INTERNATIONAL COMPLIANCE PROGRAM FOR ELEARNING CONTENT AND TOOLS LAUNCHED
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BURLINGTON, Mass. - 11 July 2005 - IMS Global Learning Consortium launched the IMS Compliance Program, to increase worldwide interoperability and procurement of IMS specifications-based elearning products. IMS technical documents, which are distributed at no cost, are used worldwide to create education and training content, information, and tools that are exchanged and accessed without regard to proprietary technology by vendors, publishers, teachers, and learners. "An elearning product that displays the IMS Conformant Logo integrates more easily with other products. This saves buyers and vendors time and money, reduces the risks in investing in elearning technology, and contributes to higher quality learning experiences," said Steve Griffin, co-founder of IMS and Director of the European IMS Network.
The program enables vendors to receive an "IMS Conformant" mark for products that support IMS specifications for interoperability. "IMS Compliance is an important step for vendors to move from the theory and intent to interoperate to practical elearning interoperability that benefits learners worldwide," said David Driftmier, Worldwide General Manager - Education, Microsoft Corporation.
IMS specifications cover a wide range of features found in elearning products and are being adopted worldwide by governments, schools, higher education, training organizations, and vendors of elearning products. "Having been a leading force in the search for an elearning compliance regime, Ufi, is delighted to see the emergence of the IMS compliance program. With the inclusion of IMS standards in the UK e-Government Interoperability Framework (e-GIF) recommendations, this is a particularly auspicious time to be launching this program," said John Brown, Ufi Development Director.
Input from vendors and consumer organizations on multiple continents, most recently in Australia, guided the design of the Compliance Program,. Neil McLean, IMS Board Member representing the Australian Department of Education, Science, and Training, said, "I view the launch of the IMS Compliance Program as a positive step towards the adoption of standards-based elearning that will benefit education and training organizations as well as vendors serving national and international markets. Vendors are encouraged to participate in the program and consumer organizations should look for products carrying the IMS Conformant Logo."
The Compliance Program provides a worldwide foundation of interoperability from which sectors and regions can make further refinements, if needed, through partnerships with IMS and allied projects, such as the European Commission Project TELCERT. Bob Wisher, Director ADL said, "The IMS Compliance Program is a positive contribution to communities around the world that build their policies and implement their strategies based on IMS specifications."
The Compliance Program supports all IMS Specifications and will evolve in response to technical innovations in elearning. "The IMS Compliance Program is particularly important to JISC as we move forward with our e-Framework for Education and Research, which will allow the community to derive a set of interoperable network services based on existing and evolving standards" said Alun Hughes, representing UK Higher and Further Education's Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) on the IMS/GLC Board.
Buyers of elearning content and tools can look for IMS Conformant products in a public list as part of their elearning procurement strategies. Carole Barone, EDUCAUSE Senior Fellow said, "The IMS Conformance Mark will help the 1900 EDUCAUSE member organizations make better IT product and service procurement decisions and encourage our members to communicate their interoperability requirements to potential vendors."
A special designation of "Inaugural IMS Conformant Product" is available for Organizations that meet the conditions as described at www.imsglobal.org/conformance by 31 July 2005.
About IMS:
IMS/GLC is an international, non-profit organization supported by member contributions that has developed elearning specifications since 1997. More Information about IMS is available on the IMS website at http://www.imsglobal.org.
For More Information Contact:
Ed Walker at ewalker@imsglobal.org
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