AltiLab 2004 Infrastructure Session Gilbert Paquette, CIRTA, TELUQ San Francisco, July 20-22 2004 eduSource and LORNET Gilbert Paquette, CIRTA, TELUQ and Griff Richards, SFU www.edusource.ca www.lornet.org

What is EduSource? A test bed for a network of Learning Objects Repositories Suite of Tools, Community of Practice, CANCORE profile Founded on international standards (W3C and IMS) and an open source approach An 18 months, CANARIE founded project (4,25 M$) Terminated since March 2004; a community of developpers/users to be maintained through LORNET and other initiatives

eduSource Main Partners Athabasca Univ. CAREO SAVOIRNET EXPLORA-II Netera (L.Commons) SFU Télé- Université (Cogigraph) BELLE Univ. of Waterloo POOL TEL-EDU-NB CLOE POOL

Specs/Standards/Profiles Metadata Formats IEEE LOM Dublin Core (DC) CANCORE Communication Protocols OAI, Z39.50 Web Services SOAP, WSDL, UDDI Implementation Specifications IMS DRI (Interoperability) IMS CP (Content Packaging) IMS LD (Learning Design) ODRL (Digital Rights)

eduSource Results Cancore 2.0 DRM Model LOR Communities of Practices eduSource suite of tools Architecture Documents Three Ways to Access Resources: Network search, eRIB, Repository and Platform connection ECL connector and gateway, Common Search Component, eduSource Registry Services, eRIB tools Software Specifications for Learning Design, LD content packaging and DRM To be developed in LORNET

Conceptual framework eduSource Services Metadata Repository Legacy eLearning Middleware Resource Manage. Communication Kernel DRM services eduSource Services Legacy Tools Agents Comp.. OTHER LCMS /Agents Portals Metadata Repository Digitized Resource Repository

Three ways to use eduSource 1 - Infoseeking through Federated Search and Harvesting 2 - Repository-in-the-box (eRIB) 3 - Registering a repository in eduSource (ECL)

1 – Search in the network through the eduSource Portal General public access to the eduSource network of repositories Limited to infoseeking without data storage Federated Search Harvesting possible edusource.licef.teluq.uquebec.ca/ese/en/index.jsp

2- Install and use an edusource eRIB Create a new eduSource Node Install an XML DB and a Web interface Use Edusource Tools: Metatagger, Common Search Package Turnkey, Free, Adaptable Open source Complete Access to the Edusource Network Community of Practice or Create your own

3 – Connect an existing repository Translate communication protocols Translate Metadata FORMATS Half a day to develop a connector Gateways for other repositories

The ECL Gateway Enables eduSource to connect to other protocols and international projects A special eduSource MDR with an ECL connector to pass requests from ECL clients to non eduSource repositories (Smete, EdNa) Provides 2-way translation between IEEE-LOM and DC for OAI MDRs (eventually for Z39.50) Enables OAI servers to search the eduSource Newwork for LOMs The Gateway can be easily updated to other external MDRs and standards External communication for eduSource can be handled by more than one Gateway

eduSource Gateways and Clients

The ECL Connector 1) SOAP-ECL request from ECL client extracted 2) Connector creates a Java request 3) Sends requests to Repositories 4) Java search object created and launched within metadata repositories 5) For eduSource repositories: 6 OAI-Gather methods 6) Results (LOM records) serialized back in a SOAP message 7) SOAP engine sends the list of LOMs to the ECL client

The Common Search Component (CSC) Result Display Federator Client CSC PtoP Client Harvestor Client

The eduSource Registry of Services (ERS) A UDDI registry grouping information provided by each metadata repository (MDR) managers when they first register to eduSource or when they update or add services Makes each MDR known to the eduSource network Enables ECL clients to find end points and create their own community of repositories Enables publication of new Web services provided by different stakeholders

Connection of a platform to eduSource (The EXPLOR@-II case) Explor@ - II, a eLearning system that: Aggregates resources, activities and actors for learning or knowledge working Builds and manages research repositories (SavoirNet) Offers open integration of resources found using a search engine Manages all kinds of ressources, including its own tools for search, access protection and aggregation eduSource adds search in multiple repositories (adding an ECL connector)

eduSource Search within Explor@

Explor@-II Extended Search

Integration and Delivery

LORNET: A major Canadian Initiative in Learning and Semantic Web technologies Over 8 M $ in 5 years on learning and knowledge-based technologies Joint research with 27 industrial partners and organizations A team of 129 researchers, students and professionals. Consolidation of 7 research labs and centers and 4 Research Chairs Convergence of complementary research areas Interaction with leading international projects: OKI, IMS, CETIS, COLIS, Kaleidoscope

LORNET Industrial Partners Bell Canada BCcampus BMO, Institute for learning CAE Credo Interactive Inc. CRIM ETraffic Solutions FDO-Axion Hydro-Québec Immersion Canada Infotel Group Knexa Mentor-AGTI   Neptec PDS Recombo SGI Canada Technologies Cogigraph Inc. TR Labs-Saskatchewan Vestec

LORNET Theme Structure 2. Aggregation and Multi- actor Designs Gilbert Paquette TELUQ 1. Interoperability and Metadata Tom Calvert Simon Fraser, U. 6. Telelearning Operations System (TELOS S. Pierre/G.Paquette POLY/TELUQ 5. Advanced Multimedia Objects Nicolas D. Georganas U. Ottawa 3. Active and Adaptive Learning Objects G.McCalla/J.Greer U.Sask. 4. Object Mining and Knowledge Extraction Mohammed Kamel U.Waterloo

Theme 1 - Interoperability of Learning Objects Repositories 2 5 3 4 6 The key to interoperability is linking and communicating in a meaningful way. Learning Objects Repositories provide a practical research arena for the semantic Web. Vision Research Areas Lightweight ontology mapping Semantic cobblestones Ontological educational markup languages Ontology-based communication tools Sustainable learning objects ecosystems Mobile learning environments Team Semantic Tech Lab, Simon Fraser University Thomas Calvert, Marek Hatala, Vive Kumar, Rob Woodbury, Griff Richards, Samuel Pierre

Theme 2 - Learning Object Design and Aggregation 1 5 3 4 6 Learning objects become significant through the activities they support. Dynamic aggregation models provide multi-actor adaptive interfaces and assistance. Vision LICEF-CIRTA Research Center and CRC, TELUQ Gilbert Paquette Jacqueline Bourdeau, Aude Dufresne, Olga Marino, Hamadou Saliah, Ioan Rosca Team Research Areas Educational modeling languages Multi-actor workflow models Knowledge representation of actors, activities and resources Adaptive assistance to actors

Theme 3 - Active and Adaptive Learning Objects 2 1 5 4 6 Learning objects must be active. Learning objects must adapt to learners and other learning objects. Vision ARIES Lab. U. of Saskatchewan Gordon McCalla, Jim Greer, John Cooke, Julita Vassileva, Ralph Deters Team Research Areas Agent-based learning objects Active learner modeling Context integration in learner modeling Learning object re-purposing Instructional planning with learning objects Negotiated coalition formation

Theme 4 - Object Mining and Knowledge Extraction 2 1 5 3 6 Data mining and knowledge extraction techniques can provide context and facilitate interactions, efficient organization, efficient delivery, navigation and retrieval of LOs Vision Knowledge from text: classification, clustering, discovering topics, learning association Knowledge from images Knowledge from interactions Building knowledge structures Knowledge sharing ontologies and mechanisms Research Areas Team PAMI Lab and CRC, U. Waterloo Mohamed Kamel Otman Basir, Fakhri Karray, Hamid Tizhoosh, Andrew Wong, Yang Wang

Theme 5 - Advanced Multimedia Objects 2 1 3 4 6 Advanced multimedia “objects” can create a very rich learning environment. The objects must adapt to user preferences, contexts and network QoS conditions. Use the new capacities of broadband networks. Vision MCR Lab and CRC, U. of Ottawa Nicolas D. Georganas Éric Dubois, Abed El Saddik, Sherwin Shirmohammadi Jiying Zhao Team Research Areas Virtual reality user interface for LOR navigation Objects and GUI for augmented and virtual reality Multilayer digital watermarking for multimedia learning object protection Dynamic adaptation of advanced multimedia learning objects

Theme 6 - TeleLearning Operating system (TELOS) 2 1 5 3 4 6 A multi-actor environment Interoperable with other tools or platforms Based on a model of the actors, activities and resources Integrating tools and methods developed by themes 1 to 5 Promoting a diversity of pedagogical and delivery models. Vision 6 Research Areas TELOS System Architecture and technological infrastructure Software engineering and system development applied methods TELOS application designs Test and validation methods of the TELOS system and applications Team Gilbert Paquette, Samuel Pierre, Jacqueline Bourdeau, Marc Couture, Marek Hatala, France Henri, Ioan Rosca, Chris Brooks, Otman Basir

TELOS Vision and System’s Levels LKMS 1 LKMS 2 LKMS 3 Environment Builders TELOS LKMA 2.1 LKMA 2.2 LKMA 2.3 Designers Environment 2.2 A 2.2 B 2.2 C 2.2 D Learners & Facilitators TELOS SYSTEM System Engineers

Expected Results New knowledge Tools and methods Systems On Semantic Web techniques and applications On ICT support to Knowledge Management and training On learning objects creation, processing and use Tools and methods For ontologies creation and use For design, static and dynamic aggregation of LOs For content repurposing and adaptive assistance For knowledge extraction to model learning objects For advanced multimedia creation, search, delivery Systems TELOS infrastructure, kernel, API 5 evolutionary prototype applications

Interoperability Results -from eduSource and LORNET AltiLab 2004 Demo SessionIMS San Francisco, July 20-22 2004 Interoperability Results -from eduSource and LORNET Gilbert Paquette, TELUQ and Griff Richards, SFU www.edusource.ca www.lornet.org