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xml files are immense and a peculiar text box has
to be created that introduces noise in the learning
process and may distract the student.
The restriction that, once an activity is com-
pleted, it “stays completed in the run” [IMS,
2003c], has been found to be excessive and lim-
iting. Such a behavior is justified when dealing
with synchronization elements (e.g. <imsld:act>),
but not in the case of activities, when it could be
interesting to come back to them and perform them
again (e.g. exercises). This restrictions hampers
the use of elements like <imsld:on-completion>,
as they can be used only once. A possible solu-
tion to this problem is to include a distinction
between the state “completed and unable to be
uncompleted” and the state “completed, but able
to be uncompleted and completed again”. In such
a scenario, both types of completion events would
have the ability of performing actions <imsld:on-
completion>) when they occurred. This would
simplify the adaptation of graph-based sequencing
definitions to IMS-LD, making it possible to use
some tool like SG to define a complex sequencing
strategy without producing enormous results that
take a significant amount of resources to process.
As a final conclusion, it has to be said that
several problems have arisen when trying to ex-
press graphs in terms of IMS Learning Design.
It is true that it is possible, and this permits to
define a flexible set of adapted sequencings of
learning material with a SG and then use IMS-
LD to use them in many platforms. But the cost
of the process is high: it introduces noise in the
approach (i.e. the “continue” box) and the files
(the manifest and the master resource file) are
extremely big, even when the original graph is
not very complex.
Interoperability (IMS, 2006), IMS Common Car-
tridge (IMS, 2008), and especially IMS Simple
Sequencing (IMS, 2003d).
IMS Question and Test Interoperability (IMS
QTI) is another specification that offers a com-
mon representation for tests and exercises. IMS
QTI defines a data model specifically oriented
towards the design and reuse of questions. This
kind of questions can be automatically graded to
produce feedback for the student. Variables in
QTI can allow for a certain level of adaptation,
like in IMS LD. However, the adaptation in QTI
focuses on adaptive presentation and grading of
the exercises, rather than their sequencing.
IMS Common Cartridge (IMS CC) is rela-
tively new, compared to the others. It comprises
a combination of IMS Content Packaging, IMS
QTI, IEEE LOM, and IMS Authorization Web
Service. The IMS CC specification is gaining a
lot of attention because it simplifies many aspects
of the costly design process. However, one of its
limitations is the definition of a static sequence
of the learning resources.
IMS Simple Sequencing (IMS SS) is a speci-
fication used to describe paths through a collec-
tion of learning activities. IMS SS relies on the
concept of learning units that are organized into
a hierarchy tree. A parent activity and its children
are referred to as a cluster of activities. Clusters
may have sequencing rules and limit conditions
associated with them. Sequencing rules are used
to influence the order in which activities are pre-
sented to the learner. Limit conditions, such as
attempt limits, duration limits and date limits, are
used by the sequencing rules to further influence
which activity is sequenced next to a student.
Sequencing rules and limit conditions are part of
the definition model that describes the vocabulary,
semantics and values required to execute IMS SS
behaviours.
The IMS SS Tracking Model (IMS, 2003e)
can only keep track of three aspects: timing and
completion progress of each attempt on an activity,
timing and completion progress over all attempts
Why Not Use IMS-SS, IMS-
QTI, or IMS-CC?
There are three other IMS specifications that have
some relationship with the adaptive sequencing
of learning material: IMS Question and Test
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