[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

EDUML v0.5



EDUML (XML) v0.5 (dec 12 1998)
------------------------------

changes since v0.4
+ <birthday> tag in learner name suggested by Bill Tihen <bill@tasis.ch>
+ date tags use ISO format: YYYY/MM/DD Justin Maurer <mike911@clark.net>
+ <note> tag in <stakeholder> - Eric Sandeen <sandeen.no.spam@io.com>
+ completely redid the whole attendance/test/lesson section with a
  single <act> tag after reflecting on Eric Sandeen's comments
+ redid scale/marks section after reflecting on Eric Sandeen's comments
+ corrected location of <style> thanks to Duane Morin <dmorin@tiac.net>
+ added "when" and "where" attributes to <stakeholder><contact> 
  thanks to Duane Morin <dmorin@tiac.net>
+ added <edu:ml> (reserve edu namespace?) tags to start and end the whole set
  and removed "edu:" everywhere else thanks to Duane Morin <dmorin@tiac.net>

changes since v0.3 
+ <contact> tags everywhere; suggested by Duane Morin <dmorin@tiac.net>
+ <pronounce> tag suggested by Michael A Hamblin <michaelh@utdallas.edu>
+ <catalogue_code> and <edu:library> by Doug Loss <dloss@csrlink.net>
+ given, alias and family names are now details of <name> tag
+ course subscription is now a detail of optional course mailing list    
+ added <stakeholder> for learner's parents/guardians/etc... contact
  suggested by Tim Wilson <wilson@chemsun.chem.umn.edu>
+ symmetric structure and tag-names improved (<name> instead of <label>)
+ I hope I did not miss anyone ... I am really rushing this.
  thanks to all for you quick and useful responses

question: should we use esperanto for tag names? (I'm thinking Mexico and
  France would feel more at home with international looking tags); If so,
  does anyone know enough esperanto to help me with the translation?

question: do librarians all use the cataloguing code as the unique resource
  id for their resources?  in which case I can eleminate redundancy.

<!doctype xml v1.0>
<edu:ml>
<school id="unique-school-id-code, can be a home">
 <name> Formal School Name </name>
 <contact>
   <snail> post office address goes here </snail>
   <fax> fax number </fax>
   <phone> phone number </phone>
   <email> postmaster@school </email>
   <uri> website for the school </uri>
   </contact>

 <learner id="unique-learner-id-in-this-school">
  <name>
    <given> Formal Given Name </given>
    <alias> Informal Aliases </alias>
    <middle> middle names </middle>
    <birthday> universal date format </birthday>
    <family> Family Name </family>
    <pronounce> phonetic spelling for substitutes </pronounce>
    </name>
  <contact>
    <email> learner@email </email>
    <snail> post office address goes here </snail>
    <uri> URL of portfolio webpage </uri>
    <phone> phone number </phone>
    <fax> fax number </fax> 
    </contact>
  <style> learning style and preferences keywords </style>
  <stakeholder>
    <name> name tags of parents/guardians/other stakeholder </name>
    <note> relationship to learner or other relevant detail </note>
    <contact when="night,day,emergency" where="home,work">
      <snail> land address </snail>
      <phone> phone number </phone>
      <email> stakeholder's email </email>
      </contact>
   </stakeholder>
  <course id="unique-course-id-at-this-school"> 
    <start> date learner started this course </start>
    <act id="unique act (lesson, quiz, test, lab, attendance...) identifier">
      <date> YYYY/MM/DD </date>
      <comment> anecdote about this educational act </comment>
      <scale id="unique scale identifier"> performance code </scale>
      <mark>  mark based on course's default performance coding system </mark>
      <time> time spent </time>
      <marker> marker's id </marker>
      </act>
    <end> date course ends </end>
    </course>
  </learner>


 <course id="unique course-id">
   <name> Course Name </name>
   <mentor> teacher, instructor, mentor unique id </mentor>
   <contact>
     <room> room, or virtual room where learners meet </room>
     <email> course mailing list (if any) 
       <subscribe> email subscription address </subscribe>
       </email>
     </contact>
   <path id="unique sequence identifier">
     <plo id="unique plo identifier">
       <high> highest score possible (default 100%) </high>
       <weight type="relative or absolute"> factor or percentage </weight>
       </plo>
     </path>
   </course>
	     
 <room id="unique room id">
   <name> label or name </name>
   <contact> 
     words or tags to describe location 
     </contact>
   <schedule>
     <course id="unique course-id"> time slot </course>
     </schedule>
   </room>
			      
</school>

<--! assessment -------------------------------------------------->

<scale id="unique scale identifier">
  <description> a paragraph explaining this marking schema </description>
  <high> default highest mark </high>
  <list> an array of permissible marks if finite </list>
  </scale>

<issuer id="bruno">
  <name> formal name of issuer </name>
  <contact>
    <email> issuer's email </email>
    <snail> issuer's address </snail>
    <uri> issuer's website </uri>
    </contact>
  <plo id="unique id for this issuer's prescribed learning outcome">
    <plo id="issuer:unique id"> prerequisite or composite </plo>
    <name> formal description for this PLO </name>
    <alias> historical plo aliases for smooth transitions </alias>
    <act id="unique assessment id (marked activity)">
      <item type="mult. choice, short ans., mathching, t/f, assign, lab, ..."> 
        <style> learning style + preferences keywords </style>
	<listref> URI for reference list </listref>
	<list> actual list typed in here </list>
        <script id="unique prog. language id" library="URI for library">
	   question + instructions + loads reference lists; 
	   randomize as much as possible based on lists;
	   code snippet that displays question, accepts input,
	   checks answer + scale matrix, provides score.
    	  </script>
        </item>
      </act>
    <act id="unique lesson id (un-marked activity)">
      <item type="self-assignment, reading, self-lab, etc... >
        <style> learning style code </style>
	<script id="unique prog. language" library="URI for library">
	  code snippet for interactive lesson, or browser call or
	  just a plain paragraph that says "read p.310 of textbook"
	  </script>
        </item>    
      </act>
    </plo>    
  </issuer>
  
<--! library catalog --------------------------------------------->
<library id="unique library code">
 <catalogue_system> dewey, Lib of Congress, etc... </catalogue_system>
 <item id="resource-id">
  <catalogue_code> dewey or Lib of Congress code </catalogue_code>
  <title>resource title</title>
  <author> author 1 </author>
  <subtitle> section 1 </subtitle>
  <date> YYYY/MM/DD </date>
  <cost> $ </cost>
  <isbn> 123456789 </isbn>
  <pub> publisher </pub>
  <notes> notes </notes>
  <loan>
    <learner> learner-id from edu:school data </learner>
    <start> date </start>
    <duration> 3 weeks </duration>
    <overdue> date first overdue sent </overdue>
    <end> date returned </start>
    </loan>
  <item>
 <library>
</edu:ml>
NOTES
-----

0. I chose not to be fancy nor particularly politically correct (in exchange
   for brevity; for example "test" instead of "assessment") with the tags. I
   am keenly aware that there is educational stuff going on that need not
   and does not want to be monitored, assessed or otherwise recorded in
   databases. EDUML is only for those activities needing/wanting some sort
   of certification, validation or simply being kept track of.

1. The XML data can be spread out over many files in various locations;
   merging them all would provides the complete picture. But we are not
   advocating a single (Big-Brother-ish) planetary database of unique
   learner IDs.

2. XML here acts like a relational database and it can be structured in many
   ways.  I hope EDUML is arranged in natural groupings (the identations are
   really relations) ... keeping the whole thing as simple as reality
   allows. For example, the school grouping contains students rather than
   the other way around because it is probably simpler to imagine.

3. Once this is approved, constructing a validating DTD would be nice: Most
   tags can be repeated as needed; I show only one of each type here in
   order to keep this document email-sized. Most tags are not mandatory.

4. Please send in proposed structural corrections, or renaming of tags or
   suggest completely different XML proposals for education.  I suggest we
   check our existing admin and educational software export fields to make
   sure the important ones are included here.

5. The core material requires something like /usr/lib/edu filled with
   educational functions/methods in various programming languages for use
   by the code snippets ... which in my significant experience with writing
   testing programs is the most open-ended and creative way of dealing with
   the classic problem of how to store question/answers.  note: simple plain 
   question/answer pairs can be handled by lists (arrays) or via the simplest
   function/method in the chosen language; just display parameter1 and compare
   to parameter 2.  I'll gladly expound on this if anyone lets me :-)