DC-Ed Element Proposal: Instructional Method

Title:	Working Group Term Proposal: Instructional Method
Creator:	Dublin Core Education Working Group
Date Issued:	2004/8/21
Identifier:	http://www.ischool.washington.edu/sasutton/8-21-04/
Replaces:	None
Is Replaced By:	http://www.ischool.washington.edu/sasutton/8-28-04/
Latest Version:	http://www.ischool.washington.edu/sasutton/8-28-04/
Status of Document:	DCMI Working Draft
Description of Document:	This document presents a proposal from the Dublin Core Education Working Group for a new element named "instructionalMethod"

Proposal

Name: http://purl.org/dc/terms/instructionalMethod

Label: Instructional Method

Definition: Processes by which knowledge, attitudes and skills are deliberately conveyed and assessed.

Comment: Ways of representing the presentation of instructional materials or conducting instructional activities, patterns of learner-to-learner and learner-to-instructor interactions, and mechanisms by which group and individual levels of learning are measured. Instructional methods include representation of aspects of the total instructional process from planning and implementation through evaluation and feedback.

Examples:
Resource relies on "brainstorming":

"Resource includes group brainstorming activities that encourage the creative generation of ideas in which group members contribute suggestions in a spontaneous, noncritical manner."
Note: Where a controlled vocabulary of instructional method terms is available, value URIs may be used. (E.g., http://purl.org/gem/instance/GEM-TM/#Brainstorming)

Resource supports "discovery learning":

"Resource provides a learning situation in which the principal content of what is to be learned is not given but must be independently discovered by the learner."
Note: Where a controlled vocabulary of instructional method terms is available, value URIs may be used. (E.g., http://purl.org/gem/instance/GEM-TM/#DiscoveryLearning)

Resource provides for "peer assessment":

"Resource provides for peer evaluation."
Note: Where a controlled vocabulary of instructional method terms is available, value URIs may be used. (E.g., http://purl.org/gem/instance/GEM-AM/#PeerEvaluation)

Resource provides for "individualized instruction":

"Instruction can be adapted to meet individual needs within the group of students."
Note: Where a controlled vocabulary of instructional method terms is available, value URIs may be used. (E.g., http://purl.org/gem/instance/GEM-GRO/#IndividualizedInstruction)

Type of term: Element

Term qualified: None

Why needed: Statements about the instructional methods used with an educational resource is a primary means of separating one resource from another and provides the end-user with a means of selecting resources to retrieve that more closely meet the needs of specific educational contexts and goals.

Working Group/community support: [To be provided over over course of public comment period]

Proposed status: Conforming

Related DCMI terms: None

Related non-DCMI terms: There is no IEEE LOM element that provides for holding statements of the sort held by the proposed element. While an undifferentiated description of an instructional method might be assigned to IEEE LOM 5.10:Educational.Description, use of the element is not recommended because of its "catch all" purpose within the LOM. Note that the CanCore best practices guide "... does not recommend the use of this element [5.10:Educational.Description] for the purposes of interoperation in distributed environments." (Canadian Core Learning Resource Metadata Application Profile. Available at: http://www.cancore.ca/documents.html)

Impact on applications: None. Since current DC-based applications provide no conflicting means of making such metadata statement, impact on those applications would be obviously minimal. Some applications store such information as an undifferentiated part of dc:description. Again, the impact of this new term would be minimal on such applications.

About the proposers: The term is proposed by the Dublin Core Education Working Group. Thw Working Group has been charged with proposing new element and element refinements that serve the needs of the education and training communities.
Records of the activity of the DC-Education Working Group are available in the mailing list archives.

Name:	http://purl.org/dc/terms/instructionalMethod
Label:	Instructional Method
Definition:	Processes by which knowledge, attitudes and skills are deliberately conveyed and assessed.
Comment:	Ways of representing the presentation of instructional materials or conducting instructional activities, patterns of learner-to-learner and learner-to-instructor interactions, and mechanisms by which group and individual levels of learning are measured. Instructional methods include representation of aspects of the total instructional process from planning and implementation through evaluation and feedback.
Examples:	Resource relies on "brainstorming": "Resource includes group brainstorming activities that encourage the creative generation of ideas in which group members contribute suggestions in a spontaneous, noncritical manner." Note: Where a controlled vocabulary of instructional method terms is available, value URIs may be used. (E.g., http://purl.org/gem/instance/GEM-TM/#Brainstorming) Resource supports "discovery learning": "Resource provides a learning situation in which the principal content of what is to be learned is not given but must be independently discovered by the learner." Note: Where a controlled vocabulary of instructional method terms is available, value URIs may be used. (E.g., http://purl.org/gem/instance/GEM-TM/#DiscoveryLearning) Resource provides for "peer assessment": "Resource provides for peer evaluation." Note: Where a controlled vocabulary of instructional method terms is available, value URIs may be used. (E.g., http://purl.org/gem/instance/GEM-AM/#PeerEvaluation) Resource provides for "individualized instruction": "Instruction can be adapted to meet individual needs within the group of students." Note: Where a controlled vocabulary of instructional method terms is available, value URIs may be used. (E.g., http://purl.org/gem/instance/GEM-GRO/#IndividualizedInstruction)
Type of term:	Element
Term qualified:	None
Why needed:	Statements about the instructional methods used with an educational resource is a primary means of separating one resource from another and provides the end-user with a means of selecting resources to retrieve that more closely meet the needs of specific educational contexts and goals.
Working Group/community support:	[To be provided over over course of public comment period]
Proposed status:	Conforming
Related DCMI terms:	None
Related non-DCMI terms:	There is no IEEE LOM element that provides for holding statements of the sort held by the proposed element. While an undifferentiated description of an instructional method might be assigned to IEEE LOM 5.10:Educational.Description, use of the element is not recommended because of its "catch all" purpose within the LOM. Note that the CanCore best practices guide "... does not recommend the use of this element [5.10:Educational.Description] for the purposes of interoperation in distributed environments." (Canadian Core Learning Resource Metadata Application Profile. Available at: http://www.cancore.ca/documents.html)
Impact on applications:	None. Since current DC-based applications provide no conflicting means of making such metadata statement, impact on those applications would be obviously minimal. Some applications store such information as an undifferentiated part of dc:description. Again, the impact of this new term would be minimal on such applications.
About the proposers:	The term is proposed by the Dublin Core Education Working Group. Thw Working Group has been charged with proposing new element and element refinements that serve the needs of the education and training communities. Records of the activity of the DC-Education Working Group are available in the mailing list archives.