SCORMSCORM is the Shareable Content Object Reference Model for eLearning content. It provides for interoperability of learning objects between different learning management systems (LMS). SCORM is being developed by the Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative at the US Department of Defense. SCORM is on its way to dominating the content marketplace for on-line courseware, both educational and corporate. This could have a huge impact on content providers, especially those using the latest structured authoring tools based on DITA to develop reusable content. The philosophy behind a SCO and a DITA topic is the same: Author a stand-alone piece of content so it can be assembled into a book, a website, or an on-line course and later be reused in other books or courses as desired. SCORM however is primarily interested in the wrapper information, not the core content. DITA looks to be perfect for representing the core content. Most content in today's on-line courses is not reusable. It is also highly proprietary. Proprietary courseware can function only in the Learning Management System (LMS) it was written for. An LMS is a Content Management System with support for sequencing through lesson materials, grading, branching depending on performance, etc. Most simple page-oriented courseware is being prepared in Powerpoint and Dreamweaver. More sophisticated interactive animations use SCORM-compliant tools like TechSmith Camtasia and Adobe Captivate (formerly Macromedia RoboDemo). At last month's meeting of the Boston DITA User Group, John Hunt of IBM described a new OASIS initiative to develop a DITA specialization topic for eLearning. Hunt's Learning Content Subcommittee is studying the Cisco/Clark model of Reusable Information Objects (RIO), similar in ways to DITA topics, assembled into a sequence of seven plus or minus two RIOs, which becomes a Reusable Learning Object (RLO). References Cisco/Clark Reusable Learning Objects Up to Glossary of Terms |
