DoD Handbook- Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Products and Systems (Part 5 of 5 parts)

4.2.3 Standards that support the ADL Initiative and overlying architecture.

To meet DoD-wide needs, there must be standards for courseware interoperability that are compatible among vendors and that do not sacrifice quality, transparency of operations, or efficiency of storage, manipulation, and management. As potentially one of the largest users of courseware development, delivery, storage, and management systems, the DoD can and does influence Industry trends. The primary agent in addressing the critical area of standards generation to meet the goals of the ADL Initiative has been the ADL Technical Working Group (TWG). This collaborative group is comprised of representatives from DoD, Industry, Academia, other Federal agencies, and all the major standards-granting organizations. To fulfill the objectives of the ADL Initiative it was necessary for the TWG to develop a unique new standard for sharable courseware. Through their collaborative efforts the SCORM was developed. SCORM is a standard that includes the capability of tagging course structures and instructional elements so that any SCORM conformant courseware is transportable to any SCORM conformant training system.