of the architecture provides a unifying framework for standards-based knowledge and information representation and management, which implies reusability, shareability, and interoperability of the learning content. The developed environment for supporting ontology-aware digital course libraries offers an alternative solution to courseware authors and users, which in some cases could meet better their needs.This project impacts Web-based educational systems and digital libraries communities including designers, developers, and users (instructors, authors) of such systems, and through them on learners involved in various forms of education - formal, informal, and lifelong learning. It promotes the use of the new ISO standard Topic Maps for educational purposes and provides insight about the role that ontologies can play in digital libraries and instructional technology.This software tool improves the performance effectiveness of both learners and instructors in Web-based learning support environments.