Learning Activity Interoperability
When some members of the e-learning community started to ask if the primacy of the learning object led to pedagogically sound learning technologies they started to explore Learning Activity Interoperability. They wanted to support an activity-centred view places the performance of individual and group activities at the fore of the interaction (negotiation of meaning, etc.)
From a standards perspective learning activity interoperability is closely connected to the development of the IMS Learning Design Specification (IMS LD).
Learning Activity specifications state of art
Since its initial publication in 2003, IMS LD has distinguished itself by virtue of its high level language which, in theory, allows for the description of just about any conceivable pedagogical model for use with both individuals and groups. IMS LD is a language intended for use in modelling units of study. In effect the language affords designers the opportunity to describe the interaction and coordination of three key components in the learning process as conceived in LD, namely; the learner who interacts with resources during the course of a given activity. Through the use of the metaphor of a theatrical play, learning scenarios are described in terms of plays, acts and role-parts in such a way that both learning services and content can be organized into a user specified sequence before they are assigned to learners.
Another noteworthy characteristic of IMS LD includes its various levels: A, B and C, a design feature intended to facilitate the implementation process. Level A lies at the heart of Learning Design and includes the means with which to add and coordinate people, activities and resources. Level B allows for more complex designs through the use of properties and conditions. The former are used to collect learner data including preferences, test results etc. while the latter serve to constrain the learning flow in accordance with predetermined criteria designed to accommodate a specific set of circumstances or preferences. Level C adds ever increasing sophistication to learning designs through the use of notifications which serve to automatically trigger new activities upon the completion of tasks.
Issues
Even if IMS LD caught the interest of educational practitioners the lack of tools (both for authoring and playing) and concrete examples of learning designs have represented an obstacle to the uptake of the specification. This situation seems to change now with quite a few tools being tested out, and with some promising ideas on web services on the drawing board.
There does seem to be a distinctly European commitment to learning design and the IMS LD specification, encouraged by some successful support activities by the UNFOLD project funded by the EU Commission. However, interoperability of learning design systems is still at the early stages of the specification life cycle. Nevertheless, learning design seems to be one of the learning technology specifications with the greatest potentials to bridge the gap between the technological community and the educational practitioners.
Recommendations
 | There were no recommendations in this chapter. We should come up with some. There are hints in the text in that direction! |
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