An Architecture for Courseware Validation

1. Mark Melia & Claus Pahl EdTech2007 – DIT An Architecture for Courseware Validation

2. Introduction • Courseware validation – pedagogical validation of courseware as specified by the course creator after course construction • Range of information can be used for validation – needs to be organised in such a way which allows for validation

3. Agenda Motivation Courseware information available for pedagogical validation Layered architecture for courseware validation The domain model The goal and constraints model The learner model The courseware model The validation model Summary & future work 3

4. Standards Motivation - Background • Courseware development is changing • What about the course pedagogy? Learning Management Systems Learning Object Repositories 4

5. Motivation • Courseware construction  assembly of learning objects  typical 12-13 week course at 3rd level • Pedagogy is extremely important when creating courseware • Most modern courseware authoring is content driven • Pedagogy could have been overlooked during courseware construction • Courseware validation allows us to check courseware pedagogy • For validation to take place the vast amount of course information must be managed 5

6. Courseware information available for validation • In order to validate  Identify what information is available for validation • Courseware information changes all the time • We look to capture information at post-construction/pre-delivery 6

7. Courseware information available for validation 7

8. Layered Architecture for Courseware Validation • Course aspects are a course’s pre-defined scope, content and design • Make aspects available after courseware construction – courseware can be validated against it • A layered model can be used to organise course aspects • Based on the LAOS model used to manage Adaptive Educational Hypermedia (AEH) aspects (Cristea & de Mooij 2003) 8

9. Layered Architecture for Courseware Validation 9

10. The Layered Model – The Domain Model Layer • Domain model represents conceptual information for domain being taught • Sourced from authority of the subject domain 10

11. The Layered Model – The Goal and Constraints Model Layer • Represents fundamental pedagogical information overlaid on concept model layer • Course Goal • Course Constraints OR p p 11

12. The Layered Model – The Learner Model Layer • Capture assumed learner knowledge  the course pre-requisites • Necessary as concepts outside course scope may be assumed knowledge OR p p p 12

13. The Layered Model – The Courseware Model Layer 13

14. The Layered Model – The Validation Model Layer • Allows for the specification of pedagogical rules • Split into • Inter-conceptual rules  dealing with learner progression from one concept grouping to another • Intra-conceptual rules  dealing with learning content in a particular concept 14

15. Summary & Future Work • Our paper motivates the need for pedagogical validation of courseware • We have identified the courseware aspects needed for validation • Set out an information architecture with which manages the courseware aspects to allow for courseware validation • We are now using this architecture to develop a courseware validation toolkit for course creators 15

16. Questions • Questions, comments welcome • Thank you for listening • Contact Details • Email: mark.melia@computing.dcu.ie 16 16