SCORM

SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) is the long-standing packaging and run-time standard that lets one course run inside almost any learning management system without custom integration. It was created by ADL in the early 2000s, and the two versions still in the field are SCORM 1.2 (the most widely supported) and SCORM 2004 (which added sequencing and navigation rules). A SCORM package is a ZIP file containing an imsmanifest.xml that describes the course structure, plus the HTML, video, and JavaScript that make up the content. At run time the content talks to the LMS through a small JavaScript API, reporting values such as completion status, score, and a single bookmark for resume. Its main limitation for video learning is that it only tracks what happens inside the LMS-launched window and stores a thin set of fields, so fine-grained signals like exactly which seconds of a video were watched do not fit. It also assumes a browser window launched by the LMS, which makes mobile, offline, and cross-device tracking awkward. Despite this it remains the safest default when a course must work on a corporate LMS today, and it is the baseline that xAPI and cmi5 were designed to move beyond.

The handbook · 7 volumes

Fora Soft Video Engineering Handbook

SCORM tells the LMS that a lesson was completed, but it says nothing about how the video inside the package should stream. Our seven-volume handbook covers that video stack; for SCORM courses with video start with Volume 3 on players, ABR, and subtitles, then Volume 2 on HLS and DASH packaging and Volume 1 on encoding. Written by Nikolay Sapunov, CEO at Fora Soft.

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