An IEEE LOM application profile to describe training resources for agricultural & rural SMEs

Metadata plays an important role in online repositories with learning resources, since it can make search, retrieval and access faster, easier and more effective. In this context, a variety of reasons urge using a recognized metadata standard such as IEEE Learning Object Metadata (LOM). When particularly developing a repository with learning resources for agricultural and rural stakeholders, it is important to take into consideration the variety of special requirements that have to be reflected in the metadata (e.g. linguistic preferences, geographical location, particularity of covered topics, educational level). This calls for the implementation of both standard-based and also context-specialized educational metadata in such repositories. In this direction, the present paper described the metadata schema that has been developed to support an online repository that supports vocational training needs of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in rural areas. The proposed schema is based on IEEE LOM.