SCORMify Sakai

IBM took the title SCORMify Sakai to show their tools to import and use SCORM content in Sakai. Parts of the tools have been donated to the Sakai project. That includes a tool to convert PowerPoint presentations into a Scorm package. Also a tracking server is part of this donation.

The nice thing about using this Scorm converter is that the notes with the slides are also presented and the Scorm ability to return where you last left the presentation (the socalled RunTime Environment, RTE).
There are still many wishes for improvements like gradebook integration, reporting and Scorm 2004 features like simple sequencing etc. But this is a very good start.

During the presentation IBM also showed their Content Producer. That looks very impressive to make Scorm content. This software is not part of the donation, but a 30 days evaluation version is available. I will certainly look at that tool.

Also interesting to hear was that they do not use the QTI standard for the testing part of the content producer. The reason was that the QTI standard is too limited for advanced testing and gaming like features. They go around the QTI by using the tracking mechanisms in Scorm. Have to think about this.

Links: http://www.ibm.com/education/open