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Usage
IMS Metadata is used to describe electronic learning objects. Whether
or not an object is a "learning object" seems to depend primarly
on the context in which it is used, not on the nature of the object itself.
Creator
IMS was at one time an acronym for "Instructional Management Systems" but the name was shortened to IMS and the body which maintains the metadata
standard is known as the IMS Global Learning Consortium, Inc. IMS is a
membership organization. Currently, members are drawn both from the academic
and coroporate communities.
Revisions
Version 1.2 of the IMS Metadata spec was released in June 2001. Version
1.1 was released in June 2000 and version 1.0 in August 1999. The IMS
spec is based very heavily on the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers) LTSC's (Learning Technology Standards Committee) LOM (Learning
Object Metadata) standard.
Ease of use
IMS Metadata is fairly simple to use; it is divided into nine major sections,
most of which are optional.
Documentation
The IMS sitehttp://www.imsproject.org contains a complete description
of all elements, a best practices guide, and several example files to
be used for reference or as templates.
Thesauri
IMS recommends a number of existing thesauri and taxonomies for various
elements. These are documented in some detail http://www.imsproject.org/metadata/imsmdv1p2/imsmd_bestv1p2.html#1167277
and include LCSH, the Classification of Instructional Programs developed
by the US Department of Ed, the Gateway to Educational Materials (also
US DOEd), Dublin Core Type definitions, and EDNAUser Level, which is defined
by the Education Network Australia.
Projects
Very difficult to locate specific projects using IMS, though many commercially
available projects claim to be "IMS Compliant".
Granularity
The IMS Metadata specification contains a section for describing the functional
size of an object; whether the object described is an individual media
object, an aggregation of objects, or an entire course, for example.
Data for original and surrogate
IMS Metadata describes the digital version of the object.
Metadata types
Administrative (creation information, life cycle), Technical (bite size,
software required, etc.) and Descriptive (bibliiographic)
