The Technical Specifications and Requirements for Connecting OER Repositories Using the LOM Standard

Abstract

One of the goals of creating Open Educational Resources (OER) is to increase their accessibility for more learners. Connecting the different repositories that provide that these OER use one standard can help achieve that goal. In this chapter, we give detailed specifications and requirements for connecting different OER repositories using the Learning Object Metadata (LOM) standard from a technical point of view. We define the used technical terms and show how the process is working at the back end. More specifically, for each stage of connecting repositories, starting from harvesting the metadata from those repositories to storing the processed data in files ready to be used in the front end, we describe the functional requirements, what technologies are needed, and how the process works. In this chapter, we will describe the process of connecting the OER repositories using the LOM standard from start to end as simply as possible. The idea is to allow non-technical staff to replicate such a process, or maybe some stages of it. Afterwards, we give some examples of the tools that may help in the process of harvesting data from the web. Some of these tools are visual and do not require any programming skills. Finally, we briefly describe the EduArc project, which connects OER repositories using the LOM standard.