Giunti Labs announces 'SCORM 2004' certification for the new version of its learn eXact e-learning s

Giunti Labs, Europe's leading vendor of e-learning and mobile learning content management solutions (LCMS), has announced that the new version of its learning eXact LCMS meets the SCORM 2004 final edition specification. SCORM 2004 is the ‘de facto’ e-learning standard for interchanging learning content between compliant LMS and LCMS systems.

[UKPRwire, Fri Oct 26 2007] Giunti Labs, Europe's leading vendor of e-learning and mobile learning content management solutions (LCMS), has announced that the new version of its learning eXact LCMS meets the SCORM 2004 final edition specification. SCORM 2004 is the ‘de facto’ e-learning standard for interchanging learning content between compliant LMS and LCMS systems.

Welcoming the news, Fabrizio Cardinali, CEO of Giunti Labs, said: "Without internationally accepted standards such as SCORM, developers such as Giunti Labs would not have been able to make a number of breakthroughs in the application of learning technologies in recent months."

The Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) is a collection of standards and specifications adapted from multiple sources to provide a suite of e-learning capabilities that enable interoperability, accessibility and reusability of web-based learning content. Recently, the de facto SCORM standard changed from SCORM 1.2 to SCORM 2004.

The main advantage of the newer SCORM 2004 version over its predecessor is that SCORM 2004 enables authors to create standards-compliant adaptive learning contents which can be sequenced into personalised learning experiences based on user performance and interactions.

Contents can then be published and exported to any SCORM 2004 compliant LMS. In this new standard, instructional designers can use their preferred pedagogical approach to build e-learning courses and programmes which are more personalised and, thus, more engaging than was possible under the previous SCORM content structures.

"From a user's point of view, the main difference between SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004 is that SCORM 1.2 defined only a 'table of contents' type structure for the e-learning content," Cardinali explained.

"The user could then navigate the contents freely - deciding the sequence in which learning materials were accessed and, thus, where to navigate. This means, for example, that if a user took a test, which s/he didn't pass, s/he could still proceed to the next lesson.

"With SCORM 2004, it is possible to also define several sequencing variables to affect the flow of contents at run time based on user performance. So, for example, if a student fails a test, s/he can navigate to only defined content, such as taking the course again," he said.

Giunti Labs does not just adhere to the international standards relating to the LMS/LCMS world, it is one of the organisations that initially helped to determine and drive these standards, co-writing and developing them in leading EU R&D projects such as Ariadne, Knowledge on Demand, Mobilearn and WearIT@work, where SCORM’s metadata and packaging formats were originally conceived and versioned into mobile learning and wearable training delivery scenarios.

Today, Giunti Labs plays a key role in most of the international institutions for the definition of e-learning specifications: IEEE LTSC (http://ieeeltsc.org/), ISO/IEC JTC1/SC36 (http://jtc1sc36.org/), AICC (http://www.aicc.org/) , IMS (http://www.imsproject.org/metadata/), ADL-SCORM (http://www.adlnet.gov/index.cfm), OKI (http://www.okiproject.org/) and CEN/ISSS WSLT (http://www.cenorm.be/cenorm/businessdomains/businessdomains/isss/activity/wslt.asp).

"Giunti Labs' single source, multi-delivery learn eXact platform guarantees standards compliant delivery to all devices used to deliver learning materials - including mobile and virtual learning solutions," Cardinali pointed out.

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Notes for Editors

About SCORM

When the US Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (OUSD P&R) was asked to lead a collaborative effort to harness the power of information technologies in order to modernise structured learning, the result was the creation of the Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) initiative. Initially, this initiative dealt with the development and implementation of learning technologies across the US Department of Defence (DoD).

ADL now uses a structured, adaptive, collaborative effort between the public and private sectors to develop standards, tools and learning content. The vision of the ADL initiative is to provide access to the highest-quality learning and performance aids that can be tailored to individual needs and delivered cost-effectively, anytime and anywhere. In particular, ADL is dedicated to enabling:
• Reusable learning content that can be delivered over a network.
• Technical standards and guidelines that make this possible.
• Research and development on technical issues that stand in the way of this being achieved.
• That such learning is cost-effective and that it can be developed and marketed in a way that allows industry to make a profit.
• A forum that allows the public and private sectors to identify and address their common interests in moving to the ‘ADL environment of tomorrow’.

Since 1997, The ADL Technical Team has been working with key industry leaders to identify standards for web-based learning technologies. This involved meeting standards organisations such as the Learning Technology Standards Committee of the IEEE, the Instruction Management Project, and the AICC. These meetings culminated in a set of specifications that were incorporated into the ADL's Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM). Representatives from the US military services and industry debated requirements and proposed solutions over a two-year period.

The result – the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) - was a collection of standards and specifications adapted from multiple sources to provide a suite of e-learning capabilities that enable interoperability, accessibility and reusability of web-based learning content.
In 1999, ADL established the first of a series of ADL Co-Laboratories to test and validate new ADL technologies and provide a series of test bed projects for the emerging standards.

ADL has been working closely with the IMS Global Learning Consortium, Inc. (IMS) to test and evaluate the IMS Content Packaging Specification Version 1.1, placing specific emphasis on applying the specification in the context of SCORM. Through this, ADL has developed specific guidelines for the use of the IMS Content Packaging Specification in packaging learning objects as described by the SCORM Version 1.1 Content Aggregation Model.

Technical information on SCORM can be found at: http://www.adlnet.gov/scorm/index.aspx

About Giunti Labs

Giunti is unique in the international publishing industry.

In 1497, Giunti publishers and typographers in Florence, together with others in Venice, began modern book manufacturing. Over the years Giunti has built a ‘historical catalogue’ of huge dimensions, through a gradual process of ‘fusion’ of different publishers, but also through the creation of new brands, including Giunti Labs. Giunti Editore now includes 20 companies in the publishing sector.

Giunti Labs, which has its global headquarters in Italy and offices in London (UK), Frankfurt (Germany) and in Boston (US), provides a wide range of services, in response to any content, learning and knowledge management need, covering:
• Content production
• Research and development
• Technological solutions for content, learning & knowledge management
• Architectural and technological solutions for mobile & wireless
• Training and consulting

Giunti Labs provides the learn eXact® suite, Europe's leading e-learning and mobile learning content management technology. This suite is interoperable with all major vendor-driven and open source LMS and VLE solutions in the market including Plateau, Oracle, SumTotal, Saba, WebCT, Blackboard, Sakai, LRN and Moodle.

Moreover, Giunti Labs does not just adhere to the international standards relating to the LMS/LCMS world, it is one of the organisations that helps to determine and drive these standards: co-writing and developing them. Giunti Labs plays a key role in most of the international institutions for the definition of eLearning specifications (IEEE LTSC, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC36, CEN/ISSS WSLT, AICC, IMS, ADL-SCORM and OKI).

About Giunti Labs’ learn eXact® suite

Giunti Labs’ learn eXact is an e-learning and mobile learning content management system (LCMS) that enables users to create, manage and deliver content based on learning objects, XML, standards and international specifications. It delivers learning content to location-based mobile devices, interactive TV and wearable computer devices. Now the solution with its new eXact VLW plug in also delivers standard learning contents into 3D Virtual Worlds.

Further information from:
Angus Turpin, Giunti Labs, +44 (0) 7733 365063
Minna Leikas, Giunti Labs, +39 3489 399127
Bob Little, Bob Little Press & PR, +44 (0)1727 860405

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