e-Learning Platform Implementation - Learning Object an Learning Design Management Through Metadata Standards

Abstract

AHKME (Adaptive Hypermedia Knowledge Management E-learning) system main aim is to provide a modular and extensible system with adaptive and knowledge management abilities for students and teachers. This system is based on the IMS specifications, developed by the IMS consortium since 2001, that allow the representation of information through metadata, granting semantics to all contents in the system, giving them meaning. Metadata is used to satisfy requirements like reusability, interoperability and multipurpose. The system provides authoring tools to define learning methods with adaptive characteristics, and tools to create courses allowing users with different roles, student or staff, promoting several types of collaborative and group learning. The system is also endowed with tools to retrieve, import and evaluate learning objects based on metadata, where students can use and learn through quality educational contents taking into account their characteristics. Also teachers have the possibility of using quality educational contents to structure their courses and activities. In our system, metadata management and metadata evaluation play an important role in order to get the best results in the teaching/learning process. Regarding the mechanics of the system, we have divided it in four different subsystems. These subsystems are in constant communication receiving feedback between them in order to adapt to students, teachers and different kinds of learning contexts. In order to develop our system we have started to analyse several current existing e-learning platforms and systems to identify strong points and weaknesses, so we could try to overcome these weeknesses with our system. We have also analysed several standards and specifications to find the one that best fitted our needs in order to help us reach our objectives. In this paper we will focus on the two subsystems that make possible the management and evaluation of learning objects through metadata described by the IMS specifications.