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Educational Modelling Languages - Overview
Educational Modelling Languages (EMLs) are design languages to create models of educational units. EMLs are intended to enable the modelling of any educational unit, independently of the pedagogical approach, context, users or resources employed.
To achieve the previous goal, existing EMLs have been conceived as process-based languages, focused on the description of tasks that have to be performed in accordance with some control. Each task involves a certain roles (e.g., learners, teachers) that have to work on an environment, that includes resources and tools, in order to achieve a certain goal. The control that can be introduced in the modelling of educational units varies depending on the EML, but it is usually included issues such as: order of the tasks, assignments of participants to roles and transfer of data. In this way, EMLs are used to create highly-structured course material. An EML-based course might offer features such as: re-useable course material, personalised interaction for individual students, media independence, etc.
In September 2002 the CEN/ISSS WS-LT produced a survey of EMLs that includes the following definition:
An EML is a semantic rich information model and binding, describing the content and process within 'units of study' from a pedagogical perspective
A wiki about EMLs have been created and it is available a here.
In the final report this workshop studied six EMLs: CDF, OUNL EML, LMML, PALO, Targeteam, TML / Netquest. The report concludes that just OUNL EML and PALO can been identified as EMLs. In addition, in January 2003 IMS issued the IMS Learning Design (IMS LD) specification. |
Terms of use
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These contents have been obtained from the OUNL EML documents and edited for presentation. Please refer to the OUNL EML site for additional information on terms of use.
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Scope
The OUNL EML is a notational system developed by the Open University of the Netherlands (OUNL) in the late nineties and intended to describe a wide variety of instructional models (e.g., Competency Based Learning, Problem Based Learning). |
Purpose
This EML is used to describe course material in a generalised and abstract form and almost any kind of pedagogical model can be represented. Once described in EML, these models are able to be interpreted (or ‘played’) by an EML-aware software component (or ‘player’), analogous to the way HTML is interpreted by a browser. A prototype EML player has been used at OUNL for the past couple of years and a production quality player is currently undergoing final field trials. |
Terms of use
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These contents have been obtained from the PALO web site and edited for presentation. Please refer to the UNED web site for additional information on terms of use.
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Scope
UNED Group in Learning Technologies and Cooperative Systems
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PALO is a proposal of to describe and design learning content and learning environments at a high level of abstraction.
PALO language is an open proposal of EML developed at the Department of Languages and Computer Systems at UNED University. Educative content written in PALO has been tested since academic years 98/99 at the SENSEI educative web site of the Dept. of Languages and Computer Systems of UNED University.
PALO files are processed using a PALO Compiler called paloc. The compiler is invoked and configured from an visual interface developed in Tk/Tcl. |
Purpose
PALO has been designed to be a technology-independent representation of a learning resource, thus allowing educative content interchange, interoperability, maintainability and reusability. A PALO description of a learning content (a *.palo file) can be turned into a variety of learning scenarios (each one built using an specific delivery format) via a compiling process. |
Terms of use
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These contents have been obtained from the IMS Global Learning Consortium official Web site and edited for presentation. Please refer to the IMS Global Learning Consortium official Web site for additional information on terms of use
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Scope
IMS Global Learning Consortium
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The IMS Learning Design specification is a language for modelling 'units of study'. It is based in the OUNL EML and has been accepted recently as a public draft (January 2003). Its objective is to provide a containment framework of elements that can describe any design of a teaching-learning process in a formal way. It provides a generic and flexible language that supports the definition of learning designs according to different pedagogical approaches.
IMS LD is an integrative proposal of a number of other existing IMS specifications: IMS content packaging, IMS Metadata/LOM, IMS Question and Test Interoperability, and IMS Simple Sequencing. |
Purpose
The purpose of the IMS LD specification is to provide a level of abstraction for the description of learning processes, offering constructs generic to different pedagogical approaches.
A key task of the IMS Learning Design Working Group was "the development of a framework that supports pedagogical diversity and innovation, while promoting the exchange and interoperability of e-learning materials".
The language supports the definition of learning designs according to different pedagogical approaches and facilitates the development of new ones. To the developer of learning technologies, the language enables pedagogical diversity to be supported through the implementation of a single engine, rather than either having to implement multiple engines for each approach, or remaining 'pedagogically agnostic' by providing no specific support for any. |
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