Ontological representation of learning objects: Building interoperable vocabulary and structures

The ontological representation of learning objects is a way to deal with the interoperability and reusability of learning objects (including metadata) through providing a semantic infrastructure that will explicitly declare the semantics and forms of concepts used in labeling learning objects. This paper reports the preliminary result from a learning object ontology construction project, which includes an in-depth study of 14 learning objects and over 500 components in these learning objects. An analysis of the types of components and terms used in these objects reveals that most terms fell into the form and subject categories; few pedagogical terms were used. Drawing findings from literature and case study, the authors use a matrix to show relationships in learning objects and relevant knowledge and technologies. Strategies and methods in ontology development and implementation are also discussed.