What Is SCORM? What to Know About the SCORM Standard in E-learning

Learning and training today are far better and more effective than they were years ago, thanks to E-learning. But an effective e-learning system can't skip the SCORM standard which keeps content compatible with the learning management software. This article covers MONA Media will walk you through what SCORM is and the benefits of the SCORM standard in e-learning. Let's get into it.

What is SCORM?

SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) is a set of technical standards and descriptions for e-learning products, software and programs. Put simply, SCORM tells developers how to write code so it runs well on e-learning platforms.

SCORM sets standards so that online learning content and learning management systems (LMS) can work with each other. This keeps different systems compatible and lets them share content.

* One thing to note: , SCORM says nothing about lesson design or any teaching method. It only sets out technical standards for designing e-learning software and systems.

* The SCORM standard combines several smaller standards from different organizations and standards bodies, including:

• IMS Global Learning Consortium, Inc (IMS Global).
• Aviation Industry CBT Committee (AICC).
• Alliance of Remote Instructional Authoring & Distribution Networks for Europe (ARIADNE).
• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
• Learning Technology Standards Committee (LTSC).

* The SCORM standard has 3 main components: Content packaging – Running the content – Sequencing.

So far SCORM has had 5 versions: SCORM 1.1, SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004 2nd Edition, SCORM 2004 3rd Edition and, the latest, SCORM 2004 4th Edition. Of these, the most widely used versions are SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004 3rd Edition.

Today, SCORM is the standard chosen by more than 62% of educational organizations and businesses to build e-learning systems that manage their training courses.

The history of the SCORM standard

Demand for online training in the United States rose sharply in the 1990s, and many online courses were built with poor results. The lessons being produced could not run on different learning platforms.

In 1999, the ADL (Advanced Distributed Learning) program was created by the U.S. Department of Defense to solve this problem and set a common standard. That is how SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) came about, keeping educational content compatible and shareable across many systems and bringing consistency and flexibility to online training.

Benefits of the SCORM standard in e-learning

By now you should be clear on what SCORM is. Next, let's look at the benefits of the SCORM standard in e-learning today.

Better interoperability

One standout advantage of SCORM is compatibility between learning management systems (LMS). Once a lesson is exported to the SCORM standard, it becomes portable and can run on many different LMSs without much time spent changing files or reinstalling the system.

This way, course creators build once and can deploy on many LMS platforms without format or compatibility problems. It saves time and effort compared with rebuilding the content for each system.

Reusability

Anything or any system with reusability is always highly rated and sought after, and SCORM delivers this. Content built on one LMS through SCORM can be reused in many different courses

You can also reuse e-learning templates. They can be applied to many different lessons, which keeps the design and the learning experience consistent.

Remote access

With remote access as a strength, the SCORM standard in e-learning lets learners reach content from many different locations. When it is built into an online learning website, SCORM makes sharing content and rolling out courses more flexible than ever.

On top of that, the SCORM standard lets educational content creators deliver a SCORM course from any location without complicated reconfiguration or changes to the content. SCORM also provides a technical framework to organize and manage content remotely, so learning managers can catalog and discover content efficiently.

Easy adaptation

The flexibility and adaptability of SCORM make e-learning lessons flexible and suited to the particular needs of each educational organization. SCORM allows adaptation in two ways:

• SCORM lets content authors freely mix and combine Shareable Content Objects (SCOs) to create unique training programs.
• It supports writing sequencing rules, so teaching content can adjust to each learner's progress.

Thanks to this easy adaptation, you can create engaging courses that fit specific groups of learners, and make the learning experience more personal and effective.

Saves cost and time

Using SCORM-compliant software in e-learning is an extremely cost-effectivesolution. These features save you plenty of time and money on creating content and sharing it on an LMS.

When e-learning content is integrated with different LMSs, existing online materials follow one global standard, and users can move them easily from one system to another.

SCORM is seen as a tool that makes online training (e-learning) more effective and productive. In essence, the SCORM standard lets users create and distribute content with very little risk. So building a system that can handle content from many sources, while keeping it compatible and the learning experience at its best, becomes a top priority.

The MONA Elearning system is the right solution for organizations, educational units and individuals who want to run and manage online courses professionally. With a single system, MONA Elearning handles every issue that comes up when creating e-learning courses with the following main features:

• 200+ features to support online teaching methods
• Support for designing electronic lessons that meet the SCORM standard in e-learning
• Manage courses, lessons and learning materials right in the system
• Automatically assess lesson quality and suggest changes to the training content
• Deploy an e-learning web app so learning has no limits on time or place
• A range of reports and real-time data statistics to track learning progress and training performance.

And MONA Elearning has many more features. Click the contact button in the image above, or try your own e-learning website system right here!

Try the Elearning website nowCOMPLETELY FREE | COMPLETELY AUTOMATED​​

When should you use the SCORM standard?

SCORM is an ideal e-learning standard if you use it in the following cases:

• You want to bring in learning content from many sources or work with many content providers.
• You are building a large library of different learning objects.
• You use an LMS to deliver and manage learning content.
• You work with web-based e-learning systems.
• You want to design learning content that can be reused in different contexts.
• You need to track learner performance.

SCORM will not be the right choice for e-learning in the following cases:

• You deliver e-learning on CD-ROM or on a server-based system that doesn't need much LMS integration.
• You only create simple educational content like a static web page and don't need to manage learner progress or connect to LMS functions.
• You only publish simple reference materials without tracking learning progress or detailed learner interaction
• You only use one internal system and have no plan to change it.
• You run non-traditional forms of online training such as advanced simulations and serious games. In that case, consider the xAPI standard for more flexible tracking and reporting.

We hope this article has made clear what the SCORM standard is and the benefits SCORM brings to online training. We also hope what MONA Media has shared gives educational organizations more grounds to apply the SCORM standard in e-learning as effectively as possible.