A Critical Analysis of IMS Learning Design

Abstract

The objective of the IMS Learning Design specification is to provide a containment framework of elements that can describe any design of a teaching-learning process in a formal way. The proposed specification is pedagogically neutral and provides a means for defining diverse learning designs (e.g.: collaborative learning, problem-based learning, blended learning). Regardless of the pedagogy involved, in practice every learning design comes to: a Method prescribing various Activities for learner and academic staff Actors in a certain order. We agree with this proposal, but we have found some deficiencies and limitations in the way these elements are described. Considering ideas and solutions of the Activity Theory (AT) and the Workflow Management Systems (WFMS) domain we propose alternative structures to describe the Activity and Method parts of this specification.