CoUML

Draft

Definition

coUML is a UML-based educational modeling language that can be used in any stage of the course design and development process where visual models and structured descriptions of the current and planned design are useful to the design team.

coUML is a learning design language based on UML. It uses existing formalisms and adds its own extensions.

The language

Overview

Requirements

According to Derntl & Motschnig, 2007:156), CoUML emerged from practise i.e. it is rooted in the authors' own practice. coUML emerged in a timespan over several years and was published in 2007 with the following requirements and needs:

• Support for local and temporal activities, including decisions and concurrency
• Activities can be modelled at different levels of detail
• Roles can be attached to activities
• Most learning activities "consume" or "produce" documents of various kinds
• Learning goals can be modeled and linked to activities
• Activities can be tagged either "web-based", "blended" or "presential".

coUML modeling artifacts

coUML models a course design with thre kinds of artifacts:

(1) Primary:

• The course activity model (CAM) describes the course's activities. The CAM uses an extension of UML activity diagrams.
• The optional concurrent course structure model (CSM) describes more complex course designs. This CSM describes module dependencies with arrows (like in a UML class diagram).

(2) Secondary:

• A Roles model describes roles (e.g. tutor, student) and optionally relations between roles. Role are described with use case diagrams.
• The goals model explicitly state learning goals and optionally their relationship. Learning goals are described with elements of UML class diagrams.
• The documents model can list the documents used and optionally attach documents to roles (i.e. producers and consumers).

(3) Auxiliary:

• The Course Package Model (CPM) includes an optional high-level description of the course,

i.e. a tabular fact sheet: Course name, summary, structure, presence mode, online support, participants, teaching staff, instructional strategy, and a list of included coUML CAM and CSM models.

Links

• Beauty and Precision in Instructional Design (slides). Derntl, Michael; Pat Parrish & Luca Botturi, EdMedia 2008.

• The Person-Centered e-Learning Pattern Repository. If you browser through this site, you will find several kinds of diagrams, in particular UML activity diagrams that describe various kinds of pedagogical scenarios. Since the first publication about coUML is more recent, some of these diagrams may not be fully coUML compatible, but I don't know. Anyhow, look at this website if you are interested in modeling various kinds of educational scenarios and teaching models - Daniel K. Schneider 11:11, 16 January 2009 (UTC)

Bibliography

• Derntl Michael & Renate Motschnig (2007). coUML - A Visual Language for Modeling Cooperative Environments. in L. Botturi & T. Stubbs, Handbook of Visual Languages for Instructional Design: Theories and Practices, Information Science Reference, 155-184. ISBN 1599047292. (This handbook is fairly expensive and there don't seem to be alternatives for the moment to learn about coUML, except looking at somewhat older publications and the The Person-Centered e-Learning Pattern Repository we site.

• Botturi, Luca; Daniel Burgos, Manuel Caeiro, Michael Derntl, Rob Koper, Patrick Parrish, Tim Sodhi, Colin Tattersal (2007). Comparing Visual Instructional Design Languages, A Case Study, in L. Botturi & T. Stubbs, Handbook of Visual Languages for Instructional Design: Theories and Practices, Information Science Reference, 155-184. ISBN 1599047292

• Derntl, M. & Botturi, L. (2006). Essential Use Cases for Pedagogical Patterns. Computer Science Education, 16 (2), 137-156

• Derntl, M. & Motschnig-Pitrik, R. (2005). The Role of Structure, Patterns, and People in Blended Learning. The Internet and Higher Education, 8 (2), 111-130

• Derntl, M., & Motschnig-Pitrik, R. (2003). Employing Patterns for Web-Based, Person-Centered Learning: Concept and First Experiences. Proceedings of ED-MEDIA 2003 - World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications, Honolulu, HI, USA.

• Motschnig-Pitrik, R., & Derntl, M. (2005). Learning Process Models as Mediators between Didactical Practice and Web Support. Proceedings of Conceptual Modeling - ER 2005: 24th International Conference on Conceptual Modeling, Klagenfurt, Austria, LNCS 3716, Springer Verlag, pp. 112-127.

Acknowledgement: This article or part of this article has been written during a collaboration with the EducTice group of INRP, which attributed a visiting grant to DKS in january 2009.