Once you’ve built an e-learning course you’ll want to get it onto your LMS so that people can access it. More than that, you’ll probably want to see how well your learners have done – how long did they spend, have they passed the quizzes and which questions did they get wrong? All this information and more can be sent back to the LMS using SCORM.
1. Choose your SCORM version
ADL, the maker of SCORM, has released two main versions over the years: SCORM 1.2, then SCORM 2004. Both these versions allow you to store data on your LMS but SCORM 2004 has a more advanced structure which makes it easier (in theory) to share course units between courses. So make sure you check which version your LMS supports.
2. Set up a SCORM JavaScript file
JavaScript is the code used to communicate between your e-learning and the LMS and examples of this code can be found online. There are lots of functions needed to access the SCORM object on the LMS and send data to and from the course. It’s a good idea to keep all of this code separate in its own file, rather than combining it with your content.
3. Choose the right values
SCORM has a large data model that lets you save all kinds of values on the LMS. Essentially, this amounts to lots of different slots where you can post your data and get it back later. It’s important to choose the right values for the right data: don’t push all the data into one value and try to split it up later. Check out the data model online to find out more.
4. Check your conformance
There are tools that allow you to test how conformant your course is, and let you debug any problems. Download the ADL Self Certification Test Suite and run your course through it before testing on an LMS. This will show you all the calls being made by your course to the LMS, tell you if these calls are correct and rate your conformance.
5. Think about re-entry
Making sure that all the data from a course is saved on the LMS correctly is the first step, but you should also think about how the course gets that information back. This will allow you to have features like bookmarking, progress indicators and student notes. Use the RELOAD test suite to test how your course performs between sessions.
