Current NLE Internet Initiatives Gov Tech Net June

Current NLE Internet Initiatives Gov. Tech. Net June 16, 1999 Keith M. Stubbs Director, Resource Sharing & Cooperation Division and Director, ERIC Program National Library of Education 202 -401 -6014 kstubbs@inet. ed. gov

Education User Services Customer Telephone Letter User Service Centers Associations Ask. ERIC & VRD Libra. Info. ries Ctrs ED Offices Tech Asst Providers Computer Search E-mail NLE Clearinghouses Distributed Electronic Repository ED Online Library Lab Network Libraries Other ED-Funded Sites Ask. ERIC, NPIN, ERIC Fed. Agencies (FREE) State Agencies Education and Library Associations

NLE/ERIC Internet Initiatives u Creating u ED Distributed Content web site & 30 ERIC web sites u Finding Distributed Content u ED Cross-Site Index (CSI) u Federal Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE) u Gateway to Educational Materials (GEM) u Finding Expertise & Assistance u Education (EROD) u Answering Resource Organizations Directory Questions on the Net

Gateway to Educational Materials (GEM) u. Goal: Consortium effort to improve access to uncataloged collections of educational materials on non-profit, commercial, & government Internet sites. u. URL: http: //thegateway. org http: //geminfo. org u. Contact: Nancy Morgan, GEM Coordinator ERIC Clearinghouse on Information & Technology (800) 464 -9107

Imagine you’re a: u 9 th grade science teacher looking for a lab activity on solutions that conforms to NSTA standards on the structure & properties of matter

How It Works without GEM Teacher School District Ask. ERIC Lesson Plans Math Forum North Carolina Tried’n’True State Ed. Agency Home Schooler Parent Microsoft Encarta Helping Your Child

How It Works with GEM Teacher School District State Ed. Agency Home Schooler Parent G E M C a t a l o g Ask. ERIC Lesson Plans Math Forum North Carolina Tried’n’True Microsoft Encarta Helping Your Child

How It Started u. NLE Advisory Task Force u. Ask. ERIC & Digital Library Challenge u. Stakeholder u. Research Meeting on teacher use of Internet to find educational materials

The Pieces That Make It Work u. A standard way of describing all Internet educational materials u. Software Tools u. Training & Support u. The Gateway Catalog u. The GEM Consortium

The GEM Profile u. A standard way of describing all Internet educational materials u the power of open standards and structured data u founded on Dublin Core with education-specific extensions u simple to apply; accommodates range of elaboration u flexible; extensible; comply with evolving standards u Metadata & controlled vocabularies u Consultation with experts & teachers u Coordination with related efforts

GEM Metadata Profile Dublin Core Elements GEM Elements Coverage Publisher Creator Relation Date Resource Type Description Rights Format Source Identifier Subject Language Title Other Contributor Audience Duration Essential Resources Grade Level Pedagogy Quality Indicators Academic Standards Cataloging Agency

Controlled Vocabularies Element Sub-Element Example Subject Level 1 Level 2 Science Astronomy Resource Type Activity, Unit, Lesson, Project, Tool, Artifact Pedagogy Teaching Methods Grouping Assessment Lecture, Discovery Small Group, Individual Authentic, Portfolio Audience Tool for Whom? Ultimate Beneficiary Teaching Professionals Native American Students

Metadata Continuum Complex & Rich Simple & Terse Lycos Location Dublin Core Discovery USMARC Documentation GEM Level 1 Cataloging GEM Level 2 Cataloging

GEM Catalog/Build Process ta da eta M Resources Me Har vest Embedded Metadata tad The Gateway Browse Local Site Union Index st e arv ata H Separate Metadata Search

Training & Support u GEMCat Training u Group Training Sessions u Training Manual (print & Web version) u Cataloging Reference Manual u Train-the-Trainer Manual u Technical Systems Implementation Manual u GEMCat Support u Toll-Free Telephone Helpline, Email Help u “Jumpstart” Cataloging

Searching/Browsing GEM Customer A Customer B Customer C Site A Site B Site C Search/Browse Union Catalog but Filter for Specific Subjects or Sites Search/Browse Local Catalog Union Catalog at ERIC/IT Subset Union Catalog: Focus on Specific Subject Subset Union Catalog: Affiliated Sites Local Single-Site Catalog

GEM Consortium Collection Holders Users Group Profile Steering Committee Governance Board Administrative Group

GEM Consortium Members (sample) u u u u u American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Ask. ERIC Virtual Library Big Sky Telegraph Connecticut Education Association Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Mathematics & Science Education Franklin County Public Schools, Virginia Getty Education Institute for the Arts - Arts. Ed. Net Kentucky Education Association Library of Congress Microsoft Encarta u u u Mid-Continent Regional Education Laboratory (Mc. REL) National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) National Education Association (NEA) New York Times Learning Network Northeast Regional Technology in Education Consortium (Net. Tech) North Carolina Department of Public Instruction -- Teachers Connect Smithsonian Office of Education U. S. Department of Education Utah. Link Virtual Reference Desk (VRD) + 80 more

Quality & Standards u Quality is infused throughout GEM. u Collection holders must have & apply stated quality criteria to their collections. u GEM records can contain quality assessment & academic standards mappings. u GEM records can point to external teacher comments, peer review, third party quality assessments, & academic standards mappings.

Next Steps u Add more collection holders to GEM Consortium u Enhance capability for introducing user-based quality statements to GEM system u Promote congruence with state & national academic standards u Continually evaluate GEM to ensure that it meets information needs of educators at all levels

Coming Up u. Z 39. 50 & GILS-compliant RDBMS u. XML u. GEM & IMS u. GEM & FREE u. GEM & ED Cross-Site Index u. GEM & Educational Best Practices

Future Directions u. Subject mapping/crosswalks u. Natural language processing for user queries and cataloging assistance u. Extension to additional types of educational materials u. User profiles

Virtual Reference Desk (VRD) u Goal: to establish a national cooperative digital reference service to coordinate participants in the growing field of online question answering services for the K-12 education community u URL: http: //www. vrd. org u Contact: R. David Lankes ERIC Clearinghouse on Information & Technology (800) 464 -9107 rdlankes@ericir. syr. edu

VRD Functions Users Consortium VRD Project Answering Meta-Triage Locator Knowledge Base Ask. A’s Mentors/Volunteers Organizing Resources Software Training Match Making Research Organizations/ Associations

The Ask. A Consortium u. A cooperative network that seeks to provide resources (computing infrastructure, funding, knowledge, access to mentors and questions) to its members u. A guiding body for the Virtual Reference Desk

Meta-Triage Process Question User or Ask. A E-Mail Web Other Query Parser Question Existing Answers Knowledge Base Modified Query Human Evaluation/ Answer Formulation Ready Response Ask. A Possible Ask. As Ask. A Locator Modified Query No Response Tracking Database Referral Response Answer User Answer Ask. A Consortium

Structure of Ask. A Software Interface Manager User Expert Administrator Blueprint Manager Template Meta-Description Core Question Acquisition Pool of Experts Response Generation User Sent Answer Tracking Blueprint Link Question Answer Question Interchange Protocol Transaction Data GEM Record (Metadata) User Profile

Ask. A+ Locator u Registry of Ask. A+ Consortium members u Central point of information on a particular Ask. A service (such as contact information & answer policies) u Allows students, teachers, parents, & other members of K-12 community to locate high-quality digital references services that can answer their questions u Promotes use of quality criteria in digital reference

Knowledge Base u Build on existing digital reference information resources u subject archives, FAQs, searchable databases, detailed resource guides u Capture question/answer sets in a distributed fashion u Hierarchical subject structure u collections cataloged in lightweight subject hierarchy based on GEM u Query interface to serve human (novice/expert) & automated searchers

Other Proposed VRD Services u Incubators u link up interested organizations & individuals around common areas of interest to create new digital reference services u provide training, software, & expertise to assure success u Match u put Making potential volunteers in contact with existing or potential Ask. A services

Cross-Site Indexing (CSI) u Goal: To enable customers to find information on any of 200+ ED-funded web sites using a simple search screen available at all sites u URL: http: //search. ed. gov/csi/ u Contact: Keith Stubbs 202 -219 -1803 National Library of Education kstubbs@inet. ed. gov

Cross-Site Indexing (CSI) u Status: u ED examined 40+ search engines, tested 8, & selected Ultraseek u Selection based on superior speed, scalability, search interface, precision, recall, relevancy ranking, & ease of administration u Index currently includes 360, 000+ files from more than 350 sites: 160, 000+ files on 200+ ED-sponsored sites u 200, 000+ files on 150+ sites sponsored by other federal agencies ** u u 15 -20, 000 page views per day ** Federal Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE) (www. ed. gov/free/)

Cross-Site Indexing Process Other ED Site Other Agency ED Web R&D Center Lab Cross-Site Index ERIC CH Ultraseek “spider” regularly indexes full-text content of each participating web site, including metadata, PDF files, Lotus Notes databases, etc.

Cross-Site Search Process Cross. Site Index Customer A Customer B Customer C ERIC CH Other Site(s) Where Info Is Customers can elect to search all sites, all sites in a category (i. e. , ERIC, Labs, etc. ), or an individual site.

Education Resource Organizations Directory (EROD) u Goal: to help customers & reference staff identify & contact organizations that provide information & assistance on a broad range of education-related topics u URL: http: //www. ed. gov/BASISDB/EROD/direct/SF u Contact: Michael Heeg 1 -800 -LET-ERIC ACCESS ERIC mheeg@aspensys. com

Education Resource Organizations Directory (EROD) u Status: u Implemented Feb. 1997 u Contains info about 2, 400+ state, regional, & national organizations u Features include: u simple & advanced search (5, 500 searches per month) u state map & territories list (5, 300 views per month) u online submission of updates/corrections/additions u specialized searches & lists u ERIC Resource Collections (6, 500 searches per month)

Updating EROD ERIC Directory of Education. Related Information Centers Regular Update Mailings with Phone Followup Online Submission of Updates/Corrections Education Resource Organizations Directory ERIC Resource Collection Directory Environmental Scanning (Listservs, Newsletters, Press Releases, etc. ) Adds/Updates from ED Program Offices

Searching EROD Customer: -- Teacher -- Librarian -- Student -- Parent -- Researcher Intermediary -- Reference Desk -- Info. Center -- Call Center Search by: -- State -- Subject -- Services -- Audience -- All Text -- Has URL -- Has 800# -- & more Contact by: -- Web -- Email -- Phone -- Snail Mail -- Visit Education Resource Organizations Directory Resource Organization -- Provides Information/ Assistance/Services -- State, Regional, or National in Scope

EROD Contents Directory contains 2, 147 organizations, including: Comprehensive Regional Assistance Centers (15) Desegregation Assistance Centers (10) Disability & Business Technical Assistance Centers (10) Eisenhower Regional Mathematics and Science Consortia (10) ERIC Resource Collections/Library Agencies (1023) Information Centers/Associations/ Clearinghouses (528) National Network for Curriculum Coordination in Vocational & Technical Education (2) Other Federal Agencies (146) Parent Resource Centers (28) Regional Education Laboratories (10) Special Education Federal & Regional Resource Centers (7) Regional Technology in Education Consortia (6) Secretary's Regional Representatives & Regional Offices (10) State Arts Agencies (56) State Directors of Adult Education (55) State Directors of Special Education (4) State Directors of Vocational-Technical Education (53) State Education Agencies (State Departments of Education) (56) State Guaranty Agencies (36) State Higher Education Agencies (59) State Literacy Resource Centers (50) State Parent Training & Information Centers (Disabilities) (36) State Tech Prep Coordinators (54)

P: cendiconferencesfcwNLE_Stubbs. ppt EROD Sample Record TITLE: ACCESS ERIC ADDRESS: 2277 Research Boulevard, 7 A; Rockville, MD 20850 PHONE: (301)519 -5789 FAX: (301)519 -6760 TOLL-FREE: (800)LET-ERIC E-MAIL: acceric@inet. ed. gov GOPHER: aspensys 3. aspensys. com: 70/11 /education/eric URL: http: //www. aspensys. com/eric DIRECTOR: Lynn Smarte CONTACT TITLE: Information Specialist DESCRIPTION: Provides reference and referral services for the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC), a national education information network responsible for developing, maintaining, and providing access to the world's largest education literature database. AUDIENCE(S): General public SERVICE(S): Meetings, conferences; Information dissemination; Publication production/dissemination; Topical packages; Referrals SUBJECT(S): Educational practices; Educational research; Educational resources HOURS: M-F 8: 30 a. m. -5: 15 p. m. TIME ZONE: EST PUBLICATION(S): Brochures; Directories; Journals; Newsletters; Pamphlets SPONSOR: U. S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement TYPE OF ORGANIZATION: Information Center/Association/Clearinghouse GEOGRAPHIC SCOPE: National STATE(S)/TERRITORY(IES) SERVED: All LAST VERIFIED: 5/28/98 UNIQUE ID: 144