# Presentation: 728750

## Current NLEInternet Initiatives

- GovTechNet
- June 16, 1999
- Keith M. Stubbs
- Director, Resource Sharing & Cooperation Division
-  and Director, ERIC Program
- National Library of Education
- 202-401-6014                         kstubbs@inet.ed.gov

##  Education User Services

**Customer**

- Telephone

- Letter

- E-mail

- Computer
- Search

- AskERIC
-     & VRD

- Associations

- Tech Asst
- Providers

- ED
- Offices

- Libra-
- ries

-     Education
-   and Library
- Associations

- ED Online
- Library

- AskERIC,
- NPIN, ERIC

- Lab
- Network

- Other
- ED-Funded
- Sites

- State
- Agencies

- Libraries

- Fed.
-  Agencies
- (FREE)

_**Distributed Electronic Repository**_

_**User Service Centers**_

- Clearing-
- houses

- Info.
- Ctrs

- NLE

## NLE/ERIC Internet Initiatives

- Creating Distributed Content
- ED web site & 30 ERIC web sites
- Finding Distributed Content
- ED Cross-Site Index (CSI)
- Federal Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE)
- Gateway to Educational Materials (GEM)
- Finding Expertise & Assistance
- Education Resource Organizations Directory (EROD)
- Answering Questions on the Net
- AskERIC & Virtual Reference Desk (VRD)

## Gateway to Educational Materials (GEM)

- Goal: Consortium effort to improve access to uncataloged collections of educational materials on non-profit, commercial, & government Internet sites.
- URL:  http://thegateway.org
-                 http://geminfo.org
- Contact:
-       Nancy Morgan, GEM Coordinator
- ERIC Clearinghouse on Information & Technology
- (800) 464-9107
- geminfo@geminfo.org

## Imagine you’re a:

- 9th grade science teacher looking for a lab activity on solutions that conforms to NSTA standards on the structure & properties of matter

## Slide 6

## How It Works without GEM

*How It Works without GEM*

** ****State Ed.**
**Agency**

**Home**
**Schooler**

**  ****Parent  **

**  ****School  **
**District**

**AskERIC**
**Lesson Plans**

**Math**
**      ****Forum       **

**North Carolina**
**Tried’n’True**

**    ****Microsoft    **
**Encarta**

**Helping**
**Your Child**

## How It Works with GEM

**AskERIC**
**Lesson Plans**

**Math**
**      ****Forum       **

**North Carolina**
**Tried’n’True**

**    ****Microsoft    **
**Encarta**

**Helping**
**Your Child**

** ****G **
**E**
**M**
**C**
**a**
**t**
**a**
**l**
**o**
**g**

** ****Teacher **

** ****State Ed.**
**Agency**

**Home**
**Schooler**

**  ****Parent  **

**  ****School  **
**District**

## How It Started

- NLE Advisory Task Force
- AskERIC & Digital Library Challenge
- Stakeholder Meeting
- Research on teacher use of Internet to find educational materials

## The Pieces That Make It Work

- A standard way of describing all Internet educational materials
- Software Tools
- Training & Support
- The Gateway Catalog
- The GEM Consortium

## The GEM Profile

- A standard way of describing all Internet educational materials
- the power of open standards and structured data
- founded on Dublin Core with education-specific extensions
- simple to apply; accommodates range of elaboration
- flexible; extensible; comply with evolving standards
- Metadata & controlled vocabularies
- Consultation with experts & teachers
- Coordination with related efforts

## GEM Metadata Profile

_**Dublin Core Elements**_
**Coverage               Publisher**
**Creator                   Relation**
**Date                        Resource Type**
**Description            Rights**
**Format                    Source**
**Identifier                 Subject**
**Language               Title**
**Other Contributor**

_**GEM Elements**_
**Audience**
**Duration**
**Essential Resources**
**Grade Level**
**Pedagogy**
**Quality Indicators**
**Academic Standards**
**Cataloging Agency**

## Controlled Vocabularies

- Audience       Tool for Whom?           Teaching Professionals
-                       Ultimate Beneficiary    Native American Students

- Subject          Level 1                          Science
-                       Level 2                          Astronomy

- Resource                                            Activity, Unit, Lesson,
-   Type                                                 Project, Tool, Artifact

- Pedagogy      Teaching Methods       Lecture, Discovery
-                       Grouping                      Small Group, Individual
-                       Assessment                 Authentic, Portfolio

**Element        Sub-Element                Example                         **

## Metadata Continuum

**Simple**
**& Terse**

**Complex**
**& Rich**

**Lycos**

**Dublin Core**

**USMARC**

**Location**

**Discovery**

**Documentation**

- GEM Level 1
- Cataloging

- GEM Level 2
- Cataloging

## Slide 16

## GEM Catalog/Build Process

**Resources**

**Separate**
**Metadata**

**Embedded**
**Metadata**

- Metadata

- Metadata

- Harvest

- Harvest

**Local **
**Site**
**Index**

- Union

**The**
**Gateway**

**Search**

**Browse**

*GEM Catalog/Build Process*

## Training & Support

- GEMCat Training
- Group Training Sessions
- Training Manual (print & Web version)
- Cataloging Reference Manual
- Train-the-Trainer Manual
- Technical Systems Implementation Manual
- GEMCat Support
- Toll-Free Telephone Helpline, Email Help
- “Jumpstart” Cataloging

## Searching/Browsing GEM

**Union Catalog**
**at ERIC/IT**

**Customer**
**A**

**Customer**
**B**

**Customer**
**C**

**Site A**

**Site B**

**Site C**

**Search/Browse**
**Union Catalog**

**Search/Browse Union Catalog but Filter for Specific Subjects or Sites**

**Subset Union Catalog: Focus on**
** ****Specific Subject**

**Subset Union Catalog: Affiliated Sites**

**Local Single-Site**
**Catalog**

**Search/Browse**
**Local Catalog**

## Slide 20

## Slide 21

## Slide 22

## Slide 23

## GEM Consortium

**        ****Users         **
**Group**

**     ****Collection     **
**Holders**

** ****Profile Steering**
**Committee**

**    ****Governance   **
**Board**

**                ****Administrative Group              **

**GEM Consortium**

## GEM Consortium Members (sample)

- American Association of School Librarians (AASL)
- AskERIC Virtual Library
- Big Sky Telegraph
- Connecticut Education Association
- Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Mathematics & Science Education
- Franklin County Public Schools, Virginia
- Getty Education Institute for the Arts - ArtsEdNet
- Kentucky Education Association
- Library of Congress
- Microsoft Encarta

- Mid-Continent Regional Education Laboratory (McREL)
- National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)
- National Education Association (NEA)
- New York Times Learning Network
- Northeast Regional Technology in Education Consortium (NetTech)
- North Carolina Department of Public Instruction -- Teachers Connect
- Smithsonian Office of Education
- U.S. Department of Education
- UtahLink
- Virtual Reference Desk (VRD)
- + 80 more

## Quality & Standards

- Quality is infused throughout GEM.
- Collection holders must have & apply stated quality criteria to their collections.
- GEM records can contain quality assessment & academic standards mappings.
- GEM records can point to external teacher comments, peer review, third party quality assessments, & academic standards mappings.

## Next Steps

- Add more collection holders to GEM Consortium
- Enhance capability for introducing user-based quality statements to GEM system
- Promote congruence with state & national academic standards
- Continually evaluate GEM to ensure that it meets information needs of educators at all levels

## Coming Up

- Z39.50 & GILS-compliant RDBMS
- XML
- GEM & IMS
- GEM & FREE
- GEM & ED Cross-Site Index
- GEM & Educational Best Practices

## Future Directions

- Subject mapping/crosswalks
- Natural language processing for user queries and cataloging assistance
- Extension to additional types of educational materials
- User profiles

## Slide 30

## Virtual Reference Desk (VRD)

- Goal: to establish a national cooperative digital reference service to coordinate participants in the growing field of online question answering services for the K-12 education community
- URL: http://www.vrd.org
- Contact:
- R. David Lankes
- ERIC Clearinghouse on Information & Technology
- (800) 464-9107
- rdlankes@ericir.syr.edu

## VRD Functions

**Answering**
**   ****Meta-Triage**
**   ****Locator**
**   ****Knowledge Base  **

**Organizing**
**   ****Resources**
**   ****Software**
**   ****Training**
**   ****Match Making  **
**   ****Research**

**AskA’s**

**Organizations/**
**Associations**

**Mentors/Volunteers**

**Users**

**Consortium**
**VRD Project**

## The AskA Consortium

- A cooperative network that seeks to provide resources (computing infrastructure, funding, knowledge, access to mentors and questions) to its members
- A guiding body for the Virtual Reference Desk

## Meta-Triage Process

**Question**
**User or AskA**

**Parser**

**Human**
**Evaluation/**
**Answer**
**Formulation**

**Tracking**
**Database**

**User**

**AskA**
**Consortium**

**AskA**
**Locator**

**Knowledge**
**Base**

**Query**

**Query**

**Question**

**Possible AskAs**

**Modified Query**

**Web**

**Other**

**Referral**

**Answer**

**Answer**

**Modified Query**

**Existing Answers**

**Response**

**E-Mail**

**      ****Ready**
**Response**

**AskA**

**No**
**Response**

## Structure of AskA Software

**Interface Manager**

**Blueprint Manager**

**Meta-Description Core**

**Question Interchange Protocol**

**User**

**Expert**

**Administrator**

**Template**

**Question**
**Acquisition**

**Pool of**
**Experts**

**Response**
**Generation**

**User Sent**
**Answer**

**Tracking**

**Transaction**
**Data**

**GEM Record**
**(Metadata)**

**Blueprint**
**Link**

**Question**

**Answer**

**User Profile**

## AskA+ Locator

- Registry of AskA+ Consortium members
- Central point of information on a particular AskA service (such as contact information & answer policies)
- Allows students, teachers, parents, & other members of K-12 community to locate high-quality digital references services that can answer their questions
- Promotes use of quality criteria in digital reference

## Slide 37

## Knowledge Base

- Build on existing digital reference information resources
- subject archives, FAQs, searchable databases, detailed resource guides
- Capture question/answer sets in a distributed fashion
- Hierarchical subject structure
- collections cataloged in lightweight subject hierarchy based on GEM
- Query interface to serve human (novice/expert) & automated searchers

## Other Proposed VRD Services

- Incubators
- link up interested organizations & individuals around common areas of interest to create new digital reference services
- provide training, software, & expertise to assure success
- Match Making
- put potential volunteers in contact with existing or potential AskA services

## Cross-Site Indexing (CSI)

- Goal: To enable customers to find information on any of 200+ ED-funded web sites using a simple search screen available at all sites
- URL: http://search.ed.gov/csi/
- Contact:
- Keith Stubbs                National Library of Education
- 202-219-1803               kstubbs@inet.ed.gov

## Cross-Site Indexing (CSI)

- Status:
- ED examined 40+ search engines, tested 8, & selected Ultraseek
- Selection based on superior speed, scalability, search interface, precision, recall, relevancy ranking, & ease of administration
- Index currently includes 360,000+ files from more than 350 sites:
- 160,000+ files on 200+ ED-sponsored sites
- 200,000+ files on 150+ sites sponsored by other federal agencies **
- 15-20,000 page views per day

- ** Federal Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE) (www.ed.gov/free/)

## Cross-Site Indexing Process

**Cross-Site**
**Index**

**Lab**

**ERIC**
**CH**

**R&D**
**Center**

**ED**
**Web**

**Other**
**ED Site**

**Other**
**Agency**

- Ultraseek “spider” regularly indexes full-text content of each
- participating web site, including metadata, PDF files,
- Lotus Notes databases, etc.

## Cross-Site Search Process

**Customer A**

**Customer B**

**Customer C**

**Cross-**
**Site**
**Index**

**ERIC**
**CH**

**Other**
**Site**

**Site(s)**
**Where**
**Info Is**

- Customers can elect to search all sites, all sites in a category
- (i.e., ERIC, Labs, etc.), or an individual site.

## Education Resource Organizations Directory (EROD)

- Goal: to help customers & reference staff identify & contact organizations that provide information & assistance on a broad range of education-related topics
- URL: http://www.ed.gov/BASISDB/EROD/direct/SF
- Contact:
- Michael Heeg           ACCESS ERIC
- 1-800-LET-ERIC       mheeg@aspensys.com

## Education Resource Organizations Directory (EROD)

- Status:
- Implemented Feb. 1997
- Contains info about 2,400+ state, regional, & national organizations
- Features include:
- simple & advanced search  (5,500 searches per month)
- state map & territories list  (5,300 views per month)
- online submission of updates/corrections/additions
- specialized searches & lists
- ERIC Resource Collections  (6,500 searches per month)
- State Education Agencies  (4,700 views per month)

## Updating EROD

**Education**
**Resource**
**Organizations**
**Directory**

***ERIC Directory of Education-***
***Related Information Centers***

***ERIC Resource***
***Collection Directory***

**Regular Update**
**Mailings with**
**Phone Followup**

**Online Submission of**
**Updates/Corrections**

**Environmental Scanning**
**(Listservs, Newsletters,**
**Press Releases, etc.)**

**Adds/Updates from**
**ED Program Offices**

## Searching EROD

**Education**
**Resource**
**Organizations**
**Directory**

**Customer:**
**-- Teacher**
**-- Librarian**
**-- Student**
**-- Parent**
**-- Researcher**
**Intermediary**
**-- Reference Desk**
**-- Info. Center**
**-- Call Center**

**Search by:**
**-- State**
**-- Subject**
**-- Services**
**-- Audience**
**-- All Text**
**-- Has URL**
**-- Has 800#**
**-- & more**

**Resource Organization**
**-- Provides Information/**
**   ****Assistance/Services**
**-- State, Regional, or**
**   ****National in Scope**

**Contact by:**
**-- Web**
**-- Email**
**-- Phone**
**-- Snail Mail**
**-- Visit**

## EROD Contents

- Comprehensive Regional Assistance Centers (15)
- Desegregation Assistance Centers (10)
- Disability & Business Technical Assistance Centers (10)
- Eisenhower Regional Mathematics and Science Consortia (10)
- ERIC Resource Collections/Library Agencies (1023)
- Information Centers/Associations/ Clearinghouses (528)
- National Network for Curriculum Coordination in Vocational & Technical Education (2)
- Other Federal Agencies (146)
- Parent Resource Centers (28)
- Regional Education Laboratories (10)
- Special Education Federal & Regional Resource Centers (7)

- Regional Technology in Education Consortia (6)
- Secretary's Regional Representatives & Regional Offices (10)
- State Arts Agencies (56)
- State Directors of Adult Education (55)
- State Directors of Special Education (4)
- State Directors of Vocational-Technical Education (53)
- State Education Agencies (State Departments of Education) (56)
- State Guaranty Agencies (36)
- State Higher Education Agencies (59)
- State Literacy Resource Centers (50)
- State Parent Training & Information Centers (Disabilities) (36)
- State Tech Prep Coordinators (54)

**Directory contains 2,147 organizations, including:**

## EROD Sample Record

**TITLE****: ACCESS ERIC**
**ADDRESS****: 2277 Research Boulevard, 7A; Rockville, MD 20850**
**PHONE****: (301)519-5789**
**FAX****: (301)519-6760**
**TOLL-FREE****: (800)LET-ERIC**
**E-MAIL****: acceric@inet.ed.gov**
**GOPHER****: aspensys3.aspensys.com:70/11 /education/eric**
**URL****: http://www.aspensys.com/eric**
**DIRECTOR****: Lynn Smarte**
**CONTACT TITLE****: Information Specialist**
**DESCRIPTION****: Provides reference and referral services for the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC), a national education information network responsible for developing, maintaining, and providing access to the world's largest education literature database.**

**AUDIENCE(S)****: General public**
**SERVICE(S)****: Meetings, conferences; Information dissemination; Publication production/dissemination; Topical packages; Referrals**
**SUBJECT(S)****: Educational practices; Educational research; Educational resources**
**HOURS****: M-F 8:30 a.m.-5:15 p.m.**
**TIME ZONE****: EST**
**PUBLICATION(S)****: ****Brochures; Directories; Journals; Newsletters; Pamphlets**
**SPONSOR****: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement**
**TYPE OF ORGANIZATION****: Information Center/Association/Clearinghouse**
**GEOGRAPHIC SCOPE****: National**
**STATE(S)/TERRITORY(IES) SERVED****: All**
**LAST VERIFIED****: 5/28/98**
**UNIQUE ID****: 144**

**P:\cendi\conferences\fcw\NLE_Stubbs.ppt**