History
The AICC was formed in 1988 by Aircraft manufacturers (Boeing, Airbus, and McDonnell Douglas) to address Airline concerns about non-standard computing (cost) issues arising from the proliferation of new multimedia training materials emerging at that time.
In 1989, the AICC published computing platform recommendations for CBT, training media. A PC-platform was established as the primary delivery platform for CBT media.
In 1992, the AICC produced a digital audio interoperability specification for DOS based platforms. This specification allowed multiple CBT vendors to use a single audio card. AICC audio drivers were produced for Elan, SoundBlaster(tm), WICAT, and other audio cards. A large number of older legacy CBT applications still use this specification today.
In 1993, the AICC produced what is widely regarded as the first runtime interoperability specification for Learning Management Systems (LMS) a.k.a. CMI Systems. This AICC specification (CMI001 - AICC/CMI Guidelines For Interoperability) was originally designed for CD-ROM/LAN (local file-based) operation and was updated in January 1998 to add a web-based interface called HACP (HTTP-based AICC/CMI Protocol). In September 1999, the CMI001 specification was updated to add a JavaScript API runtime interface. The runtime environment data model and API used in the SCORM specification is a derivative of this work.
Current
The AICC HACP standard for CMI is widely used by Learning Management Systems and other systems to call content and assessments. Although it is pre-XML, it is very robust and unambiguous and many consider it to be more secure and reliable than alternatives such as SCORM, especially for content or assessments hosted on web servers not collocated with the calling system (e.g. Cross Domain Communication).
An emerging standard is the AICC PENS standard, which lets content creating tools send a manifest to an LMS easily. (See CMI010 - Package Exchange Notification Services). The September 2006 AICC meeting included a Plugfest where vendors demonstrated PENS interoperability.
In November 2010, the AICC announced that it would begin work on a replacement of its existing CMI specification. This effort was later given the name "CMI-5". A SOAP-Based specification for CMI-5 was drafted in May 2012 but was never formally released.
In October 2012, the AICC announced that it had adopted the Experience API (xAPI) specification (a.k.a. "Tin Can") for its CMI-5 effort starting a significant re-design that is currently in progress.
The AICC coordinated its efforts with other learning technology specifications organizations engaged in similar work such as IMS Global, OKI, ADL, IEEE/LTSC, LETSI, and ISO/SC36.
In December 2014, the AICC formally announced that it had dissolved citing declining participation. The AICC transferred the CMI-5 effort and its document archive to the ADL.
See AICC Document Archive - Hosted by ADL
Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) is a collection of standards and specifications for web-based electronic educational technology. It defines communications between client side content and a host system, which is commonly supported by a learning management system. SCORM also defines how content may be packaged into a transferable ZIP file called "Package Interchange Format."
Moodle is a free and open-source learning management system written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License. Moodle is used for blended learning, distance education, flipped classroom and other online learning projects in schools, universities, workplaces and other sectors.
Computer accessibility refers to the accessibility of a computer system to all people, regardless of disability type or severity of impairment. The term accessibility is most often used in reference to specialized hardware or software, or a combination of both, designed to enable the use of a computer by a person with a disability or impairment. Computer accessibility often has direct positive effects on people with disabilities.
freedesktop.org (fd.o), formerly X Desktop Group (XDG), is a project to work on interoperability and shared base technology for free-software desktop environments for the X Window System (X11) and Wayland on Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. It was founded by Havoc Pennington, a GNOME developer working for Red Hat in March 2000. Some of the project's servers are hosted by Portland State University, sponsored by Hewlett-Packard, Intel, and Google.
The Khronos Group, Inc. is an open, non-profit, member-driven consortium of 170 organizations developing, publishing and maintaining royalty-free interoperability standards for 3D graphics, virtual reality, augmented reality, parallel computation, vision acceleration and machine learning. The open standards and associated conformance tests enable software applications and middleware to effectively harness authoring and accelerated playback of dynamic media across a wide variety of platforms and devices. The group is based in Beaverton, Oregon.
A learning management system (LMS) is a software application for the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting, automation, and delivery of educational courses, training programs, materials or learning and development programs. The learning management system concept emerged directly from e-Learning. Learning management systems make up the largest segment of the learning system market. The first introduction of the LMS was in the late 1990s. Learning management systems have faced a massive growth in usage due to the emphasis on remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Learning Object Metadata is a data model, usually encoded in XML, used to describe a learning object and similar digital resources used to support learning. The purpose of learning object metadata is to support the reusability of learning objects, to aid discoverability, and to facilitate their interoperability, usually in the context of online learning management systems (LMS).
Content Repository API for Java (JCR) is a specification for a Java platform application programming interface (API) to access content repositories in a uniform manner. The content repositories are used in content management systems to keep the content data and also the metadata used in content management systems (CMS) such as versioning metadata. The specification was developed under the Java Community Process as JSR-170, and as JSR-283. The main Java package is javax.jcr.
The Open Document Management API is an API that simplifies the communication of desktop applications with document management systems (DMS). ODMA standardizes the access to the DMS, which makes getting to these files as easy as if the files were in the actual local file system.
PENS is a content update notification protocol standard created by the AICC.
ILIAS is an open-source web-based learning management system (LMS). It supports learning content management and tools for collaboration, communication, evaluation and assessment. The software is published under the GNU General Public License and can be run on any server that supports PHP and MySQL.
The Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Initiative is a US government program that conducts research and development on distributed learning and coordinates related efforts broadly across public and private organizations. ADL reports to the Defense Human Resources Activity (DHRA), under the Director, DHRA. Although it is a DoD program, ADL serves the entire US federal government, operates a global partnership network including international defense ministries and US-based academic partners, and collaborates closely with industry and academia. ADL advises the DoD and US government on emerging learning technologies, best practices for improving learning effectiveness and efficiency, and methods for enhancing interoperability. Notable ADL contributions to distributed learning include the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM), Experience API (xAPI), and the DoD Instruction 1322.26.
Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS) is an open standard that allows different content management systems to inter-operate over the Internet. Specifically, CMIS defines an abstraction layer for controlling diverse document management systems and repositories using web protocols.
The International Federation for Learning, Education, and Training Systems Interoperability (LETSI) is an international nonprofit organization focused on enabling technical interoperability for computer-based learning, education, and training systems. Comprising e-learning vendors, adopters, standards bodies, associations, and policy makers, LETSI's primary activity is to support the adoption of open software standards in learning systems. The LETSI community formed around an international planning effort for the next generation of the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM), which was originally created by the U.S. Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative. LETSI was founded in March, 2008 to serve the international SCORM community.
The Open Group Future Airborne Capability Environment was formed in 2010 to define an open avionics environment for all military airborne platform types. Today, it is a real-time software-focused professional group made up of industry suppliers, customers, academia, and users. The FACE approach is a government-industry software standard and business strategy for acquisition of affordable software systems that promotes innovation and rapid integration of portable capabilities across programs. The FACE Consortium provides a vendor-neutral forum for industry and government to work together to develop and consolidate the open standards, best practices, guidance documents, and business strategy necessary to result in:
iSpring Suite is a PowerPoint-based authoring toolkit produced by iSpring Solutions that allows users to create slide-based courses, quizzes, dialog simulations, screencasts, video lectures, and other interactive learning materials. The output courses are published in HTML5. iSpring-made courses are compatible with the following LMS standards:SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004, AICC, xAPI, and cmi5.
The Experience API (xAPI) is an e-learning software specification that records and tracks various types of learning experiences for learning systems. Learning experiences are recorded in a Learning Record Store (LRS), which can exist within traditional learning management systems (LMSs) or on their own.
A Learning Record Store (LRS) is a data store system that serves as a repository for learning records collected from connected systems where learning activities are conducted. It is an essential component in the process flow for using the Experience API (xAPI) standard by ADL or the Caliper standard by IMS Global. The Experience API is also known as the "Tin Can API" and is an Open Source e-learning specification developed after AICC and SCORM. The concept of the LRS was introduced to the e-learning industry in 2011, and proposes a shift to the way e-learning specifications function.
IMC Content Studio is an educational authoring system, especially the production of content for e-learning areas such as MOOCs. The program is developed and distributed by IMC AG, a German company based in Saarbrücken. The software is used by college and university teachers in adult education and continuing education, in particular at occupational training institutions such as Corporate Universities.
Growth Engineering is a SAAS learning technologies company. They provide a platform for e-Learning, also known as a learning management system. Established in 2004, Growth Engineering offers a learning portal for companies and their employees, partners and customers. Growth Engineering is compatible with SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004 and xAPI. In a Technavio report, Growth Engineering were recognised as a vendor in the game-based learning market.
