The DL Research Group in the Computer Science Dept. at Old Dominion University is researching the attributes that would allow a digital library to enhance undergraduate science and engineering education. The Course Bucket Browser is part of UDLF project, and it focuses on questions: how to archive, disseminate and publish course-related information.

Why XML

Many different metadata formats are used in Digital library, such as MARC, RFC 1807, Refer, etc. These formats are suited for single reports but can not express the complex objects typically used in a university course.

XML is the "Extensible Markup Language", it's a metalanguage to let you design your own markup language. XML lets you define your own customized markup languages for many classes of document.

We decided to use XML to express Course Model. XML provides customized markup capacity to support complex structure, and it is flexible enough to support different course templates.

Project

We have finished the prototypes of a course model and a course bucket browser. Two classes, CS495 (Introduction to Digital Libraries) and CS451 (Software Engineering Survey) have been implemented using this method.