Learning Path Specification v1. 0

2008

The European TENCompetence Integrated Project (TENCompetence, 2005) focuses on building an infrastructure for lifelong learning. This entails for instance development of tools to support lifelong learners in finding suitable ways to develop themselves professionally or personally, in a formal educational setting or informally etcetera. A learning path can be defined as a set of one or more learning actions that help to achieve particular learning goals. In order to support lifelong learners in finding, comparing, selecting, and navigating learning paths that best ...

International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Lifelong Learning, 2008

Flexible lifelong learning requires comparability and exchangeability of courses, programmes and other types of learning actions both in a national and international context. This paper argues that in order to achieve comparability and exchangeability a uniform and meaningful way to describe learning paths towards attainment of learning outcomes is needed. The paper identifies the requirements for a learning path specification drawing on a study of literature in the field of curriculum design and lifelong learning, and on recent initiatives which aimed to enhance comparability and exchangeability of learning actions. Two existing specifications designed to describe learning programmes, XCRI and IMS-LD, are investigated to see whether they can fulfil the identified requirements. The fact that IMS-LD has a generic way to define completion of learning paths as well as an expression language to describe all kinds of conditions make IMS-LD a more likely candidate. A learning path model is presented identifying the main elements of a learning path specification and mapping them on IMS-LD.

2010

In this internal deliverable we discuss the latest version of the Learning Path Editor (LPE), which has been integrated into the TenCompetence infrastructure. The development activities for the LPE were also conceived as an evaluation of the pragmatic quality of the underlying model, the Learning Path Specification.

2010

Flexible lifelong learning requires that learners can compare and select learning paths that best meet individual needs, not just in terms of learning goals, but also in terms of planning, costs etc. To this end a learning path specification was developed, which enables to describe both the contents and the structure of any learning path, be it formal, non-formal, informal, or indeed a combination of these. This paper briefly explains the learning path specification and its purpose to then present a framework for the evaluation of the specification based on theories of model quality. A study of learner choice processes (n=15) was carried out to investigate the specification’s semantic and pragmatic quality (clarity, completeness and parsimony) with respect to the selection of a learning path. Results indicate that the specification does not contain any redundant information. Instead, the study has led to improvement of the specification’s (feasible) completeness by further refinement of scheduling information.

2010

Based on preliminary evaluation results and peer review of the schema, a second iteration of the Leaning Path Specification has evolved (ID7. 12). Its applicability and benefits are currently demonstrated by the development of a Learning Path Editor, which allows authors to create learning paths that are structured according to the learning path specification. These learning paths are used by the PDP Planning tool for presenting lifelong learners with a personal development plan that they can further edit toward their needs.

2010

Based on preliminary evaluation results and peer review of the schema, a second iteration of the Leaning Path Specification has evolved. Its applicability and benefits are currently demonstrated by the development of a Learning Path Editor, which allows authors to create learning paths that are structured according to the learning path specification. These learning paths are used by the PDP Planning tool for presenting lifelong learners with a personal development plan that they can further edit toward their needs.

European Journal of Open, Distance and E-learning (EURODL), 2018

COMPASS consists in the integration and extension of European standardization achievements in the field of learning opportunity and learning outcomes/competence information for the creation of models, open technology infrastructure and meaningful services within a higher education context that target (a) the improvement of quality and relevance of offered learning opportunities to current and emerging labour market needs, (b) the enhancement of mobility, making learning opportunities more visible and understandable for students that want to gain additional skills (c) the strengthening of cross-border cooperation of HEIs in the definition of quality flexible learning pathways for their learners, (d) the increase of social responsibility of HEIs through the transparent descriptions of their offerings, (e) the implementation of sustainable infrastructure for all European HEIs and for the EU to leverage in the enhancement of existing or the creation of new related services.

The Open University of Catalonia is a virtual university that offers some courses in the same virtual context to official degree students, as well as for students or professionals who want to improve their knowledge in a special area. The scenario where the lifelong learning courses are carried out is called Ateneu. A good example of this framework is a Data Mining course, which belongs to the Computer Science degree. In this paper we talk about the previous competences Ateneu students need to have and which of them have to reach when they finish the course. Given that student profiles are different; we bring up adaptive learning itineraries to attend these different formative needs. The main goal of this paper is to describe a proposal of an adaptive learning management system for improving the acquisition of competences on this lifelong learning scenario student.

British Journal of Educational Technology, 2006

Given the rapidly changing skills needs of ‘post-industrial economies’, lifelong learning forms an integral part of government policy within the UK and abroad. However, like the UK, most economies are faced with the problem of how to reach those sections of the community that have traditionally not embraced learning and educational opportunities. In this paper, the development and evaluation of a system designed to address this problem is described. The Lifelong Learning in London for All (L4All) project has investigated the concept of ‘trails’ as a way of organising lifelong learning opportunities. The L4All pilot system combines a set of web services to provide the functionality needed to support this central idea. The development process was outlined, and the findings of an empirical study were used to confirm proof of concept.