Over the last few years, both private and public (including education) ICT suppliers and user organisations have come together to try to ensure that learning technologies are 'interoperable' ie that users can move between different digital environments and access content and tools from different resources without barriers. As much of the growth of e-learning in the early days was done under proprietary systems developed by pioneers, and, as there has been a tendency for technology standards developers to take insufficient account of good educational practice in their concern for technical standardisation, the whole 'standards' debate is likely to have many detractors as well as supporters from both the supply community as well as those working in the education and training world. However, it is widely accepted that interoperability is essential.
The question that arises is 'how should this be achieved?' The jury is still out. It's important to understand that, with the exception of the Learning Object Metadata standard (IEEE LOM), there is no e-learning standard as such but a range of specifications - mainly dealing with learning objects but also covering issues such as content packaging, tracking, assessment etc. The most widely known and often termed 'standard' emerged from some of the work of a specifications body (the IMS project) together with the requirements of the USA Department of Defence: SCORM. At a European level, there is important work in progress on the development of standards that take account of linguistic and cultural diversity and which have a stronger 'educational practice' dimension (eg EML).
SCORM
The Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) defines a web-based learning 'Content Aggregation Model' and 'Run-Time Environment' for learning objects. The SCORM is a collection of specifications adapted from multiple sources to provide a comprehensive suite of e-learning capabilities that enable interoperability, accessibility and reusability of web-based learning content.
The IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee
The Standard for Information Technology, Education and Training Systems, Learning Objects and Metadata specifies the syntax and semantics of learning object metadata, defined as the attributes required to fully/adequately describe a learning object.
CEN-ISSS. Learning Technologies
The home page of the CEN/ISSS Learning Technologies Workshop. The mission of CEN/ISSS is to provide market players with a comprehensive and integrated range of standardization-oriented services and products, in order to contribute to the success of the Information Society in Europe.
The e-Government Interoperability Framework
The e-GIF defines the technical policies and specifications governing information flows across government and the public sector. They cover interconnectivity, data integration, e-services access and content management. Version 5 is in two parts: Part 1 contains the high level policy statements, management, implementation and compliance regimes. Part 2 contains the technical policies and tables of specifications, a glossary and a list of abbreviations.
The e-Government Metadata Standard (e-GMS)
This lays down the elements, refinements and encoding schemes to be used by government officers when creating metadata for their information resources or when designing search systems for information systems.
Code of practice for the use of information technology (IT) for the delivery of assessments. BSI. 2002. (pdf)
This British Standard gives recommendations on the use of information technology to deliver assessments to candidates and to record and score their responses.
IMS Global Learning Consortium
IMS Global Learning Consortium, Inc. (IMS) is developing and promoting open specifications for facilitating online distributed learning activities such as locating and using educational content, tracking learner progress, reporting learner performance, and exchanging student records between administrative systems. Follow the links to information on different specifications.
AICC
The Aviation Industry CBT (Computer-Based Training) Committee (AICC) is an international association of technology-based training professionals. The AICC develops guidelines for aviation industry in the development, delivery, and evaluation of CBT and related training technologies. Follow the links to information on specifications.
ISO/IEC JT C1 SC36 WG 5 Standards for information technology for learning, education and training. Working group 5: Quality Assurance and Descriptive Frameworks
The SC36/WG5 work programme addresses: describing and characterizing processes, components, and attributes related to the quality and architecture of IT-supported environments in the field of learning, education, and training.
UK OLN Metadata for education group
The Metadata for Education Group (MEG) serves as an open forum for debating the description and provision of educational resources at all educational levels across the United Kingdom.
Educational Modelling Language EML
Website on Educational Modelling Language (EML)
Building Quality Assurance into Metadata Creation: an Analysis based on the Learning Objects and e-Prints Communities of Practice (pdf)
Jane Barton (Centre for Digital Library Research, University of Strathclyde), Sarah Currier (Centre for Academic Practice, University of Strathclyde) & Jessie M. N. Hey, (University of Southampton Libraries and Intelligence Agents Multimedia Group).
Creating, using and re-using learning objects (Powerpoint presentation)
By Ryan, B. (2003) [PowerPoint presentation] (Huddersfield, HLSI Project)
JORUM Scoping and Technical Appraisal Study (pdf)
JORUM+ Project Teams (2004). Volume 5: Metadata.
Implementing metadata collection: a project's problems and solutions
By Ryan, B. & Walmsley, S. (2003) Learning technology, Vol. 5, no. 1, Jan. 2003....continue to pedagogical practice
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