Buzatto, Anacleto, and Dias present Cognitor, a cognitive strategies-based editor. Cognitor is an e-learning course-content authoring tool that produces sharable content object reference model (SCORM)-based packages for learning object (LO) metadata.

As the authors explain, “Cognitor helps editors fill out the LO metadata using ... suggestions coming from a common sense knowledge base”; the fact that it provides an LO editor is innovative. A significant number of values for the LO metadata elements have to be specified, and the editor is often asked to fill in these values in a set of form-based windows. As the paper proposes, semi-automating this process can lead to less expensive, quicker LO development. In a corresponding paper, Brooks, Cooke, and Vassileva outline their initial research on acquiring, describing, and using LO metadata [1].

The main weakness of the paper is Section 5.4 on systematic evaluation; although three users validated Cognitor’s metadata editor, Buzatto, Anacleto, and Dias neither provide profiles of the users nor go into specific details of the experiment.

In conclusion, this is an interesting and easy-to-read paper that contains valuable ideas on how to facilitate the task of filling in forms about the metadata of SCORM LOs.