Transcript Slide 1
LETSI and the Future of SCORM
MedBiquitous Annual Conference
April 30, 2009
Avron Barr
LETSI Communications Chair
[email protected]
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views
of the Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative or the US Department of Defense.
LETSI is an international non-profit
federation dedicated to realizing the
potential of technology to revolutionize
education and job training
Technology transforms industries …
… why not ours?
Interoperability is Key
Freeing “content” from software apps, thus
creating a unified market for publishers
Reducing costs of systems integration
Avoiding vendor lock-in
Lowering barriers to the dissemination of new,
innovative projects and products
Enabling “intelligent” learning systems that
require data from multiple sources
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SCORM is the De Facto International
Content Interoperability Standard, But…
The SCORM community has outgrown SCORM
SCORM has outgrown the Advanced Distributed
Learning Initiative (U.S. DoD)
Assumptions from the 1990’s: single student, self paced,
content “packages”, programmed instruction, …
LMS: a “walled garden in the era of Web 2.0?
But the ADL’s open processes and “no-strings-attached”
licensing remain essential to innovation and adoption
Standards development methodology remains
frozen in time
Need to be iterative and agile to speed the adoption
cycle and accelerate innovation
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Trial Adoptions
Content Development
Interoperability Tests
Product Implementations
Implementation Support:
Test Suite, Help Desk,
Sample Implementation,
Certification Services
Plugfest Events
First Release of
SCORM Docs
The Evolution
of SCORM
Multiple Releases
Improvements and
Disambiguation: ADL TWG
meetings, CCB
Strategic Adoptions
Broad Adoption.
Standardization.
Specification
Development &
Harmonization
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LETSI’s Founding Sponsors
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LETSI’s Fills a Gap
An open, inclusive forum for educators and
technologists from all market sectors
Supporting disruptive innovation as well as
incremental improvement
Working with standards development
organizations to promote adoption
Expediting adoption by supporting innovators
Using community-based, agile software projects to
facilitate early, more consistent adoption, and
reduce costs to implementers
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Report on the “SCORM 2.0” Project
Open solicitation of white papers, June 2008
Online discussion forums
Comments on white papers; comments on comments;
community enthusiasm
First SCORM 2.0 Requirements Workshop
Over 100 papers plus informal comments
Pensacola, October 2008 (sold out a month in advance
LETSI Working Groups produce Assumptions Document,
Feb. 2009
Working groups will meet again in June 2009.
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The LETSI Open Platform:
Active and Proposed Projects
A new, service-based software architecture to
support integration of systems and innovations
A new solution to content orchestration (sequencing)
that supports reusable, adaptable objects and true
plug-and-play interoperability
A reexamination of performance reporting and
competency frameworks across market sectors
Integration of training with authoritative policy or
technical documents (S1000D)
A cross-market approach to student information
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Open Participation
LETSI website, wiki, blog – http://www.letsi.org
LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter
Workgroups, teleconferences, meetings
LETSI working group participants are all
volunteers. Contact [email protected]
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Questions?
A Decade of LET Standards
AICC, SCORM, IMS, and others have adoption
But challenges remain…
Assumptions from the 1990’s: single student, self paced,
content “packages”, programmed instruction, …
Limited use of competencies, objectives
Slow adoption, inconsistent implementation
Variation across communities
Unintended barriers to innovation
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Who’s Who of LET Related Standards
…
Re-think LET interoperability issues
SCORM’s assumptions from the 1990’s: single student,
self paced, content “packages”, programmed
instruction, …
SCORM’s solution to content modularity and
“sequencing” has not done well
Address the interoperability needs of new uses
of computers in education and training
Collaboration, immersive environments, ITS, …
Not just content interoperability – all needed data
LETSI Opportunities
LETSI has successfully made the case for change
Organizations can sponsor this high-visibility
industry initiative:
Managing Sponsor: $10,000/year
Advocate Sponsor: $3,000
Sponsors can also become development effort
contributors at no additional cost
Individuals can participate in development
efforts:
Individual Contributor: $100
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