The Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) program was launched in 1997 by the United States Department of Defense in an effort to standardize how educational training was delivered. Their solution was the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM), a set of coding standards that would allow compliance between a wide array of learning management systems(LMS)(Advanced Distributed Learning [ADL], 2010). In this way, instructional materials could be easily transferred from one LMS to another, regardless of the system they were created on. Content created to the SCORM standard is also designed to be easily adapted to meet changes in technology. It is also capable of being incorporated into many different scenarios dependant upon the needs of the institution.
With the hundreds of different content and learning management systems being used today, compliance standards ensure that all of these systems can communicate in a common language. This allows the management system to change or upgrade and yet the information is not lost. These standards also keep many educational institutions from reinventing the wheel when it comes to content creation. If an intuition created very effective learning modules on a particular system, they could then share it with the rest of the world. Then the other institutions could focus their energies into creating materials for different subject areas thereby increasing the collective knowledgebase for everyone. This consistency also ensures that learners are receiving the same quality of information. These learning modules can also be tagged or labeled with information about the lesson that can be placed in a searchable database. For instance, a content creator at a high-school could search a database for intermediate lessons about the Pythagorean theorem for the 9th grade level, download the content, and deploy it to an entire school district. This ensures that all of the learners are receiving the same information.
SCORM is designed around being granular and reusable. By breaking down the learning components into topic specific modules the individual lessons can be shared throughout many different applications. The same lessons about the Pythagorean theorem could be incorporated into classes for algebra, geometry, calculus, and trigonometry. The more focused the individual lesson, the easier it is to customized applicable information to fit the learner’s level and educational objective of the lesson. These lessons can also be based on conditional components where a learner could not move on to the next lesson until they fully understand the concepts of the prior lesson in the sequence.
This system of standards can be very beneficial to education as we move into the future. If every institution was connected to a centralized network of reliable and credible sources of information packaged into manageable modules, then we could make sure that our learners are receiving the same quality of education across the board. Even as technologies evolve and the physical platforms that these technologies run on changes, the information contained can migrate along with it.
Advanced Distributed Learning. (2010). SCORM. Retrieved from
http://www.adlnet.gov/Pages/Default.aspx
Justin,
ReplyDeleteI think your comment stating that every institution should be connected to a centralized network or reliable and credible sources would benefit students, teachers and administrators. Too many times I think they jump from one things to the next depending on who is main Guru at the time. If we shared a site where modules were consistent across the board and we updated them as technology evolved we could all benefit. The SCORM seems to have a system that works and is worth looking into! Thanks for sharing this information!