SCORM is the globally accepted standard for creating online learning tools for any topic. SCORM is short for Shareable Content Object Reference Model and was first created by the US Department of Defence as part of an ongoing effort to regulate all the e learning programs that have become so popular today.
The internet has emerged as a very powerful way to obtain information on any topic and expert tutorials and online classes are available for almost any subject you can think of. Tenured professors from leading universities as well as self taught professionals share their knowledge on the internet and SCORM tries to ensure that all this information is in a form that is easy to understand. SCORM defines a standard set of guidelines that all e learning systems must adhere to in order to ensure global compliance. The latest update of SCORM is the version 1.3 and was released in 2004. For this reason, the latest version of this e learning standard is also known as SCORM 2004.
Online educational programs have to major elements. The content that must be provided to the student is the first, and a medium through which this content is shared with the student makes up the second part. The medium is also called LMS, or Learning Management System. A LMS is generally used to provide students with the educational content in an orderly manner and record the progress of the student as they clear basic levels and move up towards more advanced topics. There are many formats of LMS that are popular today and SCORM ensures their compatibility with any content that is created keeping the SCORM guidelines in mind. Simply put, if the educational content follows SCORM guidelines, it can be distributed across the world using any LMS that is SCORM compliant.
The biggest advantage of using an e learning system that is SCORM 2004 compliant is that it can be easily used with any popular and easily available LMS o significantly boost the reach of the educational program. This is especially useful for e learning programs that are now being run in developing countries. Any LMS that the educational systems can afford in these countries will be able to direct the educational content at the students in an organized and orderly way. Not only does this ensure universal compatibility, SCORM 2004 also ensures that any software that students use for e learning render the educational content properly and without any error.
The benefits of creating SCORM compatible E-Learning content
Computers have made a tremendous difference in the way education is imparted to students across the world and the growing popularity of E learning programs has made internet the best place to learn about anything. Extensive courses on topics like Programming, Web development, Mathematics and Physics are easily available and people from all corners of the world have been using them to learn about these subjects.
The importance of a global standard was felt after dozens of Learning Management Systems, or LMS, were created by companies and they did not work well with each other. ADL, a subsidiary of the US Department of Defence created SCORM to solve this problem, and today it is the global standard for all E learning software that are used. SCORM is an acronym of Shareable Content Object Reference Model and it ensures compatibility between various free and commercial Learning Management Systems.
SCORM 2004, the latest iteration of this E learning standard was introduced back in 2004 and every major E learning platform today complies with it. SCORM ensures compatibility between the educational content that is created for each subject and the various LMS that are available online. E-learning solutions can be divided into two major portions. The basic LMS is the software that remains the same irrespective of the subject you are studying. The educational content that you read combines with the LMS to create an effective E-learning solution. With SCORM 2004, students and educational institutes can be assured that any educational content that has been created and formatted following the guidelines is always compatible with the E-learning solution that they use.
E-learning software are increasingly adopting SCORM 2004 guidelines and most major online education providers strive to create solutions that are compatible with this globally accepted standard. Many educational institutes have started to reject e learning solutions that do not follow the SCORM standard as these solutions cause compatibility issues and limit the options of the institutes when it comes to educational content. This has led to a global rise in the use of SCORM standard and now content and LMS both are created keeping the SCORM guidelines in mind. SCORM helps bring down knowledge content integration cost by as much as 80% and result in huge savings for educational institutes and also ensure that any educational content that they acquire from third party vendors is fully compatible with the Learning Management Software that they are using.
