Linking research & learning technologies through standards

This is my first ever attempt at writing a blog so please forgive me for going in all directions while expressing myself. This is quite daunting to think that I have something to say that this mesmerizing virtual world would be interested in reading.  However, I have no choice but to write this. There is no way I can say “NO” to my dear colleague Nick Nicholas who has so kindly asked me share my IMS-LIA Award experience with those who wish to participate in this year.  So I will attempt to write a few things about this experience in my own way. So here it goes….

IMS packaging and metadata standards have been part of  The Le@rning Federation (TLF) since the inception of this initiative in 2001. I have been involved with IMS work in some form or the other since I joined TLF in 2006.  One of the biggest challenges TLF faced at that time was how the wonderful digital materials it produced can be accessed by preschool teachers who had no access to a state-wide system.  My manager Nick Weideman and other managers at TLF had conceptualized a portal to resolve this delivery challenge when I was brought in to manage the development of this portal. This is where this journey began……

This portal went through its gestation period like any other product and had all its fair shares of ups and downs.  But through the passion, commitment and resilience of many people and the support of the states and territories, it finally came to life.

Scootle was name given to this portal and it was borne out of a pure labour of love.  Then this baby became very lovable and all of a sudden there were Scootle angels promoting it everywhere and people wanting to adopt it right away. Currently there are over 35,000 school teachers in Australia who have adopted Scootle, and it experiences about 11 million hits on a monthly basis.

So when the IMS Learning Impact Awards for 2008 for Australia were opened, we sent in an entry for Scootle. Scootle works well because underneath the bonnet, it is purely built around standards. It uses web services to get IMS Content packages from various TLF repositories, which distribute content using IMS Packaging Standards. It then breaks open all the packages and reads the metadata which also uses IMS Metadata standards. This data is then indexed and a customized Search logic brings the content that user is looking for at the top.  Of course very clever infrastructure architecture makes Scootle robust and very fast in its response.

In the IMS Awards for 2008 regional competition, we submitted an entry that outlined the characteristics of the product against the six IMS award criteria. Once our nomination was selected we presented the product in the regional competitions held in Melbourne. We set up a small booth and talked about it in 4-minute sessions to about 17-20 groups.  We had prepared two small pull up posters and a few colour printed brochures about Scootle. We also addressed the award criterion in 6 different posters. (I can provide these if anybody wants to have them as a reference.)

Nick Weideman and I manned the booth. I did the demo and Nick explained Scootle to the judges and  all the people present nonstop for more than an hour until all the groups finished visiting us. It was a very nerve-wracking and exhausting experience. I remember Nick telling me “it will be okay – relax”. In the end Scootle was selected as runner up. Though I was happy enough as we didn’t go in for winning, I have to admit I would have been much happier if it was selected as first. After all, you always want to be the best in what you do, right? Still, Scootle was a very young baby compared to LAMS, which ended up winning; so if you are considering entering your product, this is something to think about.

Finally came the time for Barcelona to do the final presentation at the IMS LIA 2008 competitions. We had to prepare a 10 minutes presentation clip, about our product and resend information about the product if wanted to.  We chose to resend the information again, as during the 6 month period since the regional competitions we had much more to say about Scootle. It was quite interesting to put together the presentation and work with a voice over artist and music etc. It was quite a rare treat for someone like me who has never had to do this before.  Limiting what you want to say in 5-6 minutes is such a challenge, and I urge you to think carefully when you reach that stage.

I was very lucky, happy and grateful that TLF asked me to go to Barcelona and present Scootle, but the saddest part was only one person could go. This is something I was and still am very sad about: I hoped there was somewhere, some way some funds were available to cover the core team to go to the final competitions. I realize it is an expensive affair to go and present the product internationally, especially in the education sector where most of the participants are either government funded or not for profit organizations. But I sincerely I hope that some extra support from the corporate world will address this painful reality and allow more people to experience this wonderful opportunity.

Now coming to the final Barcelona event itself, apart from the fact that a naïve traveler like me had interesting experiences and missed vegetarian food in Barcelona, it was a wonderful experience. During the event I met many of the participants from other countries. We listened and shared about what others are doing in the same area and what are the leading examples of successes worldwide.  It was quite an eye opening experience to hear the challenges European educators are facing in the technology and the advances they have made.  I enjoyed the team from the Spanish Ministry of Tourism and was fascinated that they had to prepare same digital material in six different languages. I was amazed at how these multilanguage challenges of Europe are addressed by different people in different ways, and how standards are allowing it to happen.

Showcasing Scootle in Barcelona was quite similar to what we had to do in Australia, but the only thing was you were amongst the best of the best and the pressure could be unbearable, especially when you are alone in a foreign land. But lucky for me the LAMS team and TAFE team helped me to stay calm. It’s funny how even though we were competing against each other here in Australia ,there we were One as Australians.  When the results were announced it didn’t matter who got first or who got second: it was such a nice ceremony, the only thing  that mattered was that  everyone in fact was celebrating the good work of others.  The only thing I want to share is that when Scootle was given the bronze award, I missed my team so much that I found it hard to walk up to Rob Abel and take the trophy. So do organise some sort of webcast/skype or whatever if you can, if you are deciding to go for the final Award Ceremony!

You can see this whole journey is such a rich experience that only very fortunate can have, so if you are thinking of participating please don’t hesitate even once. Go for it. It may not change your life, but it will definitely change everyone involved as a person.  This is not only an opportunity for increasing, technology awareness, learning from others, hearing from very smart people, networking and building professional relations. It is so much more… For me I am a better person for having done this,  and if I ever have to sum it up and say one thing that  I have learnt from this experience, I would  say  everyone is so incredibly valuable”

I hope this is worth your time. If you need more specific information on anything about my experience please always feel free to email me, and I will try my best to answer or guide you to the right person/resource for your query.

Wishing all those starting on this journey best wishes and goodluck!

Preety Agarwal

preety.agarwal@thelearningfederation.edu.au