1. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) P. Karampiperis TenC WorkShop, Sofia, March 2006 1/23 LIFELONG COMPETENCE DEVELOPMENT: TOWARDS A COMMON METADATA MODEL FOR COMPETENCIES DESCRIPTION – THE CASE STUDY OF EUROPASS LANGUAGE PASSPORT Pythagoras Karampiperis, Demetrios Sampson and Demetrios Fytros e-mail: {pythk,sampson,dfytros}@iti.gr This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs-NonCommercial License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd-nc/1.0 or send a letter to Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way, Stanford, California 94305, USA.

2. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) P. Karampiperis TenC WorkShop, Sofia, March 2006 2/23 Outline  Description  Problem Definition  Description Models for Competencies  The IMS RCDEO specification  Open Issues  Case Study: The EuroPass Language Passport  Application of IMS RCDEO  Possible extensions  Conclusions and Future Work

3. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) P. Karampiperis TenC WorkShop, Sofia, March 2006 3/23 Problem Definition  Competence-based approaches in the field of formal or non-formal education and training  are becoming more common  appear to offer the opportunity to develop training programmes that meet needs of learners, trainers and potential employers  To support the provision of competence-based learning services  it is necessary to maintain a record of an individual’s competences in a persistent and standard way.  Therefore, a common agreed model for describing competencies is required

4. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) P. Karampiperis TenC WorkShop, Sofia, March 2006 4/23 Paper Contribution Thus, in this paper  We investigate the problem of defining a common metadata model for the description of competencies using the IMS RDCEO specification  Based on a a real case study, that is, the EuroPass Language Passport  we identify four open issues on the description capabilities of the IMS RDCEO specification  We propose possible extensions to its information model to address these open issues

5. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) P. Karampiperis TenC WorkShop, Sofia, March 2006 5/23 Description Models for Competencies (1/2)  The IMS RDCEO specification  defines an information model for describing, referencing, and exchanging definitions of competencies  aims to provide the means for formally representing the key characteristics of a competency, independently from its use in a particular context  aims to guarantee interoperability among e-training systems that deal with competency information, by allowing them to refer to common definitions with commonly recognized values.

6. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) P. Karampiperis TenC WorkShop, Sofia, March 2006 6/23 Description Models for Competencies (2/2)  The IEEE RCD specification  describes a Competency Definition as used in a Learning Management System or referenced in a Competency Profile  makes direct reference to the IMS RDCEO specification

7. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) P. Karampiperis TenC WorkShop, Sofia, March 2006 7/23 Open Issues in IMS RCDEO (1/5)  We have identified the following open issues:  How to represent the proficiency level of a competency?  How to represent the grading scale of a competency?  How to represent the success threshold of a competency?  How to describe complex competencies in an interoperable way?

8. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) P. Karampiperis TenC WorkShop, Sofia, March 2006 8/23 Open Issues in IMS RCDEO (2/5)  How to represent the proficiency level of a competency?  The IMS-RDCEO specification supports the representation of a proficiency level, within the ‘title’ element.  The information stored within this element is provided in a free narrative format with no use of a certain vocabulary  Thus, it is not machine understandable and limits the scope of interoperability among different systems.

9. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) P. Karampiperis TenC WorkShop, Sofia, March 2006 9/23 Open Issues in IMS RCDEO (3/5)  How to represent the grading scale of a competency?  The IMS-RDCEO specification does not provide a way to represent the “grading scale” of the proficiency level of a competency  Thus, provides limited support for the assessment of complex competencies (that is, any competency consisting of other competencies)

10. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) P. Karampiperis TenC WorkShop, Sofia, March 2006 10/23 Open Issues in IMS RCDEO (4/5)  How to represent the success threshold of a competency?  The IMS-RDCEO specification does not support the definition of a “success threshold” for a competency  Therefore, a learning system cannot interpret the existence or not of a competence in a learner profile

11. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) P. Karampiperis TenC WorkShop, Sofia, March 2006 11/23 Open Issues in IMS RCDEO (5/5)  How to describe complex competencies in an interoperable way?  The IMS-RDCEO already supports the definition of complex competencies through the use of ‘metadata/relation’ element  However, it does not provide a way to represent the weighting factor of sub-competencies when assessing a complex one  Thus, provides limited support for the assessment of complex competencies

12. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) P. Karampiperis TenC WorkShop, Sofia, March 2006 12/23 Case Study: The EuroPass Language Passport  The Europass Language Passport  a European common model for language competencies, developed by the Council of Europe as part of the European Language Portfolio  designed to enhance the motivation of individuals to improve their ability of communicating in different languages.  supports the definition of individuals’ language skills on a six-level scale  defines a competence ontology consisting of 5 simple competencies and 3 complex competencies  each of these competencies is associated (directly or indirectly) with a list of language topics

13. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) P. Karampiperis TenC WorkShop, Sofia, March 2006 13/23 EuroPass Language Passport: Partial View

14. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) P. Karampiperis TenC WorkShop, Sofia, March 2006 14/23 How to represent the level of a competency?  The EuroPass Language Passport  defines common reference levels for the description of language proficiency levels based on a six level scale retrieved from the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages  These levels are: level A1 and A2 for basic users, level B1 and B2 for independent users and level C1 and C2 for proficient users.  The IMS RDCEO specification  allows the description of the proficiency level via the ‘title’ element, which does not discriminate the narrative description of the name from the proficiency level of the described competency

15. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) P. Karampiperis TenC WorkShop, Sofia, March 2006 15/23 Proposed Extension #1

16. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) P. Karampiperis TenC WorkShop, Sofia, March 2006 16/23 How to represent the grading scale of a competency?  The EuroPass Language Passport  defines a common grading scale for the reference language proficiency levels  This scale is numeric taking values from 1 to 10.  The IMS RDCEO specification  does not allow the definition of the grading scale of a competency

17. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) P. Karampiperis TenC WorkShop, Sofia, March 2006 17/23 Proposed Extension #2

18. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) P. Karampiperis TenC WorkShop, Sofia, March 2006 18/23 How to represent the success threshold of a competency?  The EuroPass Language Passport  defines for each language proficiency level a threshold on the proficiency level scale that indicates the existence of the relevant competency.  This threshold has been defined equal to 3.  The IMS RDCEO specification  does not allow the definition of the success threshold of a competency

19. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) P. Karampiperis TenC WorkShop, Sofia, March 2006 19/23 Proposed Extension #3

20. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) P. Karampiperis TenC WorkShop, Sofia, March 2006 20/23 How to describe complex competencies in an interoperable way?  The EuroPass Language Passport  defines a competence ontology consisting of 5 simple competencies and 3 complex competencies.  The IMS RDCEO specification  already supports the definition of complex competencies through the use of ‘Metadata/Relation’ element  however, it does not provide a way to represent the weighting factor of sub-competencies when assessing a complex one  Thus, a new element representing the weighting factor (importance) of a specific competency when it is aggregated within a more complex one, is required

21. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) P. Karampiperis TenC WorkShop, Sofia, March 2006 21/23 Proposed Extension #4

22. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) P. Karampiperis TenC WorkShop, Sofia, March 2006 22/23 Conclusions and Future Work  In this paper  We investigated the problem of defining a common metadata model for the description of competencies using the IMS RDCEO specification  Based on the EuroPass Language Passport we identified four open issues on the description capabilities of the IMS RDCEO specification and proposed possible extensions to address these issues  Future Work  application of the proposed extensions of the IMS RCDEO specification in the description of other competence models  investigate how other models (i.e. human resources description models) could contribute towards defining a common metadata model for competencies.

23. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) P. Karampiperis TenC WorkShop, Sofia, March 2006 23/23 Contact Details Demetrios Sampson sampson@iti.gr http://www.ask.iti.gr Informatics and Telematics Institute, Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, 42, Arkadias Street,Athens,GR-15234,Greece and Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems, University of Piraeus 150, Androutsou Street, Piraeus, GR-18534 Greece