Standards and interoperability can be totally dry and boring topics. But if you and your organization are researching and trying to select new course creation and/or LMS systems for your education program, they are pretty important.
Interoperability is something I first learned about when my friend and colleague Tim Magner took a job as the Executive Director of edtech’s Software Interoperability Framework (SIF). I’m trying now to draw a bead on exactly when this was, but my best guess is around 2003. In education, this coincided with a huge push toward “accountability” and “infrastructure” overhauls. Another keyword thrown around at the time was “data-driven decision-making.” As a result, many administrators and school systems were seeking administrative software solutions in epic proportions. At any rate, SIF was working to create awareness about interoperability and the benefits of structuring technical systems in such a way that components by different providers could “talk” to each other. Cool! This is an idea that seemed like a great big whopping “DUH” — a concept that seemed far from rocket science.
More than 10 years later, technology systems and software backend are a daily part of our lives. If we work in businesses and organizations, the struggle of how to make what we have with what we need/want next is a regular guest at the table. Interoperability is a big part of the answer. What I love about the “Shareable Content Object Reference Model” (SCORM) is that it puts the topic out front and frames it within the eLearning environment. This video, put together by #KMI Learning, is a great overview. And it’s under 4 minutes long.
M&M met with a staff member for a major European medical society a few weeks ago. One of her biggest pain points was having received a top-down directive to “implement eLearning,” then invested in an LMS, then had no time or available resources to take that LMS beyond the initial baby steps. Been there? The commitment to make a purchase is huge and requires big financial and political investment. If that system doesn’t play well with others, you could end up even more stuck than you were before you started. Because, after all, you have just lobbied for (and spent) a huge chunk of change — potentially the lion’s share of your eLearning/education budget.
Beyond the technical interoperability issues involved with creating online courses, SCORM also establishes technical standards for course structure and course progression/completion. Most programmers in eLearning spaces know SCORM, but Instructional and Curriculum Designers don’t yet. Is this you? It’s worth learning more.
SCORM.
SCORM.
SCORM.
Ensuring SCORM compliance in your systems is a critical first step in your software evaluation process.
SCORM.
Say it until you say it in your sleep.
SCORM 2004 4th Edition (User Guide for Instructional Designers)
#SIF #edchat #SCORM
In a Nutshell — Perspectives on Learning and Education in the Digital Age 