Semantic Syllabus Planning Tool

[kohlhase]

This is a very early project description. This might become a Master's thesis or two.

In ALeA, we could support Course Syllabus planning: when an instructor plans a new course for ALeA, she will usually have to balance three tasks

• re-using existing LOs (slides, problems, ...) in a new setting, usually sequencing them differently
• creating new LOs where needed using existing domain model objects
• creating the new domain model parts as needed. and then fitting this into a syllabus (a mapping of content over the time available), which usually evolves over the time the course is developed and held. Here I will assume that the syllabus combines and coordinates various strands: the lectures, homeworks, quizzes, and maybe even other courses with which this one is supposed to be coordinated.

I imageine a tool that is something like a table/spreadsheet where rows indexed by the calendar week and lecture times, with one column for each of the strands to be coordinated. The cells describe respective units (a lecture, tutorial, problem set, ... ) and allow to choose them from or link them to the context (the existing domain model modules or LOs). In this way, we can support context-sensitive syllabus planning, and we can implement the usual constraints that need to be tracked (this unit has to be finished before that unit can start) over the development. Some of the constraints come from the domain/LO models and some from the instructor. I imagine we use sMD (semantic markdown) for the cell desciptions.

Here are some things (a developing list) I imag we need to do

• [ ] generate the course calendar from the course timings and calendar (including public holidays) data.
• [ ] specify the strands and generate the table with the cells.
• [ ] syllabus constraint language (requirement analysis from instructors and

[kohlhase]

One of the Master's students (Ilhaam Shaikh) has expressed interest in this topic, we will see what comes out of that, and I will continue writing up my thoughts with this issue as the first design document.