SemTech Project Report (by JISC)

Informe del proyecto SemTech desarrollado por el JICS.

This report presents and discusses the findings of the SemTech (Semantic Technologies for Learning
and Teaching) project that was funded by JISC and commenced its activities in September 2008.
SemTech addressed the following questions:
• What are semantic technologies?
• Which tools that make use of semantic technologies are, or could be, relevant to education?
• What is the actual use of semantic tools and services in UK HE and FE?
• What is the value of such tools in the context of learning, teaching and support?
• How do we envisage the adoption of semantic tools in higher education in the future?

Semantic technologies appear to hold the promise of significantly enhancing formal and informal learning but issues such as building ontology consensus, the logistics of annotating large volumes of learning content and the underpinning pedagogy have been frequently questioned. However, recent developments in Web 2.0 tools and services for teaching and learning show that these concerns may be successfully addressed and benefit HE/FE, informal learning and exploratory learning. This project sought to identify and quantify these benefits and outline a roadmap for semantic technologies adoption in these contexts.

Author:Thanassis Tiropanis, Hugh Davis, David Millard, Mark Weal, Su White y Gary Wills.