E-learning Tools and Technologies X General criteria for picking tools X 465 21 General criteria for picking tools Scalability If you plan to grow your e-learning efforts, perhaps starting with a few courses by a small department and eventually expanding to cover not just your entire enterprise but its network of customers, suppliers, and partners as well—then you better buy a scalable system. In marketing, the term scalable is often used as a fancy way of saying, “We don’t crash when you load in a lot of data.” What it should mean is that the tool is economical at the smallest number of users or amount of content you need to manage and the tool remains responsive and reliable with the largest number. Ask this tough question: “At the maximum advertised size, what response time and downtime should I expect from your tool running on the minimum machine you specify?” Scalability is not just a technical issue. The tool must be offered with a flexible pricing structure that makes it affordable for small and large numbers of users. Localization If you’re authoring and delivering training internationally, it is important that your tools are localized to the language and culture of their users. Does the tool work globally? Is the interface available in all the languages you need? Has all the text, including button labels, ALT (alternative) text, tool tips, and Help files been translated to the target language? Are instructions for learners, course authors, and administrators available in all needed languages? Can the customer select the language at the time the system is set up? Can different users see the interface in different languages from the same server? Can the tool create and offer content in all necessary languages? Does it support Isocode and other double-byte fonts necessary to display text for Asian languages? Remote administration Can the tool be operated and administered from anywhere with just a browser? Are all features available in a Web-based console? Can all operations be performed from a browser anywhere on the network, without having to install a separate This criterion applies to server-based components. It would not apply, for example, to a local media editor. Wiley Publishing, Inc. 466 W General criteria for picking tools W E-learning Tools and Technologies authoring or administrative application? Does remote administration require a plug- in, Java applet, ActiveX control, or some other component that runs locally on the administrator’s computer? Corporate systems integration Organizations may have established standards and preferences for technologies and tools. They may have systems in place. If your e-learning tools and technologies must fit into an existing infrastructure, your choices need to be compatible with: f Standard operating systems, such as Widows XP. f Databases such as Oracle 9i or SQL Server. f Web browsers, such as a specific version of Netscape or Internet Explorer. f Corporate information and security systems, such as Microsoft Active Directory for a single login to all systems. f Network and Internet servers, such as Microsoft Windows 2000 Server. f Suites of desktop programs, such as Microsoft Office. For example, some learning management systems can enter training schedules directly into employees’ personal calendars in Microsoft Outlook. f Corporate information systems, such as an enterprise resources planning (ERP), human resources information system (HRIS), customer relationship planning (CRM) system. In addition, organizations may have a philosophy of supporting open systems or they may prefer to standardize on the products of one vendor as much as possible. Early on, uncover the standards and preferences of your IT department. (See chapter 19.) Vendor services Are you buying just software with no support, or does the package include hardware, implementation, training, and consulting? Some services you may want include: f Course and content development f Customization and extension of their product f Development of custom templates f Management consulting If vendors claim their product integrates with other systems, be sure to ask exactly what data items the systems exchange and how they handle inconsistencies in formatting. Wiley Publishing, Inc. E-learning Tools and Technologies X General criteria for picking tools X 467 21 General criteria for picking tools f System configuration and setup f Hosting f Technical support f Training f Marketing of courses and learning objects WHAT NOW? You will apply the criteria listed in this chapter when you get ready to evaluate a product or vendor. To make them effective, follow these guidelines. X Decide which of these criteria apply to the type of tool you are picking. Y Combine these general criteria with more specific ones found in the chapter covering the type of tool you are picking. Z Assign priorities for these criteria that reflect your organization’s needs. Wiley Publishing, Inc. Wiley Publishing, Inc. 469 Evolution, trends, and big ideas Advances in the technological infrastructure behind tools are transforming e-learning. These changes are as much social as technical. They are discussed in the three chapters of this section. f Standards for e-learning explains both established and emerging standards to guide you in creating high-quality reusable chunks of learning, sometimes called learning objects (chapter 22). Wiley Publishing, Inc. 470 W Evolution, trends, and big ideas W E-learning Tools and Technologies f What the L is XML explains Extensible Markup Language and shows how it is the logical successor to HTML as well as the lingua franca of data exchange. Though you may never see XML directly, it will be at the core of many of the e-learning tools you use (chapter 23). f Trends in technology and learning surveys the advances in information technology that make e-learning possible and shows how continuing advances will enable learning to evolve in new and productive directions (chapter 24). Wiley Publishing, Inc. 471 Standards for e-learning Standards for e-learning are bursting forth from committees, infiltrating sales brochures, blossoming on shrink-wrapped boxes of authoring tools, and popping up on purchasing requests for courseware. WHAT’S ALL THE FUSS ABOUT STANDARDS? In an ideal world, the people who design, build, administer, sell, and take e-learning would never notice the standards underlying e-learning any more than they notice the standards for the light bulbs that illuminate the rooms where they work, the power plugs for their computers, and the coins in their pockets. As the heads of e-learning standards bodies have repeatedly said, standards are written for toolmakers, not for designers, developers, and purchasers of e-learning content. So why do you need to understand standards? Do I need to understand standards? You need to understand these emerging e-learning standards and specifications if you are: f Responding to a request for proposals that requires SCORM compliance. The RFP doesn’t elaborate, and the issuing authority doesn’t seem to know either. f Developing training for a U.S. federal agency. Somebody mentions, “Don’t they require Section 508 compliance?” f Planning to reuse content extensively. You have heard that standards will help but are not sure which standards the tools should implement. f Working for a boss that believes that standards are the answer for everything but can’t say why. 22 Wiley Publishing, Inc. 472 W Standards for e-learning W E-learning Tools and Technologies f Dealing with concerns that standards will crush your staff’s creativity. f Managing hundreds of courses that were developed to earlier versions of standards. Now you are wondering if you should update the courses. Many who require or claim to meet standards are doing so because they want to be “with it,” or because they are trying to add more buzzwords to marketing brochures. You need a solid reason to use standards. Do I need a standards strategy? This chapter will help you decide when and how to integrate standards into your e-learning. Along the way it will also help you develop a standards strategy that helps you answer questions such as: f Which standards apply to your project or your role? Which can add value to the finished product? Which can make your workflow more efficient? Which will allow you to reuse components? f How will you incorporate standards into your work? Will you purchase tools that follow standards or make following standards easier? Will you build standards into the templates and scripts you use in constructing content? Will you require standards compliance in your request for proposals from vendors? f Which standards will you follow first? Which aspects of these standards will you follow? f To whom can you turn for advice on standards? Who can guarantee compliance? THE PROMISE OF E-LEARNING STANDARDS To understand the frenzy over e-learning standards, you need to understand the underlying problems that are fueling the development of these standards. Learners cannot easily find the courses they need. Course authors find it difficult to combine content and tools from different vendors. Course administrators cannot move courses, each with hundreds of files, from management system to management system. Learners with common disabilities cannot take the courses they need Custom- developed courses may only communicate with the systems on which they were developed. Even if you have no immediate requirement for standards, you can learn a lot by reading, or perhaps, skimming them to see how many bright and influential people view the architecture of e-learning. Wiley Publishing, Inc. E-learning Tools and Technologies X Standards for e-learning X 473 22 Standards for e-learning Standards organizations are addressing these problems in several ways. They are developing standards that promote building e-learning from reusable parts and that help reduce dependence on individual vendors and products. Build from reusable parts One of the explicit goals of standards is to allow the reuse of content at all levels—not just whole courses and online books, but smaller units as well. The concept of building from reusable parts works like this: A curriculum is assembled from reusable courses, which are assembled from reusable lessons, which are made of reusable pages, containing reusable media elements. These units are called reusable learning objects. They are also called knowledge objects and sharable content objects. Course authors can reuse these objects for different purposes in different projects. They can reuse entire courses or books; their lessons or chapters; their individual pages, topics, or displays; and even their media components. That means course authors do not need to develop all the content for a particular project. Objects, once perfected, can be reused on several projects. Here’s how this modular approach can work: At the top level you may assemble a curriculum from reusable courses. To create courses, you shop for proven lessons. Effective lessons may contribute to multiple Wiley Publishing, Inc. 474 W Standards for e-learning W E-learning Tools and Technologies courses. To create the lessons, you combine existing pages. Relevant, well-crafted pages may appear in multiple lessons. Pages, likewise, may incorporate existing lower-level media components. These media components may consist of reusable boilerplate text, standard graphics, narration segments, animations, and video clips. Even though you may develop original content, the costs are lower because that original content can be reused in subsequent projects. Reduce dependence on individual products and vendors Whenever you buy courses or license a tool, you should consider your exit strategy. Call it due diligence or risk management, but you need to think about what you will do if a vendor goes broke or if a better product comes along. Standards promise to make it easy to migrate to a better tool, course, or vendor. The holy grail of standards is interoperability—interoperability among authoring tools, content, and management systems. Here’s what we mean by true interoperability. Let’s examine this diagram starting at the right side with the producers. Producers, in this context, are the people and organizations that produce learning products. Imagine that we have a couple of producers, Producer A and Producer B. Each producer uses certain tools to produce learning objects, that is, self-contained, reusable modules of education or training. Tools are things like Dreamweaver, ToolBook, Trainersoft, or Authorware. Suppose that Producer A uses Tool X to produce Object 1 and Tool Y to produce Object 2. Producer B then uses Tool Z to produce Object 3 and Tool X to produce Object 4. In this brave new world of interoperability, the learning management system can assemble a course by integrating these separate objects developed by different producers using different tools. Wiley Publishing, Inc. [...]... operating system required to experience the course Duration tells how much time is required to take the course Cost records whether the course charges a fee or is free  492 Standards for e- learning E- learning Tools and Technologies keywords We are not too long past the time when unscrupulous Web sites repeated the word “sex” over and over in their description to snare unsophisticated search engines... The model sets the vocabulary that the management system and learning module use to talk to one another The LMSGetValue command can be used anywhere within the module between the LMSInitialize and LMSFinish commands and can be issued as many times as necessary within the module Wiley Publishing, Inc E- learning Tools and Technologies The data retrieved from the server can be used in displayed messages,... to know whenever an object starts up The object asks the name of the learner so it can personalize responses The object reports back to the management system how much of the object the learner has completed The management system needs to record the scores Finally, the management system needs to know when the learner has completed and closed an object Wiley Publishing, Inc 22 Standards for e- learning. .. metadata standard is the only one actually accredited with the oomph of a standards body (namely IEEE) Our favorite metadata items Metadata standards specify dozens of required and optional items Some are absolutely necessary, and others are embarrassingly obscure By way of example, here are some metadata items from the IEEE 1484.12 standard On the left are the names and numbers of these items and on the right... whole course is level 4; a lesson is level 3, and individual topic is level 2 Version records the edition of the course Format records the file formats used in the course These are stated as MIME type and subtype Size is the total size of all the files of the course, expressed in bytes Location records the Web address where consumers can access the course Requirement list things such as the browser and. .. Committee Making courses interchangeable under the AICC standard requires a number of files, depending on the level of complexity These include the course description file, assignable units files, descriptor files, course structure files, prerequisites files, completion requirements files, and objective relationships files This standard can designate complex flows through content However, many developers... “completed”) tells the management system that the learner has completed the current module and thus the management system should record the module’s status as “completed.” The first part within parentheses is the data item the management system should set and the second part is the value it should record for this item The LMSSetValue command can be used to send a wide variety of data to the management... disabilities have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to the access and use” by those without disabilities Lawyers will be arguing about the exact meaning of these words for decades Meanwhile, several U.S states and other governments have adopted the provisions of Section 508 as requirements  496 Standards for e- learning E- learning Tools and Technologies OTHER STANDARDS AND REGULATIONS... systems often cannot be transferred to another system The IMS Question and Test Interoperability specification seeks to define generic ways of specifying tests that can be realized in many different systems This and other IMS specifications are available at imsproject.org Enterprise Information Model Learning management systems often need to exchange data with other corporate systems The IMS Enterprise... conformity and consistency are achieved These different types of standards vary in the source of their authority and their degree of influence Here we discuss three main types of standards: accredited, de facto, and internal Accredited standards Accredited standards are based on written laws, government regulations, or specifications issued by professional organizations Such standards are sometimes called de . course, or other unit of content. They are By the way, IEEE is always pronounced “eye-triple -E and never “eye -E- E -E. ” It stands for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers,. language at the time the system is set up? Can different users see the interface in different languages from the same server? Can the tool create and offer content in all necessary languages? Does. the object the learner has completed. f The management system needs to record the scores. f Finally, the management system needs to know when the learner has completed and closed an object.