Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM)

What is the Sharable Content Object Reference Model SCORM?

The Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) is a repository of technical standards and specifications for web-based e-learning. It is an XML-based framework used to define and access information about learning objects, so they can be easily shared among different learning management systems (LMSs).

SCORM was developed in response to a United States Department of Defense (DoD) initiative to promote standardization in e-learning. DoD was frustrated by the problems they encountered when trying to share distance learning courses among different learning management systems used within the Department, so in 1997 they formed the Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) specification group to create a way to make learning content portable across various systems. ADL created the first version of SCORM, which originally stood for the Shareable Courseware Object Reference Model. It was designed to facilitate moving course content and related information (such as student records) from one platform to another, to make course content into modular objects that can be reused in other courses, and to enable any LMS to search others for usable course content.

The current official version is 1.2. SCORM specification does not cover all aspects of a learning enterprise; for example, it does not specify how tracking information is stored and what reports are generated, what pedagogical or training models should be used, or how learner information is compiled.

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