Michael,
Standards definitely merit a discussion of their own. I am all for standards. But I want to warn against thinking that IMS/SCORM are the panacea that people are expecting. The standards right now are fairly complex, and I have yet to see two "SCORM-compliant" systems actually talk to one another.
I'm not saying it isn't possible. I'm only saying that a project may easily fail because it pursues a vague goal because this vague goal has been labeled a "standard."
I think Berklee's approach is very good and safe. I suspect dotLRN will slowly move towards this standards compliance "where it makes sense."