Learning Object Context Ontologies - The LOCO Framework

LOCO (Learning Object Context Ontologies) ontological framework was initially aimed at facilitating reusability of learning objects and learning designs, and later extended to also provide support for personalized learning.

The framework defines formal representation of learning object context and its principle building blocks: various kinds of learning-related activities, participants in the learning process (i.e. learners, teachers, teaching assistants, and the like), and the learning content. Accordingly, it integrates a number of learning-related ontologies.

LOCO-Analyst makes use of the following LOCO ontologies:

	Learning Context ontology - an ontology of learning context; the central component of the framework and the integration point of the other types of ontologies integrated into the framework.
	User Model ontology - an ontology for modeling the participants of a learning process (students, teachers, content authors). This ontology makes use of the following 3 tiny ontologies: - Ontology for modeling competencies - Ontology for modeling learner's performance - Ontology for modeling user's preferences
	Learning Object Content Structure ontology - formally identifies the information objects within a learning object with the goal of making each component directly accessible and thus reusable.
	Quiz ontology - a tiny ontology for formal represention of assessment instruments having the form of a questionnaire (i.e., a quiz)
	Domain ontology - an ontology formally modeling the subject matter of the learning content; LOCO-Analyst requires that domain ontologies are implemented by instantiating appropriate concepts and relations of the PROTON upper-level ontology. Here we provide an example of such an ontology for the Programming Process learning module.

As a part of the LOCO framework, we have also developed Learning Design Ontology. This ontology, inspired by the IMS LD Information Model, is aimed at formal representation of the basic building blocks of an instructional design. It is a part of our future research to determine the best way to integrate and make use of this ontology in the educational software solutions we are developing.