Standardisation Issues
in
eLearning
by
Diptendu Dutta
AUNWESHA
Presented at
IEEE Computer Chapter
19th October, 2001
Outline
• About eLearning - what is it, its advantages and
drivers
• How eLearning Works
• Why is standardisation required
• Who are the main players
• Application Architecture - IEEE LTSA
• Content - ADL SCORM
• Metadata - IEEE LOM
What is eLearning?
eLearning is the creation, enabling, delivery and/or
facilitation of learning by leveraging various
Internet, Intranet and Web technologies.
“The next big killer application for the internet is going to be education.
Education over the internet is going to be so big it is going to make e-mail look
like a rounding error.”
John Chambers, CEO, CISCO Systems
"Triggered by the Internet, continuing adult education may well become our
greatest growth industry."
Peter Drucker (Forbes 5/15/2000)
The Benefits of eLearning
Classroom
eLearning
Access
Limited
24/7
Quality
Varied
Consistent
Difficult
Automatic
Varied
High
High
Low
Results Measurements
Retention Measurements
Relative Cost
What Drives eLearning?
Demand
Supply
Rapid obsolescence of knowledge
and training
Internet access becoming standard
at work and home
Need for just-in-time training
delivery
Advances in digital technologies
enable creation of interactive,
media rich content
Search for cost-effective ways
to meet learning needs of
globally distributed workforce
e-Learning
Increasing bandwidth and better
delivery platforms make elearning
more attractive
Skills gap and demographic
changes drive need for new
learning models
Growing selection of high-quality
e-Learning products and services
Demand for flexible access to
lifelong learning
Emerging technology standards
facilitating compatibility and
Usability of e-learning products
How eLearning Works
Why is Standardisation Required
• The legacy of proprietary CBT systems that were
retrofitted to work over the web was holding back
standardisation
• The lack of standards was severely preventing the
widespread adoption of this mode of learning
• Standards are critical for the success of the
eLearning industry since they
– Permit Mixing and matching content from
multiple sources
– Avoid being trapped by a vendors proprietary
learning technology
The major players in standardisation
• IMS Global LearningConsortium
• Aviation Industry CBT Committee (AICC)
• IEEE Learning Technology Standards
Committee (IEEE LTSC)
• Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative
(ADL)
Application Architecture - IEEE LTSA
• LTSA - Learning Technology Reference
Architecture
• LTSA Components
– Processes - learner entity, coach, evaluation, delivery
– Stores - learner records, learning resources
– Flows - learning preferences, behaviour, assessment
information, performance information, query, catalog
info, learning content, interaction context
LTSA Diagram
Content - ADL SCORM
• SCORM - Sharable Content Object Reference
Model
• Built upon the work of IMS, AICC, IEEE to create
one unified content model
• 3 main components
– A course structure format with XML binding
– A meta-data format for courses and content with XML
binding
– An API for the run-time environment
The SCORM CSF
SCO
Meta Data - IEEE LOM
• Learning content that is tagged with self-describing
meta-data can be systematically searched and
retrieved for use and reuse
• The IEEE LOM (Learning Object Metadata)
consists of 9 categories
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
General
Lifecycle
Technical
Educational
Rights
Relational
Annotation
Classification
Meta-metadata
• IMS provides an XML binding for the above metadata specification
and more recently has also come up with an RDF binding
Thank You