This specification was created to be structurally and visually similar to the widely known and used ontologies, such as FOAF and SIOC. It was partially automatically generated using the SpecGen5 tool.
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The ALOCoM Content Type (CT) ontology is defined as an extension of the ALOCOM Core ontology and focused on potential instructional/pedagogical roles of content units (e.g. Fact, Definition, Example, Exercise). Concepts defined in this ontology are aimed at annotating learning content (and its individual components) with its instructional role.
This is a work in progress! This document is still changing on a monthly if not weekly basis. Comments are very welcome, please send them to jeljov@gmail.com. Thank you.
An alphabetical index of ALOCoM Content Type terms, by class (concepts) and by property (relationships, attributes), are given below. All the terms are hyperlinked to their detailed description for quick reference.
Classes: Abstract, Algorithm, Answer, Bibliography, Chapter, Cognitive, Conclusion, Course, Definition, Demo, Description, Example, Exercise, Explanation, Fact, Illustration, Introduction, Lesson, Narrative, Procedure, Question, Reference, Remark, Summary, Supporting, Test, Tutorial
The ALOCoM Content Type (CT) ontology is defined as an extension of the ALOCOM Core ontology and focused on potential instructional/pedagogical roles of content units (e.g. Fact, Definition, Example, Exercise). Concepts defined in this ontology are aimed at annotating learning content (and its individual components) with its instructional role.
As extension of the ALOCoM Core ontology, ALOCoM CT ontology is also rooted in the ALOCoM generic content model [Verbert et al, 2004] and has Content Fragment, Content Object and Learning Object as the basic, abstract content types. However, these concepts are considered from the perspective of pedagogical/instructional roles they might have. Therefore, concepts like Definition, Example, Exercise, Reference are introduced as subclasses of the alocom-core:ContentObject class, whereas concepts such as Tutorial, Lesson, Test are some of the subclasses of the alocom-core:LearningObject class (Figure 1). The alocom-core:ContentFragment class is not sub-classed, as according to the ALOCoM model, an instructional role cannot be assigned to a single Content Fragment.
Figure 1. Different kinds of Content Objects defined in the ALOCoM Content Type ontology
Creation of this ontology was mostly inspired by a thorough examination of existing Learning Object Content Models (such as SCORM or Learnativity [Wagner, 2002]), as well as by a closely related work presented in [Ullrich, 2005] and [Farrell et al, 2004]. Concepts defined in the ontology are intended to be used for the annotation of learning objects and their components with the pedagogical/instructional role(s) they were intended for. One should note that a Content Object can be assigned multiple pedagogical roles: each one defined from different perspective: rhetorical, cognitive, supporting (Figure 1).
Presently, the ALOCoM CT ontology has a rather simple structure. It is more a taxonomy than a real ontology, since it defines only a hierarchy of concepts without specifying any kind of relationships among them. Despite its simplicity, this ontology provided means to formally state the pedagogical role(s) of learning objects and their components. Nonetheless, our intention is to enrich the ontology with semantic properties as formal expressions of interrelations among different pedagogical roles, and hence enable an advanced level of reasoning.
URI: http://jelenajovanovic.net/ontologies/loco/alocom-content-type/ns/Abstract
Abstract - An abstract is a brief summary of a piece of content (such as a research article or a thesis). It always appears at the beginning of a manuscript and is aimed at helping the readers get the gist of the manuscript's content.
URI: http://jelenajovanovic.net/ontologies/loco/alocom-content-type/ns/Algorithm
Algorith - An algorithm is a method for solving a problem expressed as a finite sequence of steps to be executed; it provides well-defined instructions for completing a task.
URI: http://jelenajovanovic.net/ontologies/loco/alocom-content-type/ns/Answer
Answer - An answer further clarifies, describes or exemplifies certain topic or the content of a certain (primarily cognitive) content object.
URI: http://jelenajovanovic.net/ontologies/loco/alocom-content-type/ns/Bibliography
Bibliography - A bibliography is a list of cited work (primarily publications) given at the end of a manuscript (e.g., a book or an article).
URI: http://jelenajovanovic.net/ontologies/loco/alocom-content-type/ns/Chapter
Chapter - A chapter of a book, a handbook, a thesis, or any other comprehensive manuscript.
URI: http://jelenajovanovic.net/ontologies/loco/alocom-content-type/ns/Cognitive
Cognitive - The common superclass for all kinds of content objects that are cognitive in nature
URI: http://jelenajovanovic.net/ontologies/loco/alocom-content-type/ns/Conclusion
Conclusion - The concluding part of a manuscript aimed at summarizing the main points of the manuscript.
URI: http://jelenajovanovic.net/ontologies/loco/alocom-content-type/ns/Course
Course - An entire learning or training course
URI: http://jelenajovanovic.net/ontologies/loco/alocom-content-type/ns/Definition
Definition - A content object that states the meaning of a word, phrase, or symbol. Often, it describes a set of conditions or circumstances that an entity must fulfill in order to count as an instance of a class.
URI: http://jelenajovanovic.net/ontologies/loco/alocom-content-type/ns/Demo
Demo - A demo serves for demonstrating some functionality. It can also serve for illustration of a certain procedure or algorithm.
URI: http://jelenajovanovic.net/ontologies/loco/alocom-content-type/ns/Description
Description - A description of a certain topic; it can be expressed through text, images, videos, etc.
URI: http://jelenajovanovic.net/ontologies/loco/alocom-content-type/ns/Example
Example - An example serves to illustrate a topic and thus facilitate its comprehension
URI: http://jelenajovanovic.net/ontologies/loco/alocom-content-type/ns/Exercise
Exercise - An exercise serves for getting hands on experience with a certain topic.
URI: http://jelenajovanovic.net/ontologies/loco/alocom-content-type/ns/Explanation
Explanation - Explanation provides additional information about a topic. It elaborates on some aspect, or points out important properties.
URI: http://jelenajovanovic.net/ontologies/loco/alocom-content-type/ns/Fact
Fact - A fact provides information based on real (observed) occurrences; it describes the state of certain entitiy or an event or something else that holds without being a general rule.
URI: http://jelenajovanovic.net/ontologies/loco/alocom-content-type/ns/Illustration
Illustration - A kind of description which uses visual elements (such as images, graphs, videos, etc) to describe a topic.
URI: http://jelenajovanovic.net/ontologies/loco/alocom-content-type/ns/Introduction
Introduction - The introductory part of a document, often aimed at setting the stage for the main topic of the document and motivating readers to read further.
URI: http://jelenajovanovic.net/ontologies/loco/alocom-content-type/ns/Lesson
Lesson -
URI: http://jelenajovanovic.net/ontologies/loco/alocom-content-type/ns/Narrative
Narrative - The common superclass for all kinds of content objects that are narrative (descriptive) in nature.
URI: http://jelenajovanovic.net/ontologies/loco/alocom-content-type/ns/Procedure
Procedure - A procedure generally provides step-by-step instructions that will enable a user to perform a task. It answers the question of how by telling the user precisely what to do and the order in which to do it.
URI: http://jelenajovanovic.net/ontologies/loco/alocom-content-type/ns/Question
Question - A question asks for a description, an explanation or an example that would further clarify certain topic or the content of a certain (primarily cognitive) content object.
URI: http://jelenajovanovic.net/ontologies/loco/alocom-content-type/ns/Reference
Reference - A reference to an external source providing additional information on a certain topic
URI: http://jelenajovanovic.net/ontologies/loco/alocom-content-type/ns/Remark
Remark - A remark provides additional, not obligatory information about an aspect of a topic. It can contain interesting side information.
URI: http://jelenajovanovic.net/ontologies/loco/alocom-content-type/ns/Summary
Summary - A summary highlights the major points from a much longer piece of content, such as a document or a video. Its purpose is to help the audience to quickly get the gist of the content. It is similar to abstract.
URI: http://jelenajovanovic.net/ontologies/loco/alocom-content-type/ns/Supporting
Supporting - The common superclass for all kinds of content objects that are supportive in nature. Their purpose is to facilitate comprehension of a certain topic, or some other piece of content (primarily content objects of the cognitive type).
URI: http://jelenajovanovic.net/ontologies/loco/alocom-content-type/ns/Test
Test - Test (quiz, exam) is a widely used mean of evaluating learners' knowledge.
URI: http://jelenajovanovic.net/ontologies/loco/alocom-content-type/ns/Tutorial
Tutorial - A tutorial gives step by step instructions on how to do something; it can take the form of a screen recording, a written document, or an audio file.
We would like to acknowledge the many helpful comments and suggestions from members of the GOOD OLD AI research network. We are also thankful to Sergio Fernández for the SpecGen5 which was used in the creation of this specification.