Metadata is information about a learning resource that you add to the resource to help other users locate it and understand its purpose.
Administrators can create views, templates, and taxon schemas for your organization to enable users to enter repetitive metadata information quickly and consistently.
You can add and edit metadata for content modules and topics when you publish them to Brightspace Learning Repository. You can also add metadata to content modules and topics from directly within the Content tool.
Metadata and the Brightspace Learning Repository tool
You can search for learning resources (objects and files) based on their metadata from within a Brightspace Learning Repository (LOR), and you can view an object’s metadata to determine whether it suits your needs before you import it into a course. Depending on your permissions, you can also edit the learning object’s metadata. Organizations can also require adding metadata when publishing a learning object to an LOR and can specify a set of required metadata that is mandatory for learning objects.
Metadata interfaces
There are two interfaces that you can use to enter metadata:
- Basic interface - The basic interface presents a simple list of fields grouped into categories. Users cannot specify a language for their values or enter values in multiple languages, nor can they add additional values to a field (although they can configure a view to display a field multiple times in the basic interface, enabling users to enter multiple values).
- Advanced interface - The advanced interface enables users to specify their language, enter values in multiple languages, and enter multiple values for some fields. If a view is part of the IEEE LOM family, its fields display as a hierarchy in the advanced editor.
Best practices for using metadata
- If you want to only see category names instead of all of the fields in every category, enable the basic interface. If you choose to only display the category names, you can still show the fields in the first category by default.
- If you want to use a template, import metadata, or copy metadata from another resource, do so before manually entering data. Any data you enter manually is erased when you apply existing metadata from another source.
- In some fields, you may need to enter more than one value; for example, if a resource has multiple keywords or multiple authors/contributors. In the basic interface, if a field accepts multiple values, it is listed multiple times. In the advanced interface, you can manually add additional values to a field and then enter data for the additional values. Each value can have multiple translations in different languages.
- If another resource in your course has similar metadata, you can copy that resource’s metadata and then modify it, rather than re-entering all of the information.
- Views within the same family provide different ways of looking at (or entering) the same metadata, but views in different families provide access to different metadata. Keep this in mind when you determine what views to make available to users in your organization.
- Switching views can lead to conflicts and will cause you to lose unsaved changes. Avoid switching views where possible.
- Use a standard naming convention for templates in your organization.
- Use replace strings to add dynamic information to a template.
- If you want to specify the language of your metadata and enter data for a single field in multiple languages, use the advanced interface.
Troubleshooting metadata conflicts
Conflicts occur when a resource’s metadata violates restrictions set by the current view. You might encounter a conflict when you:
- Switch between views
- Switch from the advanced interface to the basic interface
- Apply a template
- Import metadata
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Conflict
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Reason
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Result
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Resolution
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Character Limit
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The value of the data exceeds the character limit set for the field
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The value truncates
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Use a shorter value or cancel your changes and use the advanced interface or an alternate view
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Vocabulary
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The value of the data does not belong to the restricted vocabulary set for the field
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The value clears
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Select a value from the field’s restricted vocabulary or cancel your changes and use the advanced interface or an alternate view
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Multiplicity
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A field contains more values than the view allows
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Additional values save but do not display
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Use the advanced interface or an alternate view if you want to see or edit the additional values
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Language
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Occurs when you import data in a language not used by the Metadata tool in your organization
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The language changes to “unspecified”
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Select an alternate language, leave the language unspecified, or ask site administration to add the language |