Re: Modelling Course and CourseOffering

On 10/02/2016 15:54, Richard Wallis wrote:
>
> On 10 February 2016 at 15:44, Phil Barker <phil.barker@hw.ac.uk 
> <mailto:phil.barker@hw.ac.uk>> wrote:
>
>     Thanks Richard, I had wondered about the relationship between
>     CourseOffering and the existing Offer type. After thinking about
>     Alan Paulls query around cost, I think they might be different
>     things. A single CouseOffering might have several costs, depending
>     on the student. So they would be distinct instances of
>     schema.org:Offer but not of CourseOffering. 
>
>
> Is that different to a an organization Offer[ing] the same service to 
> different people at different costs dependant on eligibility - 
> separate offers describing the cost of a haircut for children, adults, 
> and retired persons?

No, it's not the existence of different Offers that I doubt, it's what 
it being offered. I  think that was probably clearer the further you get 
down the message

>     That would suggest to me that CourseOffering would have the
>     (repeatable) schema.org:offers property.
>
>
> If we do end up with what you describe I get the feeling we should be 
> concerned about  the overuse of the words offer and offering and how 
> it might impact understandability.

Indeed.

Phil

>     A definition of CourseOffering might help. Several other specs
>     make the distinction between abstract and concrete aspects of
>     courses the relevant definitions are:
>     XCRI-CAP BS 8581-1:2012 : “the course offered at a specific time
>     and place, or through specific media”
>
>     MLO-Advertising CWA 15903 : "A single occurrence of a learning
>     opportunity. Unlike a Learning Opportunity Specification, a
>     Learning Opportunity Instance is not abstract, may be bound to
>     particular dates or locations, and may be applied for or
>     participated in by learners."
>
>     CEDS: "A setting in which organized instruction of course content
>     is provided to one or more students for a given period of time.
>     Note: A Course may be offered to more than one Course Section.
>     Instruction may be delivered in person by one or more instructors
>     or via a different medium. Sections that share space should be
>     considered as separate Course Sections if they function as
>     separate units for more than 50 percent of the time."
>
>     One option would be to define CourseOffering in such a way that it
>     match schema.org <http://schema.org>'s Offer, something like: "the
>     course offered at a specific time and place, or through specific
>     media, at a specific price depending on the learner" But I don't
>     like this: it would lead to unnecessary duplication of all the
>     properties of a CourseOffering except for price.
>
>     It's also worth considering whether the name CourseOffering is a
>     poor choice of name if it leads to confusing assertions like
>     schema.org:CourseOffering schema.org:offers schema.org:Offer.
>
>
> As I said above before reading this ;-)
>
>
>     Phil
>
>

-- 
Phil Barker           @philbarker
LRMI, Cetis, ICBL     http://people.pjjk.net/phil
Heriot-Watt University

Workflow: http://www.icbl.hw.ac.uk/~philb/workflow/



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