Charles E. Kahn, Jr., MD1

Njogu Njuguna, MD2

Adam E. Flanders, MD2

Department of Radiology1Medical College of Wisconsin

2Thomas Jefferson University Hospital

RSNA 2008

The Shareable Content Object Reference Model:

Re-configuring Radiology Education Resources for the 21st Century

Objectives

• To introduce the concept of learning management systems and the Shareable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) in the context of modern pedagogy

• To explain the basics and purpose of SCORM

• To illustrate SCORM's role in the future of radiology education and demonstrate an application that utilizes the SCORM framework

Old school e-learning

• Traditional pedagogy: push instruction• Content is context-specific and set in a rigid structure

for delivery

• Content is not reusable for different lessons• Re-create rather than re-purpose existing data if

planning a different objective / target audience etc.

• Non-standardized content and delivery systems• No interoperability between different systems,

content providers or content types

Enter the SCORM

• The US Government’s Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative (ADL) was created

– The ADL built a standard for shareable and reusable educational materials to be delivered on the web, called SCORM

– All educational materials (and delivery systems) created for the Department of Defense by various vendors are now required to conform to this standard

Why SCORM?

• Standardized content can work with any compatible learning delivery system

• Content must be:– Durable: relevant for long enough to justify the

cost of its creation– Portable: seamlessly work on different content

delivery systems without modification– Re-purposable: Structured to enable the

recombination of package contents easily for new content creation

– Accessible: Easily sought and found within a content store

SCORM 2004 From the Bottom Up

• SCORM is a template for the aggregation of educational content into a portable package, a ZIP file

• The ZIP file contains a manifest describing the data, and directions on how it interacts with the learning management system

SCORM Specifications 2004

• Specification laid out in 5 books

– Overview: Outlines the contents of the books

– Content aggregation model: Describes how to put learning content together so that it can be shared and reused

– Run time environment: Describes the launching of educational sessions and how a learner's progress is tracked and reported back to the learning system

– Sequencing and navigation: Describes how the content author can direct the learning experience

– Conformance requirements: Describes what is tested and how content is checked for conformity to SCORM standards

The Content Aggregation Model (CAM)

• The Content Aggregation Model (CAM) describes three different data constructs that go into an individual learning object– The content model

• Describes the components of a learning object

– The learning object metadata• Indexing information and

descriptions of the data within the learning object

– Content packaging• The shareable content object

(SCO)• CAM dictates the organization of

the various data elements that comprise a learning unit

CAM: Content Model Specification

• Specifies how data required for an objective or lesson are to be packaged – Modules, made up of assets such as

presentations, documents, web pages, flash objects etc., are packaged into a Shareable Content Object (SCO)

– Enables these data to be found and re-used with ease

• Dictates the indexing and description of the learning modules contained in the SCO as well as how the modules relate to each other– An SCO can be as small or as large as needed,

single or multiple modules

Content Aggregation Package

Content Object(s)

Package Manifest

Activity Organization

Inventory

Metadata(Data about the data)

Content Resource Package

Content Object(s)

Package Manifest

Inventory

Metadata(Data about the data)

SCORM Data Packages

Content Resource Package• Used to store content objects and to aid portability from one system to another• Not intended for delivery to the learner in this form, therefore no activity sequencing information is included

Content Aggregation Package• Has a special manifest section that describes how the contents are organized for delivery• The activity organization section describes the flow of the educational activity as an activity tree and directs the SCO ↔ API interaction

CAM : The Metadata

The metadata specification directs the tagging/ description of learning object [SCO] contents using a pre-defined set of terms

These labels allow for an SCO to be searched for in a content repository or on the Internet and shared/reused/reconfigured for a different activity

1. General 2. Lifecycle 3. Meta-metadata4. Technical5. Educational6. Rights7. Relation8. Annotation9. Classification

CAM: The Metadata

The metadata describes the SCO contents using these categories of labels:

General category: describes the resource or content aggregation

Lifecycle category: describes the resource, its history and lists the developers who

contributed to it creation

Meta-Metadata category: provides information about the metadata

Technical category: states the requirements and characteristics of the resource

Educational category: lists the key educational characteristics of the resource

Rights category: states the intellectual property rights and conditions for use of the

object

Relation category: describes the relationship between objects within the SCO

Annotation category: comments made by parties other than the author(s) about the

educational use of the resource

Classification category: where the resource is placed in relation to a specific

taxonomy or classification scheme

CAM : Content packaging

• The shareable content object (SCO) exists to facilitate the learning task

• Content packaging is standardized by SCORM• No set definition of what type or quantity of assets

can be packaged into an SCO to achieve a specific educational goal

The SCO-RTE Interaction

• The Run Time Environment (RTE) facilitates communication with the SCO• Provides an Application Programming Interface (API)

that is accessible via a standardized scripting language e.g. Javascript, and accessible in the document object model of the web page

• SCO communicates with the RTE• Utilizes the API to exchange data with the RTE• Data may be used to track user progress, progress in

an educational activity, etc.

● Learning management system

● Run time environment

API ↔ SCO interaction

Runtime Environment(server side)

Package repository and/or package

generator

BrowserClient side Runtime Environment

User Interface

Shareable Content Object (SCO)

API

1. Launches the session2. Manages interaction3. Tracks user progress.

Simple pictorial representation of the learning session

The Education Interaction

1. The user launches the educational session in a browser by selecting a topic

2. The SCO associated with that topic interacts with the API to sequence the learning activity

3. The API reports the user progress and task completion status back to the RTE

Runtime Environment(server side)

Package repository and/or package

generator

BrowserClient side Runtime Environment

User Interface

Shareable Content Object (SCO)

API

1. Launches the session2. Manages interaction3. Tracks user progress.

The Education Interaction

SCORM and Radiology Education

● SCORM 2004 is now the de-facto standard for e-learning content creation

● Moving to SCORM-compliant e-learning systems will require investment

Conversion of existing educational content, teaching files will be laborious, time and money intensive

Commercial software exists for easy creation of education content from existing objects

SCORM can help deliver truly dynamic content and e-learning resources

● E-learning in radiology education: Should identify goals of training and

competency requirements Enable automated content deployment, use

and user progress tracking Rely on a flexible strategy focused on:

● Reusable, re-purposable, and shareable content

● Content adaptability across tasks and educational objectives

Use standardized run-time environments and content packaging to achieve portability

SCORM and Radiology Education

SCORM and Radiology Education

Radiology Education in the 21st Century• Content should be easy to:

• Deploy - Internet, institutional intranet, desktop solutions• Deliver - Browser-based delivery to PDAs, phones,

desktops etc.• Access - Minimize or eliminate language and accessibility

barriers (hearing- and sight-impaired)

Advantage: Many hospitals already have SCORM-compliant LCM systems for routine staff accreditation courses such as JHACO and OSHA educational requirements for hospital personnel

• SCORM-compliant radiology courses, CME easier to deploy, no new hardware/software required

Radiology-Integrated Training Initiative (R-ITI)

• Initiated by the National Health Service to create standardized, easily deployable, distributable e-learning content to enhance the training of radiologists

– Process initiated by selection of a Learning Content Management System (LCMS) vendor

– The R-ITI LCMS delivers the content and tracks user participation, progress, credentialing and attainment of learning objectives

• Geared towards self-directed learning.

– The R-ITI LCMS is SCORM compliant, facilitating content creation and delivery across disparate NHS networks for widespread utilization

SCORM In Action

Screen Shots from R-ITI

SCORM In Action: R-ITI

The welcome screen for the R-ITI e-learning application.

The server side RTE provides the browser API which interacts with an SCO to deliver the educational content using the sequencing instructions provided in the SCO to direct the lesson

SCORM In Action: R-ITI

Personal listing of attempted, completed and available courses. Included are required courses, as well as self-directed learning where the user can select topics of interest and access them in any order.

Reusable and sharable content can be utilized in multiple lessons

SCORM In Action: R-ITI

Introductory slides for a given lesson which include lesson objectives and the content authors

Metadata can be used at any point in the lesson, or not at all

SCORM In Action: R-ITI

Data objects can be shared and reused in related/linked topics, or completely disparate subjects, as long as they can be found in the content store.

SCORM In Action: R-ITI

Interactive tools linking hypertext to specific images and findings.

While direct links to other SCOs and their contents is not allowed, the data and text within SCOs can be found in a content repository / server using metadata tags and used to generate new content for different lessons.

SCORM In Action: R-ITI

Test utilizing images, with instant feedback and review.

SCO contents such as images and text can be utilized in myriad ways within a given lesson. They can also be abstracted from a repository by a package generator when dynamically creating SCOs for other objectives.

SCORM In Action: R-ITI

The LMS tracks user progress through courses, as well as completion of educational objectives.

The ability to sequence activities and track user progress is facilitated by SCORM, improving the versatility of this LMS function.

Conclusion

• SCORM 2004 is the new standard for e-learning content generation and delivery

• SCORM–compliant learning resources can be deployed broadly, changed easily, and re-used or re-tooled to suit different audiences

• Utilizing SCORM for existing and new radiology content can greatly enhance e-learning

References

Ostyne, Claude. The eye of the SCORM. 0.9-8.8. March 2007.October 23 2007. <http://www.ostyn.com/standards/docs/Eye_Of_The_SCORM_draft.pdf>

Advanced distributed learning - SCORM. 6/14/07. Advanced distributed learning. October 23 2007. <http://www.adlnet.gov/scorm>

Phillip Dodds: SCORM Primer. April 5 2007. October 23 2007. <http://adlcommunity.net/mod/resource/view.php?id=458>

The Academic Advanced Distributed Learning Co-Lab. Judy Brown and Ellen Wagner. Introduction to Learning Objects and SCORM. October 23 2007. <http://www.academiccolab.org/resources/presentations/NMC603.htm>