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The MEG Concord



In today's Information Age, learning is no longer confined to the school years and — for a select few — 3–4 years of tertiary education. Rather, the emerging networked environment, coupled with rapid changes in the nature of working life, mean that learning is actually undertaken throughout our lives.

Learning throughout life is both an aspiration of Government and a practical necessity.

Within the United Kingdom, content of educational value is produced and described by a large number of organisations, including departments of Government, non-departmental agencies, and representatives of the private sector. For learners and teachers who often seek to discover resources from more than one provider, the variety of sources and methods of description available places obstacles between them and the effective discovery and use of the resources they desire.

Recognising the importance of facilitating effective learning, representatives of the key stakeholders in this area have come together in forming the UK's Metadata for Education Group (MEG). This group seeks to address the needs of the learner by developing and promoting guidance on the use of descriptive standards, or 'metadata', for meaningfully and usefully describing educational content provided by the sector. The content of interest to MEG members includes digital content, whether as digital resources, or various forms of digital surrogate for non–digital material, and the physical resources themselves.

Expanding upon the core tenets of a Learner Focus, the facilitation of use and reuse of Learning Resources, and the adoption — where feasible — of existing national and international practices, this Concord encapsulates the key principles and aspirations of MEG members:

  1. MEG members recognise the importance of Learning, both to the learner and to society, and seek means to facilitate it as an effective process

Although vital in building sound knowledge foundations, Learning is no longer confined to a formal school environment, nor to the early years of life. Learning continues throughout life, and is undertaken in formal educational environments, in the home, the workplace, and elsewhere. The provision of educationally relevant material should be geared towards meeting the varied needs of learners in many environments, and should recognise the changing format and pace of the learning process.

  1. MEG members aim to ensure that resources produced by themselves and others are truly accessible to the learner

Learning Resources are produced by government departments and agencies, educational institutions, and the private sector, as well as by other learners. It can be difficult for the learner to discover and integrate resources from more than one source, despite the value associated with being able to do so. MEG will seek to rationalise the description of such resources in order that they may be described, located and evaluated in a more effective manner. Descriptions of Learning Resources are commonly referred to as 'metadata', which currently takes many forms.

  1. MEG members seek to encourage the creation of Learning Resources which are of appropriate granularity, and suitable for aggregation

Learning Resources are routinely used and reused in a wide range of contexts, often being integrated with other course materials by a teacher in order to create a better overall learning experience. For such a valuable approach to be practical, it is necessary for the learning objects themselves to be identifiable, discoverable and useful at the smallest appropriate level of granularity.

  1. MEG members support work elsewhere to ensure that Learning Resources are sustainable, reusable, and interoperable

Learners make use of a wide range of tools whilst engaged in the learning process. To most flexibly meet their varied needs, Learning Resources should, where feasible, be created independent of specific software, hardware or environments, and be capable of transfer from one system to another.

  1. In describing Learning Resources, MEG members will adopt existing and emerging open standards

If educational materials are to be discovered and evaluated in a meaningful manner, there is a need for them to be described effectively. Consistency of description between individual providers of educational materials will make it easier for the learner or teacher to compare similar resources. The application of formal descriptive standards developed for the purpose of describing such resources will assist those undertaking to describe, locate, or evaluate educational material.

  1. MEG shall aim to become the United Kingdom's forum for exchange of best practices and policy in the arena of learning resource metadata

MEG shall seek actively to become an effective forum for development and exchange of best practices in the arena of learning resource metadata. MEG membership will be expanded to become as inclusive as possible across the content creation, curation, dissemination, and delivery domains, and formal representation will be sought on and from appropriate formal organisations.

  1. By advocacy and example, MEG members will work to ensure that developments in the United Kingdom are in line with best practice

The United Kingdom is not alone in recognising the need to aid the description, discovery and evaluation of educational materials. Where feasible, practices adopted within the UK should be in line with those adopted or emerging internationally.

  1. Members of MEG shall participate actively in the development, dissemination, and deployment of UK and international standards

Rather than perpetuate usage of conflicting methods for describing educational content, members of MEG are committed to effective use of existing and emerging international standards and practices.

  1. Where necessary, members of MEG shall seek to progress local practices through to international acceptance

In cases where appropriate formal standards do not already exist, MEG will play a role in developing appropriate specifications and progressing these through the established channels towards ratification by the relevant national and international bodies.

  1. MEG members will work to produce UK–focussed supporting material necessary for the effective deployment of UK and international standards

De facto and De jure international standards offer scope for describing many facets of a Learning Resource, such as the educational level for which they are intended. MEG members will work to produce the UK-specific terminologies and guidance — such as an agreed set of educational levels and qualifications applicable in the UK — necessary if these standards are to be employed here.


Signatories to the Concord currently comprise:

Aberdeen College
Archaeology Data Service (ADS)
Arts & Humanities Data Service (AHDS)
Association of Independent Museums (AIM)
Association for Learning Technology (ALT)
ANGEL
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
British Educational Communications & Technology Agency (BECTa)
Book Industry Communication (BIC)
CAPDM
The Chalkface Project
Campaign for Learning through Museums & Galleries (CLMG)
Centre for Digital Library Research (CDLR)
Centre for Educational Technology Interoperability Standards (CETIS)
Colleges Open Learning Exchange Group (COLEG)
DIALnet
Digital University Press
Edexcel
Edinburgh's Telford College
EDINA
Education Network Australia (EdNA)
Education Online
FD Learning
Fretwell Downing Informatics (FDI)
Further Education National Consortium (FENC)
Gateway to Educational Materials (GEM)
General Teaching Council for England (GTC)
Ginn
Granada Learning
Granada Media
Heinemann Education
Helicon
History Data Service (HDS)
Iconex
Intrallect
Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)
Learning Information Network Association (LINA)
Learning Lab
Learning & Skills Development Agency
Learning & Teaching Scotland
Learning & Teaching Support Network (LTSN)
Library Information Technology Centre (LITC)
mda
MicroCompass Systems Ltd.
MIMAS
Millennium Mathematics Project
National Council on Archives (NCA)
National Extension College (NEC)
National Grid for Learning Scotland (NGfL Scotland)
National Learning Network
New Opportunities Fund (NOF)
Northern Ireland Credit Accumulation and Transfer System (NICATS)
Northern Ireland Network for Education (NINE/ Classroom 2000)
Open University (OU)
Ramesys
Resource
Resource Discovery Network (RDN)
Royal National College for the Blind (RNCB)
Resources for Learning in Scotland
Rigby Educational Publishers
RM
Standing Conference of National & University Libraries (SCONUL)
Scottish Cultural Resources Access Network (SCRAN)
Scottish Library & Information Council (SLIC)
Scottish University for Industry (SUfI)
Simulacra
South West Grid for Learning
Tonidi
UKOLN
University for Industry (UfI)
University of Hull
University of Strathclyde Library

To see a version of the Concord including logos of all the signatories, click here.