Skills Profiling Web Service – SPWS

This project uses open standards (IMS RDCEO and IMS VDEX) to create a portable skills framework which is capable of representing transferable (key) skills and more specific medical skills. Once defined, this framework will be capable of being used by any e-learnig system that wants to. Moreover, if the system derives its skills from this framework then these skills can be ported to any other e-learning system that also uses the same framework. A web service will be developed to return a sophisticated skills reflection and guidance service. This service will be integrated into the Bodington VLE and tools developed to help teachers deploy and manage the service.

At the end of the day, tutors will be able to drop a skills profiling (IMS QTI v2.0) questionnaire onto a Bodington page and then use newly developed browsing tools to look at an individual's or class's skills profile to compare and contrast. Tools within Bodington will be developed to allow best-practise logbooks (penned by Leeds Medical School) to be added to a Bodington room via a simple point and click interface. All the above work will be exemplified in a medical context.

LUSID (a web-based PDP system) has been open sourced as part of this project. This project also involved the enhancement of the Bodington VLE to act as a user agent which consumes the Skills Profiling Web Service. (Currently the relevant code is housed in the 2.1.1 rc4 SPWS CVS branch; this will be merged into the main Bodington system in due course.)

The project is a collaboration between The University of Oxford (Computing Services [OUCS] and Medical Services Division), The University of Leeds (Medical School) and The University of Liverpool (Centre for Lifelong Learning and Medical School).