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Making Sense of Learning Specifications & Standards: A Decision Maker's Guide to their Adoption

Elliott Masie, The Masie Center, Mar 08, 2002
Commentary by Stephen Downes

Contains one of the better explanations of why we need standards, which is worth repeating here. Standards enable:CRLF

Interoperability - can the system work with any other system?CRLF
Re-usability - can courseware (Learning Objects, or "chunks") be re-used?CRLF
Manageability - can a system track the appropriate information about the learner and the content?CRLF
Accessibility - can a learner access the appropriate content at the appropriate time?CRLF
Durability - will the technology evolve with the standards to avoid obsolescence?

CRLFWe need these abilities so we can

Mix and match content from multiple sourcesCRLF
Develop interchangeable content that can be assembled, disassembled, and re-used quickly and easilyCRLF
Ensure that buyers are not "trapped" by a particular vendor's proprietary learning technologyCRLF
Ensure that our learning technology investments are wise and risk adverseCRLF
Increase the effectiveness of learning by enabling greater personalization and targeting of the right content to the right person at the right timeCRLF
Improve the efficiency and ROI of learning content development and managementCRLF
Increase the quantity and quality of learning content

The article also talks about the evolution of standards and describes the use of standards in education. The document is in PDF format so (once again) you'll have to kill another tree for it to be of any use to you.

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