Why Choose The SCORM Standard In eLearning Solutions
The educational environment is constantly developing. Now everyone can gain knowledge, increase qualification, and get certifications online. And each company can use eLearning products for employee onboarding, training, and progress management as well. The industry is quickly growing: More and more enterprises build their own courses tailored to business specific needs. Lack of necessity to check whether somebody has really read required materials or successfully passed the test is very tempting. By creating an eLearning solution a company can easily integrate new employees in working environment, track their progress, and build team cohesion. You can learn more about eLearning products employment here. Certainly, that’s great. However, implementing eLearning software has never been simple. Especially 17 years ago, when there was no specification of how to create content right and make it compliant with Learning Management Systems (LMSs). Even today, having required spec, protocols, and tools at hand, it’s rather challenging. So, why the SCORM standard came to life?
Some Time Ago - Or Why SCORM Came To Life?
Back then, in the end of 1990s, demand for eLearning programs was constantly growing. The US departments was producing a lot of online trainings and courses, duplicating content in large amounts, generating inconsistent completion and test results. Also, learning content didn’t work with the platform or Learning Management System it wasn’t tailored for. So, it had to be rebuilt according to different requirements. This resulted in a mess and total inconvenience.
The problem was needed to be solved. So, in 1999, the US Department of Defense established an Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) initiative, which was to create a set of technical standards for building eLearning content. These guidelines were named SCORM.
Thus, we can say that the SCORM standard is a set of standardized specifications explaining developers how Learning Management Systems should read and present the eLearning content and how they should interact.
Get A Brief Insight In SCORM Principles
We identify the 5 key principles of this standard. Exactly they can briefly explain you the benefits of using SCORM in building eLearning solutions.
1. Interoperability.
The main principle, even the purpose SCORM was created for. Thanks to its interoperability SCORM ensures the ability to use educational content regardless of platform it was built for. It means you can move to another Learning Management System vendor or use your SCORM compliant courses on another platform at any moment. So, SCORM also ensures simple and convenient course migration.
2. Adaptability.
SCORM allows to customize eLearning software to your business. With SCORM compliant solutions you get the possibility to adapt courses or platform according to company specific needs and requirements. There are a plenty of tools this format provides developers with (find them below).
3. Reusability.
You can use learning content (courses) in different conditions: Apps, programs, and contexts. Reusability is one of the main possibilities ensured by this format.
4. Efficiency.
SCORM provides software engineers with technical spec of how to build eLearning content. Also it offers a lot of tools to simplify and enhance courses development. So, SCORM ensures raise of building process efficiency and to some extent optimization. And as a result you save time and expenses for technical instruction delivery and tailoring eLearning solutions for different systems / platforms.
5. Durability.
SCORM also ensures the convenience and simplification to suit new technologies without additional and just expensive updates and follow-on revision.
SCORM Authoring Tools Or Features You Can Implement
1. Add Features.
SCORM allows to add such useful features as directing customers and learners to click on various elements, rendering dynamic text, implement a lot of components such as exams, videos, and tests. You can make the process of passing the course user-friendly, interactive, and just engaging.
2. Enhanced Logic.
You can define the whole time for passing the course, as well as indicate the order of the components. It will be weird if the final exam will be in the middle. So with SCORM authoring tools you easily put it after the total course. Also you can make a separate test for each educational program part to better track user results.
3. Analyze Statistics.
It’s great to track customer test results, that’s true. But what about tracking time they spend on each screen, page, exercise, video? You will get the possibility to clearly see each “user profile: Their success, failures, where he or she has a rough ride. Also you can receive and analyze general statistics. These features are especially useful for companies that want to integrate eLearning / HRM platforms to educate and onboard employees.
4. Data Visualization.
One of good features you can add is data visualization. This will make your solution more user-friendly. Imagine how many users struggle to read multiple reports. Data visualization will allow course participants to easier interpret user results, analyze statistics, and other information. Thus the reporting process will be less time-consuming and more convenient. Also you can implement report scheduling to automate solution reporting system.
Final Word
We have experience in using SCORM during eLearning app development and integration. Recently we have finished the project with the main goal to build eLearning / HRM platform and deliver it to the end customer. And at the beginning we had to decide how to make the solution quality and modern. So, we chose the SCORM standard as a widespread and convenient solution to meet the goals.
Thus, if you need to choose technologies and define requirements to your eLearning project, SCORM will be a good tool to make the solution tailored to your business specific needs, and implement a lot of efficient features as well.
