Hello Andy, everyone.
I think there is a link between what Andy says and the points that
Stuart has raised. I think that from Stuart's point of view properties
such as "typical learning time", "instructional method", "difficulty"
must be properties of the resource itself for the resource to be a
learning resource, and therefore in scope. My own view is that the AP
needs to have a larger scope where these may be properties of the
educational activity. (The reason for me taking this view is, briefly, a
belief that learning is a result of activities rather than resources.)
On Andy's point, from my perspective, many properties that relate to
education may be properties of the resource or of the educational
activity, depending on the resource and how it is used. Having
previously argued (and convinced some others) that they should
(sometimes) be properties of the resource, I now think they could be
moved out to be properties of the activity if we can find some way of
conveying the information that in some cases a certain educational
activity is inherent in the design of the resource.
Finally, my understanding is that some aspects of the resource cloud are
in scope (i.e. certain educational properties) and some aspects are out
of scope (i.e. properties not specific to education).
Andy Powell wrote:
> I have a comment on the model shared round by Sarah - see http://www.flickr.com/photos/morags_eyrie/4171513161/sizes/l/.
>
> I think this comment relates to the current discussion initiated by Stuart but I haven't read the messages hard enough to be sure!
>
> The model suggests that there are properties of a Resource that are in scope of the AP called Typical Learning Time, Instructional Method and Difficulty. (Note: I couldn't easily tell from the model picture whether the Resource 'cloud' in the centre of the diagram is supposed to be in or out of scope - at this stage I'm guessing that it is in scope but light reading of Stuart's messages indicate that I might have got this wrong?). These seem to me to be properties of a particular use of the Resource, rather than properties of the Resource itself. As such, they should appear as properties of an Educational Activity (in terms of the model)? The model hints at this by showing Instructional Method as an associated class of an Educational Activity (kind of duplicating the appearance of that property for the Resource) but using the property 'Has' rather than the property Instructional Method.
>
> By way of another example. War and Peace (a Resource) may have very different difficulty levels when used as part of an Educational Activity within a library cataloguing course than it does when used as part of an Educational Activity as part of an English Literature course?
>
> Apologies if I'm way off the mark here.
>
> Note that the model would do well to stick to lower-case initial letters for properties (instructionalMethod rather than InstructionalMethod) and upper-case initial letters for classes (InstructionalMethod) - that would help to clarify things.
>
> Andy
>
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