SCORM and Tin Can API: The difference between DVDs and Netflix
Melanie Moffett, eLearning Industry, 2014/11/24

I'd like to think that we can go a bit beyond Nedtflix, but I appreciate the analogy behind this post comparing SCORM and xAPI. SCORM - the Sharable Content Object Reference Model, was designed as a way for published products, like courseware, to report back to a host system, like a learning management system (LMS). Originally known as Tin Can, xAPI, the 'Experience Application Programming Interface', allows multiple services to report on student activities. "The Tin Can API vocabulary is powerfully simple, capable of identifying actors, verbs and objects - the most basic building blocks to convey meaning." And as the author notes, "according to the Brandon Hall Group webinar, businesses are using Tin Can API to develop a learning architecture that supports the following key elements: experience tracking, content brokering, learner profiles and competency networks.

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Working out Loud and Serendipity
Sahana Chattopadhyay, ID, Other Reflections, 2014/11/24

This week (or maybe last week; I don't really keep up on these things) is "work out loud week". What that means is that we should share the work that we're doing as we do it. OLDaily is my tool for this. Though to be honest, my work has shifted in a way OLDaily hasn't, exactly, as for the last year I have been leading the LPSS program, a role that has added a slew of new responsibilities: project planning, budgets and resource planning, marketing and communication strategies, and more. I'm enjoying the new challenges, but I still think I could be doing a better job. Anyhow, this post reminds me of the reasons I should share more. As John Stepper says, "Working out loud is working in an open, generous, connected way so you can build a purposeful network, become more effective, and access more opportunities." See also Rawn Shah , who points out that everyone is figuring out their job on the fly, and Austin Kleon's Show Your Work!

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A Weird but True Fact about Textbook Publishers and OER
Michael Feldstein, e-Literate, 2014/11/24

Michael Feldstein makes the point in this post that many publishers like open educational resources. "It has become clear that textbook profits are collapsing as student find more ways to avoid buying the new books," he writes. "So these companies want to get out of the textbook business....  They want to sell software and services that are related to educational content, like homework platforms or course redesign consulting services." Hence, as David Wiley says, "80% of all US general education courses will be using OER instead of publisher materials by 2018."

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