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Giunti Labs, Exchange House, 494 Midsummer Boulevard, Milton Keynes MK9
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www.giuntilabs.com
24th October 2007
Giunti Labs announces 'SCORM 2004' certification for the new version
of its learn eXact e-learning suite
Giunti Labs, Europe's leading vendor of e-learning and mobile learning
content management solutions (LCMS), has announced that the new version
of its learning eXact LCMS meets the SCORM 2004 final edition
specification. SCORM 2004 is the ‘de facto’ e-learning standard for
interchanging learning content between compliant LMS and LCMS systems.
Welcoming the news, Fabrizio Cardinali, CEO of Giunti Labs, said:
"Without internationally accepted standards such as SCORM, developers
such as Giunti Labs would not have been able to make a number of
breakthroughs in the application of learning technologies in recent
months."
The Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) is a collection of
standards and specifications adapted from multiple sources to provide a
suite of e-learning capabilities that enable interoperability,
accessibility and reusability of web-based learning content. Recently,
the de facto SCORM standard changed from SCORM 1.2 to SCORM 2004.
The main advantage of the newer SCORM 2004 version over its predecessor
is that SCORM 2004 enables authors to create standards-compliant
adaptive learning contents which can be sequenced into personalised
learning experiences based on user performance and interactions.
Contents can then be published and exported to any SCORM 2004 compliant
LMS. In this new standard, instructional designers can use their
preferred pedagogical approach to build e-learning courses and
programmes which are more personalised and, thus, more engaging than
was possible under the previous SCORM content structures.
"From a user's point of view, the main difference between SCORM 1.2 and
SCORM 2004 is that SCORM 1.2 defined only a 'table of contents' type
structure for the e-learning content," Cardinali explained.
"The user could then navigate the contents freely - deciding the
sequence in which learning materials were accessed and, thus, where to
navigate. This means, for example, that if a user took a test, which
s/he didn't pass, s/he could still proceed to the next lesson.
"With SCORM 2004, it is possible to also define several sequencing
variables to affect the flow of contents at run time based on user
performance. So, for example, if a student fails a test, s/he can
navigate to only defined content, such as taking the course again," he
said.
Giunti Labs does not just adhere to the international standards
relating to the LMS/LCMS world, it is one of the organisations that
initially helped to determine and drive these standards, co-writing and
developing them in leading EU R&D projects such as Ariadne, Knowledge
on Demand, Mobilearn and WearIT@work, where SCORM’s metadata and
packaging formats were originally conceived and versioned into mobile
learning and wearable training delivery scenarios.
Today, Giunti Labs plays a key role in most of the international
institutions for the definition of e-learning specifications: IEEE LTSC
( http://ieeeltsc.org/
), ISO/IEC JTC1/SC36 (
http://jtc1sc36.org/ ), AICC (
http://www.aicc.org/
) , IMS (
http://www.imsproject.org/metadata/ ), ADL-SCORM (
http://www.adlnet.gov/index.cfm ), OKI (
http://www.okiproject.org/ ) and CEN/ISSS WSLT (
http://www.cenorm.be/cenorm/businessdomains/businessdomains/isss/activity/wslt.asp
).
"Giunti Labs' single source, multi-delivery learn eXact platform
guarantees standards compliant delivery to all devices used to deliver
learning materials - including mobile and virtual learning solutions,"
Cardinali pointed out.
End
Notes for Editors
About SCORM
When the US Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and
Readiness (OUSD P&R) was asked to lead a collaborative effort to
harness the power of information technologies in order to modernise
structured learning, the result was the creation of the Advanced
Distributed Learning (ADL) initiative. Initially, this initiative dealt
with the development and implementation of learning technologies across
the US Department of Defence (DoD).
ADL now uses a structured, adaptive, collaborative effort between the
public and private sectors to develop standards, tools and learning
content. The vision of the ADL initiative is to provide access to the
highest-quality learning and performance aids that can be tailored to
individual needs and delivered cost-effectively, anytime and anywhere.
In particular, ADL is dedicated to enabling:
-
Reusable learning
content that can be delivered over a network.
-
Technical standards
and guidelines that make this possible.
-
Research and
development on technical issues that stand in the way of this being
achieved.
-
That such learning is
cost-effective and that it can be developed and marketed in a way that
allows industry to make a profit.
-
A forum that allows
the public and private sectors to identify and address their common
interests in moving to the ‘ADL environment of tomorrow’.
Since 1997, The ADL
Technical Team has been working with key industry leaders to identify
standards for web-based learning technologies. This involved meeting
standards organisations such as the Learning Technology Standards
Committee of the IEEE, the Instruction Management Project, and the AICC.
These meetings culminated in a set of specifications that were
incorporated into the ADL's Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM).
Representatives from the US military services and industry debated
requirements and proposed solutions over a two-year period.
The result – the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) - was
a collection of standards and specifications adapted from multiple
sources to provide a suite of e-learning capabilities that enable
interoperability, accessibility and reusability of web-based learning
content.
In 1999, ADL established the first of a series of ADL Co-Laboratories
to test and validate new ADL technologies and provide a series of test
bed projects for the emerging standards.
ADL has been working closely with the IMS Global Learning Consortium,
Inc. (IMS) to test and evaluate the IMS Content Packaging Specification
Version 1.1, placing specific emphasis on applying the specification in
the context of SCORM. Through this, ADL has developed specific
guidelines for the use of the IMS Content Packaging Specification in
packaging learning objects as described by the SCORM Version 1.1
Content Aggregation Model.
Technical information on SCORM can be found at:
http://www.adlnet.gov/scorm/index.aspx
About Giunti Labs:
Giunti is unique in
the international publishing industry.
In 1497, Giunti publishers and typographers in Florence, together with
others in Venice, began modern book manufacturing. Over the years
Giunti has built a 'historical catalogue' of huge dimensions, through a
gradual process of 'fusion' of different publishers, but also through
the creation of new brands, including Giunti Labs. Giunti Editore now
includes 20 companies in the publishing sector.
Giunti Labs, which has its EMEA headquarters in Italy and offices in
Milton Keynes (UK), Frankfurt (Germany) and in Boston (US), provides a
wide range of services, in response to any content, learning and
knowledge management need, covering:
• Content production
• Research and development
• Technological solutions for content, learning & knowledge management
• Architectural and technological solutions for mobile & wireless
• Training and consulting
Giunti Labs provides the learn eXact® suite, Europe's leading
e-learning and mobile learning content management technology. This
suite is interoperable with all major vendor-driven and open source LMS
and VLE solutions in the market including Plateau, Oracle, SumTotal,
Saba, WebCT, Blackboard, Sakai, LRN and Moodle.
Moreover, Giunti Labs does not just adhere to the international
standards relating to the LMS/LCMS world, it is one of the
organisations that helps to determine and drive these standards:
co-writing and developing them. Giunti Labs plays a key role in most of
the international institutions for the definition of eLearning
specifications (IEEE LTSC, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC36, CEN/ISSS WSLT, AICC, IMS,
ADL-SCORM and OKI).
About Giunti Labs'
learn eXact® suite
Giunti Labs' learn
eXact is an e-learning and mobile learning content management system (LCMS)
that enables users to create, manage and deliver content based on
learning objects, XML, standards and international specifications. It
delivers learning content to location-based mobile devices, interactive
TV and wearable computer devices.
Further information from:
Angus Turpin, Giunti
Labs, +44 (0) 7733 365063
Minna Leikas, Giunti Labs, +39 3489 399127
Bob Little, Bob Little Press & PR, +44 (0)1727 860405
