Sharable Content Object Mass Transformation Proof of Concept, 07-R8097
Printer Friendly VersionPrincipal Investigator
Randall K. Standridge
Inclusive Dates: 09/01/09 – 12/01/09
Background - A large telecommunications company converted more than 3,000 courses from an instructor-led training format to self-paced, web-based training (WBT) based on a sharable content object (SCO) format. Each of these SCOs represents an e-learning lesson that can be combined with other lessons to form WBT courses. However, following this training conversion effort, the company faced the need to standardize more than 5,000 SCOs from multiple vendors into a single format to improve maintainability. The purpose of this project was to determine the viability of creating a transformation tool that could automate, to a high degree, the process of converting third-party vendor SCOs to the SwRI standard format.
Approach - SwRI used a sample of vendor SCOs that represented 94 percent of the content types used in the total population of vendor SCOs. Based on a detailed analysis of the representative sample, developers created software design specifications based on the specific vendor implementations of the various content types. A prototype SCO transform tool was then developed based on the design specifications and used to transform and test individual SCOs.
Accomplishments - SwRI successfully implemented and evaluated transformation and rendering software that demonstrated that it is possible to automatically transform a large percentage of the content present in the vendor SCO population. Based on the sample SCOs used as part of this project, SwRI implemented tools to transform and render more than 94 percent of the content types identified in the vendor SCO populations. Further testing performed in conjunction with the telecommunications company indicated that more than 80 percent of vendor SCOs could be successfully transformed using the automated tools, resulting in significant potential savings when compared to labor-intensive manual conversions.
