Programme
Morning Session
Keynote speech: Vincent Wade. "Semantic Web techniques for Personalised Technology Enhanced Learning in HE"
Thanassis Tiropanis. A linked data field for semantic applications in HE (SemTech)
SemTech is a UK JISC funded project that recently surveyed Semantic
Technologies that are relevant to HE/FE. This relevance was established
in terms of addressing learning and teaching challenges and in terms of
addressing institutional challenges. The outcome of the survey showed
that there is significant value to be obtained by exposing
institutional information (repositories, curricula, databases) in
linked data formats that provide for interoperability and queries
across institutions. The underpinning pedagogy of semantic applications
was established in enabling collaborative learning and critical
thinning. SemTech published the outcome of the survey and a roadmap for
Semantic Technology adoption in the next five years that envisages the
creation of a linked data field across the HE/FE sector on which
relevant applications can be deployed; mapping linked data to higher
level ontologies to meet challenges that require more reasoning is
anticipated at a later stage in the roadmap. This presentation
discusses the outcomes of the project survey and the roadmap.
Michael Tscholl, Frances Tracy and Patrick Carmichael. Case Methods, Pedagogical Innovation and Semantic Technologies (SLIDES) (EPRINTS)
This paper describes an approach to conducting research leading to
technological development that is grounded in detailed empirical
research and participant engagement. We describe our initial findings
about the diverse conceptualizations of cases and their use that exist
in a number of higher education settings and match this to
considerations of the potential of semantic technologies to support
these teaching and learning activities. In this way we develop the
argument for developing technologies in parallel with empirical
research about current practices and engagement of participants in
educational settings in order to realize the full potential of semantic
technologies to support case-based learning. Patrick
Carmichael and Agustina Martinez Garcia. Semantic Technologies to
Support Teaching and Learning with Cases: Challenges and Opportunities (SLIDES) (EPRINTS)
Visions of a 'semantic web; and the technologies, standards and
services associated with it have the potential to support and enhance
teaching and learning. As yet, this potential has not been practically
demonstrated in ways that are accessible to teachers and students.
'Ensemble: Semantic Technologies to Support the Teaching and Learning
of Case Based Learning; is currently exploring the potential of
semantic technologies to support and enhance teaching and learning in
fields in higher education where knowledge is complex, changing or
contested, and where as a result case based learning is the pedagogy of
choice. This paper describes how the wide range of case based learning
approaches has informed the selection, development and deployment of
semantic technologies, and identifies a number of key challenges and
areas for development which would enable more widespread adoption of
semantic technologies by teachers and students. Minh Tan Vu and Angela Goh. i-OntoLearning: Ontological support for rich learning (SLIDES) (EPRINTS)
Many university and college programs have a rich repository of learning
resources. These resources could range from multi-media material to
simple text documents, from powerpoint slides to web based applets.
However, they are created by different authors and are usually
accessible by the students registered for the courses taught by these
authors. In order to enable students to discover the relationships that
exist amongst these resources, we have designed i-OntoLearning, a
system based on the Computing Ontology and a Metadata Ontology which we
have created. This platform supports learning through the ability to
infer relationships within the curricula as well as with the learning
resources. As more resources are added to the system, further
interesting relationships can be discovered. This paper focuses on the
application of semantic web technologies including ontology design and
queries on these ontologies. Afternoon Session
Nadeem Shabir and Chris Clarke. Using Linked Data as a basis for a Learning Resource Recommendation System (SLIDES) (EPRINTS)
Resource List Management Systems (RLMS) allow the electronic
publication of course reading lists. Aside from electronic access,
existing systems in this area provide little utility for teachers and
learners above and beyond the traditional paper based reading lists.
Our vision is that resource lists could in actual fact become Open
Educational Resources that can be shared, re-mixed and re-used across
institutions and borders. This paper introduces how we used linked data
to architect a RLMS to meet this vision. However, in implementing this
system, questions arose around the provenance, sustainability,
licensing and reliability of today's linked data cloud. This paper
documents the steps we took to address these critisms in our
implementation. The paper goes on to discuss how the ecosystem of
learning data managed by this application opens the way for future
work, which involves leveraging typed
relationships between learning
goals, educational resources and system actors to provide
recommendation-like services for academics creating new content. Alexandra Poulovassilis and Peter Wood. Flexible Querying of Lifelong Learner Metadata (SLIDES) (EPRINTS)
We propose combining query approximation and query relaxation
techniques in order to support flexible querying of heterogeneous data
arising from lifelong learners' educational and work experiences. A key
aim of such querying facilities is to allow learners to identify
possible choices for their future learning and professional development
from what others have done. With our approach, query results can be
computed incrementally, in polynomial time, and returned in order of
increasing "distance" from the user's original query. Panel session: "A roadmap for semantic technologies in
HE". Chair: Hugh C Davis. Panel: Stefano Cerri, David Millard, Kathy
Kikis-Papadakis, Alex Poulovassilis
This session will discuss questions that will emerge during the
workshop. Such questions could include the following:
What is the value of semantic technologies and linked data on a
European and global level and what are the barriers for their adoption?
What are the technical challenges of deploying a linked data field
across the European/global HE sector?
Which pedagogical challenges can be addressed by linked data and by
higher level ontologies?
How does the semantic Web and linked data relate to the European Higher
Education Area and the Bologna process? Posters
Axel Tenschert and Alexey Cheptsov. Effective Ontology Matching in High-Performance Computing Environments (EPRINTS)
ENSEMBLE Project
