Topic Maps e‑Learning Portal Development

Abstract

Topic Maps, ISOIEC 13250 standard, are designed to facilitate the organization and navigation of large collections of information objects by creating meta‑level perspectives of their underlying concepts and relationships. The underlying structure of concepts and relations is expressed by domain ontologies. The Topics Maps technology can become the core of an e‑learning portal that will integrate different kinds of information and knowledge resources, available in the educational institution — this idea was explored in the Ph.D. dissertation of the author. The offered portal solution promises to bring advantages both for content consumers (students) and content providers (teachers, administrative staff), but numerous problems hinder the practical implementation of this portal and therefore it requires certain changes in the functioning of the educational institution and asks teachers, teaching assistants and e‑courses designers to change their routines and to develop new skills. In the paper we offer a new methodology for development and maintenance of the Topic Maps e‑learning portal and we briefly present a pilot application.