WEAVING THE FABRIC FOR INDIVIDUALIZED AND ADAPTIVE LEARNING

The U.S. experience …

Diny Golder, JES & Co.Stuart A. Sutton, University of Washington

‘NOT-SO-SMART’ METADATA FOR VERY SMART SYSTEMS

Where we started…

‘SMART’ METADATA FOR VERY SMART (AND SOME NOT-SO-SMART) SYSTEMS

Where we are headed…

So, what metadata is ‘smart’?• Semantic metadata!• We want to go– From closed, smart systems—and even not-so-

smart systems — with their sophisticated algorithms & processes working with not-so-smart metadata embodied in RDBMS, XML files, spreadsheets etc.

– To open/closed/hybrid, smart systems—and even not-so-smart systems—using smart (semantic) metadata embodied in RDF

INTELLIGENT SILOSToday’s very smart systems

Individual/Adaptive Learning Systems

PulseOn Pearson MyLab (with Knewton)

Innovative, complex solutions…

Individual/Adaptive Learning Systems

PulseOn Pearson MyLab (with Knewton)

No!

No!

Innovative, complex solutions…

Adaption Engine

Student Data

(Identity / Performance /

Preference)

Trajectory Mappings

Competency Frameworks

Learning Resources

Actual proficiency of the Student

Proficiency required by Competency

Proficiency required by Resource

The Silos

Adaption Engine

Student Data

(Identity / Performance /

Preference)

Trajectory Mappings

Competency Frameworks

Learning Resources

Link

ed D

ata

– O

pen

Web

Linked Data – O

pen Web

Student Data

(Identity / Performance /

Preference)

Competency Frameworks

Learning Resources

Trajectory Mappings

Actual proficiency of the Student

Proficiency required by Competency

Proficiency required by Resource

The Silos

Path from Silos to Open Systems Infrastructure

• ASN—where it’s been – The emergence of the U.S. “standards movement”

– Addressing the data issues of the “movement” • First Driver: Education publishing in a complex, heterogeneous market

• Second Driver: Enhanced resource discovery & retrieval

• Third Driver: Data-driven decision making – Policy & design of curricular frameworks

– Individualized & adaptive learning

• ASN—where it’s headed– An emerging competency ecosystem

• From formal competency frameworks to digital badges

THE U.S. “STANDARDS MOVEMENT”U.S. Competency Frameworks

“A Nation at Risk”—1983

http://www2.mcrel.org/compendium/docs/purpose.asp

U.S. Developments—1989-2012• National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)

(1989)• American Association for the Advancement of

Science (AAAS) (1989)• National Council for the Social Studies (1992)• National History Standards Project (1992)• Consortium of National Arts Education (1992)• Center for Civic Education (1992)• Geography Standards Education Project (1992)• National Council of Teachers of English, International

Reading Association, and the Center for the Study of Reading (1992)

• National Standards in Foreign Language Project (1993)

• American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Project 2061 (1993)

• Standards Project for English Language Arts (1994)• Consortium of National Arts Education Associations

(1994)• National Council on Social Studies (1994)• Geography Education Standards Project (1994)• Center for Civic Education (1994)

• National Association for Sport and Physical Education (1995)

• Joint Committee on National Health Education Standards (1995)

• National Council on Economic Education (1995)• National Business Education Association (1995)• National Science Education Standards (1996)• National Council of Teachers of English (1996)• Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics

(1997)• English as a Second Language Standards for Pre-K-12

Students (1997)• National Center on Education and the Economy (1997)• National Communication Association (1998)• American Library Association (1998)• National Standards in Foreign Language Education

Project (1999)• International Technology Education Association (2000)• International Society for Technology in Education

(2000)• National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)

(2000)

U.S. Developments—1989-2012• National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)

(1989)• American Association for the Advancement of

Science (AAAS) (1989)• National Council for the Social Studies (1992)• National History Standards Project (1992)• Consortium of National Arts Education (1992)• Center for Civic Education (1992)• Geography Standards Education Project (1992)• National Council of Teachers of English, International

Reading Association, and the Center for the Study of Reading (1992)

• National Standards in Foreign Language Project (1993)

• American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Project 2061 (1993)

• Standards Project for English Language Arts (1994)• Consortium of National Arts Education Associations

(1994)• National Council on Social Studies (1994)• Geography Education Standards Project (1994)• Center for Civic Education (1994)

• National Association for Sport and Physical Education (1995)

• Joint Committee on National Health Education Standards (1995)

• National Council on Economic Education (1995)• National Business Education Association (1995)• National Science Education Standards (1996)• National Council of Teachers of English (1996)• Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics

(1997)• English as a Second Language Standards for Pre-K-12

Students (1997)• National Center on Education and the Economy (1997)• National Communication Association (1998)• American Library Association (1998)• National Standards in Foreign Language Education

Project (1999)• International Technology Education Association (2000)• International Society for Technology in Education

(2000)• National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)

(2000)

1995 – 2012An explosion of

frameworks across the 50 U.S. states +

its territories

U.S. National Curriculum?• Not likely...• Common Core State Standard (CCSS)–Not a national curriculum–Cooperative initiative of the states– Limited in curricular scope• Mathematics• English Language Arts

U.S. National Curriculum?• State adoption (voluntary):–A state must adopt 100% of the CCSS

competency framework (if it adopts at all) – Fuzzy guidelines allow an adopting state to

add up to 15% new material to• Conform to state legal requirements• Regional needs• Resulting in up to 204 versions of the CCSS

The Data Dilemma

How do you make sense of all these competency frameworks and how

they relate?

The Data Dilemma

How do publishers make sense of all these competency frameworks and

how they relate?How do publishers create learning

resources for use across a U.S. national market?

Internal Representations

Phase One:• Each publisher creates an internal representation of each

state/territory competency framework for analysis and indexing; and/or

• Focuses development on one or more key, high population states

Phase Two:• Commercial services provide publishers with competency

framework data services reducing the need for proprietary replication

Open Public Representations (ASN)

Phase Three:• U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) funded the initial

development of the ASN from 2001 through 2011 as public infrastructure supporting the entire education and training sectors (public & private)

• Gates Foundation funding currently supports further development of the ASN framework and the ASN-US repository*

* Creative Commons Attribution data license open to both public and private sectors

ASN is Unapologetically Commitment to RDF Linked Data Principles

• Use URIs to identify [all] things that you expose to the Web as resources.

• [Always] use HTTP URIs so that people can locate and look up (dereference) these things.

• [Always] provide useful information about the resource when its URI is dereferenced.

• [Always] include links to other, related URIs in the exposed data as a means of improving information discovery on the Web (‘share the wealth’ principle).

http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/LinkedData.html

ASN AS RDF METADATA INFRASTRUCTURE

Linked Data

Is ASN a Vocabulary or an “Application Profile”?

• It’s an RDF vocabulary!– http://standards.jesandco.org/wiki/ASN_Vocabulary – For markup (e.g., RDFa)– For developing application profiles (i.e., specific ‘record

structure’ with constrained sets of properties from 1-n namespaces)

• Used in multiple application profiles...– Among others

• ASN-US (United States)– http://standards.jesandco.org/wiki/ASN_Application_Profile

• ASN-AU (Australia)– http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Technical/Introduction

Is ASN a Vocabulary or an “Application Profile”?

• Thus, the U.S. and Australia are in harmony (although they sing different tunes)– Both are federal—i.e., comprised of distinct sovereign

states and a central federal authority– Local control of education

ASN-AU — Australian Curriculum

http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Technical/Introduction

Globally Linked ‘Application Profiles”

United States AustraliaAustralia

Globally Linked ‘Application Profiles”

United States AustraliaAustralia

The Netherlands

Germany

France

United KingdomSweden

China

ASN-US as Repository of U.S. Competencies

• ASN-US is an “application profile” of ASN – http://standards.jesandco.org/wiki/ASN_Application_Profile

• ASN-US is an open repository– 1,147 competency framework descriptions

from the 50 U.S. states and territories• Competency framework descriptions are made up

of:– 395,530 individual competency descriptions

» Competency descriptions are made up of: • 4,914,666 RDF triples

ASN-US1147 Competency Framework Silos

ASN-US1147 Competency Framework Silos

✔ What are the mapping predicates?✔ What are the mapping methods?

Human / machine?1-to-1 mapping?1-to-intermediary mapping?Vocabulary matching?Combination of methods?

✔ Method varies by purpose?