the advanced distributed learning initiative and the handle system william h blackmon, phd chief...

The Advanced Distributed Learning

Initiative and the Handle System

William H Blackmon, PhDChief Technical Officer

Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative

The Department of Defense spends billions of dollars on training every year.

Types of training:Microsoft Word basicsAircraft maintenanceIntelligence things we can’t talk about

There is a long history of using computers to produce effective training

ADL was established in 1997 to increase the effectiveness of training in the DoD

ADL tackled the problem of self-paced, managed learning

Created SCORM, which establishes a baseline for creating and delivering trainingA SCORM course is a zip file containing everything needed for a Learning Management System to run the course

SCORM has been widely successful in the DoD, corporate, K12, and higher-ed sectors

Nearly identical training content is developed by different groups because:

“I didn’t know they were developing content”“Their training doesn’t exactly meet my needs”“Their training doesn’t match my look and feel”“I have to guarantee the accuracy of the content”“There’s no financial incentive to me”“It’s easier to develop new content than to find and adapt old content”

The ADL-Registry is a central website for the DoD

To register the existence of SCORM contentTo search for existing contentUsing a metadata schema acceptable to the community

Military culture dictated that the content remain under “local control”

So the ADL-Registry points to the content

The ADL-Registry uses HandlesAs the GUIDs for the contentAs a way to manage persistent IDs for content in a world with ever-changing URLs

To manage authorization rights for users of the registry

But we see more interesting uses for Handles in our near future!

Multiple Resolution

Using a single Handle to name a training resource, how do I find the content on:

SIPR netNIPR netInternetDisconnected Submarines?

We need hdl:2000/1 encodings to work instead of relying on http://hdl.handle.net

We need an automatic resolution system

Versioned Content

The DoD depends on authenticated content

When content is updated, we need to:Keep the Handle to old content activeTell users the content has been updatedTell users where the new content isLet the users decide which content is right for their needs

hdl:2000/1?version=latest hdl:2000/1?availableversions

Handles in Content Packages

A course table of contents could look like this:

Local context-setting learning objecthdl:2000/2 (shared learning object)hdl:1890/4 (shared learning obejct)Local summary learning object

Questions?

Bill Blackmonbill.blackmon@adlnet.gov

Advanced Distributed Learning Initiativewww.adlnet.govadlcommunity.net

ADL-Registrywww.adlregistry.org