What is IMS Learning Design

In the complex world of e-learning, there are many aspects to consider: administrative issues (e.g. keeping track of the courses of a student), technical issues (e.g. packaging learning content in a platform-independent way), and academic issues. This chapter concentrates on one of the latter, namely the problem of adaptive sequencing. This problem can be stated like: given a student and a set of learning resources, find the optimum sequence for his or her special characteristics, goals, needs, and background. An appropriate sequencing, adapted to the student, has a positive impact on motivation and learning, hence its importance. However, this is a problem that has not been yet carefully considered in any standard or specification, hindering interoperability among platforms that adapt the sequencing of learning content to their users. This chapter reviews the two specifications most relevant for the standard expression of adapted sequencings: IMS Simple Sequencing and IMS Learning Design. The strong and weak points of each specification are highlighted, showing their implications on adaptive sequencing interoperability.