Tin Can API - replacing the outdated SCORM standard - part 1
In 1999, the SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Reference Model) project was launched, initiated by the US Department of Science and Technology. The goal of the project was to make life easier for the US Department of Defense and to come to a common standardization in the e-learning market. Development of SCORM was assigned to the initiative group ADL (Advanced Distributed Learning), which gave birth to a new standard. In October 2001, the first, working version of the standard, SCORM 1.2, was published, and since then it has begun to conquer the market, systematically becoming the main global collection of specifications and E-Learning standards. For 11 years, the new standard has managed to gain a foothold in suppliers and customers and has undergone some changes. In 2009, the fourth version of SCORM 2004 - 4th Edition was released.
Apparently, buried in their monitors and immersed in the improvement of SCORM, the guys from ADL are very carried away. So much so that they did not notice how the market has changed, it has acquired new technologies and has become different. The foundation of the specification was laid in the late 90s, but in 10 years the market has matured so much that it was hard to recognize. There were smartphones with large screens, tablets, against the background of which the direction of Mobile Learning emerged, and with it HTML5 Publishing for the possibility of displaying educational materials on various types of devices. But it was only the top of the new wave of e-learning trends: Social Learning (Social Learning), Gamification (Bam), Blended Learning (Blended Learning), Informal Learning (Non-formal Learning) and a dozen newfangled phrases filled the market.
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ADL realized that the standard is clearly outdated and does not meet today's market requirements, SCORM just does not have time to change it. Therefore, smart uncles from Advanced Distributed Learning made the decision not to fix the crutches to the old standard, but to create a new one that would meet current requirements and support most modern standards. Thus, the Tin Can API was born.
I planned to talk about the main advantages of the new standard in this article, how the standard is being developed, and give examples of the code. But starting to study the webinar recording and translate the documentation, I realized that it would not work to put all this in one article. Some points are very important to explain, since their analogues in SCORM did not exist. I personally personally was interested in delving into others for a clearer understanding of the specification. For this reason, in this article I will touch upon only a part of the advantages and key points of Tin Can and hope that I can continue the cycle of articles devoted to the young standard.
I thought that this kind of information could be useful for habrovchan. Those of you who will be interviewed by e-learning companies, or those who are planning to launch their own E-Learning project, will be helpful to know about the emergence of a new standard that the market is starting to orient with.
Optimization in work with mobile devices. More detailed tracking of student success and the ability to continue to collect information about his progress, even in the absence of an Internet connection.
Over the past 10 years, the demand for simulators has increased greatly, both from the military industry and from commercial companies and corporations associated with civil aviation and the manufacture of sophisticated machines. The development of this market has pushed ADL to add enhanced simulator support to the new standard. SCORM allowed to track only simulators running in the browser. Tin Can allows you to remove this restriction, it gives you the opportunity to follow the user's progress in full-fledged demo programs and to transfer the collected information to the learning management system.
Tin Can API allows you to include educational games in the course curriculum. Gamification today is one of the most high-profile trends in the E-Learning market. Its most noticeable advantage is the opportunity to captivate the student and encourage him to further learning. In most cases, the game cannot be built into the LMS. How, then, to collect information about the success of the student? Meta-data that SCORM can collect do not correspond to the set of information that is generated in games. At SCORM, we usually see notifications of course attendance, of receiving marks for completing assignments. In games, we are interested in collecting completely different information: for example, a student has reached a certain level or performed a specific element in a simulator program. When developing Tin Can, we took this moment into account, therefore, the new standard is able to work and exchange relevant data with educational games.
Learning is not only through computers. We read books, participate in training seminars, conferences and webinars, we are studying in class. In the Tin Can API, we are not tied to virtual learning, we have the ability to track any events that seem to us part of the learning process. Tin Can proposes to combine digital learning with learning in the real world through self-recording of information by teachers and students. This is true for those cases where the learning activity is not connected with E-Learning, but occurs in the real world.
Examples of entries that can be self-recorded by people in Tin Can:
The simplest use case is that the teacher independently informs the learning management system that the user has completed some specific activity.
Most of the previous E-Learning specifications were able to track activity only on the condition that there is a permanent and stable Internet connection. Tin Can API allows you to track the activity and advancement of the user even in the absence of a permanent Internet connection, saving information on the device until the connection with the network is resumed.
With the help of Tin Can, we can continue studying on a mobile phone on an airplane and not experience any difficulties about this. When creating SCORM, e-learning was presented as continuous learning behind a computer screen for 20-30 minutes. But new realities, as well as the advent of smartphones and tablets, have changed the classic e-learning and allowed to turn it into something more. Learning is much more effective if we can easily return to it at any time and continue from the point where we stopped, but from a different device. Mobile Internet has problems with connection stability, so Tin Can added the ability to save temporary information about user activity directly on devices and send it to the activity repository as soon as the connection to the Internet resumes.
SCORM has almost no protection. Any web developer who knows how to work with web tools will be able to hack SCORM and tweak the exam results to the desired mark. Another option is even easier - ask someone to take the exam for you. Tin Can is designed to raise the bar for security and authentication. Tin Can’s proposed solutions are still far from ideal, but at least they promise to give us the opportunity to secure communication paths between the teaching materials provided to the student and the LRS learning logos repository.
LRS (Learning Record Store) is generally a separate topic for conversation. The Tin Can group proposes to introduce a new object in which all information collected about the user from different learning environments (LMS, mobile phone, tablet, live class) will be stored. Let me remind you that in SCORM it works differently, and LMS collects all the information on user promotion. The idea is not to be permanently tied to one LMS and so that you can use any number of different learning management systems and other tools. In this case, all information and logs are stored in a separate network object, which is the Learning Record Store. Information collected in the LRS can be requested by one of the LMS, tools for generating reports or other LRSs. In the learning log repository, you can set a limit on viewing and editing data for individual users with special privileges.
All this, of course, will not automatically increase your level of protection to unprecedented heights. There will be clever people who will still try to understand the code and change some parameters. To combat this, tools have been added to Tin Can to verify and confirm that the actions were actually performed by a person inside one of the systems. Open OAuth authorization protocol support has been added.
11 years ago, when everything happened in browsers, SCORM met the requirements and satisfied the users. But now technologies are moving in different directions, and binding to the browser does not allow to realize some possibilities. Tin Can API allows you to refuse to use the browser as the only tool for the delivery of tracked training materials. The need for this has arisen for a long time, because in fact, SCORM does not know how to track information in independent desktop applications. With the advent of the mobile application market and the inability to track student progress, the problem was again raised in professional circles. Tin Can is designed to solve the problem, it added the ability to coordinate information between native mobile applications, simulators, serious games and LRS-repositories.
This year, active work has begun on popularizing the new standard in E-Learning circles around the world. However, the Tin Can API specification has not yet been translated into Russian, despite the fact that this information is extremely useful for Russian-speaking specialists as well. At the moment, Tin Can API is in version 0.95 and is essentially ready for official release.
One of the most famous annual conferences in the field of e-learning, DevLearn 2012, will begin on October 31, 2012 in Las Vegas. There, ADL and Rustici Software plan to hold several reports on the new specification in an attempt to push the industry to use the new standard instead of the outdated SCORM. In the same place in Vegas, the Tin Can API team plans to equip a separate, large section at the exhibition pavilion in order to try to convey to the conference participants the key points of the new standard and assist those who are interested. It remains for me to wish them good luck and speedy implementation of the standard in organizations and training products.
For more information, you can always find it on the official Tin Can API website at tincanapi.com or on scorm.com/tincanoverview . The article partly used materials from the above resources and from the webinar conducted by Mike Rustici.
Apparently, buried in their monitors and immersed in the improvement of SCORM, the guys from ADL are very carried away. So much so that they did not notice how the market has changed, it has acquired new technologies and has become different. The foundation of the specification was laid in the late 90s, but in 10 years the market has matured so much that it was hard to recognize. There were smartphones with large screens, tablets, against the background of which the direction of Mobile Learning emerged, and with it HTML5 Publishing for the possibility of displaying educational materials on various types of devices. But it was only the top of the new wave of e-learning trends: Social Learning (Social Learning), Gamification (Bam), Blended Learning (Blended Learning), Informal Learning (Non-formal Learning) and a dozen newfangled phrases filled the market.
')
ADL realized that the standard is clearly outdated and does not meet today's market requirements, SCORM just does not have time to change it. Therefore, smart uncles from Advanced Distributed Learning made the decision not to fix the crutches to the old standard, but to create a new one that would meet current requirements and support most modern standards. Thus, the Tin Can API was born.
I planned to talk about the main advantages of the new standard in this article, how the standard is being developed, and give examples of the code. But starting to study the webinar recording and translate the documentation, I realized that it would not work to put all this in one article. Some points are very important to explain, since their analogues in SCORM did not exist. I personally personally was interested in delving into others for a clearer understanding of the specification. For this reason, in this article I will touch upon only a part of the advantages and key points of Tin Can and hope that I can continue the cycle of articles devoted to the young standard.
I thought that this kind of information could be useful for habrovchan. Those of you who will be interviewed by e-learning companies, or those who are planning to launch their own E-Learning project, will be helpful to know about the emergence of a new standard that the market is starting to orient with.
Main features of Tin Can API
Mobile Learning
Optimization in work with mobile devices. More detailed tracking of student success and the ability to continue to collect information about his progress, even in the absence of an Internet connection.
Simulators
Over the past 10 years, the demand for simulators has increased greatly, both from the military industry and from commercial companies and corporations associated with civil aviation and the manufacture of sophisticated machines. The development of this market has pushed ADL to add enhanced simulator support to the new standard. SCORM allowed to track only simulators running in the browser. Tin Can allows you to remove this restriction, it gives you the opportunity to follow the user's progress in full-fledged demo programs and to transfer the collected information to the learning management system.
Serious Games
Tin Can API allows you to include educational games in the course curriculum. Gamification today is one of the most high-profile trends in the E-Learning market. Its most noticeable advantage is the opportunity to captivate the student and encourage him to further learning. In most cases, the game cannot be built into the LMS. How, then, to collect information about the success of the student? Meta-data that SCORM can collect do not correspond to the set of information that is generated in games. At SCORM, we usually see notifications of course attendance, of receiving marks for completing assignments. In games, we are interested in collecting completely different information: for example, a student has reached a certain level or performed a specific element in a simulator program. When developing Tin Can, we took this moment into account, therefore, the new standard is able to work and exchange relevant data with educational games.
Live activity tracking
Learning is not only through computers. We read books, participate in training seminars, conferences and webinars, we are studying in class. In the Tin Can API, we are not tied to virtual learning, we have the ability to track any events that seem to us part of the learning process. Tin Can proposes to combine digital learning with learning in the real world through self-recording of information by teachers and students. This is true for those cases where the learning activity is not connected with E-Learning, but occurs in the real world.
Examples of entries that can be self-recorded by people in Tin Can:
- Description of student activity, entered manually in text form:
- Vasily attended the lecture
- Vasily used scuba equipment
- Basil spoke Greek
- The student attends a lecture, seminar, conference on the subject of his training
- Active student participation in the classroom learning process
The simplest use case is that the teacher independently informs the learning management system that the user has completed some specific activity.
Track events without internet connection
Most of the previous E-Learning specifications were able to track activity only on the condition that there is a permanent and stable Internet connection. Tin Can API allows you to track the activity and advancement of the user even in the absence of a permanent Internet connection, saving information on the device until the connection with the network is resumed.
With the help of Tin Can, we can continue studying on a mobile phone on an airplane and not experience any difficulties about this. When creating SCORM, e-learning was presented as continuous learning behind a computer screen for 20-30 minutes. But new realities, as well as the advent of smartphones and tablets, have changed the classic e-learning and allowed to turn it into something more. Learning is much more effective if we can easily return to it at any time and continue from the point where we stopped, but from a different device. Mobile Internet has problems with connection stability, so Tin Can added the ability to save temporary information about user activity directly on devices and send it to the activity repository as soon as the connection to the Internet resumes.
Security and Authentication
SCORM has almost no protection. Any web developer who knows how to work with web tools will be able to hack SCORM and tweak the exam results to the desired mark. Another option is even easier - ask someone to take the exam for you. Tin Can is designed to raise the bar for security and authentication. Tin Can’s proposed solutions are still far from ideal, but at least they promise to give us the opportunity to secure communication paths between the teaching materials provided to the student and the LRS learning logos repository.
LRS (Learning Record Store) is generally a separate topic for conversation. The Tin Can group proposes to introduce a new object in which all information collected about the user from different learning environments (LMS, mobile phone, tablet, live class) will be stored. Let me remind you that in SCORM it works differently, and LMS collects all the information on user promotion. The idea is not to be permanently tied to one LMS and so that you can use any number of different learning management systems and other tools. In this case, all information and logs are stored in a separate network object, which is the Learning Record Store. Information collected in the LRS can be requested by one of the LMS, tools for generating reports or other LRSs. In the learning log repository, you can set a limit on viewing and editing data for individual users with special privileges.
All this, of course, will not automatically increase your level of protection to unprecedented heights. There will be clever people who will still try to understand the code and change some parameters. To combat this, tools have been added to Tin Can to verify and confirm that the actions were actually performed by a person inside one of the systems. Open OAuth authorization protocol support has been added.
Waiver of mandatory use of the Internet browser
11 years ago, when everything happened in browsers, SCORM met the requirements and satisfied the users. But now technologies are moving in different directions, and binding to the browser does not allow to realize some possibilities. Tin Can API allows you to refuse to use the browser as the only tool for the delivery of tracked training materials. The need for this has arisen for a long time, because in fact, SCORM does not know how to track information in independent desktop applications. With the advent of the mobile application market and the inability to track student progress, the problem was again raised in professional circles. Tin Can is designed to solve the problem, it added the ability to coordinate information between native mobile applications, simulators, serious games and LRS-repositories.
Intermediate conclusions
This year, active work has begun on popularizing the new standard in E-Learning circles around the world. However, the Tin Can API specification has not yet been translated into Russian, despite the fact that this information is extremely useful for Russian-speaking specialists as well. At the moment, Tin Can API is in version 0.95 and is essentially ready for official release.
One of the most famous annual conferences in the field of e-learning, DevLearn 2012, will begin on October 31, 2012 in Las Vegas. There, ADL and Rustici Software plan to hold several reports on the new specification in an attempt to push the industry to use the new standard instead of the outdated SCORM. In the same place in Vegas, the Tin Can API team plans to equip a separate, large section at the exhibition pavilion in order to try to convey to the conference participants the key points of the new standard and assist those who are interested. It remains for me to wish them good luck and speedy implementation of the standard in organizations and training products.
For more information, you can always find it on the official Tin Can API website at tincanapi.com or on scorm.com/tincanoverview . The article partly used materials from the above resources and from the webinar conducted by Mike Rustici.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/156067/
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