The IMS Project Technology for supporting learning Sandy

The IMS Project Technology for supporting learning Sandy Britain, UK IMS Centre

Outline n n Part 1: Background and Rationale Part 2: Description

The IMS Project n n Created to address challenges in on-line learning Partnership of universities and companies (e. g. California State University, UNC, U. Michigan, Miami-Dade, Microsoft, Sun, IBM, Apple, KPMG, International Thomson Publishing, NIST, DOD)

Goal of IMS “Building the Internet Architecture for Learning” n n freely available technical specifications freely available prototypes and migration tools

IMS Standards Object LM Server ata Metad Permissions Profile Data Exchange Commerce Metada ta Object LM Server Back-end Systems

IMS Environment Teacher CD Off Campus Student On campus Student Authoring Tools Learning Resources IMS Mgmt System & Content Collaboration Tools Back office

What open technical standards can do n n Jumpstart “content” and educational environments for the Internet (and Intranet) Make it easier for developers to create and distribute content u don’t have to support proprietary servers u people can find it easily n Enable “any time, any where” learning

Project Outputs n Specifications for: u Metadata: U. North Carolina u Content interoperability: IBM u Profiles: Farance Inc. u Learning Management: Blackboard Inc. u Back Office: People. Soft Inc. u Ecommerce: George Mason U. n Examples & prototypes

Scope of the IMS Specification Interfaces to External Services Meta-data Student Profiles Management Content

IMS Meta-data Specification n IMS Metadata Search/Query Demonstration u http: //metadata. imsproject. org/mdtool/ n IMS/NIST Metadata Repository u dictionary of terms for describing content u supports group specialization u can be queried/browsed with modified authoring tools

IMS Content Specification Supports technical interoperability of: n assessment n sequencing n reporting data n bookmarking n notification n meta-data

Management Specification n Manages u Content u Courses u Collaboration n Interfaces u Database, Security, Access control, HTTP/CGI, tracking, session management, DCOM/Corba message bridging ….

IMS Profile Specification n Educational records “Wallet” Mobile Contains u Personal information u Performance information u Portfolio u Preferences

External Services Specification n Specifies technical interface to campus IT infrastructure u student records u billing/commerce u library

What kind of a project is IMS? n Not your usual standards committee u action oriented, creating prototypes, putting them into real situations n Not selling anything but working very hard to give it away u goal is widespread adoption of the technical specification n Looking to transform the learning technology marketplace u specifications designed for evolution and

Timings n n Release 1. 0 at Easter Main aspects of u Metadata u Content u Profiles u Back n Office Subsequent 6 monthly releases

UK IMS Centre n n n Bangor and OU Funded by JTAP 2 year project Represent UK View Disseminate results

Current Actions n University User Groups u Face n n to face and online discussions Identify UK requirements Advisory board meetings Technical board meetings Maintain information flow u Website, events

Contact information n n www. imsproject. org. uk Paul Lefrere (OU) Oleg Liber (Bangor) Bill Olivier (Bangor) Lisa Rowlands (Bangor