CEN/TC 353 - Information and Communication Technologies for Learning, Education and Training

This European Standard specifies the Simple Publishing Interface (SPI), an abstract protocol for publishing digital content and/or the metadata that describes it into repositories in a way that preserves the references between the two. This protocol is designed to facilitate the transfer of learning materials from tools that produce learning materials to applications that manage learning objects and metadata. It is also applicable to the publication of a wider range of digital objects.
The objectives behind SPI are to develop practical approaches towards interoperability between repositories for learning and applications that produce or consume educational materials. Examples of repositories for learning include educational brokers, knowledge pools, institutional repositories, streaming video servers, etc. Examples of applications that produce these educational materials are query and indexation tools, authoring tools, presentation programs, content packagers, etc.
Whilst the development of the SPI specification draws exclusively on examples from the education sector, it is recognised that the underlying requirement to publish content and metadata into repositories crosses multiple application domains.
This abstract model has been designed to be implemented using existing specifications such as v1.3 Simple Web-service Offering Repository Deposit (SWORD) profile [SWORD], Package Exchange Notification Services [PENS] and the publishing specification that was developed in the ProLearn Network of Excellence [PROLEARN SPI]. The intent of this work is thus not to create yet another specification but to create a model that can be bound to existing technologies in order to make sure that these technologies are used in a way that takes into account requirements specific to the learning domain, where it is necessary to publish both content and metadata that references it in a way that preserves these references.
The SPI model enumerates the different messages that are interchanged when publishing metadata and content.

ISO/IEC 19788 specifies, in a rule-based manner, metadata elements and their attributes for the description of learning resources. This includes the rules governing the identification of metadata elements and the specification of metadata attributes.
These metadata elements are used to form the description of a learning resource, i.e. as a metadata learning resource (MLR) record.
ISO/IEC 19788-5:2012 specifies, using the framework specified in ISO/IEC 19788-1, educational aspects of learning resources across various educational, cultural and linguistic settings.

The primary purpose of ISO/IEC 19788 is to specify metadata elements and their attributes for the description of learning resources. This includes the rules governing the identification of data elements and the specification of their attributes.
ISO/IEC 19788 provides data elements for the description of learning resources and resources directly related to learning resources.
ISO/IEC 19788-3:2011 is designed to help implementers with a starting point for adopting ISO/IEC 19788, defining an application profile that specifies, through adding constraints to the use of some data elements, how the ISO/IEC 19788-2 element set can be used.

ISO/IEC 19788 specifies metadata elements and their attributes for the description of learning resources. ISO/IEC 19788-2:2011 provides a base-level data element set for the description of learning resources, from the ISO 15836:2009 Dublin Core metadata element set, using the framework provided in ISO/IEC 19788-1:2011. Those data elements being cast into the metadata learning resources framework can be used with data elements defined in other parts, in order to address specific user communities' needs for extensions, modularization or refinement.

The primary purpose of ISO/IEC 19788 is to specify metadata elements and their attributes for the description of learning resources. This includes the rules governing the identification of data elements and the specification of their attributes.
ISO/IEC 19788-1:2011 provides data elements for the description of learning resources and resources directly related to learning resources.
ISO/IEC 19788-1:2011 provides principles, rules and structures for the specification of the description of a learning resource; it identifies and specifies the attributes of a data element as well as the rules governing their use. The key principles stated in ISO/IEC 19788-1:2011 are informed by a user requirements-driven context with the aim of supporting multilingual and cultural adaptability requirements from a global perspective.
ISO/IEC 19788-1:2011 is information-technology-neutral and defines a set of common approaches, i.e. methodologies and constructs, which apply to the development of the subsequent parts of ISO/IEC 19788.

CEN/TC 353 - Modifications to A.3.6, A.3.7 and A.3.8.

This European Standard specifies the characteristics of electronic representation of Learning Opportunities in order to facilitate their advertising and subsequent discovery by prospective learners.
Key users of the standard will be:
- those who provide opportunities for learning and wish to advertise them;
- those who offer electronic search services that aggregate results from multiple Learning Opportunity providers;
- those who wish to compare Learning Opportunities that have been represented electronically.
This European Standard specifies an abstract model for representing Learning Opportunities. The model specifies three resources about which metadata can be stored to facilitate advertising of Learning Opportunities:
a)   the Learning Opportunity Provider;
b)   the Learning Opportunity Specification; and
c)   the Learning Opportunity Instance.
This European Standard specifies the characteristics of relations between the three resources and recommends a core set of metadata for each.

This European Standard specifies a model for the recording and exchange of learner achievement information among student management information systems, as well as the aggregation of information by third party suppliers.
The model proposed within this European Standard is not intended to define the representation of the entire spectrum of Learner Mobility information - the scope of the standard is restricted to the definition of the electronic representation of official, institutionally attested achievement information for learners engaged in formal learning processes, in order to facilitate its recording and subsequent exchange within the European education area.
Achievement Information structured and presented in compliance with this standard may, of course, be used for other purposes - for instance, to provide descriptions of achievement to enrich a learner-owned report, in terms of an e-portfolio. However, guidance on the specification and the organisation of information for purposes other than the representation of formal achievement reports is outside the scope of this European Standard.
In addition, this European Standard defines refinements to the EuroLMAI model for representing the Europass DS.
The Europass Diploma Supplement Application Profile of EuroLMAI, in full compliance with the Europass requirements, focuses on the expression of information regarding the qualification awarded to a learner upon completion of a formal educational programme. The proposed profile is needed for the general purposes of:
-   the exploitation of academic achievements abroad: in continuing education or in seeking job opportunities;
-   the admission of students or graduates in home and European universities: acknowledgment of credits or transfer of credits accumulated in home institutions moving from one university to another;
-   the expression of the level, content and nature of qualifications to potential employers both nationally and at a European level;
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This European Standard is applicable to the digital exchange of information about terms or concepts relating to curriculum information. This includes values to be used in metadata to describe learning resources and learner profiles.
The main uses of CEF instances and related services are expected to be the provision of:
-   controlled vocabularies;
-   navigation structures;
-   additional curriculum information;
-   mappings.

ISO/IEC 19796-1:2005 is a framework to describe, compare, analyse, and implement quality management and quality assurance approaches. It will serve to compare different existing approaches and to harmonize these towards a common quality model. The main aspect is the Reference Framework for the Description of Quality Approaches (RFDQ).
ISO/IEC 19796-1:2005 consists of the following items:
description scheme for quality management;process model defining the basic processes to be considered when managing quality in the field of ICT-supported learning, education, and training;conformance statement for the description format.
For a better understanding of ISO/IEC 19796-1:2005, several annexes show samples of its use. The annexes are based on the French 'Code of Practice in e-Learning' (AFNOR Z 76-001) and German DIN PAS 1032-1. Additionally, an annex on Reference Quality Criteria (RQC) is included. These criteria serve as reference criteria for the analysis and evaluation of learning resources and scenarios. These criteria are also not a quality assessment approach itself, but a framework to compare different quality assurance and quality assessment approaches. Additionally, several examples of use are shown, such as specific quality objectives (e.g. metadata quality) and guidelines.
ISO/IEC 19796-1:2005 is only the first step towards a harmonized quality framework; the next step is to define quality instruments and metrics in order to provide a complete quality approach. It is planned to begin the work on the full quality approach as the second part of the QA activity.