Magic Studio

Metadata. If you look up the definition on wikipedia, it says “data about data”. Fair enough, I suppose. Why use more than three words when three will do.

However, ask your average user to explain what metadata is and you may well get a much shorter answer, if you get an answer at all. Does this matter? Well, not if the metadata does what it is supposed to do – and surely one of its most important roles is to improve the user experience.

It doesn’t always work like that, though. Take the example of a learner or teacher working in a school environment. To be able to fully exploit the ICT infrastructure of the school (Mobile devices, PC’s, Interactive Whiteboards, Learning Platform, etc) the user is seeking ease of use, accessibility and interoperability. Everything they use or create should be accessible and usable wherever their point of access is. Sounds like it should be easy enough. After all, we are operating in a web-enabled world where media is ‘portable’ and footloose.

But, when it comes to Digital Learning Resources (or DLR’s) things are not so simple. Why? Partly it’s because of the lack of a simple and open standard for exchanging resources. Sure, we have SCORM – but the latest version (2004, 3rd edition since you ask) is actually a collection of specifications and standards. These incorporate metadata about the DLR. Whether or not SCORM is an appropriate set of standards for DLR’s is not the point – that’s an argument for another day. Whether SCORM is actually acting as a help or hindrance to the creation and sharing of DLR’s is much more important.

In particular, this raises a serious issue about the user (learner or teacher) as author. If you are trying to produce a DLR, should you have to worry about making it ‘standards-compliant’? User-generated content works because anyone can do it. If the ‘standards’ are acting as a barrier to creation and collaboration, are they being counter-productive?