This webinar will share the design of the BISG’s new Educational Taxonomy along with ideas on how Canadian publishers can use the terms to aid discovery of appropriate educational materials and resources online. It will also show the importance of related metadata elements for educational titles.
BISG’s new Educational Taxonomy lists the key terms that describe current and emerging educational standards, concepts, learning objectives, and methodologies used in the classroom, such as Common Core State Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, and more. It was developed by the BISG Educational Standards Taxonomy Working Group and incorporates feedback from potential users and from educators and librarians on their search habits. It is available for free download here.
About the host:
Patricia Payton, Senior Manager of Publisher Relations and Content Development for Bowker, a ProQuest Affiliate, is responsible communicating book and journal metadata requirements and best practices to publishers of all sizes. Patricia has experience in retail bookstores as well as international markets. She also holds a Master’s degree in Library Information Science specializing in Digital Libraries as well as an MBA. She actively contributes to BISG, AAP, and other industry committees. You can find her on twitter @Metadata24X7.
4. What is an Educational Taxonomy?
• Standardizes key terms and phrases
• Provides a common language about learning
objectives that can bridge subject matter and
grade levels
• Compliments other educational metadata
points (i.e. BISAC Subject Headings)
5. Taxonomy Objectives
• Facilitate easy communication of key learning
objectives
• Allow consumers easier discovery of titles
meeting their needs
• Fewer false hits
• Higher match to relevant titles
• Describe publication’s intended learning
outcomes
• Alignment to particular educational standard not
necessary
6. Taxonomy Design
• Single-level list contains
1. Code--used by data senders and recipients
to ensure consistency and to avoid typos
and misspellings
2. Descriptor--phrase that describes the
desired learning outcome
EDTX010
Analyze &
Interpret Data
7. Taxonomy Examples
Code Descriptor
EDTX010 Analyze and interpret data
EDTX020 Analyze media
EDTX030 Analyze poetry
EDTX040 Analyze text structure
EDTX050 Apply geometric concepts in modeling situations
EDTX060 Define problems
EDTX070 Build vocabulary
EDTX080 Cite supporting evidence
EDTX090 Collaborate with others
EDTX100 Communicate effectively
EDTX110 Compare and contrast
EDTX120 Compare points of view
EDTX130 Conduct short research projects
EDTX140 Construct compelling questions
EDTX150 Construct explanations and design solutions
Version 1.0
8. Full Taxonomy List
• Complete list of codes:
https://www.bisg.org/educational-taxonomy
• Research document including market feedback
on taxonomy & ONIX tips:
Recommendations for Citing Educational
Standards and Objectives in Metadata
10. Metadata Already Available
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.9
Identify basic similarities in and differences between
two texts on the same topic (e.g., in illustrations,
descriptions, or procedures).
Fiction versus nonfiction
Illustrations
Table of contents to indicate level of detail on
topic
Keywords or subject codes for time period &
setting
11. Missing Metadata
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.9
Identify basic similarities in and differences between
two texts on the same topic (e.g., in illustrations,
descriptions, or procedures).
Order of events (chronological or not)
Themes within text
Sophistication of graphics
17. Taxonomy vs. Keywords
17
Taxonomy Keywords
Fewer results More results
Higher match to
relevant titles
Includes false hits
Could assign incorrect
code
Free form terms (subject to
misspellings or grammar
Single term can apply to
many curriculum
standards and details of
those standards
Can be a word or a phrase that
provides insight into relevance
of material for the searcher
Consistent among
trading partners
Vary across and within a
publisher
Allow for greater
discoverability across
search engines
Users choose terminology that
is useful to them
Let’s get started understanding the new taxonomy and how it was developed.
The BISG working group evaluated whether educational objectives should be a controlled set of terms or recommendations for keywords. We decided on a taxonomy because it would provide…
The objectives of our work were to…
The taxonomy codes are designed as…
Here is a sample of terms from the taxonomy.
They include action words.
These terms were gathered from several places (CCSS, NGSS, 21 century skills, and state standards). We identified a long list of terminology from these resources, compared across subject areas and started to narrow the list and shorten phrases so that they might apply across several subject areas. Next we validated the terms through web engine searches and by analyzing the verbs used in our references.
The complete list can be found here.
Also, we conducted two rounds of surveys with educators and one survey with publishers. We had over 1K respondents to our final survey, which showed educators and librarians endorse this type of metadata. Background on our work and recommendations for educational metadata are provided in our final document. You can access that here…
Our document also contains information on how the taxonomy will benefit various parities within the supply chain. I would like to take you through some of that logic here.
ONIX is robust so it is worth taking a look at whether learning objectives are already within the metadata for a book. Here is an example…
And here is what is missing.
This is another learning objective. These points are not currently in ONIX.
In searching for books relevant to educational objectives, we can see that terms, such as the educational taxonomy are lacking in today’s metadata. If I try to search for an educational objective or concept, I may get a few results based on the words being in the title. Here I ended up with teaching guides but not texts for my students.
In this example, I found actual books students can read, but only because my search terms were in the book titles and the quantity of titles was limited.
With the Educational Taxonomy the goal is to provide relevant search results for student texts. The educator can then use the texts to assign lessons to practice the learning objectives. Here the educator searches for a BISAC subject area Hockey and two learning objectives from the educational taxonomy. The results are a combination of fiction and nonfiction works that can be used in their lessons and assigned to students.
The educational taxonomy bridges subject matter and grade levels to allow for fuller description of content. Here is a further example of possible search results when these 3 pieces of metadata are used in tandem.
The taxonomy may be similar to keywords, but the group felt that a standard set of terms would mean higher matches to relevant results for the user.
Further, the taxonomy can benefit various parties within the supply chain.
Now let’s look at how the educational taxonomy and other educational metadata can be sent in ONIX. All of my examples are in ONIX 3, however, the same elements can also be sent in ONIX 2.1, but the tags may be different.
These are the fields that are key for ensuring educators understand if a book is relevant to their audience. I found many great examples of these metadata points on Canadian publisher websites. I will take you through some of those examples.
First, this is how you would send the educational taxonomy. It is part of the subject composite. The EDTX010 code would be exploded to Analyze & Interpret Data when the retailer or other party loaded it to their website.
First we will look at BISAC subjects. Best practices include assigning 1-3 codes and avoiding general codes.
Do not just slap a CC reference on a title, be specific…anecdote
Use the full code including the CCSS. This is also considered part of the subject composite.
Keywords will further compliment the subject and learning objectives. Here is an example of how these should be supplied in onix.
Interest levels and grade levels are key information that teachers need. Be specific. A narrow range of 2 years is better than a 6-8 year range. Educators are more likely to seriously consider a title that has a narrower range. Part of our survey feedback was that educators are not sure they can trust publisher metadata.
Reading level info was in the top 3 pieces of metadata that educators look for on a title (along with subject and learning objectives). Send as many codes as you have, but ensure they have been provided by the leveling company rather than applied internally or via a consultant. When we spoke to leveling companies, their main concern was that publishers sometimes apply their own codes instead of officially getting a book leveled.
Tables of contents can be sent as part of the Text Content composite. This information will allow an educator to just how much material in the book is relevant to a specific learning objective and how highly focused the content is on that learning objective.
Book indexes can be sent in ONIX just as Tables of contents can.
In addition, if you want to send a description specifically for teachers or educators, you would just supply the Content Audience code of 05 for teachers or 06 for students.