The MoDALIA ontology was developed to provide a structured and interoperable framework for representing learning and teaching materials within DALIA platform. The motivation stems from the growing need to integrate heterogeneous educational resources, metadata, and activities into a unified semantic model. By formalizing key entities such as educational resources, target groups, learning resource types, RDM topics and skills MoDALIA enhances discoverability and reusability across systems. The ontology facilitates semantic alignment with established standards such as Dublin Core, Schema.org, and Ontologies in the domain like EduCOR , ensuring broad compatibility.
MoDALIA serves as the semantic backbone of the learning and teaching material management platform, enabling consistent description, linking, and retrieval of resources. It supports various operations including metadata annotation, resource discovery, and recommendation through linked data principles.
The design of MoDALIA follows a modular ontology engineering approach, promoting extensibility, reuse, and maintainability. Each module encapsulates a specific conceptual domain—such as educational resources, skills, or topics—allowing independent development and integration. This modularity ensures that MoDALIA can evolve with emerging standards while maintaining semantic coherence across modules. New concepts and properties are located in the namespace of MoDALIA (modalia:).
MoDALIA does not import complete ontologies for the sake of relevance, and readability.
| SIO | <http://semanticscience.org/resource/SIO_> |
| bf | <http://id.loc.gov/ontologies/bibframe/> |
| bibo | <http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/> |
| citedcat-ap | <https://w3id.org/citedcat-ap/> |
| dcterms | <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> |
| doap | <http://usefulinc.com/ns/doap#> |
| ec | <https://github.com/tibonto/educor#> |
| edamontology | <http://edamontology.org/> |
| fabio | <http://purl.org/spar/fabio/> |
| foaf | <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/> |
| hcrt | <https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/> |
| m4i | <http://w3id.org/nfdi4ing/metadata4ing#> |
| mo | <https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#> |
| obo | <http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/> |
| ontology | <http://lexvo.org/ontology#> |
| orcid | <https://orcid.org/> |
| owl | <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#> |
| rdf | <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#> |
| rdfs | <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> |
| resource | <http://semanticscience.org/resource/> |
| schema | <https://schema.org/> |
| skos | <http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#> |
| v3 | <http://www.loc.gov/premis/rdf/v3/> |
| vann | <http://purl.org/vocab/vann/> |
| xml | <http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace> |
| xsd | <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> |
MODALIA is an OWL ontology as backbone of teaching, learning and personal recommendation platform (DALIA). The main focus of DALIA platform is Research Data Management (RDM) and Data Science (DS). We used a modular approach in the design of MODALIA. Also we tried to find in the literature suitable terms to use instead of creating new ones.
MODALIA identifies the following modules: Educational Resource, RDM, Knowledge Topic, User Enrollment, Community, Learning Path, User Profile. The figure below shows the class diagram of the main module Educational Re- source. The main class is Educational Resource class which is extended from EduCor . Class LearningResource- Type gives didactic type of the resource and its subclasses include Lecture, Poster, Diagram etc. The other class describing the content of the educational resource is MediaType which is similar to Multimedia class in EduCor and is related to learners preferred way of learning (i.e. reading, watching, listening, etc). MediaType has subclasses Video, Audio, Image, Text and Code. Contributions to the resource are described similar to Bibframe , by iden- tifying agent (i.e Contributor) and role. Proficiency level contains five value according to Benner’s proficiency levels. It starts from novice to expert. There are two properties the first requiresProficiencyLevel identifies the min- imum required level of the learner to be able to learn that resource. The second property givesProficiencyLevel is level of learner after successfully learning the resource. Class TargetGroup describes the target audience of a re- source. For DALIA project use cases it includes Bachelor student, Master’s student, PhD student and Data Steward.

IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#AnalysingPhase
IRI: https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/application
IRI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/OCCO_25401100
IRI: http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/Article
IRI: https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/assessment
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#AssurancePhase
IRI: https://schema.org/AudioObject
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#BachelorStudent
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#BestPractices
IRI: http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/Book
IRI: https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/case_study
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#Code
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#CodeNotebook
Jupyter Notebook
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#CollectionPhase
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#Community
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#ContentProvider
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#ContentQuality
High quality
IRI: http://id.loc.gov/ontologies/bibframe/Contribution
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#Contributor
IRI: http://id.loc.gov/ontologies/bibframe/Role
Editor
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#Cookbook
IRI: https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/course
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#CuratorRole
IRI: http://edamontology.org/data_0006
IRI: https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/data
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#DataLifeCyclePhase
IRI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/T4FS_0000178
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#DescriptionPhase
IRI: https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/diagram
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#Discipline
e.g Engineering
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#DiscoveryPhase
IRI: https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/drill_and_practice
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#EducationalLevel
IRI: https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/educational_game
IRI: https://github.com/tibonto/educor#EducationalResource
A video describing how lists work in Python programming language
IRI: https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/experiment
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#FiveStarRating
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#FreeLicense
IRI: https://schema.org/ImageObject
IRI: https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/index
glossary, encyclopedia, dictionary
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#IntegratePhase
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#Job
Software Developer
IRI: https://github.com/tibonto/educor#KnowledgeTopic
A knowledge topic can be the “Quadratic equations” in the domain of Mathematics Algebra
IRI: http://lexvo.org/ontology#Language
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#LearnerRole
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#LearningObjective
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#LearningPath
"Hello world in python", "Comments in python", "Strings in python"
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#LearningPathStep
IRI: https://github.com/tibonto/educor#LearningPreference
Visual
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#LearningResourceType
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#Lecture
IRI: https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/lesson_plan
IRI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/OCCO_25402200
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#License
IRI: https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/map
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#MastersStudent
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#MediaType
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#Multipart
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#MuseumProfessional
IRI: http://semanticscience.org/resource/SIO_000776
mouse cells
IRI: https://schema.org/Organization
IRI: https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/other
IRI: https://schema.org/Person
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#PhDStudent
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#PlanningPhase
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#Podcast
IRI: https://schema.org/PodcastEpisode
IRI: https://schema.org/PodcastSeries
IRI: https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/portal
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#Poster
IRI: https://schema.org/PresentationDigitalDocument
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#PreservationPhase
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#Proficiency
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#ProprietaryLicense
IRI: https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/questionnaire
IRI: https://schema.org/Rating
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#RDMResource
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#RDMSkill
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#RDMSubjectCluster
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#RDMTopic
IRI: https://github.com/tibonto/educor#Recommendation
The recommendation is "Quadratic Equation"
IRI: http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/Report
IRI: http://w3id.org/nfdi4ing/metadata4ing#Method
bioassay, microscopy, measurement
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#Researcher
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#ResearcherUserRole
IRI: https://schema.org/Review
IRI: https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/script
IRI: https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/sheet_music
IRI: https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/simulation
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#Skill
IRI: https://schema.org/SoftwareSourceCode
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#StudentSchool
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#TargetGroup
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#TeacherHigherEducation
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#TeacherSchool
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#TeacherRole
IRI: https://schema.org/Text
IRI: https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/textbook
IRI: http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/Thesis
IRI: http://w3id.org/nfdi4ing/metadata4ing#Tool
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#Tutorial
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#User
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#UserComment
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#UserRole
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#VARKAuditory
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#VARKKinesthetic
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#VARKReading
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#VARKVisual
IRI: https://schema.org/VideoObject
IRI: http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/Webpage
IRI: https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/worksheet
IRI: http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/Workshop
IRI: http://id.loc.gov/ontologies/bibframe/agent
IRI: https://schema.org/author
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#belongsToCluster
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#belongsToLearningPath
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#belongsToPhase
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#commentedOER
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#commentUserID
IRI: https://github.com/tibonto/educor#consistsOfKnowledge
IRI: https://w3id.org/citedcat-ap/continues
IRI: http://id.loc.gov/ontologies/bibframe/contribution
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#covers
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#coversManagementOfDataDescribing
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#coversManagementOfDataKind
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#coversManagementOfDataObtainedWithMethod
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#coversManagementOfDataObtainedWithTool
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#createdBy
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#definesLearningPath
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#describes
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#educationalLevel
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#essentialFor
IRI: https://github.com/tibonto/educor#generatedFrom
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#givesProficiencyLevel
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#hasLearningObjective
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#hasLearningPreference
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#hasLearningResource
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#hasLearningType
has characteristics: functional
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#hasMediaType
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#hasMetadata
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#hasOwner
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#hasQuality
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#hasRating
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#hasRole
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#hasSourceCode
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#hasTargetGroup
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#hasTranslation
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#hasUser
IRI: http://purl.org/spar/fabio/hasDiscipline
IRI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/hasPart
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#isDescribedBy
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#isDuplicateOf
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#isIdenticalTo
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#isLessProficientThan
has characteristics: transitive
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#isMemberOf
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#isMoreProficientThan
has characteristics: transitive
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#isNewVersionOf
has characteristics: irreflexive
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#isPreviousVersionOf
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#isSourceCodeOf
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#isTranslationOf
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#isVersionOf
has characteristics: symmetric
IRI: https://schema.org/isBasedOn
IRI: https://w3id.org/citedcat-ap/isCompiledBy
IRI: https://w3id.org/citedcat-ap/isContinuedBy
IRI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/isPartOf
IRI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/isReferencedBy
IRI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/isReplacedBy
IRI: https://w3id.org/citedcat-ap/isSupplementedBy
IRI: https://w3id.org/citedcat-ap/isSupplementTo
IRI: https://schema.org/itemReviewed
IRI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/language
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#nextPhase
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#optionalFor
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#prerequisites
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#recommender
IRI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/references
IRI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/relation
IRI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/replaces
IRI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/requires
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#requiresKnowledge
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#requiresProficiencyLevel
IRI: http://id.loc.gov/ontologies/bibframe/role
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#solves
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#supportingHost
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#teachesSkill
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#userBookmarks
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#userLikes
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#userViews
IRI: https://schema.org/abstract
IRI: https://schema.org/accessibilityFeature
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#citation
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#commentDate
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#commentID
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#commentText
IRI: https://schema.org/email
IRI: https://schema.org/familyName
IRI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/format
PDF, AVI
IRI: https://schema.org/fileSize
IRI: https://schema.org/givenName
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#authorUnordered
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#hasDOI
example: 10.18450/dataman/90
IRI: https://schema.org/downloadUrl
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#notesForLearner
IRI: http://w3id.org/nfdi4ing/metadata4ing#orcidId
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#hasOrder
IRI: http://w3id.org/nfdi4ing/metadata4ing#hasRorId
IRI: http://purl.org/spar/fabio/hasSubtitle
IRI: https://schema.org/identifier
IRI: https://schema.org/image
IRI: https://schema.org/isAccessibleForFree
IRI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/issued
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#industry
Research & Academia
IRI: https://schema.org/title
IRI: https://schema.org/keywords
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#likesCount
IRI: https://schema.org/datePublished
IRI: https://schema.org/ratingValue
IRI: https://schema.org/reviewBody
IRI: https://schema.org/reviewRating
IRI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/rights
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#studyPlan
IRI: https://schema.org/teaches
IRI: https://schema.org/timeRequired
"PT7M11S"^^xsd:duration
IRI: https://schema.org/url
IRI: https://schema.org/version
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#viewCount
IRI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/abstract
IRI: http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#altLabel
IRI: https://schema.org/bestRating
IRI: http://usefulinc.com/ns/doap#bug-database
IRI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/contributor
IRI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/created
IRI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/creator
IRI: http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#definition
IRI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/description
IRI: http://www.loc.gov/premis/rdf/v3/documentation
IRI: http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#editorialNote
IRI: http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#example
IRI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/license
IRI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/modified
IRI: http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#prefLabel
IRI: http://purl.org/vocab/vann/preferredNamespacePrefix
IRI: http://purl.org/vocab/vann/preferredNamespaceUri
IRI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/publisher
IRI: http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#scopeNote
IRI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/source
IRI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/title
IRI: https://schema.org/worstRating
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#Beginner
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#Annotator
IRI: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#Competent
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#ContactPerson
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#DataCollector
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#DataCurator
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#DataManager
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#Distributor
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#Editor
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#Expert
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#HostingInstitution
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#Interviewee
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#Interviewer
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#MetadataContact
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#Novice
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#OtherRole
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#Producer
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#Proficient
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#ProjectLeader
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#ProjectManager
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#ProjectMember
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#Proprietary
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#RegistrationAgency
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#RegistrationAuthority
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#RelatedPerson
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#ResearcherRole
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#ResearchGroup
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#RightsHolder
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#SoftwareDeveloper
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#Speaker
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#Sponsor
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#Supervisor
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#TeacherContributorRole
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#Translator
IRI: https://purl.org/ontology/modalia#WorkPackageLeader
The authors would like to thank Silvio Peroni for developing LODE, a Live OWL Documentation Environment, which is used for representing the Cross Referencing Section of this document and Daniel Garijo for developing Widoco, the program used to create the template used in this documentation.