To Write a Book About SCORM…">To Write a Book About SCORM…
Since 2004, I’ve been pretty active about writing about E-Learning. On the short-lived ADL Community portal, I wrote a handful of articles and editorials about how to handle certain content development issues and even opined on the future of the project (one day I’ll dig it out again to publish as it’s interesting to see how close or far off I was). When the site met an untimely end, I turned my efforts to flashforlearning.com, and set out to write about working with Flash in the E-Learning space, but it very quickly turned to a SCORM-heavy content development blog with occasional dances with Macromedia/Adobe authoring technologies. Ultimately, on top of my many online distractions, I launched this blog last year to finally move past writing about any one subject.
I don’t think of myself as all that busy, but the more people keep telling me how busy I am, the more I start to believe it. I have so many ideas about social learning and knowledge exchange that blogging about them is daunting because I just can’t write that much into a post. At the same time, I don’t feel comfortable writing a book about social learning yet. There are books that have not been written that should have been a while ago, and the one book I can at least help to write is on SCORM.
I want to test my tome-writing skills writing about something I know a lot about and clear the decks for what’s next (which will likely still be in learning technology)
I don’t know how large an audience such a work would have. I also don’t know what kind of book I would write. Do I write a narrative history that gives perspective on, love it or hate it, the impact that SCORM has had in learning online over the past ten years? Do I cobble together a comprehensive guide to content development for SCORM? Do I go more accessible and put together a best practices show-case that shows different types of E-learning content made with different tools and have their designers and developers provide the breakdown of how things were put together? Do I call in my extended family of friends and peers and tap them to write about topics like Instructional Design, Usability, Accessibility & Section 508, SCORM 2004 Sequencing, Workarounds LMS Compatibility?
But the biggest question I have is is there even a need or desire for such a book? I kinda think there still is, but I need guidance from the people who would want such a book on what kind of book you need. If there’s an audience for such a tome, I’ll commit to putting it together somehow and some way that makes sense.
I can tell my stories in a lot of ways. I need some encouragement that there’s a need for this, and then some guidance as to what the ingredients of such a bouillabaisse would be.
Aaron,
I have been developing CBT’s for several years, using a variety of tools (mainly Flash and Captivate). I have never been asked to create a SCORM compliant couse for anyone … but I have the feeling that one of these days it’s going to happen. And I’m not going to know where to even start.
A book about SCORM!! I would love it. Could you write something for the beginner? Not just theory and overview material, but actual functional step by steps on how to take my Flash or Captivate course and make it work with an LMS. What’s the logic in breaking up the courses into SCO’s? Where do I go to test something if I don’t have access to an LMS myself (after all, I’d like to be able to practice this before I’m put in the fire to create something for a client). SCORM for Dummies??
That would be my recommendation. Thanks.
Marge
Marge,
I’ve been lacking the time to put anything out further on the book, even to the collaborators who so enthusiastically jumped on board to do it. It figures: once I find a pocket of time to write a book, I get maximized by every other project
I can share this much right now about what the book will cover. It is going to be for a beginner with SCORM, not necessarily a beginning Instructional Designer, Developer, Project Manager or Producer. We’re going to cover SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004, where in the context of building an E-Learning course they’re almost the same; where they’re different. The book will likely include concrete practices on putting E-Learning together in a variety of tools (Flash, Captivate, Articulate I would guess are big ones I think). There will be some very how-to-do-it-well level material covering the project management (getting the right requirements, maybe decoding your client’s ideas, what are the big gotchas and how will they affect your project, putting a team together, know your constraints, etc), instructional design (how to pace the instruction into logical chunks, how much is too much text, what to track based on your requirements, etc), development (architecture, sequencing for SCORM 2004, how to track what you need in HTML or Flash), production (best practices for web delivery, etc).
It’s going to be a good, solid E-Learning tome, but with a specific specialization on how to track things in an LMS with SCORM (the adivce that will get you 80% of the way to done), and some advice on how to test and troubleshoot that last 20%…
That’s the goal, anyway. Now if I can just stay awake long enough to put the outline together so that my friends can start plugging in