Standards

Several emerging standards are expected to dramatically advance the e-learning industry. Central to these standards are the aforementioned learning objects (called "Assignable Unit" and "lessons" within AICC's model, and "Sharable Content Objects" within SCORM's model). The smallest units of learning content tracked by LMSs or LCMSs, learning objects are labeled in a standardized way.

The combined effect of the evolving e-learning standards will enable:

• Learning objects to be easily reused, and handled interchangeably by various LMSs
• Accessibility of learning objects developed by any authoring tool
• Learning objects to be stored and easily accessed within databases
• The rapid construction of courses through easy sequencing of content
• New, more granular learner assessment models

Notable standards are as follows:

• SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model)

  SCORM is the standard that has emerged with the most momentum, and many vendors are adopting it. Its specifications are offered by the U.S. Government's Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Initiative, an organization formed jointly in 1997 by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the Department of Defense. SCORM describes the ways in which learning objects relate to each other, and is intended to foster the portability of those objects from one LMS to another. It has included the best of the AICC and IMS specifications in its structure; and is being substantially adopted by the IEEE LTSC (see below). ⁵

• IMS (Instructional Management System Global Learning Consortium)

  Initiated by Educom and headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, the IMS Consortium has been developing open specifications for locating and using learning content, tracking and reporting learner progress, and exchanging records between LMSs. Its members are from educational, commercial, and government organizations worldwide.⁶ "Metadata tagging"—how content is identified and tagged—is the cornerstone of the IMS's work.

• AICC (Aviation Industry Computer-Based Training Committee)

  The AICC is an association of technology-based training professionals chartered over a decade ago with developing guidelines for the aviation industry. Because of its early leadership in e-learning, its guidelines have been adopted by makers of e-learning products serving many industries. Covering nine areas, these guidelines focus on how LMSs interface with learning objects and courses.

• IEEE LTSC (Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineering's Learning Technology Standards Committee)

  Many believe the IEEE LTSC will have the final say as it endorses specific e-learning industry standards, and SCORM is one set of specifications receiving significant attention. ⁷ IEEE LTSC's working groups cover topics like "learning object metadata" (tagging information used to describe data), student profiles, course sequencing, computer-managed instruction, competency definitions, localization, and content packaging."⁸ In 2000, it initiated the move of this work to the full International Standards Organization (ISO) Joint Technical Committee 1 (JTC1) Subcommittee 36 (SC36) on Learning Technology, for the highest level of global standards accreditation.

• XML (eXtensible Mark-up Language)

  XML is a metadata (data tagging) standard developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (WC3). Platform independent, it is becoming the foundation for communication among Web-based applications. Many of the e-learning specifications mentioned above build on XML.