E-Learning Standards for Cost-Effective Development, Delivery, and Research of Educational Materials

• In Event: Improving Materials Development With Shareable Instructional Objects: Demonstration and Discussion

Abstract

The development of online learning materials is expensive, but their use affords important opportunities for learning about learning as well as for closing the feedback loop needed for the improvement of materials over time. Making materials available across various contexts is one way to distribute development costs, reducing the per student burden on institutional budgets. Existing standards such as the Shareable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) facilitate the development and distribution of materials as well as the possibility for amortizing costs. Yet to be exploited to the fullest extent possible are opportunities for research on learning as well as mechanisms that will help developers pursue the very worthy goal of materials improvement, thus increasing their return on investment.
This improvement is facilitated through the use of eLearning standards that also enable cost-effective development techniques for producing units of instruction (shareable content objects or SCOs) that can be used in a wide variety of settings. To realize their full potential for learning about learning as well as the improvement of the learning objects over time requires, however, that learner performance data remain following the initial learner interactions. SCORM provides learning objects, or SCOs, access to a rich runtime data model through SCORM, but it does not require that these data persist beyond the learner interaction. This makes the assessment of learner performance difficult and also limits the ability of developers to assess the quality of the materials they have created.
The most effective assessment of learner performance requires a method to access learner performance data outside of the runtime context. Non-learners such as course administrators, instructors, subject matter experts, and content developers often require a detailed report of the learners’ interactions with the content. These reports are crucial for properly assessing student performance as well as for completing the feedback and evaluation loop that is necessary for materials improvement.
Some learning management systems (LMS) provide reports for learner performance data; however, simply displaying all the information on learner performance that is present in the database is not always effective. LMS vendors and content developers both have a level of flexibility in how they implement and use the SCORM runtime data model, but similar functionality may or may not be present across LMSs.
This presentation will present examples of cost-effective educational materials development in an award-winning online course for Arabic that will be demonstrated. In addition, it will discuss the advantages for providing access to persistent learner performance data as well as changes that need to take place with respect to SCORM’s requirements for LMS developers. It will also provide an overview of the current capabilities of SCORM as well as describe changes to the specification that will address current gaps. In addition, the examples from the online Arabic course will illustrate ways that materials can be improved over time as well as facilitate the connection between the teacher and the student’s performance in online activities.

Author

• Michael Bush, Brigham Young University