Category Archives: SCORM/xAPI

Rustici Acquisition and Open Standards

General Spew, SCORM/xAPI

Open StandardsRustici is a reputable company with a lot of talented folks and deep involvement in eLearning standards such as SCORM and ‘TinCan’ (xAPI !). In fact, so thorough is their involvement and expertise, not only have quite a few other LMS products licensed Rustici’s engines but Adobe migrated Captivate’s entire SCORM (and probably xAPI) engine to Rustici’s implementation…and starting with Captivate 9, they included a specific publishing link to Rustici’s ‘SCORM Cloud’ site. I myself have recommended ‘SCORM Cloud’ countless times as a testing platform for developers’ eLearning content. All in all, Rustici creates industry-leading API engines for the eLearning industry, no doubt.

So I wonder if their acquisition by Learning Technologies Group (LTG) in January 2016 will have any affect on that expertise and dedication. Probably not. Per the Rustici blog, they will “continue to be agnostic, supportive of the standards, and generally the same company we always have been.”
That’s somewhat reassuring. Continue reading Rustici Acquisition and Open Standards →

ADL eLearning, SCORM, and xAPI Survey

Learning Mgmt Systems, SCORM/xAPI

The ADL Initiative has launched a new effort to create a SCORM profile of the Experience API (xAPI). ADL wants your input to help inform our direction for this effort, and to gauge your current usage of distributed learning products, services, SCORM and xAPI. The target audience for this survey is anyone in the education and training community familiar with distributed learning. The survey should take no longer than fifteen minutes to complete.
To participate in the survey, click the link below and begin! The survey will be open until February 27, 2015. Results will be shared with all respondents.

http://www.adlnet.gov/adl-community-survey/

“The survey should take no longer than fifteen minutes to complete. Questions with red asterisks must be answered.”

(repost from LinkedIn)

eLearning Tech and Trends for 2015

Development Tools, HTML5/JS, Multimedia, Responsive Design, SCORM/xAPI

There are a few articles out there each year predicting what the hot topics will be (for a variety of things) in the New Year…so we’ll jump on that bandwagon.

SCORM, xAPI, LTI, CMI-5

SCORM will continue to be popular, it’s still far too entrenched. xAPI (TinCan) will grow as more vendors integrate the technology into their products and the general understanding grows. LTI *should* continue to grow, especially since academics tend to move slowly, but I’m not sure how much momentum it has. CMI-5 will be an interesting to watch with the move to ADL. I don’t see that moving forward much in the next year (but I’ve not explored their roadmap). One potential issue I’m surprised not to see more concern about is privacy in relation to xAPI. Anything can be tracked? Anytime? Do the users KNOW that? Remember the furor over cookies, which are not even centralized…

Authoring

Captivate and Storyline will continue to dominate. Watch for Lectora to push harder to re-assert their product. Lesser-known tools like iSpring, Brainshark, Claro, SmartBuilder, and even ZebraZapps will grow as more folks look for tools to enable self-production.  With Microsoft Mix, PowerPoint may enjoy even more growth as an eLearning dev tool. Camtasia should retain a solid position as well. Those tools that can really improve upon Responsive Design delivery and significant cross-platform compatibility will have a strong advantage.
Reference sites like eLearning Brothers and online tools like PowToon will also grow and see more demand. Continue reading eLearning Tech and Trends for 2015 →

AICC hangers it up!

General Spew, SCORM/xAPI

The AICC group, arguably the grandfather of SCORM and xAPI, has accepted that the AICC spec is well out-dated and, due to ‘declining membership’, officially dissolved.

From their site,

Our journey is at an end.
Due to declining membership, the AICC membership has decided to dissolve the AICC.
We are very proud of the AICC’s pioneering work in learning technology interoperability specifications.
It is quite a legacy that is still strongly influencing how most of us learn online today

AICC was staying relevant with their work on CMI-5. Based on this ADL Post, they were working with the ADL and the current xAPI efforts to define the ‘next generation of SCORM’. That project has been moved to the ADL and will hopefully continue to see advancement (as I’m not sold, by far, that xAPI [TinCan] is a total solution…but there have been some pretty cool advancements!).

On that note, our previous post, “AICC, SCORM , xAPI, CC/LTI, CMI-5…What Does It All Mean?” now has some dead links. The “collaborators”, “CMI-5 specification”, and “AICC’s CMI-5 Wiki” links are all dead. Current new URL:

CMI-5 specification: https://github.com/AICC/CMI-5_Spec_Current/wiki

Otherwise watch ADL’s site for any news on their hosting and leadership of old AICC spec archives and CMI-5 progress… There are no news updates on their site about AICC or CMI-5 as of this post.

For whatever it’s worth, I appreciate the effort the AICC Executive Committee initiated and maintained over the years. The airline industry may not always be seen as inventive but their move to standardize training communication and record stores was a critical first move to the specifications we work with today.
Cheers to the AICC organization and thanks for the guidance and contributions they’ve made to the eLearning community over these many years!

Advantages and Disadvantages of SCORM 1.2 vs 2004

Development Tools, Learning Mgmt Systems, SCORM/xAPI

Despite the growth and excitement around the xAPI (TinCan) spec, SCORM remains the most popular and supported method of ensuring a standardized communication between an online course and the LMS. While SCORM 2004 is dated by its very name, it has gone through several revisions and absolutely remains (at this time) a viable solution for tracking your courseware.

However, many LMS products still lack in full SCORM 2004 support, various tools interpret the spec differently, and it does add a bit more complexity to the overall setup of the course.

So is there really an advantage to using the ‘newer’ SCORM 2004 spec over the older SCORM 1.2? Continue reading Advantages and Disadvantages of SCORM 1.2 vs 2004 →

eLearning Chef’s Top 5 Open-Source LMSystems

508/Accessibility, Learning Mgmt Systems, SCORM/xAPI

Per the previous post, here’s our list of the top 5 open-source LMS products. Yes, there are lots more. You can search for ‘top open source LMS’ and find several similar lists. We base ours on our direct experience, various readings and discussions, and general research.

These are not necessarily listed from top to bottom but generally, yes, the preferred are toward the top (as the write-ups will explain). Continue reading eLearning Chef’s Top 5 Open-Source LMSystems →

Defining eLearning

General Spew, Learning Mgmt Systems, SCORM/xAPI

It is generally accepted by now that eLearning provides several advantages to most any organization’s training initiatives. From cost-savings to enhanced retention, eLearning is actually recognizing those goals and continues to hold great promise…but what exactly is “eLearning”?

eLearning is commonly understood as ‘training facilitated by a computer’, but the definitions are wide and varied. Can eLearning be closely defined? Does it need to be? With the improved capabilities of mobile devices, the term ‘mLearning’ has arisen…which brings about another discussion on best-practices and how it differs from eLearning. For the sake of this article, we’ll stick with eLearning as the overall umbrella term.

If a sales representative needs to know the latest product specifications and receives the new PDF brochure on his iPhone, is that eLearning? Sure, why not? He learned something on his mobile computing device – meeting several definitions. Whether web-based educational content is accessed via an online university, a corporate LAN, or a simple web search – it can all be ‘eLearning’…though surely various experts and groups prefer less nebulous definition.

Continue reading Defining eLearning →

AICC, SCORM , xAPI, CC/LTI, CMI-5…What Does It All Mean?

Academics, Learning Mgmt Systems, SCORM/xAPI

If nothing else, the growth of eLearning seems to correlate directly to the growth of bizarre acronyms.

Currently, there are three primary methods of tracking lesson data back to a centralized storage site and database. There are ultimately more than that, which I’ll mention at the end, but first is an overview of the top three methods for tracking eLearning progress and interaction.

Continue reading AICC, SCORM , xAPI, CC/LTI, CMI-5…What Does It All Mean? →