What Is SCORM?

When researching learning management systems or creating elearning content, you will probably come across this acronym: SCORM. What is SCORM? No, it is not a group of supervillains plotting to take over the world. SCORM stands for Shareable Content Object Reference Model and is an elearning standard that is over twenty years old. Back in the year 2000, the US government was growing tired of all of their elearning contractors using their own unique file types to create elearning modules. They decided that it would be easier if everyone just used one standard to create elearning modules so that they could ensure compatibility with any learning management system they would design or purchase going forward. And with that SCORM was born. So what does a SCORM module do? If you think of a SCORM module as a shipping container full of elearning lessons and content, the LMS is the boat the container goes on. When a SCORM module gets loaded into an LMS, it communicates usage data with the LMS. For example, if a learner logs into an LMS and takes a specific course that lives in a SCORM module, the module will set the success criteria for the course and then communicate if that criteria is met to the LMS. The benefit to having a set standard like SCORM for elearning modules is that when one of those modules is loaded into an LMS, the administrator can be confident that the course inside of the module will work and the data that the module shares with the LMS will align with how the LMS collects data and shares it with administrators. How is a SCORM module created? SCORM modules are the product of creating elearning in a third-party content creation software such as Adobe Captivate or Articulate Storyline 360. The elearning course with all of its interactivity, videos, and textual information is built in the software and then when it is finished, it is saved as a SCORM module. The software adds some files to the package to make sure that it communicates with the learning management system will get loaded into and then the finished SCORM module can then be uploaded into any LMS that is compatible with SCORM. And these days, most learning management systems are compatible with SCORM because the standard has been around for quite a while. This leads us to our next question, what is the future of SCORM? SCORM is a very old standard from a software perspective and there have been different versions of it over the years. And to be honest, SCORM is probably nearing the end of its life as an industry standard. New elearning module standards have been created in recent years that surpass SCORM in features and functionality. Some of these new standards are xAPI, TinCan, and CMI5. The benefit of these new standards is that they gather more data on the learners that interact with them and give LMS administrators more freedom and flexibility when it comes to tracking and reporting on their learners’ activities. Just by the nature of the standards being newer, they also take advantage of current software trends that just didn’t exist when SCORM was first introduced. While new standards are taking SCORM’s place in the elearning world, there is a ton of SCORM content out there and so you probably won’t see SCORM vanish overnight. It will most likely just fade out of existence until one day, you won’t see learning management systems that support it anymore. But don’t feel too bad for that old SCORM standard, it has lived a long and full life as software standards go.