IU Technology Architecture Lodge
Random and not so random thoughts from Raymond Yee, primarily on the scholarly and educational use of the Web, libraries, educational technology, and information management
Draft: Understanding Educational Technology
Posted by Raymond Yee, 5/3/02 at 4:35:50 PM.2000-mm-dd: General Interest
Understanding Educational Technology Interoperability Standards: An Annotated Resource List
D R A F T--last revised 2002-05-03
Raymond Yee, Interactive University, IST
There has been much recent activity on campus surrounding course management systems (also known as learnining management systems (LMS)). Purchased solutions, such as Blackboard and WebCT, have been in use for several years. A third system, CourseWeb, is currently being developed by the campus. ETS (Educational Technology Services and IST are currently planning the future of learning management systems on campus. "The new product will be a confluence of existing University systems, best practices at Berkeley, and developments from other universities and commercial courseware companies." [12]
In the discussions surrounding LMS, the issue of educational technology interoperability standards (hereafter referred to as interoperability standards) often arises. One quickly encounters such phrases as "conforms to all relevant IMS standards" [1] and "We led the pack with first AICC certified product in the authoring tool category and continue to be a frontrunner in SCORM compliance as well as other learning standards." [9] Obviously, standards are portrayed as being beneficial and desireable. But what exactly are these standards about?
To help readers who want to unravel the mysteries of interoperability standards, I present the following list of articles, websites and resources that I have found particularly helpful.
CETIS The single most helpful website for learing about the depth and breadth of interoperability standards is that of CETIS (the Centre for Educational Technology Interoperability Standards), which "represents UK Higher and Further Education on international educational standards initiatives " The CETIS site reports news about the latest happenings in the field (there's actually a surprising amount of activity), feature articles, a collection of articles about all the different standards. There are also introductory essays; if you are new to interoperability standards, start with "Learning Technology Standards: An Overview" , [3] and "Who's involved in standards?" [5] -- and then go from there. Consult the CETIS directory of products. [4] to keep track of products that have practical implementations of these standards. (One learns from CETIS, that we are a long way from having many practical tools that actually work and interoperate that well. [21]) When I hit one of the many acronyms or jargon words of the field , I turn to the CETIS encyclopedia [2]
Self-contained articles If you are looking for self-contained reports on interoperability standards, I recommend two short review articles by Nishikant Sonwalker in Syllabus Magazine . [15, 16]. For a more detailed and comprehensive report, I recommend skimming through the 40 pages of "Making Sense of Learning Specifications & Standards: A Decision Maker's Guide to their Adoption" [17]
Learning about learning management systems The Chronicle of Higher Education recently published an article on the latest developments in learning management systems relevant to higher education.[13] On the Berkeley campus, the Educational Technology Servies Group is charged with helping faculty set up and manage course websits. [6]
Making Sense of Learning Objects A great vision driving the development of interoperability standards is that of creating "learning objects", packages of learning materials that can be easily reused and placed in new contexts. There also happens to be considerable debate around the nature of such entities. If you are interested in this debate (which touches upon both pedagogical and technical issues), take a look at the sources of following definitions:
- IEEE: "any entity, digital or non-digital, which can be used, re-used or referenced during technology-supported learning." [8]
- David Wiley: "any digital resource that can be reused to support learning" [18]
- Clive Shepherd: "A learning object is a small, reusable digital component that can be selectively applied - alone or in combination - by computer software, learning facilitators or learners themselves, to meet individual needs for learning or performance support." [14]
For a series of in-depth explorations of many aspects of learning objects, take a look at David Wiley's book (which is available in its entirety on the Web). [19]
Weblogs and Other Daily News Sources I have found that weblogs [10] are a good source to keep up with all the developments in the educational technology world. Scott Wilson of CETIS points to a number of weblogs that focus on educational technology standards, including my own. [20] One of my favorites is one I read daily: David Carter-Tod's "Serious Instructional Technology", [11] which has been favorably profiled by The Chronicle of Higher Education. [22]
Berkeley IMS SIG Fred Beshears, the campus' representative to IMS, a leading international organization in the area of interoperability standards, has been convening a group of folks on the campus interested in the topic of educational technology interoperability.[7] Please contact Fred Beshears if you are interested in participating in the SIG.
References
[1] Blackboard 5 Data Integration, 2002. http://company.blackboard.com/docs/cp/orientation/dataintegration.pdf
[2] CETIS-CETIS Reference, 2002. http://www.cetis.ac.uk/encyclopedia
[3] CETIS-Learning Technology Standards: An Overview, CETIS, 2002. http://www.cetis.ac.uk/static/standards.html
[4] CETIS-Standards-compliant products directory. http://www.cetis.ac.uk/directory
[5] CETIS-Who's involved in standards?, 2002. http://www.cetis.ac.uk/static/whos-involved.html
[6] ETS | Course Web Site Development. http://media.berkeley.edu/webdev/lms/
[7] Fred M. Beshears. http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~fmb/
[8] IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee (LTSC). IEEE P1484.12 Learning Object Metadata Working Group. http://ltsc.ieee.org/wg12/s_p.html
[9] Standards [Lectora], 2002. http://www.lectora.com/product_info_standards.html
[10] Ashley, C. Weblogging: Another Kind of Website. Berkeley Computing and Communications, 11 (4). 20-21. http://istpub.berkeley.edu:4201/bcc/Fall2001/feat.weblogging.html
[11] Carter-Tod, D. Serious Instructional Technology (SiT): A Daily Log of Instructional Technology News and Ideas. http://instructionaltechnology.editthispage.com/
[12] Edelstein, W. November-December 2001: Learning management systems at UC Berkeley: The present and the future, 2001. http://istpub.berkeley.edu:4201/bcc/Nov_Dec2001/feat.lms.html
[13] Olsen, F. Getting Ready for a New Generation of Course-Management Systems. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 48 (17). http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i17/17a02501.htm
[14] Shepherd, C. Objects of interest, 2000. http://www.fastrak-consulting.co.uk/tactix/features/objects/objects.htm
[15] Sonwalkar, N. Demystifying Learning Technology Standards Part I: Development and Evolution Syllabus, 2002. http://www.syllabus.com/syllabusmagazine/article.asp?id=6134
[16] Sonwalkar, N. Demystifying Learning Technology Standards, Part II: Acceptance and Implementation. Syllabus, April 2002. http://www.syllabus.com/syllabusmagazine/article.asp?id=6240
[17] The MASIE Center. Making Sense of Learning Specifications & Standards: A Decision Maker's Guide to their Adoption, The MASIE Center, 2002. http://www.masie.com/standards/S3_Guide.pdf
[18] Wiley, D.A. Connecting learning objects to instructional design theory: A definition, a metaphor, and a taxonomy. in Wiley, D.A. ed. Instructional Use of Learning Objects: Online Version., 2000. http://reusability.org/read/chapters/wiley.doc
[19] Wiley, D.A. (ed.), The Instructional Use of Learning Objects -- Online Version, 2002. http://reusability.org/read/
[20] Wilson, S. CETIS-Best of the blogs. CETIS. http://www.cetis.ac.uk/content/20020307133658
[21] Wilson, S. CETIS-Content Packaging interoperability tests reveal room for improvement. CETIS. http://www.cetis.ac.uk/content/20020307103412
[22] Young, J.R. Community-College Official Collects News of Instructional Technology. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 47 (32). A51. http://chronicle.com/free/v47/i32/32a05102.htm
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