EML and LMS related standard

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. The IMS project defines the following separate specifications. · Learning Resource Meta-data (p. 9). This is a specification of meta-data used to identify “learning resources”. · Content packaging (p. 13). A specification of how to assemble and distribute content in “packages”. · Resource identifiers (p. 17). This defines persistent, location independent resource identifiers. · Question & Test Interoperability (QTI) (p. 19). This defines the structure of questions and tests, and the grouping of these. · Enterprise (p. 33). This defines the way information on the learning 'enterprise' (instructional processes) is shared. · Learner information packaging (p. 37). This specifies how to record and share information on the learner. · Reusable Competency Definitions (p. 40). An information model for describing, referencing and exchanging definitions of competencies, primarily in the context of online and distributed learning. · Simple Sequencing (p. 42). This defines how to associate sequencing information with content packs (p. 13) and its default behaviour. Each specification has (or will have) at least three main parts: · Information model — an abstract description of the area modelled · Binding — binding to a particular language. For all specifications XML is the language of choice · Best practice — explanation of how to apply the model

Enhancing web-based learning resources with quizzes through an Authoring Tool and an Audience Response System

Quizzes are among the most widely used resources in web-based education due to their many benefits. However, educators need suitable authoring tools that can be used to create reusable quizzes and to enhance existing materials with them. On the other hand, if teachers use Audience Response Systems (ARSs) they can get instant feedback from their students and thereby enhance their instruction. This paper presents an online authoring tool for creating reusable quizzes and enhancing existing learning resources with them, and a web-based ARS that enables teachers to launch the created quizzes and get instant feedback from the class. Both the authoring tool and the ARS were evaluated. The evaluation of the authoring tool showed that educators can effectively enhance existing learning resources in an easy way by creating and adding quizzes using that tool. Besides, the different factors that assure the reusability of the created quizzes are also exposed. Finally, the evaluation of the developed ARS showed an excellent acceptance of the system by teachers and students, and also it indicated that teachers found the system easy to set up and use in their classrooms

Student-Centered Learning: Functional Requirements for Integrated Systems to Optimize Learning

The realities of the 21st-century learner require that schools and educators fundamentally change their practice. "Educators must produce college- and career-ready graduates that reflect the future these students will face. And, they must facilitate learning through means that align with the defining attributes of this generation of learners."Today, we know more than ever about how students learn, acknowledging that the process isn't the same for every student and doesn't remain the same for each individual, depending upon maturation and the content being learned. We know that students want to progress at a pace that allows them to master new concepts and skills, to access a variety of resources, to receive timely feedback on their progress, to demonstrate their knowledge in multiple ways and to get direction, support and feedback from—as well as collaborate with—experts, teachers, tutors and other students.The result is a growing demand for student-centered, transformative digital learning using competency education as an underpinning.iNACOL released this paper to illustrate the technical requirements and functionalities that learning management systems need to shift toward student-centered instructional models. This comprehensive framework will help districts and schools determine what systems to use and integrate as they being their journey toward student-centered learning, as well as how systems integration aligns with their organizational vision, educational goals and strategic plans.Educators can use this report to optimize student learning and promote innovation in their own student-centered learning environments. The report will help school leaders understand the complex technologies needed to optimize personalized learning and how to use data and analytics to improve practices, and can assist technology leaders in re-engineering systems to support the key nuances of student-centered learning

Towards a practitioner-centered approach to the design of e-learning competence editors

Girardin, F., Ayman, M., & Josep, B. (2007). Towards a practitioner-centered approach to the design of e-learning competence editors. In T. Navarrete, J. Blat & R. Koper (Eds.), Proceedings of the 3rd TENComptence Open workshop 'Current Research on IMS Learning Design and Lifelong Competence Development Infrastucture' (pp. 99-104). June, 20-21, 2007, Barcelona, Spain: TENCompetence.This article reports on the background research on requirements and current approaches to editors for learning curriculum designers. First we take a critique look at the state of the art in the domain of learning activity editors. We then look back in the information visualization and interaction literature to discuss the design challenged of such tools. From these current theories and applied works we define a set a rules that are crucial for the design of CDP editors based developed on top of complex e-learning models. Finally, we exemplify the set of design rules with a prototype integrating tightly coupled map-based and Gantt chart views.The work on this publication has been sponsored by the TENCompetence Integrated Project that is funded by the European Commission's 6th Framework Programme, priority IST/Technology Enhanced Learning. Contract 027087 [http://www.tencompetence.org

Current Research on IMS Learning Design and Lifelong Competence Development Infrastructures

These proceedings consist of the papers presented at the Third TENCompetence Open Workshop which were accepted after peer reviewing. The workshop theme was Current Research on IMS Learning Design and Lifelong Competence Development Infrastructures. The workshop took place at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain, on the 21st and 22nd of June 2007

Current Research on IMS Learning Design and Lifelong Competence Development Infrastructures

These proceedings consist of the papers presented at the Third TENCompetence Open Workshop which were accepted after peer reviewing. The workshop theme was Current Research on IMS Learning Design and Lifelong Competence Development Infrastructures. The workshop took place at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain, on the 21st and 22nd of June 2007

Experiences with GRAIL::Learning Design support in .LRN

The IMS-LD specification allow the transcription of almost any pedagogical model in a "Unit of Learning" (UoL), which is a package where contents and methodology are combined together in order to be deployed in a compliant software. Making use of GRAIL as the supporting tool inside the .LRN Learning Management System, this paper presents two real experiences of use where IMS-LD has been used to deploy pedagogical models with different levels of complexity

Aplicación práctica en Didáctica de la lengua y la literatura del software LMS

La innovación tecnológica en la educación on-line a través de Plataformas Web de Gestión de Contenidos ha supuesto un avance en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje del estudiante. La gran variedad de plataformas software precisa de un análisis pormenorizado que permita localizar el apropiado Sistema de Administración de la Enseñanza (LMS) que compagine las necesidades de la organización con los requisitos hardware y software del sistema a implantar. Además, es crucial tener en cuenta otras demandas, como reescribir, adaptar contenidos o intercambiar materiales educativos o información con otras organizaciones; por ello la plataforma LMS debe adecuarse a estándares o especificaciones internacionales como SCORM o IMS. En este sentido, el LMS Atutor proporciona la accesibilidad, adaptabilidad y facilidad en instalación y configuración requeridas para la puesta en producción de contenidos y utilidades online en un entorno de software libre. Plataforma que puede contribuir a la labor docente en la elaboración de cursos de la disciplina de Lengua y Literatura además de proveer al estudiante de facilidades para la comunicación, acceso a la información, y autoaprendizaje online.On-line tecnological Innovation on education using Web Content Management System Platforms has involved a teaching-learning process advance in students. The wide variety of software platforms requires a comprehensive analysis allowing to locate the appropriate Learning Management System (LMS), which combines organization's needs with hardware and software requirements for the system to be deployed. Additionally, it is crucial the fact of bearing in mind other demands , such as rewriting, adapting contents or interchange educative materials or information with other organizations. Along these lines LMS platform must be adjusted to international standards and specifications like SCOMR or IMS. In this sense, LMS Atutor provides accesibility, adaptability, and installation and configuration facilities required for contents and on-line utilities to be put into production in a open source environment. This platform can contribute to teaching work in Language and Literature subject courses development and even offer comunication facilities to student related to information access and online self-study.peerReviewe

Migrating existing multimedia courseware to Moodle

Open source course management systems offer increased flexibility for instructors and instructional designers. Communities can influence the development of these systems and on an individual basis, the possibility to modify the system software exists. Migrating existing courseware to these systems can therefore be beneficial, sometimes even required. We report here about our experience in migrating an existing courseware system consisting of multimedia content and interactive, integrated infrastructure functionality to an open source course management system called Moodle. We will assess the difficulties that we have encountered during this process and, discuss the importance of standards in this context, and we aim to provide other instructors or instructional designers with guidelines and assessment support for other migration projects