Linked active content: a service for digital libraries for education

ABSTRACT

A service is described to help enable digital libraries for education, such as the NSDL, to serve as collaboration spaces for the creation, modification and use of active learning experiences. The goal is to redefine the line between those activities that fall within the domain of computer programming and those that fall within the domain of content authoring. The current location of this line, as defined by web technologies, is such that far too much of the design and development process is in the domain of software creation. This paper explores the definition and use of “linked active content”, which builds on the hypertext paradigm by extending it to support active content. This concept has community development advantages, since it provides an authoring paradigm that supports contributions from a more diverse audience, including especially those who have substantial classroom and pedagogical expertise but lack programming expertise. It also promotes the extraction of content from software so that collections may be better organized and more easily repurposed to meet the needs of a diverse audience of educators and students.

REFERENCES

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.3 COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.3 INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL

General Terms:
Experimentation, Human Factors

Keywords:
active learning, education, web authoring