In Green Custard's 14th Friday talk, Geoff explores E-Learning Standards. Topics covered: - Learning Management Systems - Principal Players - Shareable Content Objects - Student Tracking - Assessment - Metadata - Accessibility Green Custard is a custom software development consultancy. To discover more about their work and the team visit www.green-custard.com.

1. E-Learning Standards
(or: an introduction to some of the finest acronyms)
31st August 2018

2. Introduction
What are e-learning standards?
Technical standards which support computer-based
delivery and management of human learning

3. Learning Management Systems (1)
Features of an LMS (or VLE, or CBLE, or CMS, and you may encounter CMI):
● (Normally) online platform
● Deliver and manage educational content
● Student registration and management (including cohorts / groups)
● Student tracking and assessment
May include:
● Social functionality (e.g. forums / messaging between students and trainers)
● Broadcasting (one-to-many training)
● Course administration (e.g. timetabling and managing non-digital learning)
● etc ...

4. Learning Management Systems (2)
Important LMS platforms:
● Moodle (open source)
● Blackboard (commercial)
● Canvas (commercial)
● …
May be one part of a larger digital ecosystem supporting learning.

5. Principal Players
Most widely-used e-learning standards are curated by:
● ADL (https://www.adlnet.gov/)
● IMS Global (https://www.imsglobal.org/)
● IEEE (https://www.ieee.org/)
● W3C WAI (https://www.w3.org/WAI/)
Many others produce less technical guidelines for effective e-learning.

6. Areas of Focus
Five areas of interest for this talk:
● Shareable Content Objects
● Learner tracking
● Assessment
● Metadata
● Accessibility

7. Shareable Content Objects (1)
A SCO is a self-contained, redistributable package of digital educational content.
Well-known standards:
● AICC HACP
● SCORM
● Common Cartridge
● CMI-5 (under development)
SCORM is by far the most commonly used, particular in commercial learning
environments.

8. Shareable Content Objects (2)
SCORM
● The Shareable Content Object Resource Model
● ADL curated
● De-facto standard since it was mandated across all US federal training
● Versions:
○ 1.2 - most commonly used SCO format in the world
○ 2004 - widely used, but implementation often incomplete (sequencing very complicated)

9. Shareable Content Objects (3)
Demo:
● SCORM package
● Manifest file
● Moodle demonstration

10. Shareable Content Objects (4)
Both versions define similar functionality, but 2004 is much more detailed than 1.2.
SCORM specification includes:
● Packaging (PIF - a zip file with a determined structure)
● Learning Object Metadata (LOM)
● Run-time environment (RTE)
● API (JavaScript)
● Data model
● Sequencing and presentation (in 2004)

11. Student Tracking (1)
Tracking user progress and performance is critical in e-learning
SCORM provides tracking but:
● A given SCORM package can only track itself
● SCORM provides no way to access data outside of a SCORM package
Two initiatives to track wider student learning:
● Experience API (xAPI or Tin Can)
● Caliper Analytics

12. Student Tracking (2)
xAPI:
● It’s an API, Jim
● Read and write, independent of learning content
● Stores “statements” of learning in a Learning Record Store (LRS)
● Statements take the form “noun verb object”
○ “Learner did activity”
○ “Filipe played WoW”
○ “Fred ate seaweed”
○ etc
● There are no restraints on what constitutes a learning activity - it doesn’t have
to be a digital learning experience, and the learning may be informal

13. Student Tracking (3)
xAPI specifies the data format to store a statement (JSON):
{
"actor": {
"name": "Sally Glider",
"mbox": "mailto:sally@example.com"
},
"verb": {
"id": "http://adlnet.gov/expapi/verbs/experienced",
"display": { "en-US": "experienced" }
},
"object": {
"id": "http://example.com/activities/solo-hang-gliding",
"definition": {
"name": { "en-US": "Solo Hang Gliding" }
}
}
}

14. Student Tracking (4)
● Vocabulary is loosely controlled
● Any activity may communicate with xAPI
○ BUT - needs to be authenticated which makes direct writing difficult in many cases (e.g. how
to track a YouTube video in your organisation’s LRS?)
○ Normally still need a place in your LMS where learners can log external experiences
“xAPI is a successor to SCORM” - WRONG
● No capacity to deliver learning content, only track learning
● CMI-5 aims to build on this - CMI-5 + xAPI might be considered to be a
successor
All of this isn’t to say xAPI is bad, just that it isn’t a panacea.

15. Assessment
Scoring learner progress allows attainment to be measured
QTI - Question and Test Interoperability
● Allows assessments to be made portable between systems
● Not to be confused with an SCO - an SCO may make use of QTI, but in this
case it is the SCO which is the portable package, not the assessment
Supported assessment types:
● See https://www.imsglobal.org/question/qtiv2p2/imsqti_v2p2_impl.html for
examples
● Achilles’ heel is free-form (essay-type) assessment

16. Metadata
Standardised way to describe learning content.
Examples:
● Dublin Core
○ The basis for many newer standards
○ Original defined fifteen elements to describe learning content
● Learning Object Metadata (LOM) - IEEE 1484.12.X
○ Core standard encourages creation of “Application Profiles”
○ Aligned with IMS Learning Resource Metadata (LRM)
○ Used by SCORM (https://scorm.com/scorm-explained/technical-scorm/content-
packaging/metadata-structure)
● OAI-PMH standard for exposing object metadata online

17. Accessibility
Although not strictly an e-learning standard, it is worth being aware of the W3C
WAI WCAG.
● Disabilities in website users are common in educational settings
● Legal requirement to support accessibility needs in all websites
● Common visual issues:
○ Colour blindness (1 in 12 men, 1 in 200 women)
○ Dyslexia (up to 1 in 10 users may be mildly affected)
https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/

18. Other Standards
Of interest:
● Open Badges
● Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI)

19. But this is the end of the
presentation.