Enhancing Science Education through a Partnership of Digital Libraries

1. Enhancing Science Education through a Partnership of Digital Libraries Presentation for theIndo-US Workshop on Digital LibrariesNational Science Foundation, Washington, DC, USA Dave Fulker, NSDL Executive Director24 June 2003

2. Outline of Presentation • Sketching the NSDL (a US-centric view) • Background and mission • Open questions (drawn from the mission) • Current status (as reflected by annual meeting) • Addressing definitional and strategic matters • Goals for each of 4 facets of the NSDL • Developing common infrastructure • Thoughts on common India & US interests

3. Background Information onThe NSDL • Funding agency: The National Science Foundation/ • Education and Human Resources Directorate (EHR) • Scope: Education, for all ages and all venues, in • Science, technology, engineering and mathematics • Construction: Distributed holdings and services, provided and maintained by many players • Joined by a “Core Integration” team (led by presenter) • Status: Funded for 2001, 2002, 2003 and continuing • Over 100 awards granted, so far, along 3 tracks: • Collections • Services • Directed research

4. The NSDL Mission • Enhancing science education through a partnership of digital libraries joined by common technical and organizational frameworks. • In greater detail: • The NSDL mission is to enhance science, technology, engineering and mathematics education through a partnership of digital libraries joined by common technical and organizational frameworks. • Individually and collectively these partners engage and inform multiple clienteles, using shared resources to serve many communities of users, each with its own level of knowledge and learning model. • The NSDL also embodies longstanding library traditions of service, longevity, equal access, fair use, and privacy, as well as innovations that foster a spirit of inquiry and the accessibility of science to all.

5. Open Questions (Drawn from the Mission) • Definitional matters • What precisely are the common technical and organizational frameworks on which to build effective partnering? • What shared resources will “serve many communities of users,” even where learning modalities differ? • What do library traditions of service, longevity, equal access, fair use, and privacy actually mean in the digital world? • What innovations will in fact foster a spirit of inquiry and the accessibility of science to all? • Strategic matters, especially phasing & scalability • What capabilities should be addressed first? • What is the best use of (limited) human effort in joining large numbers of collections, services, and specialized views? • What is the operational definition of an NSDL “partner”

6. The NSDL All-Projects Meeting • Third annual, held 2-4 December 2002 • Featured 76 posters from 109 NSF-funded projects • Initial release of the NSDL (at nsdl.org) • Focus sessions • Collection building: metadata, OAI, & other issues • Service integration & creation, incl. portal development • Authentication, authorization, & IP rights • Longevity & preservation • Evaluation • Building content & quality control • Effective/emerging uses of NSDL in learning & teaching • Integrating NSDL into formal & informal learning

7. Discipline Anatomy Anthropology Astronomy Astrophysics Biology Chemistry Computer Science Earth System Science Environmental Science Engineering Kinematics Microeconomics Mathematics Oceanography Physics Technology Data Type Applet or Application Article Collection-building Tool Course Database Graph Handheld Software Image or Animation Learning Object Movie or Video Observed or Simulated Data Ontology Pedagogy Case Study Review or Annotation Strand Map Surrogate (book, specimen...) The Flavor of the All-Projects Postersorganized along 3 dimensions of specialization • Learning Context • Informal • K-4 • 5-8 • 9-12 • Undergraduate • Teacher Preparation • Course Development • Community of Practice • Cataloging many of these are relatively language independent

8. EducationalInnovation Collections & Services Technical Innovation LeveragedPartnerships A Framework to Address Definitional & Strategic MattersFour Facets of the NSDL A library of exemplary educational collections and services A center for innovation in science education A leveraging partnership among resource/service providers A locus of technical innovation for educational digital libraries

9. Goals for NSDL as a Library of Exemplary Collections and Services • Dependable, useful collections, eventually of great breadth & depth • Services that enhance usability • General-purpose & specialized views (i.e., a multiplicity of digital libraries) • Increasing numbers of satisfied users, eventually spanning all of science education • Well-monitored, operational infrastructure

10. Goals for NSDL as a Center of Innovation in Science Education • Collaboration environment as “community center,” with knowledge & resource sharing • NSDL users as contributors • Evaluative feedback, influencing advances • Partners with educational strength & reach • Collaboration on effective applications of educational digital libraries • Influence on education context & policy

11. Goals for NSDL as a Locus of Technical Innovation in Educational Digital Libraries • Large-scale distributed architecture • Environment for user contribution & collaboration  “communities of practice” • Widespread use of NSDL standards & guidelines • NSDL as a premier vehicle for investigating & testing the practicality of innovation in large-scale educational contexts

12. Goals for NSDL as aLeveraging Partnership among Resource & Service Providers • Well-defined participation model, fostering educational excellence • Inclusion of all NSDL-funded projects • Inclusion of publishers, professional societies, & other educationally oriented partners • Constructive discourse on the partnership • A plausible strategy for sustainability

13. The “Initial Release” NSDL—Built on a Centralized Metadata Repository & OAI • The metadata repository is the primary basis for service provision. • It provides information about every collection & item in NSDL including “branding” & “inclusion” relations: • Item A is contained in Collection B • Items in Collection B should be displayed with brand X Services OAI Users Metadata repository OAI Collections

14. Strategy for Extending the Metadata Repository:A Data Warehouse, Specialized for Relationships

15. Publisher Offerings Document Repositories Other Web Resources Data Stores Databases Diverse Network of Partner Librariesand Services(retail) Specialized Mining Data Annotation NSDL Data Warehouse:Entities and their Relationships(wholesale) Harvesting, Gathering, Normalization Digital Sources

16. Preliminary Thoughts on Common India and US Agenda • Open questions (slightly reframed) • What technical frameworks will support international partnering? • What shared resources will “serve many communities of users,” even where learning modalities differ greatly? • What do library traditions of service, longevity, equal access, fair use, and privacy actually mean in the global Internet age? • What innovations will foster an spirit of inquiry and the accessibility of science to all on trans-national scales • What is the best use of human effort in joining highly diverse collections and services, including digital libraries specialized to meet the needs of greatly differing communities? • How does this differ from traditional librarianship? • Can it build trans-cultural understanding