Freitag LMML – The Learning Material Markup Language Framew

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LMML – The Learning Material Markup Language Framework

Christian Süß, Burkhard Freitag

Fakultät für Mathematik und Informatik, Universität Passau

Key words: Web based learning, Standards and styleguides, Education and Internet / Intranet, Methods of content adaptation, Educational markup languages

Abstract:

LMML is a pioneer standard for the XML based description of eLearning. This talk presents its main features. LMML facilitates the modular creation and re-use of

eLearning content at arbitrary levels of granularity and supports various forms of personalization and adaptation. In contrast to other approaches, LMML is based on a meta modelling architecture and provides a framework that can be instantiated to different domains of application. Thus, LMML is an open family of educational

markup languages rather than just a single instance.

1 Passau Teachware Metamodel and its XML binding

The definition of a suitable conceptual model prior to the technical development of the Learning Material Markup Language Framework LMML [5] was of chief importance: The Passau Teachware Metamodel [10] [11] serves as a general description of the modular

structure of educational contents and can be instantiated for as different application domains as computer science / mathematics, financial planning, and operations research. Educational contents forms a hierarchy consisting of Modules that can contain other Modules. The smallest entities, i.e., the leaves in this hierarchy, are ContentModules, e.g. Definition, Motivation, Formula, Algorithm, Theorem, or Proof. ContentModules may again have structure such as List or Table. The leaves in the ContentModule hierarchy are static or dynamic MediaObjects like Text, Image, Animation, which can be included using an open plug-in interface. LMML-Modules may be associated with other LMML-Modules. The Passau Teachware Metamodel supports predefined associations such as defines, illustrates, references. Depending on the application domain these can be adapted or additional associations can be defined.

The metamodel outlined above forms the conceptual basis for the adaptation of the LMML framework itself, e.g. its instantiation and/or extension to specific domains. It facilitates the component-based re-use and cooperative development of educational contents and supports their adaptation to different contexts and to the requirements of the individual learner. Furthermore, the metamodel guides the creation of indexes for efficient retrieval of educational contents stored in a XML-repository. Finally, some runtime properties of

eLearning systems can be specified at the meta-level thereby providing a form of reflection that allows to modify the system behaviour, e.g. the form of presentation of eLearning contents.

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The LMML-framework is a XML-binding of the metamodel described above. Its domain-specific extensions are XML-realisations (XML-bindings) of the corresponding domain models. Therefore, LMML is not just a markup language in the narrow sense, but rather a model-based, extensible family of XML-languages suitable for marking up contents for educational purposes and beyond.

2 Specification layers and metadata

The “semantical fragmentation” of eLearning content at arbitrary levels of granularity as supported by the metamodel together with an appropriate inclusion-mechanism provide more flexibility than the strictly hierarchical document model of XML. Components can be re-used using a reference rather than a copy semantics. Furthermore, in LMML the content layer, the navigation layer, the didactical layer, and the layout and visualization layers are strictly

separated. Therefore it is not only possible to re-use content fragments but also to adapt their layout or adapt them to a different application context. The same mechanism supports the often demanded cross-media-publishing of eLearning contents.

LMML-Modules and their associations can be annotated with metadata. The general, time-related or pedagogical meta-attributes predefined by LMML can be adapted to specific domains or extended by standard metadata such as LOM [1].

Various forms of personalization or adaptation in general are based on the semantical markup and meta-data as provided by LMML. LMML-based contents can be configured in a way such that the navigation-, searching, and interaction-support of learning environments like the Passau Knowledge Management System (PaKMaS) [8] can be individually adapted.

Moreover, the concept of document-skeletons together with selection mechanisms provides context-specific variants [4] while maintaining mandatory parts of the contents.

Complex contents, e.g. university-courses on mathematics or computer science, are hard to transport by means of eLearning techniques. In particular, a loss of attention and orientation can often be observed. Therefore, a suitable didactical reference model [13] on the basis of Instructional Design has been developed in an interdisciplinary effort. A prototypical

extension of LMML by didactical specifications has been implemented and is currently being evaluated. Due to its modular structure and the strict separation of the didactical specification from the specification of contents and structure, other didactical models can be supported [12] by LMML, too.

3 The growing family of LMML languages

There is a number of XML-languages for educational modeling, such as IMS Content

Packaging Specification [2], LOM [1], and EML [3] which focus on other issues than LMML. Other languages like WWR-ML[6] are influenced by LMML. But there is also a growing

number of members of the LMML-family with domains of application ranging from academic education to life-long-learning projects in enterprises. For instance, LMML-CS is a LMML-language used in computer science education at bavarian universities [4], in the Swiss Virtual Campus Project OPESS, in the project Thematic Harmonisation in Electrical and Information EngineeRing in Europe (THEIERE), and also in the qualification of teachers [7]. There are also LMML-FP aiming at the description of contents in the area of financial planning and