Course Information Group
This project is now completed. You can find the latest on XCRI over on the XCRI.org website.
The XCRI project aims to define a generic course description specification for the UK.
Members of the project team are using this web site to communicate their progress and findings. Follow the quick links below to find out more:
FAQ | Updates | Outputs | Partners | Standards
XCRI's extension funding has produced a Course Advertising Profile schema that will be the subject of JISC-funded national trials (JISC Capital Programme 04/06 - Appendix D Item V)
NEW: A report summarising XCRI's first 18 months of activity is now available to download
Frequently Asked Questions
What is XCRI?
XCRI is a JISC-funded project that aims:
To define a vocabulary and appropriate technology bindings (e.g. XML, RDF) for describing course-related information that encompasses course marketing, course quality assurance, enrolment and reporting requirements
What does XCRI stand for?
eXchanging Course-Related Information
Who is involved in XCRI?
XCRI is a partnership, led by Dr Mark Stubbs of Manchester Metropolitan University, involving a range of institutions including UCAS (the UK's national course information and applications aggregator). Full details of the partners can be found below
What has XCRI produced so far?
XCRI has released an XML schema for describing course information that has been piloted in institutions across the UK, from Glasgow to Exeter, from Liverpool to London, Oxford and Hertford. A demonstration search web service is now available. Full details of major project output are available below, although there are over 80 documents on this site that give a complete account of the history, development and design decisions underlying those outputs.
How do I keep up to date with XCRI's work?
The project manager maintains a blog on this site that gives a good account of developments and progress - see below. If you wish to be included in any project mailings, please let the project manager know: email m.stubbs@mmu.ac.uk
Updates
The Project Manager is maintaining a blog to chart progress.
- 2006-10-26 Manchester - latest **
- 2006-10-10 Birmingham
- 2006-08-19 Manchester - previews the new XCRI Course Advertising Profile
- 2006-07-17 Manchester
- 2006-05-09 Birmingham
- 2006-03-28 Oxford - XCRI Showcase Event
- 2006-03-17 Manchester - Web Services Demonstrator and XSLT
- 2006-02-17 Amsterdam
- 2006-01-30 Manchester XCRI Deployment Starts
- 2005-12-22 Manchester XCRI R1.0 Schema Release
- 2005-12-05 Crewe
- 2005-11-30 Berlin
- 2005-11-16 Edinburgh
- 2005-11-11 Manchester
- 2005-09-27 Manchester Steering Group: 6 month progress review
- 2005-09-22 Manchester
- 2005-07-29 Nottingham
- 2005-07-27 Liverpool
- 2005-07-20 Glasgow
- 2005-06-16 Nottingham
- 2005-05-20 Manchester
- 2005-04-15 Huddersfield
- 2005-04-06 Birmingham
- 2005-03-15 Oxford
- 2005-01-11 Manchester
Outputs
A report summarising XCRI's first 12 months of activity is now available to download. Specific outputs include:
- Partners' review of the suitability of Norway's CDM curriculum metadata approach for UK need [Complete]
- UK case studies and utilities for harvesting, converting, storing and publishing curriculum content [Complete]
- Survey of 161 UK institutions' online prospectus content and the level of systems integration used to produce it [Complete]
- Business Case for an integrated curriculum services approach [Complete]
- Draft v0 XML schema for consultation [Complete]
- v1.0 XML schema for representing curriculum content [Complete]
- v1.0 e-Framework Curriculum Services WSDL [postponed as effort re-directed towards Course Advertising]
- Curriculum Services Reference Implementation [Q1, 2006: demonstrator release]
- Report on first 12 months of XCRI activity [Complete]
- Simon Grant's Report on XCRI and Competence Modelling [Complete]
- Scott Hennessy's Report on Competence Mapping in Medicine [Complete]
- Ian Martin's Report on Options for Curriculum Authoring [Complete]
- XCRI Profile optimised for Course Advertising [Download draft Course Advertising Profile XSD]
- XCRI transformation web services [Complete]
- Report on first 18 months of XCRI activity [Complete]
Partners
Project partners and interested parties currently include:
- Mark Stubbs, Manchester Metropolitan University, Project Leader
- Michael Aherne, Reid Kerr College
- Balbir Barn, Thames Valley University
- Dagfinn Begsager, University of Oslo
- Hilary Dexter, University of Manchester
- Derek Hendy, Liverpool John Moores University
- Wilbert Kraan, CETIS
- Adam Marshall, Oxford University
- Greg McClure, Northern Ireland Integrated Managed Learning Environment project
- Sean Mehan, University of the Highlands and Islands
- David O'Hare, Northern Ireland Integrated Managed Learning Environment project
- Alan Paull, Universities and Colleges Admissions Service / APS Ltd
- Geoff Ramshaw, Universities and Colleges Admissions Service
- Tavis Reddick, Fife College
- Peter Rees-Jones, Leeds University
- Jon Rowett, Brockenhurst College ,
- Mark Stiles, Staffordshire University
- Paul Walk, London Metropolitan University
- Scott Wilson, CETIS
- Vashti Zarach, CETIS
Reference Standards
Efforts of the XCRI project team are influenced by the following work:
- Norway's Course Description Metadata (CDM)
- Sweden's Education Information Markup Language (EMIL)
- European Credit Transfer Scheme
- Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI)
- Internet2 eduCourse / CourseId
- IMS Global Learning Consortium
- QAA Programme Specification criteria
- Scott Wilson's first cut at the essence of course markup language
- Schemas used to represent courses in the Reid Kerr Online Prospectus project
- Course XML provided by the Office of Web Services at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Management Information Across Partners programme
- Metadata application profiles:
- Kinematic Models for Design Digital Library Metadata
- US National Transportation Library
- Metadata and Information for Learning Opportunities by Rónán O'Beirne on behalf of LearnDirect
- LearningOrchestratorTM Learning Opportunity Resource Model by Alan Paull
