The following news item was originally published in Language Learning & Technology Magazine:
http://llt.msu.edu/vol11num2/emerging/default.html
SCORM 2004 AND THE IMS COMMON CARTRIDGE
By Robert Godwin-Jones
One of the approaches to creating a basic version of an ITS is to use the sequencing system built into the SCORM 2004 standard (see LLT volume 8). Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) has recently released the third (and final) edition of SCORM 2004. They have also announced that they would be turning over the responsibility for the SCORM standard to international standards-setting groups. The principal new feature in SCORM 2004 is the addition of “simple sequencing” from IMS (IMS Global Learning Consortium). This allows for creation of content with a non-linear path, such as courseware with complex branching options. In some ways creation of content using the IMS sequencing system is similar to the steps in creating an ITS. The content model is mirrored by the Content Organization spelled out in the (XML) manifest file, which is the central document of a SCORM package. Since SCORM content is designed to be used within an LMS, the Content Organization in the manifest file is parsed by the LMS and becomes the “Activity Tree” for that content. Each of the items in the Activity Tree corresponds to a learning activity (such as a question or a series of questions). Rules for sequencing can be attached to each activity, i.e., to indicate what happens given different responses to activities. Activities can be associated with one or more Learning Objectives. Depending on responses to learning activities, learning objects may be satisfied or not, leading to different branching options.
In an ITS there is also a “student model”, which spells out what the learner knows and progress made toward achieving the learning goals. In SCORM 2004, this is represented by the Activity State and Tracking Models (spelled out in the manifest file), which follow, record, and assess students’ traversal of the learning content. The final component of an ITS is the instructional model, which defines the order in which content is presented, how errors are analyzed and responded to, and typical mistakes and recourses, as well as provides help and remediation options. In SCORM 2004 this is provided by the Sequencing Definition Model, which like everything else, is designated in the structure of the manifest file. The sequencing model in SCORM 2004 provides for considerable flexibility in how content is presented and how the system interacts with the user. Fundamentally, the model is one of content mastery, established by the learning objectives, and assessed through questions (learning activities). In this sense, language skills such as grammar knowledge or reading comprehension could lend themselves quite well to being developed into SCORM-compatible lessons. Such lesson could be set up to provide choices to learners in how to work with the material; for example, the options to chose a guided flow in which a learning path is pre-determined or an exploratory mode in which the user is provided more choices. This would move in the direction of an adaptive learning environment.
One of the goals of SCORM is that SCORM-compatible content be portable to different learning systems and be able to be combined in different ways depending on the needs of the user. For this reason, SCORM learning objects (called SCOs for Sharable Content Object) are designed to be small units, with flexibility to be used in different contexts. This, however, goes counter to the highly contextualized environment of an ITS. There is a trade-off between high content and low reusability or high reusability (i.e. small units) and low context. The nature of a given project and its projected use will determine what an appropriate level of granularity will be for the content. The importance of adding SCORM compatibility to learning objects is highlighted by the Merlot project’s analysis grid for reusability of resources, which emphasizes the use of SCORM. A key advantage of using SCORM is the availability of authoring tools, which allow individual users to create SCORM-compatible content. There are both free products such as Reload, Xerte and eXe as well as commercial products such as Ready Go Web Course Builder, Course Genie (from Wimba Horizon) and the SoftChalk Lesson Builder. A future version of Hot Potatoes promises SCORM integration. It is easier to build template-based authoring tools for SCORM than for a traditional ITS, since the logic of the earning path and learner interactions are contained on one highly-structure text file (the manifest) rather than being embedded in compiled programs.
The SCORM standard is one of the principal constituent parts of the newly emerging standard for content exchangeability, the IMS Common Cartridge, for which a preliminary specification has recently been announced. The standard combines SCORM with a meta-data standard (LOM), the IMS Questions and Test Interoperability standard, and the recent IMS Tools Interoperability Guidelines. This last specification allows integration into SCORM type content of different (server-based) learning tools and services. This is a key element of the Common Cartridge, as it allows for tools outside the LMS to be brought into an on-line course and fully integrated, in the same or similar ways in which third-party tools are now integrated (such as the Blackboard “building blocks"). This holds the promise of opening up, somewhat, closed systems and the prospect of customized tools being developed that could be deployed across a range of LMS’s. At the most recent alt-i meeting (the annual IMS demo session), the Common Cartridge was shown being used to port content into a variety of systems, including the open source SAKAI and commercial products such as Blackboard. There have been efforts in the past to enable this kind of interchangeability of structured learning content, which have been unsuccessful largely due to insistence on the part of commercial vendors to keep proprietary implementations. Backboard’s recent patenting of key aspects of on-line learning environments, as well as its acquisition of main rival WebCT have resulted in fears that the company could force out rivals and maintain a near-monopolistic hold on learning systems. Open-source LMS alternatives, however, most notably Moodle and SAKAI, have garnered considerable support in recent years, and Blackboard has signed on to the Common Cartridge initiative and has been an active participant in development and testing.