Scorm 2004 Package Design

There are a number of eLearning standards that are supported by various authoring platforms and learning management systems, and they all have pros and cons. Oftentimes you’ll need to make a call on which standard best supports the goals of you and your client, taking into account such things as the delivery format, whether tracking is required and to what degree, how the course will be consumed, etc. So it’s important to understand the peculiarities of each eLearning standard, and which one to choose for specific tasks.We’ve conducted a thorough analysis of all existing eLearning standards, and we’re sure it’ll help you understand the differences between them and make an informed choice for your next project. Now let’s take a closer look at each of them. AICCAICC is a very early eLearning standard. It was created in 1988 by the Aviation Industry Computer-Based Training Committee to standardize the materials and technology used to train airline workers.The AICC standard uses the HTTP AICC Communication Protocol (HACP) to communicate between an LMS and the course content. The HACP methodology is quite straightforward, using an HTML form and simple text strings to transmit information to and from the LMS.

How AICC works AICC todayThe original AICC standard is still used by many organizations for legacy reasons, so it’s unlikely the standard will completely disappear anytime soon, but for all intents and purposes, it’s a dead standard. Reasons to considerGiven that AICC is extremely old by technology standards, is there anything it can still do better than the newer standards that have followed?

Actually, there are a couple of areas where AICC still has an advantage:. Security: AICC is more secure. How SCORM worksSCORM 1.2 became the default technical standard to deliver eLearning via an LMS, and has massive support both from authoring tools and learning management systems. SCORM 1.2 was superseded by SCORM 2004. SCORM 1.2 vs.

2004There are not that many differences between SCORM versions; they are summarized below:. Status separation: SCORM 1.2 only supports a lesson status of passed, failed, completed, incomplete, browsed, or not attempted.

SCORM 2004 divides the lessonstatus into ‘completionstatus’ (completed/incomplete) and ‘successstatus’ (passed/failed). Read/Write interactions: SCORM 1.2 allows you to write only the ‘interaction data’. SCORM 2004 specifies interactions to be read/write, so lessons can now query the status of a past interaction, get the result, and act accordingly (for example ‘user answered a question at the beginning, so they don’t get another chance to answer it). Sequencing: SCORM 2004 has been successful in improving the author’s control over the content using the ‘sequencing’ part of the specification.

It offers a number of rules that define the order in which learners access the content. They are restricted to predefined paths, and you can allow them to save their results and resume later.SCORM todayBoth SCORM 1.2 and 2004 continue to be the default standards used by many in the eLearning industry, and have widespread support within modern software tools. SCORM remains popular for corporate training. Reasons to considerAs SCORM is still the current default industry standard, there’s a range of benefits. If you want to create a simple working eLearning course or have a wealth of pre-made content to choose from, it’s hard to beat SCORM as a technical standard. Here are some of its strengths:. Easy content creation: Most SCORM content authoring tools are quite straightforward and user friendly.

XAPI todayThe Experience API is modern, simple and flexible, and does away with many restrictions associated with older standards like SCORM. With support for mobile learning, simulations, virtual reality, complex games, real-world activities, experiential learning, social learning, offline learning, and collaborative learning, it looks set to be a powerful standard in the coming years. Reasons to considerWith a ground-up design made specifically to release modern learning developers from the shackles of outdated standards, xAPI has some excellent benefits. Record almost any activity: The structure of xAPI “statements” uses nouns, verbs, and objects, so you can record almost any activity you can think of. Flexible learning histories: Experience API allows Learning Record Stores (LRSs) to talk to each other.

LRSs can share data and transcripts, and learner experiences can follow from one LRS (or organization) to another. Personal data lockers: Your learners can have their own “personal data lockers” with their personal learning information inside them. These can be transported between different organizations.

All device support: Any enabled device can send xAPI statements, for instance, mobile phones, hardware simulations, electronic games, and medical devices. A constant network connection isn’t necessary as occasional connectivity is fine. Tracking outside an LMS: You can track learning events without being restricted by LMS functionality. Tracking can begin wherever the learner is and on whatever device they’re using.DownsidesxAPI is a new standard and promises a lot. To a large extent, it does deliver, at least technically, however using its features to achieve actual benefits and ROI on training is something that needs more work to fully realize. Some things to consider are:.

Performance metric setup: The hard work is in setting up performance metrics and measuring improvement through various learning activities. Measuring impact: Just reporting that a learner did something doesn’t show qualitatively or quantitatively whether that activity had any impact on knowledge or performance. Data usefulness: The wider value of new eLearning standards like xAPI is data, but the data is meaningless out of context. So unless you have a plan in place on how to correlate activity to performance and context, the value of xAPI may be significantly less.Final verdictxAPI offers exciting new ways to track and manage training content that isn’t limited to strictly eLearning-specific software: authoring tools and LMSs. If you plan to use these features now or in the future, it’s an excellent standard.

However, if you are mainly developing and delivering traditional eLearning content via an LMS, the extra configuration and very different way of doing things may mean you are better off sticking to a more well-established standard like SCORM. Cmi5is the result of efforts starting from an AICC working group and brought to release by pioneers of the xAPI community under the stewardship of ADL.

The scope of cmi5 is precise and is aimed at defining how to handle xAPI activities in launched scenarios, like playing a course in an LMS.cmi5 introduces a file named `cmi5.xml`. This is similar to a SCORM manifest file as it contains XML metadata that describes a Course Structure as a series of container blocks and Assignable Units (AUs). This file is provided to cmi5 compatible launching systems (e.g. LMSs) for import. An AU is the launchable content of the package, and the content assets can be included inside the package or hosted remotely.It was released for production use in June 2016.

Scorm 2004 Package Design Ideas

Cmi5 todayAs of now, cmi5 has been adopted by many platforms. The standard is much simpler than older and more ambitious standards such as SCORM 2004. The fact that it simplifies and improves the use of xAPI by restricting some functionality and by adding constraining rules is a plus for most potential users. In other words, cmi5 is a bridge between SCORM and xAPI that takes the best of these two standards for LMSs. How cmi5 works Reasons to consider cmi5cmi5 essentially takes a lot of the headache out of defining things in xAPI, so it seeks to improve upon that standard with the following features:. Packaging: Flexible packaging options allow content assets to be included inside a package or hosted remotely.

Launch mechanism: The cmi5 launch mechanism provides several important pieces of information to AUs during the launch. A web browser is the most common launch platform, but other launch scenarios such as mobile apps, simulators, and IOT devices are also supported. Credential handshake: As part of the launch process, the AU retrieves credentials from the launch system in a separate request that allows those credentials to only be provided once. This makes them more secure than previous credentialing processes as credentials are expected to be tied to a specific session, are expirable, and generally include limited permissions. Consistent information model: cmi5 includes precise categories for the statements captured by the Assignable Units (AUs) as well as the launching system.

There’s a “cmi5 defined” statement that is specifically designed for capturing session details and core eLearning principles such as pass/fail, content completion, duration, and score. You can group these by the assignable units. Same window launch: Content can launch in the same window as the LMS. The LMS disappears and the content opens.

When the content is done, it disappears and the LMS returns. Distributed content: Content can reside anywhere, for example on a mobile device.Downsides of cmi5From a technical standpoint, there are really no downsides to cmi5. From a functional perspective, the only negatives to this standard would be the result of legacy infrastructure and tools. Final verdictAlthough cmi5 is still a work in progress, both consumers and authoring tool vendors have bought into the standard, and all large authoring tools now support cmi5. Unless you have other considerations that steer you towards another standard, perhaps for legacy reasons, cmi5 is a great choice in 2019 and for the future.

Comparison Chart of eLearning StandardsThe table below shows a quick view of the capabilities of all the eLearning standards we’ve reviewed. AICCSCORM 1.2SCORM 2004xAPIcmi5Course sequencingNNYYYCompletion, spent time, pass/fail trackingNNYYYAdvanced tracking (games, simulations, informal learning, offline learning, etc.)NNNYYSingle scoresNNYYYMultiple scoresNNNYYNo web browser requiredNNNYYMobile-friendlinessNNNYYFinal ThoughtsBy now, you should have a clearer idea of which eLearning standard will suit your needs or those of your organization. Whichever standard you decide to go with, you‘ll need an authoring tool that publishes to your chosen standard with as little fuss as possible.The allows you to publish courses in any eLearning standard: AICC, SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004, xAPI, and cmi5 are all supported out of the box. To get started authoring with iSpring, just sign up for a.