IMS GLC: IMS Interest Groups

Learning Technology Advisory Council Interest Groups (LTAC IG)

The key roles and activities associated with LTAC IG participation. LTAC IG members are not required to participate in all of the listed activities, but are strongly encouraged to participate in as many as possible:

Provide a district, school or institutional perspective to the prioritization and development of IMS GLC technical interoperability standards and Adoption Practices
Lead or participate in one or multiple LTAC IGs
Participate in technical specification and Adoption Practice prototypes and demonstrations to support validation activities in real world scenarios
Help to shape the Annual IMS GLC Learning Impact Conference agenda to ensure program tracks are current and reflective of HE and K-12 learning technology challenges and needs
Participate or attend the IMS GLC Learning Impact Conference
Participate in the Annual IMS Learning Technology Satisfaction and Trends Survey (LearnSAT)

The LTAC Interest Groups (IG) listed below are in varying stages of formation and their current focus and objectives are subject to change as the learning technology landscape continues to shift and evolve. It will be the role of the respective IGs to continually assess priorities and objectives and ensure alignment with current market trends and needs.

Digital Learning Content, eBooks, and Web Learning Applications: Focused on devising “go-to-market strategies” for IMS technical interoperability standards aimed at integrating digital education content, learning applications and learning platforms (e.g. LMS, portal).

End-user Input and Prototyping: Participants of this interest group provide end-user input (requirements, use cases, market needs) to the development process and pre-public release of IMS GLC technical specifications. Additionally, IG participants function as liaisons between IMS specification development groups and their institution, school or district to plan and implement prototypes and demonstrations to validate specifications (in real-world scenarios) during the development phase and prior to public release. Related IMS technical specifications include:

Common Cartridge
Learning Tools Interoperability
Question and Test Interoperability
IMS GLC Market Development Initiatives: Includes support for IMS initiatives to aid in the adoption and acquisition of IMS compliant digital learning resources, such as eBooks, content packages, and other digital, ancillary textbook resources (e.g. quizzes, simulations, tests). Current initiatives include:

Digital Learning Connection

Evolving Learning Management & Virtual Learning Environments (VLE): Assess the current state of learning management and VLE and provide input to IMS related project activities and developing adoption practices. This IG is currently interested in exploring best practices for VLE learning design and integration of external and publisher-provided learning applications. As this is a new IG, the focus area(s) could change over the coming months as the IG forms and establishes its priorities.

Learning Technology Enterprise & Web Integration: This IG assesses market adoption of learning technologies and associated technical standards to inform IMS technical specification and adoption practice priorities. Adoption is assessed from the end-user and product/service provider perspectives to understand the current state of the learning technology enterprise (structure and integration). Based on K-20 priorities to leverage “cloud computing”, Web 3.0 technologies, emphasis is placed on these technologies, in addition to greater than 20 additional categories of learning technologies. The outcomes of this IG’s work is disseminated to the learning technology community through IMS related project activities, including:

Targeted Retention Systems
Learning Technology Satisfaction and Trends Survey and Report

Applying Learning Outcomes, Curriculum Standards, and ePortfolio: This is a new LTAC IG that provides guidance to IMS efforts aimed at developing an open K-12 curriculum standards database which can be used by publishers and educators to tag educational content with state and district curriculum standards, aiding in their ability to report learning outcomes at the student, school, district, and state level. Additionally, this group is interested in supporting IMS initiatives aimed at defining the learning outcomes reporting requirements for learning applications. Of particular interest to this group is the standardization of reporting these results to a school or district’s learning platform for integration with their student information system(s) and ePortfolio to support administrative needs and student reflection. IMS efforts related to this IG include:

Common Cartridge
K-12 Curriculum Standards
Learning Tools Interoperability

E-Learning Best Practice: Participants in this LTAC IG are interested in prioritizing the needs for best practices with respect to adopting and implementing new and emerging learning technologies. Participants in this IG also provide feedback to and participate in active and developing IMS GLC Adoption Practice project groups. IMS GLC Adoption Practices are developed in a highly structured and collaborative manner and undergo the same level of scrutiny and approval process as IMS technical standards. The objectives of IMS Adoption Practices are to:

Reduce risk in adopting leading edge technologies through collaboration with like-minded institutions, schools and districts
Focus: Work collaboratively on processes for using technology that have the potential for a large impact on the business of an institution or school
Scale: Develop and introduce practices that can be repeated throughout an institution or school district in a scalable way
Feedback: Provide implementation feedback to IMS technical standards activities

Related IMS GLC Adoption Practice Project Groups:
Student Induction to e-Learning
Targeted Retention Systems
Enterprise Learning Systems and Applications Procurement (ELSAP)

Effective Learning Technology Procurement: IG is aimed at defining and prioritizing the K-20 needs for effective and efficient learning technology procurement tools. Current priorities include Learning Management System (LMS), Content Management System (CMS) and ePortfolio RFP and procurement templates for use by K-12 and HE. Emphasis is placed on identifying and defining (in procurement templates) IMS GLC specifications that support the integration of these technologies. IG is interested in keeping abreast of procurement needs for new and emerging technologies and the specific features, functionality and services to support their adoption, implementation and operational support. Current IMS activities in this area include:

Enterprise Learning Systems and Applications Procurement (ELSAP)

Assessment, including Institutional & District Performance: Participants in this LTAC IG are interested in gaining a greater understanding of institutional, school, system- and district-wide performance to address internal, federal and state education and funding requirements. Key to understanding and demonstrating performance is the need to gather, warehouse, synthesize, and analyze data from various learning and administrative systems. This IG is focused on defining the departmental processes, technology and data requirements to conduct multi-level performance analytics; and, works directly with IMS technical standards and Learning Technology Adoption Groups to inform and advise priorities and project activities in this area.

Targeted Retention and Institutional Analytics: IG is interested in institutional data analysis, or analytics, to implement targeted, student-specific retention systems (TRS) to better retain students. Current activities are aimed at identifying and defining processes and systems that provide effective TRS, for example:

Identifying students at risk of not completing a unit of study (early warning system);
Notifying at-risk students and relevant stakeholders (early alert systems);
Discovering the most effective interventions for at-risk students;
Delivering targeted interventions;
Measuring effectiveness of interventions in terms of impact on course and program completion.

The outcomes of this LTAC IG will help to inform the prioritization and development of IMS GLC Adoption Practices and technical interoperability standards to support application of TRS in a HE setting. Current IMS TRS project activities include:

Targeted Retention Systems

E-Learning & Library Integration: A key interest of this group is to foster the integration of learning platforms and institutional online library offerings (journals, books, research, etc.). The current lack of integration among these learning technologies is considered a significant gap in establishing an integrated learning environment for HE students and faculty. This IG is exploring the application of IMS standards, Common Cartridge and Learning Tools Interoperability, to enable integration among digital library resources and learning platforms. These IG activities will support a parallel IMS GLC project under formation to develop requirements and use cases in this area.

Assistive Technologies for Learning: Formed to address an institution and schools’ desire to provide greater access to education for learners with disabilities and in support of their need to comply with legal obligations such as US Section 508 and 504 and UK SENDA, for example. Specifically, this IG provides a collaborative environment for schools, districts, institutions and learning technology providers to discuss the educational requirements for interoperable, accessibility-compliant products. A key objective of this group is to advise IMS as to the development of interoperability standards that enhance the learning environment interaction, style and display characteristics for all learners, providing equal access to learning for all users.