Proceedings of IC-NIDC2010
DESIGN OF REMOTE EDUCATION SYSTEM ON
THE BASIS OF SCORM AND IMS-LD
SPECIFICATIONS
Jianwei Li, Zhiqing Zhang,Xunan Wang
Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing
jwli321@126.com, cn6329@gmail.com
Abstract
This article analyzes the SCORM and IMS-LD
specifications and the problems in learning process.
Based on the analysis and combining with the
practice of Chinese remote education., a remote
education system model is designed, which
absorbs advantages from both SCORM and IMSLD, tries to meet the requirements of different
teaching patterns and resolve problems in learning
process. The system is designed to support
different teaching patterns. According to students
characters, different teaching strategies will be
used in order to help improve the quality of remote
education.
Keywords: Remote Education System; SCORM ;
IMS-LD
1 Background
The Ministry of Education formally approved the
Tsinghua University, Beijing University of Posts
and Telecommunications, Zhejiang University and
Hunan University as the first national pilot modern
remote education institutions, in September 1998,
in order to meet the need of online studying. Some
educational
institutions
and
commercial
organizations began to develop specialized remote
education system, such as CMS(Content
Management System),LMS(Learning Management
Systems ), LCMS (Learning Content Management
Systems), LAMS (Learning Activity Management
System), etc. All the systems are related to
learning content management and learning activity
management.
Learning content object and learning activities /
process object are the two areas that current ELearning concerns. The former is mainly about
ADL SCORM learning object research and
practice, and the latter is about IMS Learning
Design specification (IMS-LD).[1]
SCORM is based on the work of several distinct elearning specifications and standards, including
IEEE LOM, IEEE API, IMS CP, IMS SS and so
on. The SCORM Content Aggregation Model
(CAM) describes the types of content objects used
in a content aggregation, how to package those
content objects in order to be exchanged from one
system to another successfully, how to describe
those content objects using metadata to enable to
be searched and discovered, and how to define the
sequencing rules for the content objects to
complete the design of the learning experience.
The CAM enables the consistent labeling,
packaging, storing, exchange and discovery of
content objects. The SCORM Run-Time
Environment (RTE) describes the requirements
that are imposed on LMS to ensure the
interoperability of content across different LMSs.
The RTE covers the requirements of SCOs and
their use of a standard communication mechanism
as well as the data that can be transferred to and
from the LMS using this communication
mechanism. The SCORM Sequencing and
Navigation (SN) defines a method for representing
the intended behavior of a learning experience
such that any SCORM conformant LMS will
sequence learning activities in a consistent way. It
also defines the required behaviors and
functionality that SCORM conformant LMSs must
implement to process sequencing information at
run-time. More specifically, it describes the
branching and flow of learning activities in terms
of an Activity Tree, based on the results of a
learner’s interactions with content objects and an
authored sequencing strategy.[6] SCORM is a set
of technical standards for e-learning software
products. SCORM tells programmers how to write
their code so that it can “play well” with other elearning software. Specifically, SCORM governs
how online learning content and Learning
Management Systems (LMSs) communicate with
each other. SCORM does not speak to instructional
design or any other pedagogical concern, it is
purely a technical standard.
IMS Learning Design specification was developed
by IMS Global Learning Consortium published in
February 2003, and based on the Open University
of the Netherlands Education Modeling Language
(EML).IMS Learning Design is a specification to
represent and encode learning structures and
methods for learners and teachers. Furthermore,
IMS-LD is focused on the design of pedagogical
methods able to manage learning activities linked
to learning objects within a learning flow. This
learning flow consists of plays, acts, activities,
activity structures and environments and it is
flexible enough to provide several personalized
itineraries depending on the role assigned or on a
set of rules[5].The target of IMS-LD is to provide
a common framework to describe the teaching and
learning process, integrating the activities and the
resources used in the learning process, while
supporting a variety of pedagogical approaches.
IMS-LD describes not only the concept of learning
object but also a lots of pedagogical approaches
[3].
The following will analyze student learning
problems in remote education in China, based on
the experience of remote education in the School
of
Network Education of BUPT(Beijing
University of Posts and Telecommunications),
which lauched remote education ten years ago [9]
⑴There is no guide for learners while theg begin
the online learning, and the learning pattern is
monotonous mainly depends on independent study,
that learners have to manage their learning time,
learning target and learning sequence all by
themselves.
While learners learning online, they need to read
the guidebook released by teacher to control the
learning progress, the system can not effectively
help learners to control learning time, learning
target and learning sequence. We have conducted
experiments, to arrange study and discussion, if the
discussion included into the daily score, there will
be many participating students, if not, there will be
less. The example shows that Chinese remote
learners have a strong learning dependence, they
have difficulties in managing their own learning
time, learning target and learning sequence.
⑵ Learning resources are discrete rather than
organized in standard. Resources and learning
activities are also independent from each other.
Students do not meet the learning rules, and the
learning effect is not good.
Lots of online learning resources focus on content,
mainly video or audio courseware, electronic
teaching plans, learning guidebooks, real-time
lectures, which are not standardized. Learners face
to so many resources can not catch the emphasis.
Compare to the full-time students, the remote
students study online part-time and it is impossible
for them to learn so much content in a limited time.
In addition, learning activities isn’t related to
learning content, students online only participate in
activities, or browse the content, but don’t form a
effective learning flow, so the learning effect is
poor.
⑶Learning process and results are not recorded
and analyzed.Personalized learning support service
can not be provided to students.
The current self-learning management system is
generally lack of students' records and analysis of
the learning process, so teachers and support staff
can only passively answer questions, and because
learners in the learning process rarely take the
initiative to ask questions, so the learning process
interaction seldom happened. Record and analysis
are necessary, such as learners’ learning time,
learning frequency, homework, testing scores, and
records of participating in discussions. In this way
teachers and support staff will know which student
needs help and guidance, thus they can provide
students with personalized learning support
services, and interactive learning process will
occur frequently under the guidance of teachers.
SCORM specification supports the individual
learning, emphasis on learning content-centric;
IMS-LD supports the participation of multi-role
learning, emphasis on learning activities for the
center, both have their own emphasis. Through the
practice in the field of remote education, and
according to the learning problems that Chinese
remote education students encountered, we design
a remote education system model, which absorbs
and learns from the SCORM and IMS-LD
specification.
2 Goal of the System
Remote education system's overall design concept
is that a teacher can implement a variety of
teaching strategies with the system, leading
learners at any given time have a goal, according
to the study of teachers planned carefully designed
online courses, online course include static
learning content such as character, pictures, video
and audio, but also including dynamic learning
activities such as assignment, test, discuss, etc. The
system to study the process of listening, speaking,
reading and writing four links seamlessly
integrated in a unit of learning(UoL) which
through this learning unit the students to acquire
knowledge[5,6,9]. The remote education system
fully implemented SCORM2004 standards,
support compliance SCORM2004 standard content
playback, but not the implementation of IMS-LD
specification. The remote education system reflects
the IMS-LD specification core philosophy of
"learning activities centered", the main design
concept is as follows:
⑴ The system supports the implementation of
various teaching strategies.
System can support a variety of teaching strategies
to design and implement, IMS-LD specification
lists 10 species on teaching strategies, such as:
problem-based learning, virtual experiments based
learning, adaptive learning, blended learning,
collaborative learning, lead learning and learning
based on characteristics of individual learners.
⑵System supports the design of learning methods,
such as: providing the learners with specific
learning times, completion conditions of
objectives, and the sequence of learning activities
and so on. Systems guide learners to learn through
active participation. "Activity" is an important
carrier of study design, including content learning,
group discussion, problem solving, online testing,
and virtual experiments.
Since the first online learning, learners can know
how much time the course will cost, what the
learning sequence is and what needs to achieve to
finish the learning objectives, so that under the
guidance of the system, learners can achieve better
learning results.
⑶ The system supports the conformation of new
online E-learning courses, based on the
courseware that meets SCORM2004 specification.
During the process, learning activities are
structured
and
serialized
according
the
requirements.
This new concept of online E-learning courses
include not only static content (text, images, video,
flash and audio), but also simple activities
embedded in the SCORM standard courseware
(including: simple test, simple survey, etc.), as well
as assignment, test, discussion, virtual experiments
and other activities provided by remote education
system. Therefore, the learning content should not
be limited to a static text, images, audio and video
content, it should also include discussion,
assignment, online tests, questionnaires, logs and
virtual experiments.
⑷ The system supports information conveying in
time between system components and between
different system roles,which will build real-time
personalized learning environment in which
students have a sense of immersion.
In learning process, the learning system
components and different roles of systems can
push messages by real-time messages and eventdriven messages. These messages can make the
learning content, learning activities together into a
real-time personalized learning environment. For
example, a student has finished reading a
paragraph in 15 minutes; the automatic trigger will
open a new practice. After finishing the practice,
the student’s score will change immediately, so
that students feel the learning evolvement.
⑸The system supports the record and analyze the
learner's learning process comprehensively.
Different analyzing results will be given back to
different roles in the system, such as learners,
teachers, teaching assistants, student support staff
and supervisor. The support staff can provide
learners with the personalized and initiative
services. Here the so-called "personalized and
initiative learning services" means that support
services are not given under the premise of
students’ request, but by the support staff's analysis
based on system feedback, in this way the support
staff can find the students who is in need of help,
and the service will be more initiative and
personalized.
3 Design of System Model
There are three kinds of system model design, they
are learning design model, E-learning course
model and Learning Interaction Model. Learning
design model mainly describes how to organize the
implementation of various of teaching strategies by
use of the learning methods, Unit of
learning(UoL), learning activities and different
roles. E-learning course model is different from the
traditional E-learning course, the course’s content
is not only static resources (text, images, audio and
video), but also include learning activities and
learning strategies [9]. The Learning Interaction
Model mainly describes the interaction of different
roles in the learning process. Interactive learning
reflects the learning activities centered [9].
3.1 Learning Design Model
Learning Design Model mainly describes that Unit
of learning(UoL) design structural organizes SCO
of SCORM courseware, learning activities, and
roles by learning methods, and the learning design
structural integrates UoL, learning activities and
roles through teaching strategies. Learning Design
Model is shown in Figure 1
⑴UoL Design
First, it structural organizes SCO and learning
activities according to certain learning methods.
For example: you can first learn a few SCO, then
complete re-focus on learning activities. You can
also learn a SCO and complete a learning activity,
SCO and activities is in turn. Second, set the
display order of SCO and learning activities. For
example, it is shown in order or shown in
accordance with certain conditions. Third, set on
the SCO and learning activities computable
learning objectives, prerequisites and learning
time. For example, the contents of a SCO learning
objectives and requirements is the "test> = 10
points and study duration> = 15 minutes." Finally,
we need to set in the SCO and the role of the
learning activities of different tasks. For example,
in a discussion activity, students posted, the system
should inform the teacher, and teacher must give a
response in time.
⑵Learning Design
According to different teaching modes (problembased learning, virtual experiments based learning,
adaptive learning, blended learning, collaborative
learning, lead learning and learning based on
characteristics of individual learners, etc.)
requirements, we need to use teaching strategies to
structure an organized UoL and learning activity,
for example: they can be organized in a tree
structure, parallel structure and so on, then set the
learning flow, learning objectives and learning
dates, finally, set tasks for different roles in the
learning flow.
learning sequences. Prerequisites are a logical
expression. Status has two values (Open,Close).
Objectives Status and Objectives Completions
describe learning goals, Objectives Status has three
values (Not started, Fail, Pass). Date / Time is to
describe the learning time, and courses, block and
UoL only have the Date Properties but no time
Properties. SCO and activities only have Time
attribute. Prerequisites, Objectives Completions
and Time is a logical expression, made up by AND
and OR operators, the rules for the calculation is
production rules. For example: "IF SCO.test1> =
20 and SCO.test2.Score> = 15 and Time>
15Minutes THEN Objectives Status = Pass".
Figure1 Learning Design Model
3.2 E-learning course model
E-learning course model is shown in Figure2.
Course structure has three main elements:
Unit of Learning (UoL): UoL also known as a
class, it is the basic learning units in curriculum.
UoL is mainly made up by the SCO of SCORM,
activities, role and learning methods .
Activity: Learning tools provided by the remote
education system, for example, assignment, test,
discussion and virtual experiments.
Block: A block can be made up by several Units of
learning, several activities and several blocks. [8]
Courses, Block, UoL, SCO and Activity have the
following properties: Name, Prerequisites, Status,
Objectives Status, Objectives Completions and
Date / Time. Prerequisites and Status describe
Figure2 E-learning Course Model
3.3 Learning Interaction Model
Learning Interaction Model is shown in
Figure3.Interaction model describes the students
and teachers learning interaction on block of Elearning Course Model in Figure 2.
At the beginning, System only opens the UoL1 in
Block. When UoL1’s learning objective state is
passing, UoL2 can open. In the learning process,
Learners will be designed in strict accordance with
the learning flow of teachers to learn.
First, Learners start to learn SCO1, he can choose
whether to try the pre-test (pre-test has only one
chance), if the test scores reach 85 points,
Objectives Status of SCO1 passes, the student can
skip the SCO1, if the test results did not reach 85
points, Students must follow the design of learning
process to learn all SCO and activities.
When the cumulative effect of learning reach
SCO1 learning objectives, the system will inform
that the Objectives Status of SCO1 have passed,
and you can learn the next SCO.
Then, learners start to learn SCO2, learning
process is similar with SCO1, and so on, when the
cumulative effect of learning reach the learning
objectives of this UoL1, the system will inform
learners that UoL1 of Objectives Status has passed,
and you can go to learn the next UoL.
The remote education requires not only the sharing
and re-use of learning content and teaching
strategies, but also the sharing and reuse of remote
education systems. Each institutions of the remote
education in China has their own remote education
system, that not only causes a waste of resource,
but also gave the sharing of learning content and
teaching strategies a significant obstacle. The
future developing trend is likely to be only a few
mainstream remote education systems will be still
used, for example: Sakai, Moodle, Blackboard,
etc., and these systems can be fully functional
designed consulting these specifications, and
gradually improve on the supporting of some
learning specifications.
Acknowledgements
This paper was written with the support offered by
“the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central
Universities”(No. 2009RC0903)
References
Figure3 Learning Interaction Model
4 Conclusion
Through designing a remote education system
based on the two specifications, we found that it is
difficult to design and achieve full compliance
with the learning standard system, because
learning contents and teaching strategies can’t be
departed from the remote education system and run
independently. It is a realistic means to implement
these specifications core philosophy based on
computer software technology.
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