A Learning Objects Repository Management System for Museum Education

Ana Carolina Bertoletti de Marchi, Universidade de Passo Fundo, Brazil
Raquel Mello de Miranda, Universidade Católica de Pelotas, Brazil
Antônio Carlos Rocha Costa, Universidade Catolica de Pelotas, Brazil

Mini-Workshop: Learning Objects

This paper presents a system for managing repositories of learning objects that has been adapted for use in the support of education in museums. The system is able to manage several repositories of learning objects conformant to the IEEE/LOM specification, with metadata extended with a few items to make the standard more suitable for use in museum education. Besides having repositories of learning objects, the system also allows the creation of topic maps that help to index and retrieve learning objects according to the way they are effectively being used in the context of the museum. This complements the intrinsic description of a learning object provided by its producer and registered in the learning object metadata, with an extrinsic description provided by the museum educational coordinator. That description situates the learning object in the real context of its use, sustaining a better management of learning objects in dynamic environments like educational Web-based environments for museums.