Proposing new elements for pedagogical descriptions in LOM

Learning Object Metadata standard (LOM) has been subject to much criticism for its lack of an explicit category for allowing pedagogical description of learning objects. There have been many attempts to overcome this deficiency. This paper discusses the significance of metadata in the area of computer supported learning in the particular cases of searching and matching the right content to the right learner and in assessment. Subsequently it examines and proposes improvements to the current LOM standard. These improvements take the form of new subcategories and elements in the specification and allow authors firstly to distinguish between assessment and non-assessment content and secondly to tag learning objects with pedagogical properties.