course-catalog-examples

2008-12-19T18:48:54Z

ReldaRmont: c4tricr

cnadarro
erdeleltb
=Microformats in Education: Course Catalog=

Starting a collection of research, examples, and a rationale for a microformat for course catalogs in Higher Education. - [http://webdevblog.uwaterloo.ca Jesse Rodgers]

==Todo==

* Get more examples from outside of Canada: Australia, United States, UK, other EU, and hopefully some Asian and south American schools.
* Post some schema information from internal course management systems (work with what already exists)
* First idea is posted (this '''should''' be easy)

==Some Microformat use in Education==

Here is a list of edu sites that use microformats:

*[http://mays.tamu.edu Mays Business School at Texas A&M University] in our [http://mays.tamu.edu/directory/ faculty directory] choose an individual and they will have an hCard and vcard. For info contact [mailto:mherzberger@mays.tamu.edu Matt Herzberger]

* [http://calendar.uwevents.uwaterloo.ca University of Waterloo Events ] - new events system that uses hCal and iCal
* [http://www.pierce.ctc.edu/ephone Pierce College staff/faculty directory] uses hCard.
* [https://www2.uchsc.edu/clinicalscience/calendar/clsc_calendar.asp Clinical Science Program at Univ. Colorado Health Sciences Center] uses iCal.
* [http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/scottishschoolsonline/index.asp?iPage=15&strSubmit=True&strSearchText=&bSubmit=1&cLetter=&authority=&strTypes=&strAdditionalServices=&strFundingType=&searchstring= Scottish Schools Online] uses hCard.

==Where could there be a need for microformats in education?==

===Course Catalog===

A course catalog (sometimes known as a course calendar) is a collection of courses and when they are available as well as fee schedules and course dependencies.

====Examples====

* [http://www.ucalendar.uwaterloo.ca/ University of Waterloo Course Calendar] - current system is set for an upgrade but as you can see the code is very inconsistent.
** Course information is displayed with:
*** course title
*** course requirements
*** eligibility requirements
*** any notes that are relevant to that course such as any special circumstances
*** [http://www.ucalendar.uwaterloo.ca/ARTS/anthropology.html (Anthropology Example)] - no class or id names present
* [http://www.uoguelph.ca/undergrad_calendar/ University of Guelph undergrad calendar] - there is an attempt to assign relevant class names to table elements.

tr class="title"
a name="ANTH4300" ANTH*4300 Anthropological Issues F (3-0) [0.50]
tr class="description"
tr class="prereqs"

* [http://www.wlu.ca/calendars/index.php?cal=1&y=3 Wilfried Laurier undergrad calendar]
** [http://www.wlu.ca/calendars/course.php?c=4707&cal=1&d=174&s=57&y=3 Anthropology example] - no class or id names present
* [http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/courses/calendar/ University of Toronto - Scarborough Campus]
* [http://www.westerncalendar.uwo.ca/western/web/2006(new)/index.html University of Western Ontario]

==== Frameworks in Development ====

===== XCRI - eXchanging Course-Related Information =====

[http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/ukoln/staff/b.kelly/ Brian Kelly] (UK Web Focus) has suggested that the [http://www.xcri.org XCRI project] might be a good project to look with regards to an existing standard. The aim of the project is:

''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.''

A practical use of this standard is shown in a blog post entitled [http://www.cetis.ac.uk/members/scott/blogview?entry=20061117160154 Mashups from the future: TripPlanner & XCRI] by Scott Wilson. Actual XCRI software is available, including an [http://www.xcri.org/aggregator aggregator]

XCRI conducted a [http://www.elframework.org/projects/xcri/xcri_research_v0c.doc detailed survey of 161 course catalogs] as source materials for their specification, which is described on the [http://www.xcri.org/wiki XCRI wiki].

==== Working Draft ====
This is a suggestion for a standardized format for displaying course catalog/ program information for educational institutions.

div class="programDescription"
h2 class="title" Biology
div class="academicLevel" Undergraduate Major
div class="introCopy" Descriptive copy about the program
div class="features" Distinctive features about the program
div class="career" Career opportunities for graduates
div class="courses" List of course information
div class="programDirector" Program Director

Microformats Wiki - User contributions [en]

course-catalog-examples