A Practical Study on Modeling Lesson Plans with an Ontological Engineering Approach

Abstract

This paper discusses computer support for making a design of a lesson in a school teacher’s mind. Although school teachers usually describes the plan in a document called lesson plan, it is the result of thought and does not often have enough information about the design rationale behind it. The authors have developed an ontology called OMNIBUS and a theory-aware authoring system called SMARTIES. The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of them through the practical efforts of deploying them to a community of social studies schoolteachers. This paper presents findings of the practical efforts and considerations of improvement of OMNIBUS and SMARTIES.