The IMS Project

Technology for supporting learning

Oleg Liber, UK IMS Centre

Introduction Drivers for online learning Comparison with business Why standards are important

Education and Business Education

How to address people’s learning needs More students Less resource

Industrial Problem How to provide increased consumer

demand at lower cost

Traditional Business Model Fordism - any colour as long as it’s black Hierarchical production departments Assembly lines Benefit: High volumes Costs: Low creativity No-learning organisation

Traditional Education

Keep it simple - ignore complexity Hierarchical structure

National HE system into Universities Universities into Departments Departments into lecturers Knowledge into Subjects

Costs Interdisciplinarity Collaborative learning

New Industrial Models

Mass customisation Put customer at the centre Autonomous but cohesive departments Flexible team working Exploit employee creativity

Information Systems Groupware & intranets Workflow systems

New Educational Models?

Customised courses Driven by learner needs Autonomous but cohesive course structure Flexible, active & collaborative learning

Information Systems Groupware and online learning Learning management systems

What won’t work

Centralisation Protectionism National Curriculum Approach Business as usual

Strategies for success

What might work: break down barriers ...between institutions

• share courses

...between subjects• encourage interdisciplinarity

...between lecturers• Share resources and manage learning

...between students• Students are workers AND customers• Learning happens through conversations

Technology’s role

Wide access to online and interactive materials Metadata and content interoperability

Better student information Profile, performance and portfolios

Learning management and groupware Administrative systems Ecommerce? …but these require standards.

The IMS Project 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)

IMS Standards

Metadata

Metadata

DataExchange

Object

Object

LM Server

LM Server

Permissions

Commerce

Back-end Systems

Profile

Project Outputs

Specifications for: Metadata: U. North Carolina Content interoperability: IBM Profiles: Farance Inc. Learning Management: Blackboard Inc. Back Office: PeopleSoft Inc. Ecommerce: George Mason U.

Examples & prototypes

Timings

Release 1.0 at Easter Main aspects of

Metadata Content Profiles Back Office

Subsequent 6 monthly releases

UK IMS Centre

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

Current Actions

University User Groups Face to face and online discussions

Identify UK requirements Advisory board meetings Technical board meetings Maintain information flow

Website, events

Contact information

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