Rob Abels keynote at JISC CETIS conference 2012

Are Education Technology
Interoperability Standards
Creating the Future?

Rob Abel, Ed.D.
IMS Global Learning Consortium
http://www.imsglobal.org/
rabel@imsglobal.org
Twitter: #LearningImpact

Latest IMS Initiative:

Open Educational
Resources in the
Cloud via Wave

also known as:

OER-Cloud-Wave

© Copyright 2012 IMS Global Learning Consortium
All Rights Reserved. Page 2

News Alert: 2006!


Standards consortia
like IMS with a
membership model are
a thing of the past!


If it wasn‟t for SCORM,
there would be no need for
IMS!


Well, whatever you do
you better call it SCORM if
you want people to like
it!


Yeah, I‟ve been involved in
IMS and helped develop
specification xxx, that stuff
will never work!


You will never be able
to get dominant
suppliers to implement
open standards!


Ed Walker is the same
age as you Rob, all
that grey hair is just a
result of all the stress
of IMS!


The “Hype” Cycle for Learning
Tech Standards?

1999-2000

?

2005-7
1995-6


Are Education
Technology
Interoperability
Standards Creating
the Future?

Page 12

Agenda
• Is IMS work innovative?

• The challenge of interoperability standards
adoption in the education segments

• What we think we might have learned in the
last 6 years

• Where do we go from here?


Definition of Innovation

Page 14

IMS Mission Statement

The mission of the IMS Global
Learning Consortium is to advance
technology that can affordably scale
and improve educational
participation and attainment


Collaboration Across Stakeholders
Research & development
on standards &
interoperability

Acquire products adhering R&D Education
to standards to achieve Institutions
strategic goals
Education Institutions,
Districts, Systems Government
IMS GLC
Organizations
Mirrors The
Market Set standards to
Create and/or Ecosystem
adhere to ensure progress
standards to
enable market
efficiency and
opportunity


Are Education
Technology
Interoperability
Standards Creating
the Future?

Page 19

Are Education
Technology
Interoperability
Standards Enabling
Innovation and
Being Widely
Adopted?
Page 20

Innovation Scale?

A. Widely accepted, substantial improvement
B. Widely accepted, minor improvement
C. Somewhat accepted, substantial
improvement
D. Somewhat accepted, minor improvement
E. Not yet accepted, substantial improvement
F. Not yet accepted, minor improvement


Agenda


last 6 years



Interoperability Standards
are Widely Adopted When:

• Supplier Motivation is High, or
• Buyers Care and Their Bargaining Power is
High, or
• Both Are True


Bringing the Horses to Water
in Emerging Markets
Realization of
Market
Opportunity
or
Cost Savings
Opportunity
$$$


There Are Many Challenges
• Market opportunity: Generally
more prudent to invest in products
than standards
• Cost savings opportunity: You need
to invest first before realizing
savings
• Entrenched interests in proprietary
approaches


Attractive Industry-driven
Alternatives
• Google
• Apple
• Adobe
• Microsoft
• Amazon
• Other large suppliers


Consortium-Driven Standards
are Successful When

• Suppliers Believe the Market Opportunity is
Greater for Them by Cooperating with
Others, or
• Buyer Bargaining Power is High and Well-
Coordinated, or
• Ideally, Both


Buyer Bargaining Power is
High When Dispersion is Reduced

vs. vs.


This . . . .


„Checkmarks‟ Are Not Enough
“Vendors know the difference between clients’ asking
for standards “compatibility” in order to check off a
box on an RFP . . . that is why we must include true,
tested, guaranteed interoperability as a priority in
our purchasing decisions, and why we must pressure
our current support vendors to provide it as a
condition of their continuing good business relations
with us.”

-- Charles F. Leonhardt, Principal
Technologist, Georgetown University


Buyer
Net-Net
Enabling
awareness standard
& support that
delivers

Viable
Consortial
Standard
Perceived
market
opportunity Community
commitment

Agenda


last 6 years



Learnings #1

• Standards need to be shaped/adjusted
continuously by the practical and
entrepreneurial needs of the market

• Prime example:

QTI v1.2  QTI v2  APIP  Future
the inevitability of e-Assessment;


Learnings #2

• Suppliers must have a motivation to adopt; the
motivation is always economic; voluntary
adoption is the best test

• Prime example:

LTI (Learning Tools Interoperability)
becoming the best way to integrate


Learnings #3

• Mainstream end-users have the most to say about
what is innovative in the end, but they are difficult
to engage in the beginning; ease of use is most
important factor

• Prime example:

Common Cartridge
national standards, OER, e-textbook


Learnings #4

• Education segment standards consortia can
succeed but they must be able to gather the
resources to catalyze all of the above and
most importantly deliver on interoperability


Buyer
Net-Net
Enabling
awareness standard
& support that
delivers

Viable
Consortial
Standard
Perceived
market
opportunity Community
commitment

How Do We
Do It? Annual Learning
Impact Conference
Large-Scale & LIA Awards
Adoption
Ed Tech Projects
Interoperability
Standards
Technical Adoption of Recognizing Impact on
Foundation for Innovation at Scale Access, Affordability,
Distributed Toward Strategic Quality of Education
Innovation Goals

Purposeful Technology Innovation Applied to Improve Education


Learnings
• Standards need to be shaped continuously by the
practical and entrepreneurial needs of the market
• Suppliers must have a motivation to adopt; the
motivation is always economic; voluntary adoption is
the best test
• Mainstream end-users have the most to say about
what is innovative in the end, but they are difficult
to engage in the beginning; ease of use is most
important factor
• Education segment standards consortia can succeed
but they must be able to gather the resources to
catalyze all of the above and most importantly
deliver on interoperability

Agenda


last 6 years



The Challenge & Opportunity:
Instructional Improvement

needs to be across all
This
implemented of this

While Doing More with Less . . .

The Sea Change:

Interoperability at the Core
of the Academic Enterprise
to Enable Efficiency,
Flexibility, Innovation, a
Better User Experience and
Actionable Data

Summary
• While there is still quite a lot of work to do . .
.

• Education technology standards seem to have
a role in creating the future . . .

• But to have a higher impact on innovation
going forward we will need (1) standards at
the core and (2) continued/more activism in
various communities around the world . . .


Thank You!

rabel@imsglobal.org
http://www.imsglobal.org/
@LearningImpact
#imsglobal


Rob Abels keynote at JISC CETIS conference 2012

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to Rob Abels keynote at JISC CETIS conference 2012

Similar to Rob Abels keynote at JISC CETIS conference 2012 (20)

More from Christina Smart

More from Christina Smart (9)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Rob Abels keynote at JISC CETIS conference 2012