Semantic Structures for Teaching and Learning


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Abstract
It is ten years since the W3C released its first working draft on RDF and its Introduction to RDF Metadata. RDF and related standards such as RDFs and OWL are the building blocks which promised to make the vision of the semantic web a reality. A decade on and semantic technologies have been embraced by a wide range of sectors including government, financial services, manufacturing, logistics, transport and communications, energy, health and life sciences, media, and business services http://www.semantic-conference.com/primer.html. Semantic technologies are widely used to facilitate identity management, language processing, ontology development, knowledge representation, data integration and clustering, information management and “meaning extraction” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_technology.

Given that semantic technologies have the unique ability to dynamically describe complex and evolving concepts, resources and relationship one would expect these technologies to be highly applicable to the domain of teaching and learning. And yet, to date, the majority of standards, tools and applications which we recognise as “educational technologies” have been heavily based on grammatical approaches such as XML, HTML, etc. Accessible applications, such as those designed to support the development and analysis of conceptual relationships (e.g. mind mapping tools), are not always based on open standards and have not been particularly widely or effectively exploited by the teaching and learning community. To many teaching practitioners semantic technologies have largely remained a peripheral academic interest.

The aim of this session is to explore the whys and wherefores of this apparent paradox and to ask questions such as:


 * What can currently be achieved with semantic technologies?
 * What future developments are in the pipeline, and when are they likely to be realised?
 * How does the Semantic Web relate to Web 2.0?
 * What are the technical or non-technical advantages to exploiting semantic technologies and what are the barriers to their adoption?
 * What affordances can semantic technologies offer the domain of teaching and learning?
 * How can we facilitate communication between semantic technology researchers and developers and educational technologists and practitioners?

Position Papers
In addition to providing all participants with an opportunity to discuss the potential role of semantic technologies in the domain of teaching and learning, the session will include short position statements from researchers and developers in field of semantic technologies, those who have applied semantic technologies to teaching and learning along with educational technologists and teaching practitioners. These short presentations are accompanied by the following position papers to provide additonal background:


 * Towards a Semantic Infrastructure for Learning, Education and Training? - Tore Hoel, Oslo University College, Norway
 * Semantic technologies in the curriculum: pay no attention to the man behind the curtain - David Davies, University of Warwick, UK
 * Why the Semantic Web hasn't failed, and how we shouldn't fix it - David Millard, University of Southampton, UK
 * Standardizing Semantic Technologies for Learning - Mikael Nilsson, Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
 * SKOS and RDFa in eLearning - Alistair Miles, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK
 * Using Ontologies in eLearning - Michael Gardner, University of Essex, UK
 * Hypermedia Discourse: Semantic Structures for Sensemaking - Simon Buckingham Shum, Open University, UK

Programme
The session runs from 9.00 to 13.00 on Weds 21st Nov.

09.00 - 09.15  Lorna M. Campbell, JISC CETIS, UK

09.15 - 09.30  Tore Hoel, Oslo University College, Norway

09.30 - 09.45  David Davies, University of Warwick, UK

09.45 - 10.00  David Millard, University of Southampton, UK

10.00 - 10.15  Mikael Nilsson, Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden

10.15 - 10.30  Alistair Miles, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK

10.30 - 10.45  Michael Gardner, University of Essex, UK

10.45 - 11.00  Simon Buckingham Shum, Open University, UK

11.00 - 11.30  Coffee

11.30 - 12.45  Panel session and open discussion

12.45 - 13.00  Summing up and feedback to Plenary

This session will be led by [mailto:lmc@strath.ac.uk Lorna M. Campbell] and Phil Barker; please contact Lorna or Phil if you have any queries relating to it.