An Interoperable License Management Component for Educational Content

Abstract

So far, it is the exception - at least in Germany - that digital school content from publishers is presented in the learning platforms used by schools. On the one hand, because contents are usually only available in proprietary formats. On the other hand, because the necessary license information and assignments to user IDs cannot be mapped.

This paper presents an interoperable license management component that aims to bridge the gap between educational content providers and learners’ learning platforms, thus enabling seamless access to different educational content. The proposed solution enables different proprietary license definitions to be mapped to a standardized exchange format while allowing learners to access content from different providers’ target systems. The novel approach integrates known partial solutions, models an authorization mechanism, and provides a management interface for easy visualization and modeling of rights of use for digital content.

The license management component is intended to meet the needs from media providers, real schools, realized on the example of the German state of Lower Saxony, as well as their students and must be as interoperable and flexible as possible for reusability. The uninterrupted perception by users of the publisher’s content integrated in this way for the first time in a school learning platform still must be proven by user tests. The work to be done next includes large-scale evaluations, assessment of the practicality of the management interface, and possible integration of payment processes. Overall, this work demonstrates a prototype of a license management component that adequately addresses the challenges of interoperability in education.