Evaluating the Learning Object Metadata for K-12 educational resources

The Learning Object Metadata (LOM) is an emerging standard for organizing descriptions of digital or nondigital entities used to support learning. The descriptions include educational, legal, and technical characteristics of these resources. The article describes an application of the LOM to the construction of a database of resources available to public schools in Hawaii and reports on issues encountered, focusing on structural issues such as dependencies between elements. The paper illustrates why the development of metadata formats cannot be divorced from an understanding of educational context.