Aspect News for EdReNe seminarCopenhagen 7.10.2010

Adopting Standards and Specifications for Educational Content

Educational Resources Packaging Standards SCORM and IMS Common

Cartridge -Users point of view

Kati Clements1, Àgueda Gras-Velázquez2, Jan Pawlowski1

1. University of Jyväskylä, Finland 2. European Schoolnet, Belgium

How do the users feel about adoptions of standards?

• During 30months-lasting project Aspect several spesifications were tested with teachers: Metadata standards, content packaging standards...

• Problem of testing standards: Not testing the spesification, but the implementation to spesific tools.

Testing content packaging standards

• SCORM spesification by ADL• IMS Common Cartridge

spesification

Are the current implementations of these standards too difficult for teachers to use?

Can the teachers see benefits in using packaged content?

Are the standards interoperable with LMSs like Moodle

Pilot around Europe

44 Teachers fromBelgiumPortugalLithuaniaRomania

44 Teachers fromBelgiumPortugalLithuaniaRomania

Test set up

• Task 1: Create a lesson plan in Moodle x 4: 1) Using non-packaged content 2) Using the entire SCORM3) Using an entire IMS Common Cartridge package 4) Picking up parts from the IMS Common Cartridge package

• Task 2: SCORM and IMS CC packages –

testing features

Tests set-up

• Data gathered with mix-method approach, so results would complement each other. – Online Surveys after each task– Individual and group interviews with teachers– Observation

Critique: sample of teachers small (n=44) and slightly above average ICT users, ==> results ~ These results can only give indication.

We also used Moodle as well as Icodeon SCORM player & CC platform as a LMS tools, which narrows the results

to these particular implementations

Interface preference

How easy of hard was it to create a lesson plan? Using…

0%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%45%

Really Easy Reasonable Some problems QuiteComplicated

Impossible to usein everyday

teaching

Using normal web pageUsing a SCORM packageUsing an IMS Common Cartridge packageTaking parts of an IMS Common Cartridge package

How big of a benefit can you see for using content packaging...?

25%

66%

7% 2%

39%

57%

5% 0%

43%50%

7%0%

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%

That would beextremely helpful

This could be ahelpful in limited

cases, forexample when I

am teachingonline, or giving

homework tostudents

I cannot see anybenefit  for me

I still don'tunderstand howthis would help

me

Taking an entire course in SCORM format and using it in Moodle (or my school'sown System)

Taking an entire course in IMS Common Cartridge format and using it in Moodle (ormy school's own System)

Taking a piece of the learning resource from one of the IMS Common Cartridgepackages and using it with my other teaching materials

Preference of use

Initial results

• Teachers were generally very excited about the possibilities of IMS Common Cartridge

• This was due to 2 issues: – Re-Use of materials in their on LMSs have

become easier (In moodle, you can edit as you like, add, remove or alter – This is however the current implementation, if Moodle starts to support SCORM in a similar way, teachers would like that)

– Icodeon CC platform’s functionality of being able to embed parts of the package into blogs, social media, web pages…

Users view on content packaging in general

• In most cases, a ready-made resource package is not directly suitable for their lessons. However, if it can be mildly altered, then it becomes useful

• Packages that you cannot modify can mainly be used only by learners (teachers described a case where they have to teach an entire new topic and first would have to learn it themselves)

• Content packaging comes most in use when repeating the same course many times in an LMS platform, not having to copy every small bit separate.

Would you use it?

• Almost 100% of the teachers said that if high quality educational resources would be available in either SCORM or Common Cartridge format, they would use them

BUT - these are above average teachers and they still need training.

Initial results from tests

http://www.aspect-project.org/node/88

Send feedback/ask more..

Kati Clements (kati.clements@jyu.fi)

Dr. Àgueda Gras-Velázquez (agueda.gras@eun.org)

Thank you!

More coming soon, until then,...