Technical Standards for Learning Objects

The issue of Instructional Design technical standards,  compliance, SCORM, metadata tests and W3C HTML validation came up in the course I am doing. This is an area best avoided, unless someone is paying you to do it, as it is frustrating, time consuming and never ending. The Australian VET E-standards is a reasonable overview.

One general point: Most learning objects are a ZIP file which contains folders, the folders have web format  files for the content in them (HTML, CSS, JPEG, PNG). There are also some XML files with metadata (cataloging information) and quiz questions. E-books use a similar format.

The standards issue comes up with which version of file formats are used (HTML 4, XHTML, HTML 5 ...), what the folder structure is and what metadata is included. Vendors of products make claims as to what they support and educational institutions get stuck with particular products.

What I do is try to avoid using anything more than basic web formats for my educational content, so that this will more easily convert from one system to another. As an example, I use default formatting for headings and text. I do not specify the font, color, or size of text, so it will appear using the default of the system it is imported into. The result can look dull, but at least the student is likely to be able to read it and I don't have to spend hours fixing the formatting.

Just to show off, if you look through "IEEE Standard for Learning Object Metadata" (1484.12.1-2002) you will see my name it (I was on the balloting group, contributed one comment and then voted "yes"). ;-)

Stopping Cheating in Higher Education

"An Australian guide to the risk management of VET online e-assessment"  has been released, this followed an enquiry ., which included a survey of stakeholders. This work is aimed at the VET sector but is also applicable to universities. This takes a very practical and systematic look at assessment. One important point is that plagiarism detection software is not a solution.

References:

1. Morris, T. (2014). An Australian guide to the risk management of VET online e-assessment: a companion document to the research report into the veracity and authenticity concerns of stakeholders. from http://e-standards.flexiblelearning.net.au/documents/2014_3_Australian-GUIDE-risk-management-of-VET-online-e-assessment.docx
2. Morris, T. (2014). An Australian enquiry into the veracity and authenticity of VET online e-assessment: a risk management approach to stakeholder concerns. from http://vital.new.voced.edu.au/vital/access/services/Download/ngv:65804/SOURCE202
3. Morris, T. (2014). Assessment e-Risk Survey of key stakeholders 2014: an Australian enquiry into VET online e-assessment: support document. from http://ngt.flexiblelearning.net.au/documents/2014_3_Assessment-e-Risk-Survey.docx

Australian Technical Standards for Online Course Materials

The E-standards Expert Group has issued updated standards for online course materials for the vocational education and training sector in Australia: "VET E-standards for Training" (Department of Industry, 10 April 2014). While aimed at TAFEs and non-government Registered Training Organisations (RTOs), these standards are equally applicable for schools and universities. The standards recommended are not controversial, being commonly used on the web.

What might be less familiar are the formats for packaging educational material, such as IMS Content Packaging (Version 1.1.4) and SCORM 1.2. There will still be difficult decisions to be made, for example, if you have some content, should you package it as an EPUB ebook, IMS or SCORM?

In many cases these standards will not be so important to individual course designers and teachers, as they will have to use what the software provided by their institution supports. However, educators should keep the standards in mind so that their content can be ported more easily from system to system.

In practice I try to use simply formatted web pages for course content. I use HTML in preference to PDF, Powerpoint and DOCX files. This way the content can be converted to other formats as required and can be assembled into e-books and modules, using whichever packaging standard is appropriate.

UK Group Looking at Technology for Further Education

The UK Further Education Learning Technology Action Group" (FELTAG) have produced draft recommendations for comment, on the use of technology for Further Education and Skills in the UK. The term "Further Education" (FE) is used in the UK for post secondary non-university studies. This is the equivalent to Vocational Education and Training (VET) in Australia.

One difference between the UK and Australian systems, is that the Australian VET system is more closely aligned with university Higher Education. Also the UK seems to lack anything comparable to Australia's National VET E-learning Strategy, which provides a centrally funded pool of training, tools and content for e-learning, which can be used by all public and private VET providers. The UK could look at adopting something similar, with a Learning Design Tool (LDT), packaged e-learning content "Toolboxes", e-learning software and events for educators.

The FELTAG recommendations are grouped under "work-streams":

1. Horizon Scanning and Context
2. Regulation
3. Funding
4. Investment and Capital Infrastructure
5. Providers Capacity & Capability
6. Learners
7. Employers
8. Wildcard!
9. Online English, Maths & ESOL

FELTAG have requested comment on:

1. Which workstream(s) do you think are the most important to focus on to effect the agile evolution of the FE sector in anticipation of disruptive technology, for the benefit of learners, employers & the UK economy as a whole?
2. Which recommendations would you change and how?
3. Building on the draft recommendations, or proposed revisions that you have made, what single change would make the biggest difference to you or your organisation?
4. Are there examples, issues or evidence that you feel FELTAG has overlooked and should consider in its recommendations?

Using the Quiz tool to help facilitate learning

Coralie Daniels, Canberra Institute of Technology, will present a free webinar on "Using the Quiz tool to help facilitate learning", 2pm, 29 October, hosted by the National VET E-learning Strategy. Apart from the content of these VET webinars, they are a useful way for teachers to experience a well run on-line event.

Using the Quiz tool to help facilitate learning
When: Tuesday 29 October
Where: https://connect.ed.act.edu.au/actelearning/ (Online webinar)
Time: 2:00 - 3:00pm
Cost: Free
Register: http://flexiblelearning.net.au/news-and-events/calendar-of-events/ (On the calendar select the the day of the event and click on the actual event. In the popup window select the icon Sign up and register your information)

Presenter: Coralie Daniels
Using the Quiz tool to help facilitate learning
A quiz is often used as a form of assessment however Coralie Daniels decided a quiz would be the best way to help facilitate learning for staff. For the Bullying Awareness and Prevention Training Program the aim was not to test people’s knowledge but to help them to learn about Bullying Awareness and Prevention and CIT’s processes. By setting the right parameters on the Quiz tool it became possible to provide people with extra information and expand on current knowledge, going further and referencing original source documents. Various tactics were used to entice completion including incentives, ease of access and ease of completion as well as continuous feedback.