This document is a Proposal from the Dublin Core Education Working Group [DCEd] to the Dublin Core Usage Committee of the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative [DCMI]. The content of this document is intended to reflect the consensus reached within DCEd. It reports decisions reached by DCEd through its online discussions and face-to-face meetings in Frankfurt (October 25-27, 1999) and Melbourne (February 19-20, 2000). A Report of Deliberations is referenced throughout in support of the Proposal.

DCEd proposes the adoption of the following: (1) two new domain-specific elements with accompanying element qualifiers for a dc-ed namespace; and (2) a new domain-specific qualifier to dc:relation for the dc-ed namespace. In addition, DCEd proposes the endorsement of three elements from the Instructional Management Systems (IMS) namespace (pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding with IEEE LTSC).

Proposal 1:
dc-ed:audience Element

In the education and training domain, the capacity to designate various aspects of the intended users of (or audience for) the educational resource being described is an important function for networked information discovery and retrieval.

Name: audience
Label: Audience
Definition: A category of user for whom the resource is intended.
Comment: Frequently, creators and publishers of resources in education and training explicitly state the category of user for whom the resource is intended. In like fashion, end-users in the education/training domain frequently search using audience characteristics as search terms.
See Also: dc-ed:audience Element discussion in the Report of Deliberations.

DCEd recognizes the need for increased search precision through the use of controlled vocabularies. Various implementations in the education domain have adopted such element encoding schemes to denote various classes of audience traits based on national, organizational, and cultural needs. No DCEd element encoding schemes are put forward in this proposal.

Name: mediator
Label: Mediator
Definition: An entity that mediates access to the resource.
Comment: The audience for a resource in the education/training domain are of two basic classes: (1) an utimate beneficiary of the resource (usually a student or trainee), and (2) frequently, an entity that mediates access to the resource (usually a teacher or trainor). The dc-ed:mediator element refinement represents the second of these two classes.

DCEd recognizes the need for increased search precision through the use of controlled vocabularies. Various implementations in the education domain have adopted such element encoding schemes to denote types of mediators based on national, organizational, and cultural needs. No DCEd value qualifier encoding schemes are put forward in this proposal.

[1] DCEd recognizes that in addition to the dc-ed:mediator element refinement, dc-ed:audience may be more precisely expressed in the education domain through a number of facets denoting audience traits (e.g., education/training level, levels of pysical and intellectual ability, etc.). These traits will most likely suggest additional element refinements in the future. No such additional element refinements are put forward in this proposal.

Proposal 2:
dc-ed:standard Element [2]

In the education and training domain, the capacity to designate various academic and process standards to which the educational/training resource being described has been associated is an important function for networked information discovery and retrieval. Frequently, end-users search for resources that are useful in helping students/trainees in achieving educational goals and objectives as promulgated by various companies, organizations, and governmental bodies.

Name: standards
Label: Standards
Definition: A reference to an established education or training standard to which the resource is associated. [3]
See Also: dc-ed:standard Element discussion in the Report of Deliberations.

The recommended scheme for dc-ed:standard is the Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) referencing a process or content standard. In the absence of a URI, good practice includes the text of the standard being associated with reference to the controlling scheme.

Name: identifier
Label: Identifier
Definition: Where available, an identifier that serves to uniquely identify the standard being associated.

Name: version
Label: Version
Definition: Information identifying the version of the standard being referenced (e.g., a year of publication, a version number, etc.).
Comment: Occasionally, the unique identification of a standard is a function of both an identifier and a version.

[2] The dc-ed:standard proposal is one of two alternative mechanisms for handling the need to reference academic and process standards. See also, Proposal 3 below.

[3] An alternative (possibly more useful ) general description is: “A reference to an established standard to which the resource is associated.”

Proposal 3:
dc-ed:conformsto Qualifier to the dc:relation Element [4]

In the education and training domain, the capacity to designate various academic and process standards to which the educational/training resource being described has been associated is an important function for networked information discovery and retrieval. Frequently, end-users search for resources that are useful in helping students/trainees in achieving educational goals and objectives as promulgated by various companies, organizations, and governmental bodies.

Name: conformsto
Label: ConformsTo
Definition: A reference to an established education or training standard to which the resource is associated. [5]
See Also: dc-ed:standard Element discussion in the Report of Deliberations.

[4] The dc-ed:standard proposal is one of two alternative mechanisms for handling the need to reference academic and process standards. See also, Proposal 2 above.

[5] An alternative (possibly more useful ) general description is: “A reference to an established standard to which the resource is associated.”

Proposal 4:
Endorsements of Data Elements in the IEEE LOM/IMS Namspace

In conformance with the DCMI commitment to modular metadata, DCEd proposes endorsement of the use of the InteractivityType, InteractivityLevel, and TypicalLearningTime data elements (Education Category: 5.1, 5.3, and 5.9 respectively) from the IEEE Learning Object Metadata (LOM) standard for P1484.12.

Name: interactivitytype
Label: InteractivityType
Definition: The flow of interaction between this resource and the intended user.
See Also: IEEE LOM Data element discussion in the Report of Deliberations.

IEEE restricted vocabulary.

Name: interactivitylevel
Label: InteractivityLevel
Definition: The degree of interactivity between the end user and this resource.
See Also: IEEE LOM Data element discussion in the Report of Deliberations.

IEEE restricted vocabulary.

Name: TypicalLearningTime
Label: TypicalLearningTime
Definition: Approximate or typical time it takes to work with this resource.
See Also: IEEE LOM Data element discussion in the Report of Deliberations.

IEEE restricted vocabulary.