In the U.S., states and publishers are hurrying to make sure their resources are correlated to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in addition to the already mandated state standards. JES & Co. has developed processes that make the job simpler and less expensive. The GLRC team is putting to use linked-data, making relationships between learning objectives and resources both dynamic and flexible. What is getting the state and district superintendents so excited? GLRC tools and services are enabling teachers to teach to the CCSS and still report and assess using the state standards. And publishers are finding that their products and services are not only meeting today’s multi-standards requirements but are making individualized learning plans and cross grade/subject options a reality. Don’t get left behind.
ASN enhancements are not just for teachers and publishers. Application programmers are getting what they need, too. “The Resource Description Editor (RDE) is finally here,” explains Joseph Chapman, Data Manager for JES & Co. “The RDE is designed to be used by those familiar with describing learning objectives yet not familiar with the Resource Description Framework (RDF), the basis for creating linked-data. Standards authors can work in the RDE’s user friendly interface and create ASN RDF/XML linked data before they know it.”
JES & Co. has designed the RDE to be configurable so that it can meet any publisher’s or organization’s way of describing learning objectives yet provide an underlying layer for interoperability with other products. The RDE is the first education focused Semantic Web tool of its kind. Perhaps that is why it is so valuable to the education community’s solutions providers” explained Chapman.
With the RDE work coming to an end, JES & Co. is now focusing on updating the ASN web services. The ASN has a new website and a new standards viewer. Both are in beta mode but can be seen live here. The ASN also provides a new way to parse and display ASN standards data by using a new manifest file which can be seen in the ASN Standards Locator. This new manifest file (which will be featured in the next release of ASN RDF/XML) contains the hierarchical structure of a standards document with all the URI’s and preference labels pre-resolved for easy display. Because the manifest files are in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), it makes incorporating ASN data into your website even easier. We will be announcing the new version of ASN RDF/XML and the new ASN web services as they come online in the coming weeks.
About the ASN
The Achievement Standards Network (ASN) provides an RDF-based framework for the description of achievement standards promulgated by governments and other organizations to prescribe what students should know and be able to do as a result of specific educational experiences.
ASN data is open source and made available to the education community at no cost.
About the GLRC
The Global Learning Resource Connection (GLRC) is a public-private collaboration which brings to fruition ongoing work between JES & Co., a U.S. 501(c) (3) education research organization, corporate sponsors and education agencies worldwide. Leading the initial corporate involvement are founding worldwide partners Microsoft, Cisco, Cengage/Gale, the National Education Association (NEA), and other leading corporations in process. The GLRC ties together several significant semantic web technologies developed through funding from the National Science Foundation and is designed to support cyber learning. The GLRC supports the implementation of the mapping of major collections of learning resources in systems around the world to the machine-readable expressions of the learning outcomes based on the Achievement Standards Network (ASN) modeling and technical framework. The work will implement the international linking of those resources through trans-jurisdictional mapping of learning outcomes by means of Semantic Web/Linked Data principles for teacher/learner access and use. For more information about the GLRC, contact Terry Smithson at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or visit us www.JESandCo.org.
About JES & Co.
JES & Co., a publicly funded 501(c) (3) education research organization, is a world leader in research and deployment of education programs based on open standards. With 20 years of experience in interoperability and portability of educational resources, organizations around the world come to JES & Co. for leadership and guidance on education programs and initiatives. Since its establishment in the early 1990s, JES & Co. has led and managed The Achievement Standards Network (ASN), The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, The Gateway to 21st Century Skills (formerly known as GEM), the Dell Academy, the Intel Student Certification Program, and Microsoft’s Partners in Learning. For more information about Jes & Co or the Global Learning Resource Connection, visit www.JESandCo.org.
