Learning Ideas

The more people I talk to about SCORM, the more I am amazed at how little is known about it. As a technical type of person, I’m becoming more and more familiar with it, every day. I am by no means an expert, but I’d like to talk a bit about it.

Introduction to SCORM
First off, SCORM only applies to eLearning. While this is a true statement, it is also misleading. If you use SCORM principles on your non-eLearning courses, you can also take advantage of SCORM’s benefits, but SCORM is specifically for eLearning. This will become more clear as you learn more about SCORM.

You can find a complete breakdown on SCORM on the official website by clicking the SCORM link on the banner at the top. SCORM stands for Sharable Content Object Resource Model. The words themselves are fairly straight-forward, but let me explain it a little.

Sharable Content means that this international standard sets the rules by which course developers, course management systems, and course delivery systems can use content. If everyone plays by the same rules, then content written by any person can be shared on any system and can be tracked by any database, as long as they are all “conformant” with the SCORM standards.

Object Resource Model is basically the format the course data will take. This model is based on eXtensible Mark-up Language (XML), which is an ASCII-based system similar to what is used to display web pages in a browser. The browser system is HTML (HyperText Mark-up Language). If you click “view” then “source” on the Internet Explorer menu, you can see the ASCII used to display this page. You’ll notice it is nothing but characters you can type on your keyboard, which is basically what ASCII is. Any and all systems can read ASCII, so SCORM content is not Linux, Windows, Apple, or any other system. It is completely cross-platform.

The latest standard as of this writing is SCORM 2004, 3rd Edition, Version 1. I’m not going in to all the previous versions, but this is later than SCORM 1.2 or any other “Version” you’ve heard about. This version was released in November of 2007, and will probably be the last edition of SCORM 2004. The navigation rules, which tells the course player how to move through the course, are still in flux, but the rest of the standard is pretty much done except for some tweaking.

The Package
A SCORM package is a compressed “zip” file. This is what any SCORM-conformant course authoring system is going to write when told to write a course as a SCORM object. This zip file is going to be uploaded into a SCORM-conformant Learning Management System (LMS). Most LMS’s are also the “Run Time Environment” (RTE) as well. So, the “player” is the Run Time Environment, but usually, a browser such as Internet Explorer is used to implement the RTE.

The package must be completely stand-alone. Everything you need for that course must be in the package. This is where things get interesting. I have been using the word “course,” but it really isn’t accurate. A SCORM package is any stand-alone learning module. The name for the module can be “Lesson,” “Chapter,” “Bob,” or anything else you want to call it. It can be an entire University course, or it can be a simple exercise or quiz. The SCORM model is very malleable. I’m going to call it a “course,” but be aware that it will probably be just a small part of an entire learning experience.

The course designer should try to keep packages somewhat small. The entire idea is to be able to cut and paste SCORM packages to build complete learning experiences. If you make the packages too large, then they can’t readily be shared. If you make them too small, then you’re going to have too large a “catalog” for people to look through when making decisions. Somewhere closer to the small end is where you’ll want to be. I would suggest that pretty much any time you would change headings on your course material (such as a textbook), you should make a new SCORM object. Definitely don’t do more than a “chapter” as a SCORM package.

The Run Time Environment
The RTE is usually implemented using a standard browser, as I said above. The LMS is going to keep track of what the RTE is doing, as well as track all the data the RTE is going to need, as well as store the data for the RTE. You can see that the LMS and the RTE are going to be somewhat hard to separate, which is why they are usually bundled as a single system. In actuality, an LMS is the RTE and a Content Management System and a Student Tracking system all rolled into one package.

The RTE has very few things it can do, and everything it does has to be sent via an “ECMAScript” compatible language. Usually, this means “JavaScript,” but Adobe Flash’s “ActionScript” can do the job as well. But those are the nuts-and-bolts that we really don’t need to know much about. Basically, the user sees the RTE, and when the user clicks on something, the RTE does it for him.

For example, the user sees a “menu” on his RTE. This menu was given to the RTE by the LMS. Usually, the user has to sign in to the LMS. So, the LMS launches the RTE, and shows the “menu” that has been defined for that user. Users have different “permissions.” A user can be a student, a course author, an instructor, a course administrator, or just about anything else you would like. The sign in tells the LMS what this user needs to see, and the LMS sends this to the RTE for display.

When the user clicks on something, the RTE sends the information back to the LMS or does the command itself. For example, loading up a course for viewing would require contact with the LMS, but showing the next page in a SCORM package is handled by the RTE without LMS communication.

There are specific tracking commands that are sent by the RTE to the LMS, such as “course complete” or “test score,” but how these are structured and sent are not our worry. That’s for the RTE and LMS writers to worry about. If you’re interested, it is all available in a free download from ADLnet.

These communications are fairly transparent to the user. Just so it happens, it really doesn’t matter how it happens. The LMS keeps track of this and allows the administration to keep track of the courses.

Conformance
There are three levels one can have as a SCORM product. The first is a “SCORM adopter.” This means that you plan to meet SCORM standards, but haven’t yet completed your testing successfully. The second level is “SCORM conformant.” This means that you have used the ADL test suite (available free at the link at the top) to test your product, and passed all tests. The last level is “SCORM certified.” This is really no different, material-wise, than “conformant,” but a third party has certified your conformance. There are only a few places that are allowed to “certify” conformance, and they, too, are listed at the link at the top.

If you are implementing an eLearning system, then you would be well-advised to get only SCORM-certified systems. SCORM-conformant systems are just as acceptable, but they do not have the third-party guarantee of conformance that the certified systems have. It really comes down to trust and accountability. Theoretically, there is zero difference between conformant and certified, but “certified” has been verified by an independent group.

The term “SCORM compliant” is frowned upon and considered incorrect usage, but you’ll probably still see it. “SCORM conformant” is the preferred verbiage. I don’t really know the reason for this, but anyone who can get the government, business, and academia to all agree on anything can be given some leeway when it comes to unimportant details like this.

The Benefits
SCORM allows you to write content and then use it anywhere. It is never out of date. It is never obsolete. You never find you have to completely re-write something because MicroSoft came out with a new operating system. The first volume of the documentation talks about the “-ilities.” Although important, I won’t cover them here (they’re everywhere already), but suffice it to say that these SCORM objectives, once met, allow you to write once, use forever, find when you need, and basically stop duplicating effort or wasting time.

Conclusion
SCORM is a standard. If a standard is not used, it is worthless. As an example, by modern measure, all of the “six pound cannons” used by Napoleon, Wellington, and Bluecher at Waterloo had different weight cannon balls. There was not a standard “pound” at the time. Imagine if there were no standard for gasoline – Ford gas stations could not be used to fill up Oldsmobile cars.

SCORM’s details are more for the developers of the tools and us tech-weenies. If you are responsible for course creation, course materials, or plan to implement any type of distance learning, it would be beneficial to insure all of your tools are “SCORM certified” before you purchase them.

You should also start looking at your courses for “completeness” within sub-units. If you think a section could be used again, elsewhere, then you would be well-advised to make a SCORM package of that section. Remember, though, that all resources for a package must be contained within that package. This might mean some duplication if you make your packages too large, but will make your resource library unmanageable if you make them too small.

SCORM is useful and is already being implemented world-wide. Like any tool, it can be used or misused. Also, like any kind of development, a little forethought before beginning is your best bet for utilizing this tool to its most beneficial extent.