The Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) standard was created to make e-learning content reusable. The standard is set so that content is broken down into developer-defined chunks called "learning objects" in the industry and "SCOs," or sharable content objects, by SCORM. Content that is SCORM conformant would be able to be "consumed" and played by a SCORM conformant learning management system (LMS). In theory, a SCORM conformant LMS could play courses from multiple vendors.
The most-used versions of SCORM are 1.1 and 1.2. Recently, the latest version of the SCORM standard has been released: SCORM 2004. This standard has not yet been universally implemented as companies are beginning to slowly adopt it.
Alva's Level of SCORM Conformance
Alva is officially SCORM certified by Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL). Because there are many types of conformance, it's important to understand Alva's approach to conformance. In general terms, Alva is SCORM 1.2 compliant. This means that Alva's content can be exported into a SCORM 1.2 conformant format. It should be noted that Alva's content, not LMS, is SCORM conformant. This means that, besides working in our own LMS, Alva courses can be played in SCORM 1.2 conformant learning management systems. To date, Alva has been certified to meet the following SCORM conformance standards:
Meta-data is SCORM Version 1.2 MD-XML1 + Optional Conformant
SCORM 1.2 Run-Time Environment Conformant SCO-RTE1+Mandatory and Optional
SCORM Version 1.2 ADLCP-PIF1 Conformant
How Alva’s SCORM Solution Works
When each course is finalized and approved by our clients, we publish a separate SCORM conformant version of the course. The SCORM conformant versions of the courses are given to our clients to implement in their own SCORM conformant LMS.
Often, the implications of SCORM are not fully understood. When SCORM versions of e-learning courses are published, static web pages are created. Because of the SCORM standard, they must be published this way. Occasionally, this limits the interactivity of the SCORM version. The limitations are usually restricted to data capturing and repopulating when users are asked to input data into form fields. This is because the consuming LMSs handle data capturing in different ways.
Alva's SCORM solutions look virtually identical to Alva's high-bandwidth e-learning courses—complete with graphics, Flash animations, and audio. The one difference is that questions have an HTML format instead of Flash-based format.
As SCORM continues to evolve and gain greater and greater adoption in the marketplace, Alva too is continuing to evolve our SCORM solution offering.
For more information about SCORM please go to www.adlnet.org.
