The primary objective of this proposal is to leverage current state-of-the-art developments in Advanced Distance Learning (ADL) by designing and building web services, based upon sound e-learning principles and standards, to support and encourage developing reusable learning objects and thereby increasing the return on investments in e-learning development. Currently these tools only exist as limited prototypes or in a format that is not easily used. Without them, developing content that conforms to the e-learning specifications is very time consuming and, in many cases, impractical. The manifest file for the ADL SCORM course, is over 200 pages of XML. It is not practical to expect this file to be free of errors, if it is developed without using a manifest generator, and it is unrealistic to expect for someone to locate file errors without using a XML validator. The research and web services developed in this project will accelerate ADL content development. This work will answer key research questions around the definition and usage of key Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) meta-data elements and the design of practical interfaces to web services for developing SCORM and IMS conformant ADL content. Answers to these questions will result in the development of web services that encourage the wide spread use of ADL specifications to develop reusable e-learning content. Developing reusable e-learning content is key to improving the return on investments in e-learning content
