ECTS_IPCC_and_MLO

The Information Package/Course Catalog (IP/CC) is described as the most important ECTS document and is produced to facilitate discovery of learning opportunities for local and mobile students (and staff), providing essential institutional, academic and practical information that should be easy to understand and compare.

Analysis of the checklist of essential information reveals:

1.  A number of categories about the Learning Provider (and its physical location)
   1. LearningOpportunityProvider.Title (Name)
   2. LearningOpportunityProvider.Location>>Address
   3. LearningOpportunityProvider.Description>>AcademicAuthorities
   4. LearningOpportunityProvider.Description>>General
   5. LearningOpportunityProvider.Type>>InstitutionType
   6. LearningOpportunityProvider.Type>>InstitutionStatus
   7. LearningOpportunityProvider.DegreeProgrammes (see point 2 below)
   8. LearningOpportunityProvider.Description>>AdmissionProcedures
   9. LearningOpportunityProvider.Description>>Regulations
   10. LearningOpportunityProvider.Contact>>EctsCoordinator
   11. LearningOpportunityProvider.Description>>LivingCosts
   12. LearningOpportunityProvider.Description>>Accomodation
   13. LearningOpportunityProvider.Description>>Meals
   14. LearningOpportunityProvider.Description>>MedicalFacilities
   15. LearningOpportunityProvider.Description>>SpecialNeedsFacilities
   16. LearningOpportunityProvider.Description>>Insurance
   17. LearningOpportunityProvider.Description>>FinancialSupport
   18. LearningOpportunityProvider.Description>>StudentAffairs 
   19. LearningOpportunityProvider.Description>>StudyFacilities 
   20. LearningOpportunityProvider.Description>>InternationalProgrammes
   21. LearningOpportunityProvider.Description>>InformationForMobileStudents
   22. LearningOpportunityProvider.Description>>LanguageCourses 
   23. LearningOpportunityProvider.Description>>Internships 
   24. LearningOpportunityProvider.Description>>SportsFacilities
   25. LearningOpportunityProvider.Description>>LeisureFacilities
   26. LearningOpportunityProvider.Description>>StudentAssociations
2. Two types of LearningOpportunitySpecifications - one for a "Degree Programme" and one for the "Course-Units" that comprise it. The IP/CC document is not explicit on the relation between Degree Programme and Course-Unit - a parent-child relation may be inferred from the documentation, but in reality this relation is typically more complex with a Course-Unit being re-used on many Degree Programmes, sometimes with different offerings available in different semesters. The ECTS information categories for LearningOpportunity Specifications can thus be identified as follows: 
   1. LearningOpportunitySpecification[type="DegreeProgramme"].Qualification
   2. LearningOpportunitySpecification[type="DegreeProgramme"].Description>>AdmissionRequirements
   3. LearningOpportunitySpecification[type="DegreeProgramme"].Description>>Goals
   4. LearningOpportunitySpecification[type="DegreeProgramme"].Description>>AccessToFurtherStudy
   5. LearningOpportunitySpecification[type="DegreeProgramme"].Description>>Structure
   6. LearningOpportunitySpecification[type="DegreeProgramme"].Description>>FinalExamination
   7. LearningOpportunitySpecification[type="DegreeProgramme"].Description>>AssessmentRegulations
   8. LearningOpportunitySpecification[type="DegreeProgramme"].Contact>>EctsCoordinator
   9. LearningOpportunitySpecification[type="DegreeProgramme"].Relation>>HasPart (used to reference specifications for CourseUnits that comprises it)
   10. LearningOpportunitySpecification[type="CourseUnit"].Title
   11. LearningOpportunitySpecification[type="CourseUnit"].Identifier>>CourseCode
   12. LearningOpportunitySpecification[type="CourseUnit"].Type>>CourseType
   13. LearningOpportunitySpecification[type="CourseUnit"].Audience>>EducationLevel>>CourseLevel
   14. LearningOpportunitySpecification[type="CourseUnit"].Credit
   15. LearningOpportunitySpecification[type="CourseUnit"].Description>>Objectives
   16. LearningOpportunitySpecification[type="CourseUnit"].Description>>CourseContents
   17. LearningOpportunitySpecification[type="CourseUnit"].Description>>RecommendedReading
   18. LearningOpportunitySpecification[type="CourseUnit"].Description>>TeachingMethods
   19. LearningOpportunitySpecification[type="CourseUnit"].Description>>AssessmentMethods
   20. LearningOpportunitySpecification[type="CourseUnit"].Language
3. And, finally, some specific details of LearningOpportunityInstances that tell the learner when, how and where particular offerings of the specified learning opportunities will be available for study and what the learner must have in order to apply:
   1. LearningOpportunityInstance[type="CourseUnit"].Date>>Start
   2. LearningOpportunityInstance[type="CourseUnit"].Prerequisites
   3. LearningOpportunityInstance[type="CourseUnit"].Attendance>>TermPattern
   4. LearningOpportunityInstance[type="CourseUnit"].Contact>>Lecturer
4. Our discussions in Brussels and evidence from web-based IP/CCs confirms that institutions typically go beyond this minimum guidance to give more detail about when, how and where learners will study, for instance to include:
   1. LearningOpportunityInstance[type="CourseUnit"].Attendance>>AttendancePattern
   2. LearningOpportunityInstance[type="CourseUnit"].Location (if this differs from the provider's location, for instance for multi-site institutions)
      

The "." symbol is used to indicate a property (or element) of a resource. The ">>" symbol is used to indicate refinement of a property.

Hopefully, this is a useful start towards considering how the LOP/LOS/LOI model could, through extension of the Dublin Core Abstract Model's standard metadata and the addition of extra properties where required, provide a meaningful expression of the ECTS IP/CC. Further to our Skype call of February 18, it is useful to distinguish the properties that are not readily accomodated within standard Dublin Core metadata. They are:

• LearningOpportunityProvider.Contact
• LearningOpportunitySpecification.Contact
• LearningOpportunityInstance.Contact
• LearningOpportunitySpecification.Qualification
• LearningOpportunitySpecification.Credit
• LearningOpportunityInstance.Prerequisite
• LearningOpportunityInstance.Attendance

As LOP, LOS and LOI all include notions of a "Contact" (which is slightly different from the author/contributor notion within Dublin Core) - this would be a candidate element for inclusion within a GenericMetadata class.