Metadata is descriptive information about a resource, sometimes described as “data about data”. The VET sector’s national metadata standard is called Vetadata. It is primarily used to create descriptive information for learning content so that it can be more easily found, managed and reused.
The Applying Vetadata to Learning Resources document is a guide for anyone involved in describing resources, including authors and developers as well as professional cataloguers. The document was updated in 2011 and is now structured according to the numbering of the elements in the Vetadata specification and provides the Vetadata creator with detailed information about how each element should be created and relevant examples.
To help and guide practitioners creating metadata for learning resources, the Framework has funded the development and customisation of two software tools.
The VET Reload Tool can be used to create SCORM 1.2 and IMS Content Packages and as part of that process it can be used to generate Vetadata for those packages. Learning objects intended to be tracked in Learning Management Systems (LMS) should be packaged as SCORM 1.2 – including Toolbox learning objects.
The Vetadata Tool creates metadata suitable for IMS or SCORM 1.2 Learning Objects. The VET Reload Tool can be used to convert SCORM metadata into IMS format and then the metadata can be imported back into a content package using.
Vetadata specifies the use of controlled vocabularies (lists of consistently used and carefully defined terms) which provide a standardised way of describing learning resources. This is particularly important when specifying information about the NTIS competency code or the AQF qualification information related to the resource you’re describing.
Vetadata specifies the use of vocabularies containing:
Some vocabularies are established through a prescribed range of values that an element can contain. For example, the LOM element Classification.Purpose is described as "the purpose for classifying this resource" and lists eleven terms that can be used. Of these, Vetadata recommends the use of 'competency', 'educational level' or 'discipline'.
Other elements allow a choice of vocabularies. For example, the element Classification.TaxonPath.Source, defined as "the name of the classification system/scheme", allows the use of "any recognised 'official' taxonomy or any user-defined taxonomy". In this case, Vetadata specifies that a value from the AQF qualification system is used to describe the educational level, rather than one of the other qualification level vocabularies available.
See Vetadata vocabularies for recommended standards for controlled vocabularies used in the VET sector describing teaching and learning resources.
Vetadata is applied in a variety of ways based on the required elements for the package type and vocabularies used.
See the Vetadata record examples for a range of different resources. Each example is provided in both text (HTML) and XML versions.