Interlinking educational resources and the web of data: A survey of challenges and approaches

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer review

Authors

  • Stefan Dietze
  • Salvador Sanchez-Alonso
  • Hannes Ebner
  • Hong Qing Yu
  • Daniela Giordano
  • Ivana Marenzi
  • Bernardo Pereira Nunes

Research Organisations

External Research Organisations

  • Universidad de Alcala
  • Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)
  • Open University
  • University of Catania
  • Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio)
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Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)60-91
Number of pages32
JournalProgram
Volume47
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2013

Abstract

Purpose: Research in the area of technology-enhanced learning (TEL) throughout the last decade has largely focused on sharing and reusing educational resources and data. This effort has led to a fragmented landscape of competing metadata schemas, or interface mechanisms. More recently, semantic technologies were taken into account to improve interoperability. The linked data approach has emerged as the de facto standard for sharing data on the web. To this end, it is obvious that the application of linked data principles offers a large potential to solve interoperability issues in the field of TEL. This paper aims to address this issue. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, approaches are surveyed that are aimed towards a vision of linked education, i.e. education which exploits educational web data. It particularly considers the exploitation of the wealth of already existing TEL data on the web by allowing its exposure as linked data and by taking into account automated enrichment and interlinking techniques to provide rich and well-interlinked data for the educational domain. Findings: So far web-scale integration of educational resources is not facilitated, mainly due to the lack of take-up of shared principles, datasets and schemas. However, linked data principles increasingly are recognized by the TEL community. The paper provides a structured assessment and classification of existing challenges and approaches, serving as potential guideline for researchers and practitioners in the field. Originality/value: Being one of the first comprehensive surveys on the topic of linked data for education, the paper has the potential to become a widely recognized reference publication in the area.

Keywords

    Education, Information technology, Learning methods, Linked data, Open educational resources, Semantic web, Technology-enhanced learning, Web data

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Cite this

Interlinking educational resources and the web of data: A survey of challenges and approaches. / Dietze, Stefan; Sanchez-Alonso, Salvador; Ebner, Hannes et al.
In: Program, Vol. 47, No. 1, 02.2013, p. 60-91.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer review

Dietze, S, Sanchez-Alonso, S, Ebner, H, Yu, HQ, Giordano, D, Marenzi, I & Nunes, BP 2013, 'Interlinking educational resources and the web of data: A survey of challenges and approaches', Program, vol. 47, no. 1, pp. 60-91. https://doi.org/10.1108/00330331211296312
Dietze, S., Sanchez-Alonso, S., Ebner, H., Yu, H. Q., Giordano, D., Marenzi, I., & Nunes, B. P. (2013). Interlinking educational resources and the web of data: A survey of challenges and approaches. Program, 47(1), 60-91. https://doi.org/10.1108/00330331211296312
Dietze S, Sanchez-Alonso S, Ebner H, Yu HQ, Giordano D, Marenzi I et al. Interlinking educational resources and the web of data: A survey of challenges and approaches. Program. 2013 Feb;47(1):60-91. doi: 10.1108/00330331211296312
Dietze, Stefan ; Sanchez-Alonso, Salvador ; Ebner, Hannes et al. / Interlinking educational resources and the web of data : A survey of challenges and approaches. In: Program. 2013 ; Vol. 47, No. 1. pp. 60-91.
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