JISC

Since the IMS consortium began developing specifications for distributed learning systems there has been confusion over how these developments will impact the academic community in HE and FE in the UK. This report aims to provide a straightforward report for this community.

Executive summary

IMS are developing a number of specifications covering different aspects of distributed learning systems. This report attempts to take a holistic approach and uncover the impact and implications of the IMS specifications as a whole.

Although the development of the IMS specifications is being driven by businesses, this report does not review why IMS specifications are the way the are or the impact they will have on the business community.

Key concerns were identified through extensive literature review (mainly online documents) and interviews with practitioners with expertise in the field of IMS and its implementation. Two key concerns for the HE and FE academic community were clearly identified. The first was the creation of metadata to describe learning resources and the subsequent retrieval of that content. The second was the interoperability of learning resources. These two areas of concern were investigated further through two case studies.

The report begins with an overview of IMS and a look at how IMS may impact HE and FE institutions within the UK. Issues for individual course developers and delivers are then outlined before the two case studies are described. The report concludes with a glossary of terms. So if you are not sure what metadata and interoperability are then the glossary might be a good place to start.

Report available electronically only. Download the full report below.