DS CWA 16078:2010

Curriculum Exchange Format

Scope

Learning resources can be found on the Internet or in a computer system. They are often stored in an organised way in repositories together with information about them. The information is called metadata and it helps to search, browse, filter and then retrieve additional information. Some of the keywords that are put into metadata can be based on words or phrases taken from real curricula so that learners and teachers can relate to them. Adding the identifiers of these terms or concepts to metadata and associating them with a resource, is called tagging. Curricula often have a tree like structure that presents topics and objectives in a particular way. This structure can be used to navigate or browse to the terms that are used in the metadata and so provide links to useful resources. The main benefit that will result from widespread use of the Curriculum Exchange Format (CEF) will be that learners and teachers will be able to find resources using a curriculum that they are familiar with and using their preferred language. The resources they find may come from lots of different sources and may have been originally organised by a different curriculum. Developers or publishers of web sites, tools, learning platforms and resources can all share information in an agreed way making it easier for systems to interoperate. The impact on learners and teachers will be smoother moving between different software systems and web sites and result in a more personalised experience.