Nashville, TN (PRWEB) September 06, 2012
Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL), Rustici Software, and a large part of the e-learning community are happy to have made the next big step towards the formal 1.0 release of the Tin Can API — version 0.95.
The Tin Can API is a successor to SCORM, which has been the de facto e-learning specification for the past decade. SCORM served its purpose well in providing a means for LMSs and e-learning content authors/creators to work well with each other, but SCORM has limitations. The Tin Can API removes the limitations of SCORM and gives LMSs and content creators many more freedoms and capabilities.
The Tin Can API makes it possible for many types of learning and performance technology to work together with traditional training technology. This includes mobile, games, simulations, and beyond.
“The .95 specification of the Tin Can API is a huge step forward for the learning industry,” said Mike Rustici, President at Rustici Software. “It’s more flexible and agile which makes it possible for many types of learning activities to be expressed accurately and understood widely. Accomplishing this next step was only possible because of a huge amount of work from the adopter and spec community. This is about everyone working together, and it's amazing to be a part of it.”
New in Tin Can API version .95:
*“Core” verbs and activity types have been removed from the spec — it’s now recommended that implementers use community-defined verbs, although new verbs may be used.
*Verbs, activity types, and extension keys are now URIs (A verb’s URI can resolve to a page with an in-depth description of the verb, for example.)
*Changed from using a person-centric view of agents to a persona-centric view (Statements are now associated with only one actor. An actor can be a group with a subset of group members, but it’s up to the reporting system to handle group reporting.)
The .95 release of the Tin Can API is a significant milestone on the release path, with the formal 1.0 version due in the first quarter of 2013.
The Tin Can API works by letting learning activities and content live outside of an LMS if they choose to. Content and learning activities generate statements in the form of “I did this” and are securely sent to and stored in a Learning Records Store. LMSs and/or reporting systems can then have access to all of the statements and report against any combination of actors, verbs, and objects that they choose.
Rustici Software was awarded a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) from Advanced Distributed Learning (the stewards of SCORM) to interview a large portion of the e-learning community, research and develop an Experience API which is now part of Training and Learning Architecture (TLA) (the next generation of SCORM) of SCORM. This effort was named “Project Tin Can”, and the outcome was the Tin Can API version .8. Rustici Software continues to be a major contributor to the Tin Can API, with solutions that greatly simplify the adoption of the specification.