SCORM and the Learning Management System

What actually is SCORM?

SCORM, Shareable Content Object Reference Model, is a standard for web-based e-learning that has been developed to define communication between client-side content and a runtime environment. In the context of this article, the client-side content would be the course launched by a student and the runtime environment would be a Learning Management System. The SCORM standard has undergone several version releases from SCORM v1.0 in 1999 to the SCORM 2004 3rd Edition in 2006. The purpose of this article is to look in a little more detail at the communication flow between the LMS and a course that is SCORM v2.1 compliant. The intention is not to review every possible communication but just the main calls. We will look at SCORM in the context of a SCORM course, i.e. a course that has been developed and built to communicate with a Learning Management System using the SCORM standard.

First of all, let me define a few terms that I will use and that you may hear in reference to SCORM courses:

* API (Application Programming Interface)
The SCORM standard has a defined API. The term API is not unique to SCORM but is a well known term in application development. The SCORM API is a documented set of messages that are sent between the course and the LMS. The message may require a response so that the sender of the message is guaranteed that the message has been received and processed appropriately.
* Manifest
The manifest is the master file for the SCORM course that contains references to all other files that make up the complete content of the course.
* Single SCO
A single SCO is the most basic and most common form of a SCORM course. All files that make up the course, regardless of the number of lessons in the course, are packaged as one SCO unit. When the course is launched within the Learning Management System, it communicates with the SCO.
* Multiple SCO
A multiple SCO is where a group of files within the course can be treated as an individual SCO but packaged together with other SCOs to comprise one course. For example, the files that comprise each lesson of a SCORM course can be grouped together so that each lesson is a SCO in its own right and all the SCOs will comprise the one course.

Course Installation

For the course to be available in the Learning Management System, the SCORM package needs to be installed on the system. The method of installation will vary from LMS to LMS but will typically go through the following steps:

1. The manifest file will be located and interpreted.
2. The course identified in the manifest will be created in the Learning Management System and the course properties will be populated with the values defined in the manifest. These properties may include course name, creator, etc.
3. The lessons of the course will be created in the LMS and the lesson properties will be populated with the values defined in the manifest. Lesson properties would include information such as the path to the lesson file, passing grade, etc.

The Learning Management System should provide a facility to overwrite an already existing SCORM course so that if updates are made to the existing course, an installation will deploy those changes.
Course Communication

Initialization

When the course is launched within its run time environment, which for our purposes is the LMS, it will detect the existence of the API and attempt to make initial communication with the Learning Management System. This is a one-time handshake to ensure that communication has been established. The SCORM course is responsible for locating the API in the child browser session that it has launched in from the parent. The API is typically deployed using JavaScript. The API call that the course uses to do this is the LMSInitialize call. When the Learning Management System receives this API message call from the course, the LMS will initialize and respond to inform the course that communication has been established. An object model has been created in memory and the properties have been initialized to default values.

Intermediary Course Communication

Once the course has been launched and initialized with the LMS, the interaction between the two is determined by the course. It will use LMSGetValue and LMSSetValue API message calls to retrieve or populate data in the object model. Bear in mind that the object model exists in memory and has not been sent to the Learning Management System.

When the course needs to write the data so it exists in the database, it will send the API message LMSCommit. The LMSCommit will be received by the Learning Management System and the data stored to the LMS. The course developer will determine when an LMSCommit is required and it will be sent to the LMS when the event is activated. This could be at the end of each lesson or it could be at the end of the course.

The LMSCommit is an optional message and does not require a response from the Learning Management System.

Finalization

When the course is completed, it will send an LMSFinish API message to the LMS. This may be triggered by an event in the course that activates the LMSFinish or it may be on the Unload event of the HTML page when the user closes the browser. The LMSFinish indicates to the LMS that the user has ended the course and any further communication between the two will be rejected. The LMSFinish also initiates the Learning Management System to store any data that has been populated in the object model and complete the unloading of the course.

The key difference between the LMSCommit and LMSFinish API message calls is that the latter will prevent further communication with the course.

The LMSFinish is a mandatory message and does not require a response from the LMS.
Learning Management System Considerations

When the LMSFinish is received by the LMS, there are several scenarios that may need to be taken into account. Some of these may be the product of errors in course development but are scenarios that have been experienced in interfacing with a SCORM compliant course:

1. The SCORM course may indicate the student has failed a lesson but the score passed from the SCO may be greater than the lesson passing grade that was installed from the manifest.
2. The SCORM course may indicate a lesson status for the user and pass the score of the lesson but there has been no passing grade defined for the lesson.
3. It would be advantageous for the Learning Management System to provide API message logging so that a communication history may be recreated for debugging or historical purposes. Consideration should be given to the following:
1. Method of storage, whether it is stored in a database or out to a file.
2. Is logging on all the time or is there a switch to turn logging on or off? (There will be some overhead when logging is switched on, as opposed to being off.)
3. If logging is to file, is there a log file for each course, each user, or one large SCORM log file?
4. How is log data purged? When logging is stored in the database, how often is the table purged? Can the data be deleted or does it need to be archived? If logging is to a file, does the file build in size until it is manually renewed or does the logging mechanism have a trigger that automatically generates a new file? (If the file is left to grow too big, it becomes very impractical to open it in a text editor.)

Conclusions

SCORM has a proven track record in the web based e-learning world and is the accepted standard in the industry. Reputable LMS vendors should support your SCORM course out of the box. The SCORM 2004 version has added much more control and sequencing at a more granular level than SCORM v1.2 however those differences are significant enough to cause the user base to be slower in adopting the SCORM 2004 version.

Understanding LMS (Learning Management Software) Hosting

Technology changes and growth rates are increasing exponentially, demanding higher expectations that your company is fully adept and qualified with the most current expertise.

Workforce skills and training from five years ago, though still of value, leaves an open door for your competition to take your accounts. Economic times means the battle for clients is getting even fiercer each day. How prepared are your staff members?

THE TRAINING INVESTMENT
Ensuring your work team is operating at top effectiveness is no longer a desired goal; it’s a necessity for survival. If your staff falls short in meeting your customers’ needs, there are plenty of other companies ready to walk in the door to lure your clients away using expert staff who can deliver what they need.

You could send your key personnel away for updated training and skills upgrading, but can you really afford to have them away from your daily business? Apart from the enormous expenses to cover their training and accommodations while out of office, your support staffs are still left with quickly aging skills and talents – and expenditure to keep everyone fully trained is usually financially prohibitive.

Business continues, whether your employees are in the office or out getting more recent training. You need to find a viable solution that is both time effective and economically manageable.

E-LEARNING TO UPGRADE SKILLS
E-learning and CBT (Computer Based Training) is how your competition has been gaining the edge to match, and surpass your own services. Not only is it exceptionally cost effective, it also helps ensure all your department personnel are all operating from the same operations page. You can now build a unified workforce to deliver peak performance service to your customers.

COST EFFECTIVENESS
Online Training systems do provide an efficient and affordable solution by allowing you to easily structure and manage the time required by each individual to progress according to their needs and ability. Your employees can access their training sessions from their own computer, and progress through the sessions according to their own schedule and learning curve. CBT also allows the user to refresh or review specific processes and methods they’ve learned.

The courses allow each individual to progress at their own speed, and as your services require. However, CBT is of best value only when the online fields covered are diversified enough to cover the wide range of skills building your company may need for your daily operation. There are many general online training courses throughout the web, but you need certification or professional level instruction for business, not beginners or high school instruction.

You need:
• A diverse selection of highly specialized fields of study.
• Accurate, and up to date, tutorials covering specific software, programming, and IT branches.
• The ability to select and allocate the specific training each department must follow.
• Control and minimize unnecessary training costs by limiting which courses are actually pertinent to individual employees.
• Measure the progress and success of each individuals understanding by means of self-assessments, quizzes, and hands-on practice lab simulations.
• Build a tailored system set to meet your specific company needs and priority.

YOUR HOSTED LMS
Building your own learning management infrastructure would require a prohibitive upfront investment in hardware, software, implementation, manpower, time constraints, security installations, and IT maintenance.

Using a Learning Management Software Hosting plan, you eliminate all those extraneous costs. You can now have a readymade tailored system to get your employees started immediately. For additional focus, you can request a custom hosting plan with branded logos and custom courseware to further enhance your online eLearning solution.

If required, your hosting plan may include the development and creation of custom designed video training for your company operations. It is one of the most powerful and economical tools for training new staff members, and can enormously cut down their crucial orientation time to begin productivity.

ADDITIONAL STAFF ENDUCEMENTS
Solid LMS isn’t restricted to career specific tasks only: it should include Soft Skills training programs, designed to help your executives and your management team gain the skills they need to compete, and thrive, in even stressful situations.

Soft Skills training includes valuable awareness and direction for management skills such as conflict resolution, marketing, motivation, risk and sales management, and a wide range of development tools to help build a professional staffing team.

One of the most popular business incentives is to provide access to additional training areas as a reward for great performances by your staff members. LMS Hosting provides you with that motivational edge to build the most dependable work team needed to handle all your clients’ needs.

In today’s competitive market, you simply can’t afford not to have your best people at their optimum proficiency. LMS can help you achieve your goals.

Livening up E-Learning by Engaging Learners With Funny Quiz

Making good eLearning courses is a developing art. As a trainer, your goal is to make the training memorable. As you design the course, you must design not only the "what” (or content), but also the "how" (the delivery mechanisms). Integrate funny quiz (like "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire") into eLearning course is an easy way to capture the attention of learners and make your course memorable. Learners will interact with key concepts for your course quickly.

A funny quiz can energize almost any content and produce powerful new understanding for your learners. Funny quiz promote learning – more than revive tension, it creates opportunities for the learners to "interact" with the quiz so as to demonstrate learners' understanding of the course. Many benefits would funny quiz holds to course:
Funny quiz entertains learners with a purpose
Funny quiz gives learners valuable feedback
Funny quiz gives trainers feedback
Funny quiz motivates learners
Funny quiz accelerates learning process

So then, there comes into the question: how to integrate the right funny quiz into your course? Let's take a look at the following steps.

Step 1 - Identify your course objective.
Which objective you want your course to achieve after training, please take careful consideration. Specifically, what skills and knowledge do you want your learners take from your course. Then think about it how the funny quiz will help the learners meet the course objective.

Step 2 - Make course plan
After determining the objective, what you should do is making the lesson plan according to the course objective. Analyze and list the task you wish to cover in your course plan. Supposing you are going to explain the details about H1N1 flu in one course, you list would look something like this:
Course objective for H1N1 flu knowledge: learners will be able to master the details about H1N1 flu.
List what is H1N1 flu
List the Signs and symptoms about H1N1 flu.
Describe how to prevent H1N1 flu
From this list you will develop a set of task that to achieve your lesson objective. The next step is crux to import funny quiz to your lesson and enhance your course.

Step 3 - Choose the funny quiz for your lesson plan
The right funny quiz make a difference in motivate learners. Here are some criteria to select a right funny quiz:
Corresponding with the major lesson objective
Create an opportunity to practice skills
Challenge the learners intellectually
So, follow the criteria to select the right funny quiz. This will do as a Catalyst to help learners master the major point of your course.

Step 4 - Create funny quiz for your course
After choosing the right funny quiz, the following step is creating the funny quiz with the questions you have prepared. Which quiz tool you should choose? Quiz in Flash format instead of plain text quiz would really attract learners' attention, especially for eLearning course. Luckily, some quiz tool could help you create great-looking flash quizzes in minutes without programming skills, such as QuizCreator.

Step 5 - place the funny quiz in your course
Where the funny quiz should be in your course is also important. Generally, placing a funny quiz at the beginning of your course is a good way to take learners into your course. This starter quiz can establish a comfortable environment for learner. Learners will quickly access to the role of the course. On the other hand, you could integrate some outstanding questions into the funny quiz, these questions will cause learners to seek the solution in the course consciously.

The end of the course is a prime time to place the funny quiz. You can add some questions corresponding to the starter funny quiz. This will help you test whether the learners acquire the knowledge or not. If they acquire it, you could advance to the next lesson, and learners will have the feeling of success and be interesting about the next lesson. If don't, you could direct the learners to review the course.

Design eLearning course and apply funny quizzes to your eLearning courses. They'll make your courses better and help you be more productive.