Slides used for my presentation at FIE 2011 (full paper available at "http://fie-conference.org/fie2011/papers/1516.pdf").

1. Model-driven development of learning objects
Frontiers in Education 2011
Marco Aurélio Graciotto Silva1 , Ellen Francine Barbosa1 ,
José Carlos Maldonado1
1 Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Computing
University of São Paulo (USP)
São Carlos, SP, Brazil
October 2011

2. Introduction
Model-driven
development
of learning Motivation
objects
Development of learning objects is a laborious process:
Introduction define learning goals,
Learning design learning objects,
object
development develop content,
Model-driven deploy in a learning management system.
development
Model-driven
How to keep the pace of stringent requirements for the
development development of (high) quality learning objects:
of learning
objects
fulfill learning goals, as usual;
Concluding
remarks foster self-paced education, using rich media, connected
and interactive devices;
feasibility (time and cost) under real scenarios.

3. Introduction
Model-driven
development
of learning Method: software engineering techniques
objects
Since 2002, we research the systematic development of
Introduction
learning objects using software engineering techniques.
Learning
The first major solution was IMA-CID:
object
development Considers different perspectives (conceptual, instructional,
Model-driven and didactic).
development
Employs a formal description technique (HMBS).
Model-driven
development
of learning
objects Model-driven development as a solution
Concluding
remarks
LODM builds upon IMA-CID:
Provides better representations for conceptual,
instructional and didactic models.
From a computational point of view.
Aims to be scalable.
Learning objects must be reliably developed.

4. Introduction
Model-driven
development
of learning Method: software engineering techniques
objects
Since 2002, we research the systematic development of
Introduction
learning objects using software engineering techniques.
Learning
The first major solution was IMA-CID:
object
development Considers different perspectives (conceptual, instructional,
Model-driven and didactic).
development
Employs a formal description technique (HMBS).
Model-driven
development
of learning
objects Model-driven development as a solution
Concluding
remarks
LODM builds upon IMA-CID:
Provides better representations for conceptual,
instructional and didactic models.
From a computational point of view.
Aims to be scalable.
Learning objects must be reliably developed.

5. Learning object development
Model-driven
development
of learning Learning object
objects
A learning object is a reusable digital entity, composed of (se-
Introduction
quenced) educational content and learning activities descrip-
Learning
tions.
object
development
Model-driven
Learning object development
development
Learning objects development consists of the progressive
Model-driven
development development of artifacts.
of learning
objects Tacit or explicit knowledge models.
Concluding
remarks
Although models are strong related, most often we do not
make good use of these relations:
Or at least we do not make it as frequently as we would
like to.

6. Model-driven development
Model-driven
development
of learning Model-driven development
objects
Model-driven development adopts models augmentation, weav-
Introduction
ing and transformation for the entire software/learning object
Learning
life cicle.
object
development
Model-driven Modifications are done in the model that captures the
development
relevant knowledge regarding the change/requirement.
Model-driven
development Models are represented by domain-specific languages.
of learning
objects Language which is understood by the domain expert (and
Concluding not just the computing expert).
remarks
Models are woven and transformed by mapping functions
that represents knowledge once retained just by the
expert.
Transformation are (semi-)automatically executed.

7. Model-driven development
Model-driven
development
of learning Model-driven development
objects
Model-driven development adopts models augmentation, weav-
Introduction
ing and transformation for the entire software/learning object
Learning
life cicle.
object
development
Model-driven Modifications are done in the model that captures the
development
relevant knowledge regarding the change/requirement.
Model-driven
development Models are represented by domain-specific languages.
of learning
objects Language which is understood by the domain expert (and
Concluding not just the computing expert).
remarks
Models are woven and transformed by mapping functions
that represents knowledge once retained just by the
expert.
Transformation are (semi-)automatically executed.

8. Model-driven development of learning objects
Model-driven
development
of learning Learning Object Development Method
objects
LODM (Learning Object Development Method) is a model-
Introduction
driven development approach for learning objects.
Learning
object
development Main features
Model-driven Build upon IMA-CID models: conceptual, instructional,
development
didactic.
Model-driven
development And our experience developing learning objects using it.
of learning
objects
Conceptual model
Adopt commercially (and open source) supported tools to
Instructional model design each model.
Didactic model
Transformations UML + profiles
Concluding
remarks Transformations are (partially) implemented by a tool
(LODE).

9. Learning Object Development Method
Conceptual model
Model-driven
development
of learning Conceptual model
objects
Conceptual models defines learning objectives by means of a
Introduction
concept map. It realizes the knowledge regarding a given topic
Learning
area.
object
development
Concept model creation
Model-driven
development
It can be created from scratch or from existing educational
Model-driven
development
material.
of learning
objects Usage of existing material is strongly encouraged, as its
Conceptual model data can be reused in later models.
Instructional model
Didactic model
Transformations
Most often used technique: annotation.
Concluding Identification of important topics (nouns) and sentences.
remarks
However, it is error-prone and demands too much effort.
Automatic extraction of relevant data seems proming.
Captures main terms/concepts quickly.

10. Learning Object Development Method
Conceptual model
Model-driven
development
of learning Concept model creation
objects
For now, just one document and plain term frequency.
Introduction Each term is (probably) a concept.
Learning Relations are extracted from text too:
object
development
Sentences which contains terms defined in the concept
Model-driven
development
map.
Model-driven
development
of learning
objects
Conceptual model
Relationships
Instructional model
Didactic model
Relations can be related to
Transformations
structure/hierarchy (is a),
Concluding
remarks composition (has a), or to an
specific domain.
Such information can be used
later (instructional model).

11. Learning Object Development Method
Instructional model
Model-driven
development
of learning Instructional model
objects
Instructional model defines information items and instructional
Introduction
elements regarding concepts identified in the conceptual model.
Learning
object
development
Information item
Model-driven An information item describes the concept identified in the
development
conceptual model.
Model-driven
development Currently we represent it as a concept, fact, procedure or
of learning
objects principle.
Conceptual model
Instructional model
Didactic model
Transformations
Instructional element
Concluding Anything that is instructionally important but cannot be
remarks
defined as an information item.

12. Learning Object Development Method
Instructional model
Model-driven
development
of learning Organization
objects
Information items and instructional elements are organized
Introduction
in a Statechart model.
Learning
object
development
Model-driven
development
Model-driven
development
of learning
objects
Conceptual model
Instructional model
Didactic model
Transformations Instructional model creation
Concluding
remarks
Structural and composition relationships (from conceptual
model) are realized using nested-states.
Information items and instructional elements are
represented by (orthogonal) regions within each state.

13. Learning Object Development Method
Instructional model
Model-driven
development
of learning IMA-CID Profile: Information item and instructional element
objects
Any model element with a instructional role should be
assigned with, at least, one stereotype:
Introduction
Mandatory: stereotype that is a concrete type of IMA-CID
Learning
object element.
development
Optional for information item, required for instructional
Model-driven
development element: Educational goal stereotype.
Model-driven
development
of learning
objects
Conceptual model
Instructional model
Didactic model
Transformations
Concluding
remarks

14. Learning Object Development Method
Instructional model
Model-driven
development
of learning
objects
Didactic model
Introduction
Didactic model establishes the prereq-
Learning
uisistes and sequences of presentation
object
development
among instructional model elements.
Model-driven
development
Transitions and DD state
Model-driven
development Considering a state, the reachable states are siblings,
of learning
objects parent and child (nested) ones.
Conceptual model
Instructional model Transitions define which reachable sibling-state and nested
Didactic model
Transformations state can be accessed.
Concluding When all reachable states can be accessed, you can set the
remarks
state as a DD state
It defines an implicit transition between every sibling-state.
Stereotype DD state.

15. Learning Object Development Method
Transformations
Model-driven
development
of learning
objects
Transformations
Introduction
For each model, we define a set
Learning
of transformations.
object
development
From nothing to the conceptual
Model-driven
model, we extracted a (rough)
development model that defines concepts and
Model-driven relations.
development
of learning CXL document.
objects
Conceptual model
Instructional model
From conceptual model, we
Didactic model create the instructional model.
Transformations
Concluding
CXL to XMI document.
remarks
Extracted data can be used as
information items and
instructional elements.

16. Learning Object Development Method
Transformations
Model-driven
development
of learning
objects
Transformations
Introduction
From the instructional model, we
create the didactic one.
Learning
object
development
XMI to XMI.
Model-driven Define transitions and
development DD-states.
Model-driven
development From the didactic model, we
of learning
objects
generate the learning object.
Conceptual model
Instructional model
Each state is a sequence of
Didactic model
slides (LaTeX and PDF).
Transformations
Concluding
Navigation between slides
remarks reflects the sequencing of the
didactic model.

17. Concluding remarks
Model-driven
development
of learning Concluding remarks
objects
LODM has been used to develop several software testing
courses.
Introduction
Learning
http://143.107.183.152/Apps/Moodle/
object
development Systematic development of learning objects is feasible.
Model-driven LODE (tool supports LODM) is under development.
development
Model-driven
Better learning objects and productivity
development
of learning Benefits for learners and instructors.
objects
Concluding
remarks
Further work
Improve data extraction (concept map)
Abstract away the adopted pedagogical approach (used to
create instructional and didactic models).
Generate outputs other than PDF, assembling a product
family.

18. Credits
Model-driven
development Contact information
of learning
objects Marco Aurélio Graciotto Silva
magsilva@icmc.usp.br
Contact info
Research group
Laboratory of Software Engineering
http://www.labes.icmc.usp.br
Educational modules/learning objects development
http://www.labes.icmc.usp.br/moduloeducacional
Funding support
CNPq (Grant 142381/2009-8)
University of São Paulo (PrPG)
CAPES
FAPESP