- Related Organizations
- AICC
The Aviation Industry CBT (Computer-Based Training) Committee created early guidelines and recommendations for online learning systems. It provides guidelines for interoperability using metadata and protocols.
- ALIC
The Advanced Learning Infrastructure Committee (Japan) works with other international standards bodies for metadata. It facilitates interoperability within Japan and outside.
- CEN/ISSS
The European Committee for Standardization Information Society Standardization System provides for both formal and informal standardization. This includes guides to best practice as well as full standards. It works by consensus among industry and consumer groups. It covers a broad constituency and is quite flexible in its methods.
- Cisco Systems RLO/RIO
Re-usable Learning Objects/ Re-usable Information Objects are based on chunked reusable objects that form a complete lesson. The objects incorporate metadata that conforms to the IMS/SCORM specifications.
- CLEO
Customized Learning Experiences Online is a one-year research collaboration between corporations including Cisco Systems, Click2Learn, IBM Mindspan Solutions, Microsoft and NETg. Using the ADL SCORM specification, CLEO focuses on applied research on technical and pedagogical issues.
- MARBI
The Machine-Readable Bibliographic Information Committee is the body within the American Library Association responsible for developing official ALA positions on standards for the representation in machinereadable form of bibliographic information. MARBI focuses its attention on the development of the MARC format
- MARC 21
The MAchine-Readable Cataloging record is a library standard for the representation and communication of bibliographic and related information in a machine-readable form. It is comprised three elements: the record structure; the content designation; and the data content of the record. It is supported by the Library of Congress Network Development and MARC Standards Office. MARC consists of dozens of metadata elements, yet is generally not considered flexible enough for the cataloguing of Internet resources. Dublin Core is perceived by many as a substitute for MARC in this area of distributed digital resources.
- Microsoft LRN
The Learning Resource Interchange is a specific implementation of the IMS content packaging specification, v 1.0. It incorporates the IMS metadata and provides a toolkit.
- OAI
The Open Archives Initiative advances interoperability standards that facilitate the propagation of content, increasing accessibility to intellectual content. Among the most important of its initiatives is the metadata harvesting protocol, a means of systematically sharing metadata records across distributed databases or repositories. The OAI is supported by the Digital Library Federation, and the Coalition for Networked Information.
- Warwick Framework
The Warwick Framework has not been widely accepted, but still remains significant for metadata generally. It provides a higher-level context for Dublin Core, nesting components or packages of information in containers, thus facilitating interoperability. It allows for the selective manipulation of data.
- Z39.50
The International Standards Maintenance Agency and the Library of Congress Network Development and MARC Standards Office supports this information retrieval protocol, that facilitates communication among different information systems. It allows users to search multiple, heterogeneous databases from a single interface or point of access in real time. It is widely used in libraries and it supports MARC records and other types of metadata.
- Standards Organizations
- IEEE LTSC LOM
The Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers Learning Technologies Standards Committee creates and supports standards and best practices related to the technical aspects of e-learning. The IEEE LTSC is releasing the Learning Object Metadata, referred to as IEEE LTSC LOM P1484.12, as an approved standard. This standard is almost identical to the IMS metadata specification, and is compatible with Dublin Core metadata.
- ISO
The ISO (International Standards Organization) is a network of the national standards institutes of some 130 countries that is responsible for coordinating the development of international standards of all sorts. The Information Technology for Learning, Education, & Training Committee of the ISO supports the standardization of Information and Communications Technologies for learning. This sub-group liaises closely with the IEEE LTSC. IECJTC1 SC36 is the standard number being used for educational metadata.
- Specifications Organizations
- Dublin Core
Named for Dublin, Ohio, not Ireland), Dublin Core has been described as the most broadly based metadata specification. It coexists comfortably with the other metadata sets and is intended to facilitate interoperability between the semantics of metadata specifications. Dublin Core metadata is syntax-independent, and can be encoded in a number of ways –in metatags in the header of an HTML document, in XML documents or in RDF/XML markup. Dublin Core consists of only fifteen optional elements such as Title, Description, Creator, Subject, etc.
- IMS
The IMS (Instructional Management Systems) was established by EduCom (now EduCause) in 1994. Its mandate is to serve as a catalyst for the development of instructional software, the creation of an online management infrastructure for learning, the facilitation of collaborative learning activities and certification. Its members include Apple, Cisco, IBM, Industry Canada, Microsoft, Oracle, Sun, and the US Defense Department. The IMS has been developing a number of specifications for the community of e-learning developers: for example, content packaging, digital repository interoperability, and learningdesign. Included with these is a metadata specification that both incorporates and extends the Dublin Core. Bindings or encodings are available for IMS metadata in both XML and RDF/XML. Although the IMS metadata schema represents an important activity, the IMS is notjust a metadata schema. The IMS is involved in the development of other learning application specifications.
- ARIADNE
The Alliance of Remote Instructional Authoring and Distribution Networks for Europe (ARIADNE) has fostered the sharing and reuse of electronic pedagogical material by universities and corporations. It attempted to create a Europe-wide repository for pedagogical documents called the Knowledge Pool System. It has also acted as a co-author of the IMS metadata structure.
- ADL SCORM
ADL SCORM is the Advanced Distributed Learning Network Sharable Courseware Object Reference Model, supported by the US Department of Defense and the US government. It combines and interprets a number of interrelated technical specifications built upon the work of the AICC, IMS and IEEE to create a unified content model. This model specifies the behaviour and aggregation of modular, interactive learning components, and makes extensive use of XML. Like IMS, SCORM is not simply concerned with metadata, but combines metadata with a number of other specifications that deal with a variety of aspects of learning content and management.
