aXcelerate now offers a one-stop approach for RTOs and a streamline solution for e-learning and on-line assessment. By removing the need for an external LMS (such as Moodle) our student management system fully integrates with Rustici’s SCORM/Tin Can API Engine enabling RTO clients to create SCORM/Tin Can-compliant e-learning courses/assessments and upload them and launch directly into aXcelerate.
As part of aXcelerate’s commitment to SCORM/Tin Can technology development the directors, Reay Mackay and Jules Verner-Mackay recently travelled to the home of SCORM (the defacto e-learning standard), Rustici Software in Nashville, Tennessee to participate in strategic product development planning. The session provided further insights for how aXcelerate’s client will be able to use this cutting edge technology.
“With SCORM/Tin Can-compliant e-learning courseware or assessments now being able to launch directly from aXcelerate, this gives our RTO clients a lot more flexibility in how they deliver their accredited courses and saves a lot of money too” explains Reay Mackay, Managing Director of aXcelerate. “For most RTOs who are either wanting to streamline the delivery of existing e-learning course modules or create blended learning strategies for their accredited courses, aXcelerate now provides a single training and e-learning management platform which is AVETMISS compliant.”
“aXcelerate’s SCORM/Tin Can integration provides support for not only earlier versions of SCORM such as version 1.2 but later versions including 2004 v2.0, 3.0 & 4.0 (rel. March 2009). The later versions of SCORM introduced the ability for ‘adaptive learning paths’ which essentially gives the e-learning instructional designer the ability to ‘fork’ or ‘branch’ the learner into different ‘paths’ of the course learning tree depending on progress or responses to questions in earlier parts of the course. This greatly expanded the usefulness of e-learning to suit the unique learning needs and capabilities of individual students.”
“Many of the highest profile Learning Management Systems (LMSs) and e-learning authoring tools such as Articulate Storyline and Adobe Captivate use Rustici’s SCORM/Tin Can API integration to ensure compliance with and interoperability with this crucial e-learning standard” said Reay Mackay. “It’s how e-learning courseware can be created and deployed without being locked in to a single vendor or platform. So whether it’s a 10-module program that is delivered completely online, a few e-learning topics that compliment traditional face-to-face courses or simply some key online assessments to test content knowledge, these e-learning assets can be created using a popular authoring tool, published as a SCORM/Tin Can package and then uploaded to aXcelerate.”
“We’re very excited about all the new opportunities that this functionality offers in terms of course delivery streamlining and cost savings” said Reay Mackay. “As the next generation of SCORM, the Tin Can or ‘Experience’ API (a.k.a. ‘xAPI’) will open up a whole range of new learning and assessment applications such as offline deployment of courses and assessments to mobile devices, support for sophisticated games and simulations which don’t reside in an LMS or SMS and capture of informal learning experiences that occur at work or in the social spaces. But by far the biggest step forward will be sharing of learning data in standardized formats via a Learning Record Store (LRS) which captures standardized Tin Can ‘statements’. “One day, all student learning data (Tin Can statements) will be sharable with different enterprises, institutions and government agencies but it will be the learner, not the organisation that will own the learning experience data. That day is still a long way off but technologies such as Tin Can will be an enabler of that vision” commented Reay Mackay.
For further information about the SCORM/Tin Can technologies go to: SCORM.COM