Articulate is a software company that produces e-learning authorware to create your own media-rich, interactive e-learning courses.  The term Rapid E-learning is used quite often throughout their website and supporting Rapid E-Learning Blog written and managed by Tom Kuhlmann.

Here are 5 of my favorite posts at the Rapid E-Learning Blog that I think will help explain Rapid E-learning and show how you may take advantage of this development methodology within the e-learning space.

• 5 Simple Ways to Get Started with E-Learning Development
• 9 Free Tools That Help Me Build Better E-Learning
• How to Add Scenarios to Your Rapid E-Learning Courses…Rapidly!
• 7 Tips for Better E-Learning Scenarios
• 5 Secret Tips from an E-Learning Pioneer

BONUS: Don’t let the term “Rapid E-learning” fool you.  While it is possible to build quality e-learning quickly, Jon Lloyd at VMG doesn’t believe so. He outlines why in his post, There’s nothing rapid about Rapid eLearning.

I happen to believe it is possible to create quality courses quickly, however the expectations between the developer and the client should be measured and within reason.  Developing e-learning is a craft and you can’t rush the creation of a quality learning experience at the expense of the learner’s needs.  Remember, that is where it should all begin and end.

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So, what did I learn? It’s difficult to express exactly what I learned, but here’s a listing of the items that caught my attention:

• Reusable Learning Objects (RLO)
• Cisco’s RLO Strategy
• SCORM, AICC
• Metadata
• Functions of Learning Management Systems (LMS) and Learning Content Management Systems (LCMS)
• Accessibility of e-learning to people with disabilities

The bottom line to this course was that learning, delivered by electronic means (e-learning defined), can be flexible, reusable and accessible if a strategy is carefully planned out and applied.

It’s on now to the next course, IPT 523 – Authoring Skills for Instructional Multimedia.  It’s a hard-skills course where we’ll be using Adobe Captivate and applying it to e-learning.  It should be fun and I’m currently using it for other projects.  It’s a powerful tool and capable of doing many things and I’m looking forward to learning more about it and applying it back to the work I’m doing.

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Sandra Stocks wrote an excellent paper on the Benefits of a SCORM-Conformant E-learning Strategy and applied it back to the organization she works in.  Sandra is part of a retail organization that serves pet owners with pet nutrition and pet products.  To educate staff on the items sold in their retail stores, Sandra is recommending to her employers an E-learning strategy based on SCORM.

What set Sandra’s paper a part from the others was how she illustrated one of the primary benefits of SCORM.  That benefit is being able to leverage third-party SCORM-Conformant content to be delivered on a SCORM-Conformant LMS.  For Sandra’s employer this saves time and money in development costs.  Instead of them building their own learning content to educate staff on products and services, vendors of the products they sell offer SCORM-Conformant learning content that they can leverage from and deliver on their own LMS.  An added benefit is they can also guarantee the quality of the content because it comes direct from the vendor.

This was just one of many benefits discussed by Sandra in her paper.  As someone who worked in a retail environment at one time designing and developing training, I was able to clearly see how her proposed strategy would work. 

Thank you, Sandra. Good work!

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Let’s begin by looking at SCOs. SCOs are a component of the Content Aggregation Model (CAM) which is a component of the SCORM. The CAM is comprised of Learning Objects divided into three categories:

• Assets
• SCOs
• Content Organizations

The contents of the learning objects are described by metadata. In addition, CAM includes a definition of how RLOs can be packed, delivered, and used.

Now, let’s look at RLOs and RIOs.  Discussions about RLOs and RIOs have occurred in many posts throughout this blog.  RLOs were discussed in Reusable Learning Object Strategies and RIOs were discussed in Expanding on E-Learning: Instructional Architectures and Learning Objects.  The bottom line is RLOs are comprised of RIOs.  RIOs by themselves do not have any context.  They are simply “chunks” of information.  When gathered together under a RLO, they create context meaningful to the learner.  This is illustrated in Cisco System’s Reusable Object Strategy.

It may be safe to conclude that although SCOs and RLOs are not the same, SCOs contain RLOs.  That’s the way I see it, but I’m open to correction on this. After all, that was the purpose of this blog – to create a discussion with other students of E-learning and professionals working in the field.

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A couple of the more common acronyms I thought I would tackle are LMS and LCMS.

• LMS - Learning Management System
• LCMS – Learning Content Management System

What is the difference between the two and can a “C” make all the difference in the definition? Let’s take a closer look and define what each one is and what they do.

An LMS is an online system that manages learners and the delivery of content. It provides access to training in the form of learning modules and tracks the progress and performance of learners during training activities.

An LCMS is different.  It’s primary function is to manage learning content, not learners.  It’s only connection to learners is that the LCMS stores learning objects and serves them to learners who need the information on demand or just-in-time.

As you can see, one letter makes all the difference.  A very good write-up on the similarities and differences between LMS and LCMS can be found at Brandon Hall Research if you wish to learn more, but despite their differences both are effective when they work together in an integrated fashion. A whitepaper by IDC describes how both an integrated LCMS-LMS can form a learning system to meet the needs of the learner and the organization it supports.

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