Categories and Purposes of (e-learning) Standards: The Need for Harmonization of Interoperability and Quality Development

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1 Categories and Purposes of (e-learning) Standards: The Need for Harmonization of Interoperability and Quality Development by Christian M. Stracke (2010) Citation: Stracke, Christian M. (2010): "Categories and Purposes of (e-learning) Standards: The Need for Harmonization of Interoperability and Quality Development"; Position Paper for the JISC/CETIS Future of Interoperability Standards Meeting 2010 in Manchester, UK. [also online available on: Contact: Christian M. Stracke Convenor ISO/IEC JTC1 SC36/WG5 ( Vice-Chair CEN/TC 353 ( HR, E-Learning, Quality and Competence Development University of Duisburg-Essen, Campus Essen Institute for Computer Science and Business Information Systems (ICB) Universitaetsstr. 9 (WIP) Essen - GERMANY [email protected] Christian M. Stracke 2010 This article is published under the Creative Commons licence "BY-NC-ND 3.0" (Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivate 3.0). The full licence (legal code) can be read online here: < You are free to share the work, i.e. to copy, distribute, and transmit the work under the following conditions: 1. Attribution 2. Noncommercial use 3. No derivate works

2 Categories and Purposes of (e-learning) Standards: The Need for Harmonization of Interoperability and Quality Development Christian M. Stracke University of Duisburg-Essen Information Systems for Production and Operations Management Institute for Computer Science and Business Information Systems Essen, GERMANY 1 Generic Reference Model for e-learning Standards This paper introduces the three main dimensions of (e-learning) standards from the Generic Reference Model for e-learning Standards and the need for addressing and harmonizing interoperability and quality development in future standardization. 1.1 Overview on standards in general First we have to point out the main objectives of standards in general: Standardization always aims at achieving benefits in the ratio of effects and efforts. One main benefit of a standard should be its economical benefit that could be reached e. g. by the establishment of the interoperability of different systems or by the re-use of learning objects (interoperability of resources). And also quality tasks could normally raise economical benefits in a long-term, e. g. by harmonization of the terminology or by introducing a quality reference model. Interoperability (in its broad sense) and quality development can be called the two main purposes of standardization to gain economical benefit especially in the field of e-learning.

3 The Need for Harmonization of Interoperability and Quality Development Page 2 of 5 Due to lack of space we cannot explain neither the four different scopes of interoperability (internal, directional, mutual, and general) that can be differentiated in relation to given systems nor the three quality dimensions (potential, process, and result) that have become widely accepted. 1 Focussing on standardization in a theoretical way we would also have to distinguish between different general kinds of standards and specifications (formal standards vs. community, industrial, and organizational specifications) but that is out of scope of this article. 2 After this very short general view on standards and specifications we are now introducing the different categories of e-learning standards. 1.2 Categories of e-learning standards A lot of categories can be identified focussing on the complex field of e-learning standards. The reason is that e-learning standardization has to deal with many dimensions and stakeholders ranging from technical over didactical to quality issues. Here we are only listing the three main dimensions and presenting in the following the main dimension more in detail. 3 The following three categories of e-learning standards can be regarded as the main dimensions of e-learning standards: 1. Types of e-learning standards 2. Domains of e-learning standards 3. Entities of e-learning standards 1 For the different scopes of interoperability cf. Stracke (2006a), for the quality dimensions cf. Stracke (2006b and 2009), and for the introduction of quality development in e-learning cf. Stracke/Hildebrandt (2007). 2 For a discussion of the different kinds of standards and specifications cf. Stracke (2006a). 3 For the further explanation of all three dimensions and a discussion of other additional categories that could also be addressed cf. Stracke (2006a).

4 The Need for Harmonization of Interoperability and Quality Development Page 3 of Types and purposes of e-learning standards In the following the main dimension of e-learning standards "Types" will be described shortly by their classification. Three types of e-learning standards can be differentiated: 4! Implementation standards: Implementation standards are developed to ensure the interoperability within all domains of e-learning.! Conceptual standards: Conceptual standards are offering generic and theoretical solutions to compare and harmonize the entities and objects corresponding to the standard.! Level standards: Level standards define the quality level that should be reached by the application of the e-learning offer and are often used for certification aims. These three types of e-learning standards can be attributed to the two main purposes and functions of e-learning standardization which are interoperability and quality development (see above): Implementation standards are always focussing the interoperability within all domains and require 100% compliance. Level standards are always addressing the quality development and are set by policy developers, decision makers, or organizations themselves and thus out of scope for (formal) standardization. Conceptual standards can support both the quality development (e. g. by providing generic frameworks or reference models) as well as the interoperability by implementing and adopting the concept. The following figure 1 shows that relationship: 4 These three levels are following a typology from Lindner (cf. Linder 2005) with modifications of their scopes and renaming of the first level.

5 The Need for Harmonization of Interoperability and Quality Development Page 4 of 5 Figure 1: Types and purposes of e-learning standards Level standards in e-learning (and also in general) can be based on different scopes of quality (minimum expectation, average expectation, and maximum (ideal) standard) The differentiation of the implementation standards (and their corresponding conceptual standards) is not so easy. Depending on their focus many different types of implementation standards can be identified: metadata standards, architecture standards, infrastructure standards, interface standards, etc. That leads us to the current main challenges for future (e-learning) standardization: 1. How to define and harmonize the relations amongst and between the different types of standards? 2. How to ensure which kind of interoperability amongst and between the different types of standards? 3. How to achieve interoperability by the strict adoption and application of conceptual standards? 4. How to keep interoperability by individual abstraction and adaptation of conceptual standards? 5. How to relate/integrate general (non-e-learning) standards (from LET as well as from any discipline or sector/branch) to/into e-learning standardization? (maybe most important)

6 The Need for Harmonization of Interoperability and Quality Development Page 5 of 5 2 References Lindner, Rolf (2005): "Architectures and Frameworks"; in: Ehlers, Ulf-Daniel/ Pawlowski, Jan Martin (Eds.): Handbook on Quality and Standardisation in E-Learning; Berlin: Springer, Stracke, Christian M. (2009): "Quality Development and Standards in e-learning: Benefits and Guidelines for Implementations"; in: Proceedings of the ASEM Lifelong Learning Conference: e-learning and Workplace Learning. Bangkok (Thailand) [also online available on: Stracke, Christian M. (2006b): "Process-oriented Quality Management", in: Ehlers, Ulf-Daniel/ Pawlowski, Jan Martin (Eds.): Handbook on Quality and Standardisation in E- Learning; Berlin: Springer, Stracke, Christian M. (2006a): "Interoperability and Quality Development in e-learning: Overview and Reference Model for e-learning Standards"; in: Proceedings of the Asia-Europe e-learning Colloquy. Seoul (Korea) [also online available on: Stracke, Christian M./ Hildebrandt, Barbara (2007): "Quality Development and Quality Standards in e-learning: Adoption, Implementation, and Adaptation"; in: Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunication 2007 [= EdMedia 2007]; Chesapeake, VA: AACE,