Curriculum Schema Consultation and Release 1.0 Rationale

XCRI in general (and Ben Ryan and Mark Stubbs in particular) are extremely grateful to all those who have commented on the consultation draft schema and on subsequent presentations of the emerging course information model. Detailed feedback from Alan Paull and Tavis Reddick proved particularly useful at inspiring contributions from others and this feedback was brought to a joint information modelling event at Manchester University on December 12, 2005, involving XCRI, COVARM, SUNIWE and P4P. The event highlighted a number of points that have been taken on board for release 1.0 of the XML Schema:

• Curriculum is an all embracing term - exchanging course-related information prioritises an interest in fragments of curriculum: module specifications, learning outcomes, assessments, teaching and learning strategies, etc.
• Linkages between curriculum fragments are important to capture: which learning outcomes are assessed by which assignments, which learning outcomes flow from which subject benchmarks, which modules make up which stage of which course, etc.
• An important distinction must be maintained between a course specification and an offering of the course
• Definitive course documentation often makes reference to associated organizations: accrediting bodies, awarding bodies, franchise partners, etc.
• Ideally, recognition awarded for completing fragments of curriculum (eg. course and modules), should be represented in the same way as entry requirements, although work to harmonise transcript, e-Portfolio and course models and establish and maintain vocabularies to aid interoperability across institutions (within the UK and internationally) will be a major project

Release 1.0 of the schema has consequently been modified from the v0d consultation draft in the following ways:

• A generic base type of curriculum <fragment> has been established, which is extended for curriculum fragments that need to be inter-linked. In order to facilitate linking, the content of a curriculum fragment has been moved from the element to a <description> sub-element, to create space for an identifier and optional meta-data.
  <fragment>
  <identifier />
  <comment />
  <dc:any />
  <description>XHTML or string content goes here</description>
  </fragment>
• A generic model has been established for specifying linkages between curriculum fragments. Elements of fragmentAssociationDataType have attributes for specifying how to handle the collection of curriculum fragments they contain. Those attributes specify:
  • the type of collection: whether it contains options, mandatories or equivalents
  • the minimum to select from the collection for the relationship
  • the maximum to select from the collection for the relationship
  • whether the selection range is specified in terms of cardinality or credit values

  For instance, it may be necessary to model the requirement to select one module from a group of three. This requirement would be specified in terms of assembling references to the module specifications for the optional modules:
  <specAssembly collection="options" selectMin="1" selectMax="1" selectOn="cardinality">
  <specRef>Module 1</specRef>
  <specRef>Module 2</specRef>
  <specRef>Module 3</specRef>
  </specAssembly>

  The ability to specify optionality from a collection has other uses, for instance, in specifying entry requirements:
  <requirements collection="options" selectMin="1">
  <requirement><description>TOEFL (paper-based test) - 550, with 4.0 in the TWE</description></requirement>
  <requirement><description>TOEFL (computer-based test) - 220, with 4.0 on the essay rating included in this test</description></requirement>
  </requirements>

  Indeed, the fragment assembly model provides for recursive assembly, so that a fragmentAssociation can contain an unbounded choice of fragments, fragment references, or further fragment associations. This recursive assembly is particularly useful for giving a more specific representation of the entry requirements given above:
  <requirements collection="options" selectMin="1">
  <requirement>
  <description>TOEFL (paper-based test) - 550</description>
  <includingRequirements>
  <requirement><description>4.0 in the TWE</description></requirement>
  </includingRequirements>
  </requirement>
  <requirement>
  <description>TOEFL (computer-based test) - 220</description>
  <includingRequirements>
  <requirement><description>4.0 on the essay rating</description></requirement>
  </includingRequirements>
  </requirement>
  </requirements>

Full documentation and examples for Release 1.0 of the e-Framework Curriculum XML Schema will be produced in the New Year. In the meantime, the schema and some illustrative valid XML documents are available for download below; they are even accompanied by a personal invitation to check them out from some young fans of Nizlopi's JCB song!

Download Release 1.0 of the e-Framework Curriculum XML Schema

The following documents are released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0: England and Wales Deed. The JISC-funded XCRI project makes no warranty or representation regarding the accuracy or completeness of the Curriculum XML Schema (hereafter the Schema). This material is provided on an "As Is" and "As Available" basis. The Schema and XML examples are at all times subject to change and revision without notice. It is your sole responsibility to evaluate the usefulness, accuracy and completeness of the Schema as it relates to you. With all the caveats out of the way, XCRI would be delighted to receive any comments or suggestions you may have on this schema - please email the project manager.

To herald the release of 1.0 of the schema, two young fans of Nizlopi's JCB song recorded this personal invitation to check out the XSD (please look sympathetically on anyone who has only the words XCRI and XSD to play with!)

Download a zipped folder containing the r1.0 consultation schema and sample xml documents.