Standards-Compliant Courseware Development Tools
Open technical standards allow one application to talk to
another. Thanks to these interoperability standards, instructors and
instructional designers can combine software programs to build course
content.
IMS Global Learning Consortium is a leader in developing open
specifications for distributed learning. Its goal is to facilitate the delivery
of Internet-based distributed learning to all users and environments worldwide.
The global consortium—composed of more than 300 education, government, and
commercial entities—has released standards for content packaging, question and
test development, and enterprise metadata.
In development are standards for
learning design, digital repositories, and accessibility. As the new IMS
standards and others such as SCORM, ADL, and AICC are released, so are many
products that support them. We've surveyed a few of these standards-compliant
products below.
Authorware 6
Macromedia's Authorware product is now IMS
compliant. This latest version of the established authoring product helps
instructors build content using a simple interface and drag-and-drop icons. The
framework and navigation icons guide users through the process of building
complex pages and navigation structures. Authorware 6 allows content developers
to link to other pages; via hypertext, users can easily link to text, graphics,
sounds, digital movies, and animations. Authorware now provides direct support
for Macromedia Flash 5 vector graphics and animations. In addition, users can
perform a full text search and retrieval on any text within the application.
Because Authorware supports JavaScript URLs enabling ADL SCORM communication and
learning standards from IMS, ADL, and AICC, courses created with the software
can communicate with a wide range of learning management systems. Contact:
Macromedia, San Francisco, CA; (415) 252-2000; www.macromedia.com.
Click2Learn ToolBook Instructor
ToolBook Instructor, an
interactive content development tool from Click2learn, includes hundreds of
preprogrammed catalog objects in a robust, object-oriented development
environment that supports visual programming and scripting to create interactive
behaviors for custom or adapted content. Content produced with ToolBook is
interoperable through the emerging standards created and supported in SCORM,
AICC, IMS, ADL, and IEEE. ToolBook Instructor content can be launched,
bookmarked, and tracked using SCORM or AICC. ToolBook Instructor supports a wide
variety of media files, including sound, animation, digital video, streaming
media, and still images. It supports Flash animation files, RealPlayer, Windows
Media Player formats, GIF, and JPEG files. Content developed in ToolBook can be
deployed on the Internet, an intranet, a local-area network (LAN), or CD-ROM.
Users can integrate ToolBook Instructor content with Click2Learn's Aspen
Learning Management System or any other standards-based learning management
system for a complete solution. Contact: Click2Learn Inc., Bellevue, WA; (425)
462-0501;
www.click2learn.com.
Learn eXact
The Learn eXact learning content management
system (LCMS) from Giunti Labs of Italy is the first LCMS fully complaint with
SCORM 1.2 and the yet-to-be released 1.3 specifications. The Learn eXact
authoring environment provides a fully interactive and user-friendly interface
enabling authors to tag raw assets, create learning objects, and create packaged
courses. The WYSIWYG interface lets users produce materials adhering to
international e-learning standards. The system comes with a native XML digital
repository for the indexing, storage, retrieval, and reusage of learning
materials. Also part of the package is a full-featured delivery environment that
includes user enrollment, virtual classroom setup, and user tracking features.
Learn eXact has implemented proprietary extensions of leading LCMS formats,
including WebCT, so the two can be used together. Giunti Labs is currently
setting up installations in Europe with leading publishers, content production
and media centers, and training facilities. Leading U.S. clients are currently
considering the platform for integration as the LCMS part of their
architectures. Contact: Giunti Interactive Labs, Genoa, Italy; 01-85-42123; www.giuntilabs.com.
Lectora Publisher
Lectora Publisher content management
system lets instructors build course content without any programming knowledge.
Instructors can create review questions and complete tests using any combination
of question types, including true/false, multiple choice, essay, and short
answer formats. Testing options include automated grading, multiple or single
page testing, per-question feedback, timed testing, show/hide results from
student, and set passing and failing scores. Lectora’s actions palette allows
users to build interactive learning objects using show/hide functionality, mouse
rollovers, object visibility toggling, executables, and other techniques. Users
can also create didactic and branched learning scenarios and incorporate
external code for meta tags, counters, clocks, and other Java applets, Flash,
and Shockwave animations, and ASP and JSP scripts. Collaborative development is
also possible. Lectora is a "destination neutral" authoring product and the
first certified in the AICC Authoring System category. It produces content that
is SCORM v1.2 and LRN compliant. Contact: Trivantis, Cincinnati, OH; (877)
929-0188; www.lectora.com.