Modeling a Repository of Knowledge for Virtual Communities of Practice Supporting e-Education

MARIA CLARA CASALINI; ELSA ESTEVEZ

Cordoba

Conferencia; Collaborative Electronic Commerce Technology and Research Conference 2007; 2007

The wide extent to which the Internet has reached education institutions as well as home-users makes it possible for teachers to introduce new technologies to engage students in stimulating and enriching activities. Collaborative systems based on portals supporting Virtual Communities of Practice (VCPs) provide a context for these activities to take place. VCPs allow students and teachers to build a shared space where they can learn from each other and develop individual and collective knowledge. In this paper we present a model for a repository of knowledge supporting the activities carried out by members of Virtual Communities of Practice in the e-Education domain. The repository is defined following the RDF framework and includes categories of resources, properties to characterize resources, and statements to register properties establishing relationships between resources. The model is instantiated with the definitions of the relevant elements required for a repository supporting a VCP for e-Education. The paper contribution is the application of a formal model for a repository of knowledge supporting VCPs considering the specific features of applying VCPs for e-Education.