IMS Tools Interoperability Framework unveiled at alt-i-lab 2005 Demonstrator
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BURLINGTON, Mass. - June 24, 2005 - Pilot implementations of the IMS Tools Interoperability Framework (TIF) were unveiled at alt-i-lab 2005 on June 21st. Demonstrations were available of Blackboard, Sakai, WebCT and Moodle Learning Management Systems (LMS), each inter-working with two assessment tools (Perception from Questionmark and SAMigo from Sakai) and ConceptTutor from University of Wisconsin - Madison. The TIF has been developed by the IMS Global Learning Consortium as an efficient, reusable mechanism for integrating LMS platforms with third-party tools, thus allowing institutions to extend the functionality they can offer learners.
alt-i-lab is organized by the IMS Global Learning Consortium in collaboration with a number of affiliate organizations. alt-i-lab 2005 (June 20th - 22nd) was hosted by digital South Yorkshire, attracting over 200 attendees from 14 countries to Sheffield, UK.
Ed Walker, CEO of IMS, pointed out that "the TIF is an excellent example of the benefits to be gained from adopting the IMS General Web Services approach to specification development. The features of UML this approach exploits allows developers to focus on accurately capturing the requirements and use the tools provided to generate one set of wsdl files that can be used across several implementations." As a result of this capability, the TIF Demonstrator was able to readily include .Net and Java implementations that work together.
Brad Wheeler, Indiana University and member of the Sakai Project Board was a key figure in instigating this effort. He said "The ability to efficiently deploy a variety of pedagogically sound educational tools with Sakai and other LMS platforms has been a crucial issue for our community. The TIF offers a practical solution for achieving this in the area of assessment, but which by extension can address all manner of innovative tools that will enhance the learner experience."
This view was shared by Kathy Christoph, Director of Academic Technology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, who added "I am delighted to see innovative tools and course management systems working together. This will open new doors to a more effective online learning environment."
Chris Vento, CTO at WebCT was co-chair of the TIF project, along with Bob Alcorn, Senior Architect at Blackboard. Chris commented that "WebCT recognizes that there is tremendous opportunity for the co-existence between commercial and open source software to deliver the best solutions and greatest degree of flexibility to the e-learning market. The TIF offers a reusable and extensible service-oriented approach that industry and community developers alike can participate in. Making integration tasks routine means WebCT can focus greater energy on meeting the needs of our customers and enhancing the value of our products by facilitating a broader collection of add-in tool functionality from commercial vendors, the open source community and customer in-house development projects. The end goal is to provide a flexible structure for the diverse array of customer needs at every institution."
Jan Poston Day, Director of Standards & Interoperability at Blackboard attended alt-i-lab. Following the demonstration, Jan said, "Blackboard is delighted to have been a sponsor of this year's alt-i-lab and to have participated in the TIF project and the Demonstrator. Since our inception in 1997, Blackboard has been a supporter of open standards and we continue to demonstrate our long-term commitment to the broad goals of IMS by participating in and working with the community in their achievement. The TIF promises to be a useful tool to meet the integration requirements of our clients."
John Kleeman, Chairman at Questionmark reflected on his experience with the TIF: "The TIF project holds tremendous strategic implications for academic institutions. As a keen supporter of open standards, Questionmark understands that a standard interface will provide a level of interoperability that gives academic institutions the freedom to choose best-of-breed solutions whilst not breaking the bank with on-site implementation costs. We are delighted that Questionmark could participate and provide technical input from our direct experience with this issue in the field."
About IMS
IMS is a non-profit organization supported by members of a worldwide consortium that includes 50 Contributing Members. The IMS Global Learning Consortium develops open technical specifications to support distributed learning. Its specifications are accessible to everyone at no charge from its website (www.imsglobal.org) and require no licensing fees to implement.
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For more information contact
Jan Poston Day
Director Standards & Interoperability
Blackboard Inc.
jday@blackboard.com
http://www.blackboard.com
Chuck Severance
Sakai Chief Architect
Sakai Project
csev@umich.edu
http://www.sakaiproject.org
John Kleeman
Chairman
Questionmark
Tel: +44 (0)207 263 7575
john@questionmark.com
http://www.questionmark.com
Liz Wallis
Marketing Manager
digital South Yorkshire
Tel: +44 (0)114 221 0448
liz.wallis@sero.co.uk
http://www.digitalsy.org.uk
Chris Vento
CTO
WebCT Inc.
Chris.Vento@webct.com
http://www.webct.com
Dirk Herr-Hoyman
eLearning Systems Architect
University of Wisconsin - Madison
dirk@doit.wisc.edu
http://engage.doit.wisc.edu
Lois Brooks
Director of Academic Computing
Stanford University
lbrooks@stanford.edu
http://www.stanford.edu
Marketing, marketing@imsglobal.org
http://www.imsglobal.org
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