Base Document - ADL Proposal to SC36 for Core SCORM

Submitted August 11, 2007 by ADL to ISO/IEC JTC1 SC36 for possible discussion at the September 2007 SC36 Plenary meeting in Toronto, Canada.

- 1 - ADL announces its interest in defining a version of the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM)  that is 100% based on de jure standards and that is consistent with ISO/IEC procedures and document types. ADL proposes to give this version the working name of "Core SCORM" and requests the formation of an SC36 Ad Hoc Group to evaluate this proposal and present a related progress report to SC36 in the March 2008 Plenary Meeting.

- 2 - Several factors motivate ADL to define Core SCORM:

• ADL believes that it is now possible to act on the long standing ADL commitment to base SCORM entirely on de jure standards;
• The  widespread global adoption of SCORM has generated the need for a stable version that can be freely adapted by multiple communities of practice to meet their particular linguistic, pedagogical, and deployment requirements;
• ADL needs to define a "clean" version of SCORM for transfer to "LETSI", the working name for the international LET collaboration initiated in March 2007 which will to eventually assume responsibility for SCORM's future maintenance, evolution, and global adoption. 

- 3 - Functionally, ADL proposes that Core SCORM comprise two major components: 

• a Content Aggregation Model (CAM);
• a Run-Time Environment (RTE).  

- 4 - The Core SCORM CAM will describe the components used in a learning experience, how to package those components for exchange from system to system, and how to describe those components to enable search and discovery.

- 5 - The Core SCORM RTE will describe requirements for managing the run-time communication between content and a learning management system, such as a means to launch content, communication conventions, and the data elements used to convey information about a learner's experience with the content.

- 6 - The technical coverage of Core SCORM will differ from SCORM 2004 3^rd Edition in the following respects:

- 7 - Core SCORM will not initially include support for algorithmic sequencing. As defined in SCORM 2004 3^rd Edition this capability cannot at present be based on a de jure standard because the approach continues to evolve. Also, while this capability is of value to some communities of practice, including the U.S. Department of Defense, it remains to be determined that it is broadly applicable.

- 8 - Core SCORM will take a different approach to content aggregation. Core SCORM will not mandate the use of a particular content aggregation specification (SCORM 2004 3^rd Edition specifies IMS Content Packaging 1.1.4).  Instead, Core SCORM will define a canonical reference for content aggregation that enables community of practice adopters to select the content aggregation specification that best meets their requirements. Conformance to Core SCORM will be established by defining a mapping between the canonical reference and each conformant specification, e.g. IMS Content Packaging, DITA, etc.

- 9 - Core SCORM is intended to support the adaptation of SCORM to the requirements of diverse communities of practice. An important consideration is that Core SCORM support the requirements of the current  ADL community using SCORM 2004 3^rd Edition. The proposed strategy is to define Core SCORM so that SCORM 2004 3^rd Edition remains conformant. The SCORM 2004 3^rd Edition support of algorithmic sequencing would be a community of practice extension to Core SCORM. The SCORM 2004 3^rd Edition use of IMS Content Packaging 1.1.4 would be a community of practice selection of a content aggregation specification that conforms to the Core SCORM canonical reference.

- 10 - Structurally, ADL proposes that Core SCORM be defined in terms of three document types chosen for compatibility with ISO/IEC procedures:

• foundation standards (i.e. de jure IEEE and ISO/IEC standards);
• profile standards (i.e. as defined in SC36 WG 6);
• reference model (i.e. ISO/IEC type 3 technical reports). 

- 11 - The foundation standards are the de jure standards upon which Core SCORM is ultimately based. To maximize compatibility between current implementations and Core SCORM, ADL proposes that Core SCORM use the four IEEE standards found in SCORM 2004 3^rd Edition and that ISO/IEC 21000-2:2005 be substituted for IMS Content Packaging as functionally equivalent de jure standard used to define a canonical reference for content aggregation.

- 12 - Specifically, ADL proposes the following as the foundation standards for the Core SCORM CAM:

• IEEE 1484.12.1-2002 IEEE Standard for Learning Object Metadata;
• IEEE 1484.12.3-2005 IEEE Standard for Learning Technology - Extensible Markup Language (XML) Schema Definition Language Binding for Learning Object Metadata;
• ISO/IEC 21000-2:2005 Information technology -- Multimedia framework (MPEG-21) -- Part 2: Digital Item Declaration. 

- 13 - ADL proposes the following as the foundation standards for the Core SCORM RTE:

• IEEE 1484.11.1-2004 IEEE Standard for Learning Technology - Data Model for Content to Learning Management System Communication;
• IEEE 1484.11.2-2003 IEEE Standard for Learning Technology - ECMAScript Application Programming Interface for Content to Runtime Services Communication. 

- 14 - ADL understands profile standards as specialized standards that define a conformant subset of one or more de jure standards to support a particular application purpose. ADL notes the SC36 WG 6 activity in developing profile standards and believes that it may be appropriate to develop one or more profile standards in support of Core SCORM. ADL has identified two candidate profile standards to support Core SCORM.

• a profile standard based on ISO/IEC 21000-2:2005 that defines a canonical reference for SCORM content aggregation;
• a profile standard based on the IEEE 1484.11.1-2004 data model and the IEEE 1484.11.2-2003 ECMAScript API that clarifies the binding of these two standards to support the Core SCORM RTE. 

- 15 - Core SCORM will include a set of documents that define the actual reference model and that provide related implementation guidance. These correspond to the "books of SCORM" as found in SCORM 2004 3^rd Edition. From ADL's experience to date in SC36, ADL believes that the appropriate ISO/IEC document type for these documents is a Type 3 Technical Report.
 Historically ADL has defined the reference model documents that constitute SCORM. In the future, ADL anticipates transitioning that role to the LETSI collaboration. For Core SCORM, ADL anticipates developing the reference model documents in collaboration with the LETSI participants and with input from SC36.

- 16 - ADL has identified several requirements for the reference model document set. It should:

• provide capabilities that are broadly relevant to diverse LET communities of practice;
• be freely available and royalty free for implementation;
• be 100% based on de jure standards;
• support localization, extension, and adaptation by communities of practice;
• have defined and testable conformance statements. 

- 17 - ADL anticipates that the technical coverage of Core SCORM will evolve as new capabilities based on de jure standards are added to the reference model. Eventually, LETSI will identify these capabilities and select the appropriate standards to support them. At present, ADL believes that the work of WG 5 on quality and the work of WG 7 on accessibility is potentially relevant to this evolution. ADL hopes to engage these working groups, and other interested SC36 working groups, in exploring possible future capabilities for the reference model.