Chapter 29: What is Metadata?

When I was reading Chapter 29 I saw the term Metadata (then I asked myself what the hell is metadata?) I remembered the term metacognition (thinking about thinking) so I mis-interpreted the term as thinking about data. Actually it is information about a resource, like looking up a brief encyclopedia about a topic and getting a brief synopsis in return.

Basic descriptive metadata: title, author, description, identifier, subject, keywords, basically what you would find in a online catalog.

Contextual Metadata: information about learning, objectives, intended audience, level of difficulty, and other instructionally oriented information.

Rights metadata: copyright information, terms of use, and cotact information for obtaining permission.

Technical metadata: format, platform requirements, software requirements, and structural information.

Simply put the more an instructional designer acquires metadata the easier it is to determine if the resource can be used for a specific application.