The variety and complexity of applications in the learning and training industry are advancing rapidly. Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM®) standards, however, have not been extensible enough to support emerging technologies and do not provide enough guidance to adequately capture learning and performance data. The Department of Defense (DoD) Instruction 1322.26 states that the Experience Application Programming Interface (xAPI) data specification is the superior strategy for tracking learning data, but xAPI cannot simply replace SCORM. In 2016, cmi5 (the specification’s name; no longer stands for Computer Managed Instruction) was modified to bridge the SCORM and xAPI gap. The specification defines a set of rules for how online courses are imported, launched, and tracked using a Learning Management System (LMS) and xAPI. cmi5 will play a vital role in the DoD’s modernization effort, facilitating progress from SCORM-based LMS-centric courseware to a distributed learning “ecosystem,” delivering diverse learning opportunities across federated platforms. However, there was not a conformance test suite and governance of cmi5, which, until now, has slowed adoption rates of cmi5 and xAPI within the DoD. We developed cmi5 conformance test suites, an open-source player prototype, and governance for the cmi5 specification, which were recently released by the Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Initiative. This paper provides an overview of SCORM, xAPI, and cmi5 standards, demonstrates how cmi5 can help transition to a modern, distributed learning ecosystem, and shares information about the new tools now available.
Education
Bridging the SCORM and xAPI Gap: The Role of cmi5
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