What is SCORM: how it works, which version to choose and what you need to upload a course to your LMS
· 5 min read
SCORM is the format that lets you upload a course to any learning platform and have it record who completed it and with what score. We explain how it works, which version to choose and its limits.
SCORM is a standard for packaging online courses so that any learning platform (LMS) can open them and track each learner's progress. If your company uses Moodle, Cornerstone, SAP SuccessFactors or another LMS, and you want a new course to show up there with its completion and score like the rest, you will usually be asked for SCORM.
In this article we look at what it is exactly, what data it stores, which version to choose, what the alternatives are and what to keep in mind when you commission a course or a serious game for your platform.
What SCORM stands for and what it is for
It stands for Sharable Content Object Reference Model. It was created by the ADL (Advanced Distributed Learning) initiative to solve a very specific problem: making a course built by one vendor work on another vendor's platform without rebuilding it.
In practice, SCORM defines two things:
- How the course is packaged: a .zip file with the content (web pages, videos, images, the game itself) and an imsmanifest.xml file that tells the platform what is inside and where to start.
- How the course talks to the platform: while the learner works through it, the course sends the LMS data such as whether it is finished, the score or where they left off, through a JavaScript interface every compliant platform provides.
SCORM is not a tool or a program: it is a format. A course built with any web technology (including a serious game made in Godot and published for the browser) can be exported to SCORM.
What SCORM records for each learner
This is what matters most to whoever runs the training. A SCORM course can send the platform:
- Status: not started, in progress, completed, passed or failed.
- Score: the result, usually out of 100.
- Time: how long the learner spent in each session.
- Resume point: where they left off, so they continue there instead of starting over.
- Answers to questions: which questions they got right or wrong, if the course is built to send it.
With that, your LMS produces the usual reports: who has completed mandatory training, who has not started and what the scores are. Nothing else is needed for the standard tracking of a training plan.
SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004 and xAPI: which to choose
There are several versions, and not every platform supports them equally. This is the practical difference:
| SCORM 1.2 | SCORM 2004 | xAPI (Tin Can) and cmi5 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Support | Almost every LMS | Most commercial LMSs; Moodle does not support it | Needs a platform or plugin that supports it |
| What it tracks | Status, score, time and resume point | The same, in more detail, plus navigation rules between lessons | Any activity, also outside the LMS (apps, simulators, events) |
| Where it works | Inside the LMS | Inside the LMS | Inside and outside the LMS |
| When to use it | By default, unless your platform asks for something else | If your LMS asks for it or you need to sequence lessons | If you want to measure learning outside the platform |
An important point if you use Moodle: according to its official documentation, Moodle passes the SCORM 1.2 conformance tests but does not support SCORM 2004; some packages may partly work, but it is not supported. xAPI needs plugins.
Rule of thumb: ask whoever runs your platform which version it supports. If they are not sure, or you use Moodle, ask for SCORM 1.2: it works almost everywhere.
SCORM limitations worth knowing
- It only measures what happens inside the LMS. If the learner practises in an app or a simulator outside the platform, SCORM does not see it. That is what xAPI is for.
- It needs a connection while the course is taken. The course talks to the platform live; offline, progress is not saved.
- The space to store progress is limited, especially in SCORM 1.2. It does not matter for simple courses, but in a long serious game you have to plan what is saved so learners can pick up where they left off.
- Every LMS has its quirks. The standard is the same, but it is worth testing the package on your platform before rolling it out to everyone.
How to turn your training into a SCORM course
If you already have the syllabus (as a PDF, slides or videos), this is how it works with us:
- You tell us what learners should be able to do by the end and which platform it will run on. That tells us which SCORM version you need and what data the course must send.
- We design the modules so they are practised rather than read: questions, cases, simulations or a playable scenario, depending on the goal.
- We build it for the web, so it can also be used in the browser without a platform.
- We export it to SCORM and test it on your LMS with a small group before opening it to everyone.
An interactive course adapts your whole course to an interactive web format, and we can also deliver the SCORM package for your platform. If you would rather try it first, the pilot, one interactive module with its exam, has a fixed price and is delivered in 2 weeks. If you want your team to practise real situations, a serious game can be exported to SCORM too.
