E-Learning
:
Standards March 2nd, 2001
By Paul Stacey
I've
been wanting to write about e-learning standards for
some time now. The challenge has been to describe the
work being done in such a way that it's not dry as dust.
I think I've succeeded, but you be the judge.
Even
if you are not a techie I recommend you read this and
get at least a surface understanding of just how
important standards are to e-learning.
In
any discussion of technology standards there is a fair
amount of jargon and acronyms. I have done my best to
explain things in simple language, decoding acronyms as
I go. If you still find yourself mystified I highly
recommend the web site http://www.whatis.com
as an excellent aid in decoding technology terms.
E-learning
specifications and standards take some of the risk out
of purchasing decisions. This is still early days in
terms of the e-learning market. All the players, whether
they are long-standing companies or new, are startups
when it comes to e-learning. Given the early stage
status of the e-learning marketplace it is difficult to
tell who the market leaders and winners are likely to
be.
If
you purchase an e-learning technology platform today you
want to ensure the content you have invested in
developing and deploying on that platform can be ported
as easily as possible to another, should you decide to
change to a different vendor down the road. Some of the
e-learning specifications deal with this
interoperability issue.
Specifications
and standards make e-learning digital content more
independent from the software and hardware used to
deliver it. This is absolutely critical in protecting
and extending the life time of capital purchases
organizations make to develop and deliver e-learning.
E-learning
is technologically based. Everyone who has ever tried to
develop and work with hardware and software understands
the important role standards play in facilitating the
integration and maintenance of digital system components
and data resources. Some e-learning specifications deal
with integration..
Standards
also impose a certain order on technological chaos. This
order provides more uniform and precise access and
manipulation to e-learning resources and data. Many of
the e-learning specifications are focused on this issue.
Lets
look at some of the work being done related to
specification and standards.
The
National Learning Infrastructure Initiative of EduCause
formed the IMS Project in 1997 with a goal of building
the Internet architecture for learning. IMS formed
working groups in a neutral forum to develop e-learning
specifications that have global application. This
organization has now become the newly formed IMS Global
Learning Consortium, a collection of 250 educational
institutions, commercial entities, government agencies
and developers. See http://www.imsproject.org
IMS
has released e-learning specifications for Meta-Data,
Enterprise Data Exchange, Question & Test
Interoperability, and Content Packaging. Specifications
for Content Management and for Learner Information
Packaging are nearing completion. Working groups are in
the beginning stages of developing specifications for
Competency, Instructional Design, and Accessibility by
Disabled Learners.
OK,
OK I hear you already saying what the heck is meta-data
and all that other mumbo jumbo. Of course you can go to
the specification section of the IMS Project web site http://www.imsproject.org/specifications.html
and download all these specifications for some light
bedtime reading but let me try to give a high level
description.
Meta-data
is data about data. Think library card catalog applied
to e-learning. A library's indexing system provides a
simple consistent way of tagging books and periodicals
with basic information (author, title, subject, ...)
that allows for quick access and retrieval. The
meta-data specification does the same thing for
e-learning content. Meta-data are attributes (title,
subject, description, creator, publisher, rights, ...)
in the form of XML (eXtensible Markup Language) tags
attached to e-learning resources.
The
Enterprise Data Exchange specification establishes
formats for exchanging student and course information
between system components. Lets say your organization
uses PeopleSoft as a business application for tracking
and managing employee/student information. When you buy
an e-learning platform like WebCT, Blackboard, Saba,
ISOPIA or any other you want to be able to integrate the
two so they can exchange data with each other. The
Enterprise Data Exchange specification helps enable that
integration.
The
Content Packaging specification provides instructions
for wrapping and exchanging learning content. This helps
you port learning content from one e-learning system to
another.
The
Question and Test Interoperability specification
establishes formats for constructing and exchanging
assessment information.
The
Content Management specification defines the behavior of
content at run-time. Competency is a framework for
defining and transmitting definitions of
competency/proficiency. Learner/Information Packaging
defines information about learners. Instructional Design
provides definitions of learning scenarios and
interactions. And Accessibility is a specification to
facilitate e-learning use by disabled and disadvantaged
learners.
This
is incredibly high level but I'm hoping you get the gist
of what these specifications are. IMS specifications are
being designed and developed in a fairly short periods
of time, usually 6-12 months. They do so by having the
specification be fairly narrow in scope and by focusing
on real world use cases.
The
IMS meta data specification has a huge number of
potential tags that can be assigned to e-learning
content. While the specification is comprehensive it
results in tagging tedium in terms of application.
Canada's CANARIE Meta Data Working group recently
completed the definition of a Canadian Core Learning
Resource Meta Data specification defining a more
streamlined specification compatible with IMS. See http://www.newmic.com/pool.
The
IMS Project is not the only specifications initiative.
The Aviation Industry CBT Committee (AICC) http://www.aicc.org
has been developing specifications for computer managed
instruction for over twelve years. The Dublin Core http://purl.org/dc
started in 1994 to develop a meta-data framework for web
resources. The United States Department of Defense's
Advanced Distributed Learning group ADL has been working
on the Shareable Courseware Object Reference Model (SCORM)
http://www.adlnet.org.
In Europe there is the Alliance of Remote Instructional
Authoring and Distribution Networks for Europe (ARIADNE)
http://ariadne.unil.ch
which focuses on the development of tools and
methodologies for producing, managing and reusing
computer-based pedagogical elements and telematics
supported training curricula.
It
is important to note the difference between a
specification and a standard. Specifications like those
developed by the IMS Project are developed based on
R&D, concepts, and user needs. Once a specification
is produced it goes through a period of being tested and
revised through use in labs, by vendors, and the market.
Once a specification has been refined and validated it
is converted into a standard.
All
the various specification groups collaborated with
IEEE's Learning Technology Standards Committee http://ltsc.ieee.org
to convert the meta-data specification into a standard.
We obviously don't want multiple competing
specifications and standards so it is heartening to see
the groups working together in a coordinated manner.
If
you are a developer of e-learning I urge you to explore
and apply these specifications to your development work.
If you are a purchaser of e-learning systems ask the
vendors - Does your system use and comply with IMS/IEEE
specifications/standards for e-learning?
Paul
Stacey is the Director of Corporate Education and
Training at the Technical University of British
Columbia, a long time education professional in the high
tech private sector, and an e-learner.
Contact: Paul
Stacey
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