Re: [Proposal] schema:OnlineCourse

"Curriculum Sequences" ...
http://self-directed-learning.readthedocs.org/en/latest/slides.html#knowledge-graph



On Tue, Dec 16, 2014 at 10:17 AM, Wes Turner <wes.turner@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Most practically, could we be discussing labeled edges of a path in a
> graph?
>
> On Tue, Dec 16, 2014 at 10:00 AM, Wes Turner <wes.turner@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Regional variation and semantic differentiation!
>>
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Course_%28education%29
>>
>> > In the United Kingdom, Australia and Singapore, a *course* is the
>> entire programme of studies required to complete a university
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University> degree, and the word "unit"
>> or "module" would be used to refer to an academic course in the North
>> American sense.
>>
>> > In between the two, in South Africa, a course officially is the
>> collection of all courses (in the American sense, these are often called
>> "modules") over a year or semester, though the American usage is common. In
>> the Philippines, a course can be an individual subject (usually referred to
>> by faculty and school officials) or the entire programme (usually referred
>> to by students and outsiders).
>>
>> ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Course_%28education%29#Types_of_courses
>>
>> On Tue, Dec 16, 2014 at 9:55 AM, Barker, Phil A <Phil.Barker@hw.ac.uk>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> Hi Vicki
>>>
>>>  1. Courses can comprise Courses. This is especially important at
>>> Universities that recruit into and award certificates for programmes
>>> (Courses) that are built from modules (Courses).
>>>
>>>  > Can you give an example of this? It may be better to model these as
>>> different types rather than trying to mash
>>> > them together. The programmes type could then include the modules.
>>>
>>> I see from Stuart's comment on the Google doc that US Universities may
>>> do this differently, and I mentioned before that terminology is difficult,
>>> so I'll pick an example as close to home as possible, and I will use the
>>> terms that we use and have used here.
>>>
>>> Heriot-Watt University advertises and enrols students into programmes
>>> see http://www.hw.ac.uk/study/course-a-z.htm  for examples specifically
>>> G400 Computer Science BSc
>>> http://www.undergraduate.hw.ac.uk/programmes/G400/
>>> G560 Information Systems BSc
>>> http://www.undergraduate.hw.ac.uk/programmes/G560/
>>> Information Technology (Business) MSc/Diploma
>>> http://www.postgraduate.hw.ac.uk/prog/msc-information-technology-business-/
>>> (At HW we call these programmes, but I think the most common term for
>>> them in the UK is courses, the most common way for UK students to apply for
>>> undergraduate study is through UCAS, http://search.ucas.com/ which
>>> calls them courses).
>>>
>>> The Heriot-Watt Information Systems programme comprises several courses
>>> (more generally known in the UK as modules or units). Students cannot sign
>>> up for these unless they are enrolled on a relevant programme and so they
>>> are not advertised externally in the same way, I don't know if you can see
>>> the course handbook at
>>> http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/macshome/IS_UG_Handbook.pdf but is shows which
>>> courses a student will take in each year / semester. For example
>>> year 1 / semester 1
>>> * F27SA software development 1
>>> * F27IS Interactive systems
>>> * F27PX Praxis
>>> * F27TS Technology in Society
>>> (if you cannot see the course handbook, there is similar information
>>> available for the Manchester University Computer Science BSc available from
>>>
>>> http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/computer-science/?code=00560&pg=options
>>> they are similar to the courses that you have been using as examples.)
>>>
>>> Is that the sort of information that helps?
>>>
>>> Phil
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  ------------------------------
>>> *From:* Vicki Tardif Holland [vtardif@google.com]
>>> *Sent:* 16 December 2014 14:28
>>> *To:* Barker, Phil A
>>> *Cc:* Wes Turner; GUANGYUAN PIAO; Thad Guidry; Aaron Bradley; Public
>>> Vocabs
>>> *Subject:* Re: [Proposal] schema:OnlineCourse
>>>
>>>
>>> On Tue, Dec 16, 2014 at 6:19 AM, Barker, Phil A <Phil.Barker@hw.ac.uk>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>>  1. Courses can comprise Courses. This is especially important at
>>>> Universities that recruit into and award certificates for programmes
>>>> (Courses) that are built from modules (Courses).
>>>>
>>>
>>>  Can you give an example of this? It may be better to model these as
>>> different types rather than trying to mash them together. The programmes
>>> type could then include the modules.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>> 2. I don't think there is much to be gained from having a separate
>>>> class on OnlineCourse rather than a property of a Course to flag whether it
>>>> is online or not. I  think the properties you have for OnlineCourse also
>>>> apply to regular courses. Most regular courses have an online component.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>  Point taken. I think it is important to designate MOOCs from other
>>> courses. I tend to prefer using subclasses instead of booleans as it is
>>> easier to expand a subclass to include properties I missed the first time
>>> around.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>  3. I think it would be better to model an instance of a Course as a
>>>> collection of EducationalEvents and CreativeWorks.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>  The integration with Event is one of the places that needs refining.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>  4. Language is difficult. The different usage between UK and US
>>>> English is one thing, but more importantly commonly used terms often relate
>>>> to specific education systems or pedagogies. So phrases like "instructors
>>>> deliver lessons to students" implies a particular pedagogy. Also this means
>>>> that common terms become ambiguous and open to misinterpretation in
>>>> international use, e.g. class, course, programme, module. This is important
>>>> in schema.org where definitions tend to be minimalist.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>  Good point. I'll update the description to be more inclusive of other
>>> educational systems.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>> As a general question, do you have some usecases in mind and target
>>>> example websites? It's difficult to assess whether these properties are
>>>> sufficient and realistic without those.
>>>>
>>>
>>>  I'll update the document to include some of the sites I was using for
>>> reference, but they were:
>>>
>>>  Coursera (The example came from
>>> https://www.coursera.org/course/datascitoolbox)
>>> MIT course catalog (http://student.mit.edu/catalog/m6a.html)
>>> Stanford course catalog (https://explorecourses.stanford.edu)
>>> edX (https://www.edx.org/)
>>> Cambridge Center for Adult Education (http://www.ccae.org/)
>>>
>>>  - Vicki
>>>
>>>
>>>   Vicki Tardif Holland | Ontologist | vtardif@google.com
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>