ADL
Co-Labs
Plugfest
ADLNet.gov
What is
the vision of ADL?
The vision of the ADL Initiative is to provide access to the highest-quality
learning and performance aiding that can be tailored to individual needs and delivered
cost-effectively, anytime and anywhere.
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What’s
ADL Strategy?
The strategy of ADL is to:
- Work closely with industry, government and academia to promote common, open, international
specifications and standards that enable reuse and interoperability of learning
content.
- Promote widespread collaboration that satisfies common needs.
- Enhance performance with emerging learning technologies.
- Promote a coordinated implementation process with incentives for organizational
and cultural change.
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How
does ADL work with other standards and specifications organizations?
Before ADL’s work with standards activities began, an implementation model
did not exist in a form that effectively met ADL’s high-level requirements. ADL
continues to work with these organizations and relies on their processes for specification
development and industry ratification. ADL’s role involves contributing technical
ideas and concepts and integrating and testing these specifications and standards,
helping bridge the gap between their early stage development and their widespread
adoption by industry.
Of the many organizations working on specifications related to e-learning, there
are four in particular that are key to
SCORM. While ADL may not incorporate all of the work from these
organizations, as some information is out of the scope of SCORM, these organizations
play a vital role in the formation of next-generation learning technologies.
These organizations are:
- Aviation Industry CBT Committee (AICC.)
- Alliance for Remote Instructional Authoring and Distribution Networks for Europe
(ADRIANE).
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE.) Learning
Technology Standards Committee (LTSC).
- IMS Global Learning Consortium, Inc.
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Why
do organizations collaborate with ADL?
Implementing the ADL Initiative requires collaboration within
the Department of Defense (DoD) and the federal government
at large as well as collaboration with industry, academia, state and local entities.
The DoD is taking steps to establish a cost-effective distributed learning environment
that is consistent across the military services and all other DoD components. Many
university and business training organizations have similar interests. ADL partnerships
between the federal government, private-sector technology suppliers, and the broader
education and training community will be the means for formulating voluntary guidelines
that will meet common needs.
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How do
I become involved with ADL and SCORM?
There is no formal membership process or requirements to become involved
with ADL or SCORM. To stay up to date and participate within ADL, become a Registered User.
By registering, with ADL you can participate in events (e.g. Plugfest), submit articles
relating to SCORM and receive the latest information from ADLNet.gov.
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What is the single most important feature of ADL?
All aspects of ADL are critical to its eventual success. These are a few of those
important aspects:
- A reusable learning content that can be delivered over a network.
- A technical standards and guidelines that make this possible.
- Research and development on technical issues that stand in the way.
- Ensure that such learning is cost-effective and that it can be developed and marketed
in a way that allows industry to make a profit.
- Provide an ADL forum that allows the public and private sectors to identify and
address their common interests in developing and transitioning to the ADL environment
of tomorrow.
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Why is
the DoD putting so much effort into advanced learning technology?
The increased rate of deployments in recent years of the DoD’s forces,
which often involve rapid, unplanned movements to locations around the world, highlights
the need to provide training on demand to individuals and units deployed worldwide.
Accordingly, because of more demanding deployment criteria and other time-sensitive
constraints, the DoD recognized that yesterday’s framework of "right time, right
place" learning, with its use of set times and places, may not meet future requirements.
It also recognizes that providing "anytime, anywhere" instruction is essential to
maintaining military readiness in the information age, where future forces and their
support activities need to be highly adaptive to address threats effectively and
rapidly.
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What
is the Co-Lab Network?
The DoD established the ADL Co-Lab Hub in 1999 at the Institute for Defense
Analyses (IDA) to foster the collaborative
research, development and assessment of the common tools, standards, content and
guidelines for the ADL Initiative. Since then three additional
ADL Co-Labs (Academic, Joint and Workforce); two ADL Partnership
Labs (U.K. and Canada) and two ADL Centers (ADL Technology Center and the ADL Job
Performance Technology Center) have been created to form the ADL Co-Lab Network.
The ADL Co-Lab Hub is ADL's central organization for guiding, coordinating
and integrating the operations of the ADL Co-Lab Network and operates under the
direction of the
OSD.
Located just outside Washington, DC, the ADL Co-Lab Hub serves as a clearinghouse
across organizational boundaries to coordinate and lead the systematic development
and refinement of the future learning environment. The ADL Co-Lab Hub operates
to stimulate development of technologies that enhance learning and performance across
the DoD and other Federal agencies.
For additional information on a specific ADL Co-Lab visit the Co-Lab Network section.
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Who
runs each ADL Co-Lab?
Each ADL Co-Lab is lead by a separate director; Paul Jesukiewicz, ADL
Co-Lab Hub; David Wirth, Academic ADL Co-Lab; Jean Burmester, Joint ADL Co-Lab;
Dr. Xiangen Hu and Daniel Rehak, Workforce ADL Co-Lab; Professor Stephen Molyneux,
U.K. ADL Partnership Lab; Major David Kitchen, Canada ADL Partnership Lab; Tim Tate,
ADL Job Performance Technology Center; and Kirk Johnson, ADL Technology Center.
For additional information on a specific ADL Co-Lab visit the Co-Lab Network section.
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How
do the ADL Co-Labs assist the ADL Initiative?
In addition to the collaboration with government, education and technology sectors,
ADL has also developed a network of Co-Labs to further promote the creation of the
optimal learning environment for the future. The ADL Co-Lab Network is comprised
of the central ADL Co-Lab plus three other Co-Labs. While each uniquely contributes
to the evolution of ADL in specialized areas, all share research, subject matter
expertise, common tools and learning content.
Each ADL Co-Lab facilitates an open collaborative environment for sharing learning
technology research, development and assessments. In addition to the Co-Lab Network,
ADL Partnership Labs established outside of the United States extend ADL’s reach.
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What is the ADL Partnership Lab?
The Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Initiative established an ADL
Partnership Lab in the United Kingdom (2002) and Canada (2003).
The United Kingdom (U.K.) ADL Partnership Lab is a collaboration with the Learning
Lab located on the campus the University of Wolverhampton in Telford, England under
the direction of Professor Stephen Molyneux. This ADL Partnership Lab promotes
the development and acceptance of global e-learning standards. The U.S. and
U.K. collaborate on the production of sharable content and joint research.
The Canada ADL Partnership Lab under the direction of Major David Kitchen, provides
a collaborative environment for training organizations from the Canadian Department
of National Defence (DND) to share
resources and experiences in implementing innovative e-learning solutions.
Through the partnership, the U.S. and Canada will collaborate on the production
of sharable content specifications and standards and joint research projects.
Currently, ADL only has two ADL Partnership Labs and plans to add additional ADL
Partnership Labs in the future.
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What
are Plugfests?
The ADL Co-Lab sponsors Plugfests to bring together adopters
of the SCORM. Plugfest events provide ADL partners with the opportunity to synchronize
the evolution and convergence of commercial authoring tools, learning management
systems and Web-based courses with the evolving open-architecture specification.
Representatives from learning software developers and content providers from various
sectors of government, industry and academia attend and participate in Plugfest.
Plugfests provide participants with a forum for sharing their experiences in converting
instructional products to conform to SCORM specifications.
For additional information on Plugfest or to find out when the next Plugfest is
visit the News & Events
section.
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Is the Plugfest presentation material available on ADLNet.gov?
Yes. During Plugfests, the ADL Team works hard to post presentations from that day’s
proceedings. At some Plugfests, sessions may be Webcasted and available for
real-time viewing on ADLNet.gov. Within one to two weeks following an event all
remaining presentations are posted if provided by the speaker and videos taken during
the event are posted. The ADL Team makes available only the proceedings from
the last two Plugfests. For assistance with older proceedings e-mail the ADL
Webmaster through Contact
ADL.
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Why does
ADLNet.gov look odd on my computer?
ADLNet.gov is designed to look its best using Netscape 8.x and Internet
Explorer 6.x. Ensure you have the most up to date version or visit the Netscape
Downloads and Internet Explorer Downloads pages for the latest updates.
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Why can't
I view any of the flash pieces?
In order to view the Flash pieces you must have the Flash plug-in installed
on your machine for the browser you are using to view ADLNet.gov. Visit Macromedia to download the latest version of the Flash plug-in
or to get help with using Flash.
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I'm having
trouble seeing the videos. Why?
Majority of the videos on ADLNet.gov are in Windows Media
format (.wmv). You may not have the latest version of Windows Media installed
on your machine. Visit Microsoft.com to download the latest version of Windows
Media or to get help with using the player.
ADLNet.gov does contain some videos of other formats (.rm, .smil, .avi, .mov). Verify
you have the correct plug-in or program installed to view them.
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I get
an error when I click on a link?
For all dead links report them immediately to the ADLNet Webmaster
through Contact ADL.
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I downloaded
the document but I can't open it?
ADLNet.gov documents are saved in different formats, primarily .PDF and .PPT. To
view .PDF files you must have either Adobe Acrobat or the Acrobat
reader plug-in installed on your machine. Visit Adobe to download the required plug-in.
Word documents are zipped for easy download. Make sure you have a program to unzip
these file.
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What type
of information does ADL have for the media?
ADL has developed a media kit which has been compiled with an array of information regarding
the ADL Initiative, including the latest press releases, flyers, brochures and more.
Download the specially packaged kit or select to download individual items from
the media resources section.
Available in the News &
Events section, members of the media and the ADL Community has access
to the latest ADL Press Releases, Videos, Logos, Photos, Brochures and articles
written about ADL.
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How can I
use the ADL logo on my Web site or presentation?
The use of the ADL logo on Web sites, presentations, etc is permitted only if specific
guidelines are followed. Refer to the ADL Logo Usage Guidelines for additional information.
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How
do I subscribe to ADL Newsletters?
To subscribe to an ADL Newsletter mailing list you must first be registered
with ADLNet.gov. Visit Registered Users to create an account. During the creation
you will be asked to select the type of newsletters you wish to receive.
The ‘What’s New’ Newsletter is a monthly mailing describing the new things added
to ADLNet.gov in the past month. For those that are currently registered to
ADLNet.gov you must update your profile to receive any newsletter.
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What are
some recommended techniques for using the search on ADLNet.gov?
The ADL Team has developed some search techniques to help
find items on ADLNet.gov easier. For further information on the recommended
search techniques visit the Search
page.
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Are there
policies I should be aware of while accessing ADLNet.gov?
The ADL Team has compiled a list of polices from Software to Privacy to Document
and Logo Usage. For a list of these policies and for additional information
visit the Web site Policies
& Notices section.
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What RSS
Feeds does ADLNet.gov offer and how do I subscribe to one?
ADLNet.gov offers several RSS Feeds to help keep the ADL Community better
informed with ADL News and Events, Press Releases and SCORM Known Issues.
To subscribe to an RSS Feed visit the RSS Feeds page in the Media Relations section.
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What are
the ADL Forums?
ADL has developed forums for communication, information distribution and
group discussion. Through the use of FuseTalk, a bulletin board system with integrated
Web and e-mail servers, individuals use a Web browser to participate in threaded
discussions to share ideas, ask and/or answer each other's questions. These
forums contain unlimited discussion topics, messages, attachments and the entire
thread of a project's history. All discussions and decisions are kept in the forum
for team members to review and add to.
For more information visit the Forums section.
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