The ROLE project aims to create a framework for learners to build and maintain personalized learning environments using various components including an SDK, a widget store, and recommender systems. The widget store serves as a cross-platform marketplace to support educational applications, allowing users to create, share, and categorize widget bundles tailored to specific learning goals. Future developments include expanding tool types, enhancing connectivity, and implementing a widget contest to foster innovation in educational software.

1. Sharing Personal Learning Environments
for Widget Based Systems using a
Widget Store
Daniel Dahrendorf,
Diana Dikke,
Nils Faltin
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2. ROLE
The ROLE project aims at building a framework that allows a
learner to easily construct (mash up) and maintain her own
Personal Learning Environment.
Components of this framework are
• a SDK for learning environments
• a space feature in OpenSocial
• recommender systems
• libraries (usage tracking, IWC, …)
• a widget store
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3. Goal of the ROLE Widget Store
Create a cross-platform marketplace focusing educational
applications and assisting the learner in selecting applications
for their needs and learning goals
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4. Why Another Application Store?
While there are several (well known)
application stores, stores focusing education
are still rare
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5. The ROLE Widget Store
Widget Store
Learning
Community of Widget Bundle LMS / PLE system
Activities and Recommendation
Practice Templates integration
Competences
Education related widgets
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6. Why Using Widgets for PLEs?
• Widgets allow flexible mashups in web platforms
• On the one hand they provide very simple functionalities at
their own
• On the other hand they can be communicate which each
other and combined to create a larger piece of software
Supported by a large
number of learning
environments
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7. The Widget Repository
Extract
metadata
Use Cases
Screenshots Enrich
Screencasts metadata
Licenses
Developer Contact
Categorization
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8. How to Share Mashups?
How could I share a nice set of tools with the
community?
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9. Widget Bundles
A widget bundle is a set of widgets that complement each
other and are used together for a common purpose to fulfill
a specific learning goal
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10. Widget Bundles
Preconfigured Widgets + Content + Learning Activities
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11. Widget Bundles
Widget Bundle
create
rate, comment,
rate, comment,
share, discuss
share, discuss
• Bundles can be shared with the community
• The community can rate, comment and discuss
these templates and add them to a learning
environment
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12. Categorization
In order to support the learner in selecting widgets /
bundles the store provide several categorization
system for different purposes
• Identify the learning phase
• Identify the functionality
• Identify the learning domain
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13. Tool categories
For which learning phase can a tool be used?
• Categorization based on the PPIM model
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14. Tool Functionalities & Learning Domains
What for functionality does a tool provide?
• Categorization based on a functionality ontology
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15. Learning Domains
In which learning domain can the tool/bundle be
used?
• Categorization based on dppedia.org
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16. Connectivity
Different approaches to add widgets to PLEs
• Add manually (copy reference, download)
• Push (e.g. iGoogle)
• Via JavaScript
• Web services (SPARQL, REST)
• Embedded HTML Code
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17. http://role-widgetstore.eu
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18. Future Work
• Include more tool types (Desktop, Mobile)
• Connect with other systems
• Add Recommender
• Evaluate the system
• Add social requirement
engineering tool
• Release new version
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19. Widget Contest
 Bring together the best ideas from software
developers and practitioners
 In the first round contribute your specification of a
learning widget (no coding)
 Three selected specifications have two months to
develop their learning widgets
(supported by a ROLE partner)
 Deadline first round: 29 July 2012
 http://www.role-project.eu/WidgetCompetition
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20. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR
YOUR ATTENTION!
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