share.loc - A Multi Tiered Interoperable E-Learning Metadata Repository

The importance of metadata for e-learning is undisputed, particularly in terms of the semantic Web. Based on metadata standards such as LOM (learning object metadata), e-learning repositories can offer an effective and efficient search for e-learning content. The emerging paradigm of service-oriented architectures (SOAs) enables developers to implement open systems instead of monolithic ones. Well-defined interfaces for distributed systems have to be provided to enable easy integration of functionalities. In this context it is important to build the entire system architecture on a suitably chosen metadata standard. The e-learning repository share.loc presented in this paper uses special implementations of LOM within its different tiers of the entire architecture. An additional service tier that is implemented vertically to the common application tiers enables remote systems to request LOM-compliant representations of metadata from each tier that are tailored towards their individual needs