Portfolio Narrative
I developed a small catalog to explore how metadata—information describing a resource—can help people find learning materials by subject and learning objective. The catalog connects six publicly accessible resources: a textbook section, health information pages, and a video with accompanying text.
I started with three questions: What is this resource? What does it cover? And what could someone learn from it? Those questions shaped the three main entities in the catalog: resources, anatomical concepts, and learning objectives. I kept each kind of information in its own table, then connected the records and documented the reasons for those connections.
With AI assistance, I used SQL to bring related records together and answer questions about the collection. Saved queries show which resources cover each heart chamber, which support each objective, and whether any objectives lack resources. Quality checks look for missing descriptions, missing evidence, and references to records that do not exist. One check found a concept without its definition and source information; I corrected the omission, repeated the check, and documented the result.
Each record retains its review status, including those still marked as drafts. Counts show how much content has been cataloged and connected to learning objectives; they do not show whether learners have achieved those objectives.
AI Assistance
I created this project in guided collaboration with Codex. AI assistance supplied SQL, database commands, source suggestions, and documentation. I ran and inspected the results in DB Browser, wrote descriptions, worked through data-entry errors, and reviewed source evidence. The project combines my cataloging and review decisions with AI-assisted introductory SQL practice.
Relevance to Educational Metadata Work
This project gave me a way to bring cataloging and educational metadata together. I described resources, organized terminology, and considered whether the content supported specific learning goals.
Possible next steps
I would like to expand the collection with college-level course materials and assessments. I could also add information about accessibility, editions, and who reviewed each record. Another useful step would be to compare my fields with an established metadata standard, making the catalog easier to share with other systems.
Explore the model
The entity relationship diagram below shows the catalog’s structure. Each box represents a table holding one kind of record. A primary key is the unique identifier for a record, such as RES001 for a resource. A foreign key refers to that identifier from another table, connecting records without repeating their descriptions.
| Connection | Example |
|---|---|
| Resource → concept | Heart Anatomy covers Right atrium |
| Resource → objective | Heart Anatomy explains the role of the right atrium |
| Concept → concept | Right atrium is a type of Heart chamber and is part of Heart |
A single chapter can cover several subjects, and several resources can cover the same subject. In database terms, that is a many-to-many relationship. Keeping the connections separate lets me explain each one without repeating the resource’s description. The current catalog has six resources, eleven concepts, and five learning objectives, with sixteen connections between resources and objectives. Some records remain drafts.
The database in action
Download the project
The download includes the catalog database, a guide explaining its fields, the entity relationship diagram, spreadsheet-readable copies of the tables, example database searches, and the portfolio narrative. Records still awaiting review remain marked as drafts.
To explore the connected records, unzip the download and open heart_learning_metadata_portfolio.sqlite in DB Browser for SQLite. You can also read the documentation and open the CSV tables in a spreadsheet application.