Incorporating Multiple Ontologies into the IEEE Learning Object Metadata Standard

Learning objects are the currency for Educational Information Systems which support learning on the Educational Semantic Web. As such, proper metadata infrastructure must be set up around learning objects so that they are described in a way that agents can understand and also in a way that allows reuse. There are numerous problems with the LOM specification to date, but many research attempts advocate the use of various ontologies in alleviating some of the problems faced with the learning object metadata standards. However, there is a lack of practical examples describing exactly how these ontologies can be attached to a learning object. In light of this, our paper describes a practical approach that makes use of the IEEE LOM standard and which allows multiple ontologies to be included in the markup of learning objects.