SCORM Watch

Saba Reaffirms Support for Industry Standards; SCORM 2004 Certification Underscores Long-Standing Commitment

Saba (NASDAQ:SABA), the premier Human Capital Management (HCM) software and services provider, has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting industry standards that promote the usability, accessibility, and interoperability of business application software.

Saba's recent certification from the Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) initiative for conformance with the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) 2004 underscores this commitment. SCORM 2004 certification demonstrates that Saba HCM solutions meet stringent requirements for content interoperability and reuse to facilitate seamless integration of SCORM-compliant courses and learning objects with the Saba solution.

Building Schools for the Future: what the investment should deliver

Building Schools for the Future (BSF) is the biggest single government investment towards improving school buildings for over fifty years, the aim being to rebuild or renew every secondary school in England over a 10-15 year period. With a massive public expenditure running into tens of billions of pounds. BSF represents a once in a lifetime opportunity to change not only the built environment, but also the culture of learning to one that belongs in the information age. With such a vast amount of money going into revitalizing school buildings, it is easy to forget that BSF is not simply about updating the built environment, but also the learning environment within. By harnessing the new technology that will be accessible within the 21st century school, we have a real chance to revolutionise learning and significantly raise standards.

Birchfield’s newest software, the Lesson Kit, has been created with this in mind. Content within the Lesson Kit is SCORM compliant, which means it can be accessed via a VLE or online curriculum. The Lesson Kit range also suits teaching requirements in technologically-advanced schools.

International Forum Outlook for E-Learning Using ADL-SCORM Technologies

A new International Academic event on the use of new technologies for e-learning has been announced for May 23-24 at the Sheraton Centro Histórico in Mexico City, Mexico. The event will be hosted by the Latin American Institute of the Educational Communication (ILCE). This is the first time an event of this kind has been held in a Latin American country. International experts will present their developments and applications and will hold discussions on the future of ADL technologies and requirements for international cooperation.

Mobile Author Suite and Mobile Tracking System Released by Hot Lava Software

Hot Lava Software released a new Mobile Author suite that includes an editor, publisher, mobile delivery system and tracking system. "All module use and test results are captured from the mobile phone delivered modules and stored in a mobile tracking system with the ability to deliver SCORM API calls to any SCORM conformant database. They system is designed to integrate with any database or learning management system."

Camtasia Studio and SCORM Tutorial

As of this writing (March 20, 2006) there is a three-part posting on producing a video tutorial that is SCORM conformant. The third part shows how to add a Flash quiz with a multiple choice question. Part four is promised.

Sequencing Essentials Content Example (SECE) Version 1.0 Released

The ADL Technical Team announces the release of the SCORM 2004 Sequencing Essentials Content Example (SECE) Version 1.0. The purpose of SECE is to provide sequencing information in preparation for implementation of SCORM 2004 projects.  The SECE is only an example.  Use this example to aid in the design and development process.

Headst@rt

Poppy Masselos, an Education Services Manager, in Brisbane, Australia, writes in her April 17 blog that "Teachers who use or create educational content for digital instruction should be aware of an emerging set of standards [SCORM] that are sure to have a profound impact on eLearning."

Chinese explanation of SCORM

Yooyooyoo posts an explanation of SCORM in English on April 14, 2006, which appears to be version 1.2. Hopefully someone who speaks Chinese will communicate the advantages of SCORM 2004.

Using Web-based Interactive Virtual Reality to Teach Human Laryngeal Anatomy

Congratulations to Jim who was successful in securing funding to "serve as an exemplar model for creating standards-based learning objects, and in doing so, would be the first known instance of such activity at the University of Iowa using both ICON [the university’s course management system] and the LOR [learning object repository]. Learning assets created during this project would adopt the SCORM standard, so that they can be easily shared among different learning management or asset repository systems."

ParallelGraphics today releases Virtual Training Editor, a visual authoring tool for building 3D-powered training applications

[April 5, 2006] Virtual Training Editor (VTE) allows the user to easily produce SCORM-compliant multi-mode training applications by combining 3D simulations with existing training documentation.

Key features:

• Ability to create 3D-powered training applications
• Support for complex logic and multi-way interactivity
• Highly interactive training process
• Optimization for the Web
• SCORM compliance