IMS overview CAUSE 98 Mark Resmer Executive Director Steve Griffin Director of Technical Development

IMS overviewCAUSE 98

Mark ResmerExecutive Director

Steve GriffinDirector of Technical Development

What is IMS?

• An initiative of EDUCAUSE that is driving innovation in the distributed learning marketplace.

• A coalition of 34 members and over 140 affiliated developers

• A global collection of technology standards for education and training

What does IMS address?

The intersection of:Learning resources:

all forms of content

Learning activities:supported by course delivery and communication tools

Enterprise systems:the provider’s infrastructure: where learning happens

Why do we need IMS?

• Enable independence of content and learning servers

• Increase the quantity and availability of reusable distributed learning resources and services

• “Future-proof” critical decisions about the technical infrastructure for learning

• Promote the development of integrated enterprise-grade systems for distributed learning

Technical contracting by Blackboard LLC

Who is IMS?University/research:

BVU, CIC (“Big Ten”), CSU, CRI, GMU, Miami Dade, Michigan, UC, UNC, VA Tech

US Government: DoD, DoL, NIST

International: DETYA Australia, JISC UK, NCB Singapore

Technology vendors:Apple, Asymetrix, AT&T, Empower, IBM, Macromedia, Microsoft, Oracle, PeopleSoft, Sun, Unisys, @Learning

Publishers:ITP, Simon and Schuster

Consulting firms: Collegis, KPMG

Profiles/assessment: ETS, Farance Inc.

What does the IMS organization do?

• Collects requirements from all sectors• Develops specifications for interoperability of

systems and content• Facilitates development of prototypes• Actively promotes adoption of the specification• Provides developer support

What products will be IMS-enabled?

LearningServers

DigitalLibrary

Software

AuthoringTools

StudentInformation

Systems

FinancialSystems

CoursesCoursesCourses

applets, simulations, pages, modules, assessments,etc.

Resources

97 98 99 00 01

ProductsFormal standard process

Requirements

New IMS org.

Specifications0.5 0.6 1.0 2.0

etc.

When will IMS happen?

V.1 Specification Scope

Internet

AuthorTitle

Discipline etc.

Content

RunMary’sBrowser

Track

Teacher’sAuthoring ToolFind

ContentSchool’sLearningServer(s)

Get

Campus Data SystemMary gotan “A”

Version 2

Specification Development Process

IMS Staff

Technical Board

Work Teams

Review and feedback cycle

Dev. Network

Public Input

Public Specs

InteroperabilityTrials

Timeline

IM Community DN Community Public

Scopes Base Docs

Draft Specs Final Specs

• Collaboration• Sequencing• Backoffice• Reporting• Query

• Packaging• Meta-data• Questions/Tests• Student Profiles•API

JanJan

AprApr

MarMar June

JuneMay Aug

MS Office IMS Meta-data Add-in Demonstration

• Executive Director– Mark Resmer (resmer@earthlink.net)

• Technical Development– Steve Griffin (sgriffin@collegis.com)

• Market Development– Denis Newman (denis_newman@earthlink.net)

• Developers’ Network– Frank Tansey (tansey@sonoma.edu)

Contact Information

www.imsproject.org