Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative's Plugfest 6 Demonstrates Explosive Growth in Vendor Participation to Create Powerful Technical Specifications for e-Learning.

Business Editors/Hi-Tech Writers

FORT BELVOIR, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 12, 2002

Record attendance numbers were once again set as e-learning

vendors came together to collaborate and cooperate in the formation,

testing and adoption of the Sharable Content Object Reference Model

(SCORM(TM))

The Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Co-Lab, Alexandria, VA., held Plugfest 6 on the campus of the Defense Acquisition University (DAU).

The registered participants of Plugfest 6 included 68 Learning Management/Learning Content Management Systems vendors (up from 30 at Plugfest 5), 46 authoring tool vendors (up from 23 at Plugfest 5) and 106 learning content providers (up from 50 at Plugfest 5) and at least 41 other vendors.

A complete listing of participant organizations is posted on the ADLNet Web site at http://www.adlnet.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Plugfest6Participants. Over 400 people participated in the technical testbed, "Plug-N-Play" event.

Attendees witnessed multiple live demonstrations of interoperability of learning content across multiple learning management platforms in which vendors demonstrated their continuing adoption and work with the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM), and confirmed their work in developing multiple strategies by which the various vendors could move to adopt the pending release of SCORM Version 1.3, which will address sequencing specifications.

Dr. David Wiley, an Assistant Professor of Instructional Technology at Utah State University and recognized expert in the area of learning object design, stated that the presence of so many vendors working with draft specifications showed him that "the power of open standards and the innovations they foster are coming to the instructional technology community. In the presentations, I saw the most compelling empirical evidence of learning objects reuse I have seen to date, with learning object reuse to creation ratios as high as 1000:1. And there was a strong international turnout as well, covering both vendors and academics. SCORM, and the notion of learning technology standards, generally, are alive and well."

Dr. Ed Walker, CEO of the IMS Global Learning Consortium, Inc., applauded the event saying, "The ADL Co-Lab has demonstrated yet again its critical leadership role in the development and deployment of e-learning technology. Without the ADL Plugfests as a rallying force and supporting venue for discussing requirements and results with each other, the vendor and supplier communities would not be able to collaborate effectively."

The international chairman of the IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee (LTSC), Dr. Robby Robson, described Plugfest 6 as demonstrating "the extent to which industry, higher education, the public sector, and standards bodies are successfully working together. We have now seen a full cycle in which specifications have been produced by consortia, tested in the field, standardized by an accredited standards body, and been made available in products as part of their support for SCORM. If the work and commitment demonstrated at Plugfest 6 is any indication, we can expect to see better and better learning products and learning content emerging at an increasingly rapid rate."

Dr. Robson also acts as the liaison to CEN/ISSS Workshop - Learning Technology & ISO/IEC JTC1 SC36, and is President and Senior Partner, at Eduworks.

Related specifically to the issue of sequencing and the path that ADL and SCORM are following, Joe Dougherty, president of Thomson NETg, stated that "Since 1996, Thomson's e-learning content has been based on the sequenced-learning concept because it creates a superior learning experience and provides unprecedented flexibility for the learner... the advancements demonstrated at this Plugfest event underscore NETg's long-term commitment to advancing learning standards that enrich the learner's experience and assure a broader compatibility of learning products."

About Plugfest

Approximately twice a year, the ADL Co-Laboratory sponsors Plugfests to bring together early adopters of SCORM. Plugfest events provide ADL partners with the opportunity to synchronize the evolution and convergence of commercial authoring tools, learning management systems and Web-based courses with the evolving open-architecture specification.

Representatives from learning software developers and content providers from various sectors of the Federal government, industry and academia, actively participate in Plugfest. Plugfests provide participants with a forum for sharing their experiences in converting instructional products to conform to SCORM specifications and helping to make them more robust.

About ADL

The ADL Initiative is a collaborative effort between government, industry and academia to establish a new distributed learning environment that permits the interoperability of learning tools and course content on a global scale.

As a result of a unique partnership between the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Department of Labor and the National Guard Bureau, the ADL Co-Lab has been established to serve as a public and private sector forum for cooperative research, development and assessment of new learning technology prototypes, guidelines and specifications.

The ADL initiative also created a network of three ADL Co- Laboratories (ADL Co-Labs), to advance the initiative and to serve distinct areas of operational responsibility. The three ADL Co-Labs formed to serve in this network are: the Alexandria ADL Co-Lab (Alexandria, Virginia); the Joint ADL Co-Lab (Orlando, Florida); and the Academic ADL Co-Lab (Madison, Wisconsin).

For additional information about the Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative, contact the Secretariat, Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Readiness, Readiness and Training, at [e-mail], or Fax: [phone].

For information about the ADL Co-Lab Plugfests or if you have technical questions relating to the SCORM, please contact the ADL Technical Team through the Help & Info Center at www.adlnet.org.

IMS Global Learning Consortium, Inc. http://www.imsproject.org/

IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee (LTSC) http://ltsc.ieee.org/