SCORM assumes the existence of a suite of services called by some a "Learning Management System" and by others a "Learning Content Management System", and formerly called a "Computer Managed Instruction" system.

Never mind the terminology for now, but assume in the SCORM world there is a set of services that launches learning content, keeps track of learner progress, figures out in what order (sequence) learning objects are to be delivered, and reports student mastery through a learning experience.

Important Thing #1: SCORM is needed to standardize how to launch and track directed learning experiences, and to define the intended behavior and logic of complex learning experiences so content can be reused, moved, searched for, and recontexualized.

Simple hyper-linked web sites (like this one) don't need SCORM because the user (you) aren't being tracked and assessed for skill/competency mastery.

Important Thing #2: SCORM enables complex directed learning experiences that go far beyond what can be done with simple hyperlinked web content.

Over the past four years, an LMS model has evolved and is being refined.

I have often described SCORM to be like a bookshelf housing volumes (specifications) that originated in other organizations including ARIADNE, AICC, IMS and IEEE.

Note, however, that often these specifications have been extended, and additional detail and implementation guidance has been added (along with test software).

SCORM is, therefore, more than just a collection of others work, though it directly relies on the source specifications.

Important Thing #3: SCORM has three parts:

1. Overview - about the model, vision and future

2. Content Aggregation Model - how to put learning content together so it can be moved and reused.

3. Run Time Environment: How content is launched and the learner's progress is tracked and reported back.

The first specification, which was developed by a number of standards groups including IEEE, ARIADNE, Dublin Core, and IMS is "Learning Object Metadata". This is a dictionary of tags that are used to describe learning content in a variety of ways.

Metadata describes what the content is, who owns it, what costs (if any), technical requirements, educational purpose, etc. Metadata tags provide information about content to help search for and discover content over the Internet or within content repositories. Metadata is often described as “data about data”.

The second specification in CAM is the so-called XML "binding" for the metadata tags (from IMS). This defines how to code the tags in XML so they are machine (and human) readable.

Important Thing #4: Packaging defines how learning content of all types can be exchanged between systems in a standardized way.

Packaging consists of "zipping" all relevant files together with an XML "manifest" that defines all of the contents and their relationship to one another. Content packages can then be imported and exported to Learning Management Systems or development tools.

Within the manifest of a content package, there is a so-called "organization" that defines the structure of the overall learning experience. This section defines the intended behavior of the content and is "ingested" by and LMS when a package is imported. The LMS uses the organization to determine what to deliver and when.

Important Thing #5: The "organization" part of packaging is the blueprint for the design of a particular learning experience. It tells an LMS what the designer intended when the learning experience was authored.

During the evolution of the SCORM suite of specifications, a standardized way was needed for content to send information back and forth between the learner (content) and the LMS.

ADL worked with AICC to develop a web-friendly approach using JavaScript. An Application Program Interface (API) was defined that provides a standard way of communicating with an LMS, regardless of what tools are used to develop the content. The API provides a simple means to “get” and “set” information from a user’s browser to the server-side LMS. The API is like a telephone line; the data model (below) is the conversation over the phone line.

Once a communications link is established via an API, a specification was needed for what to communicate. Things like score, mastery, time in content, completion status, etc.

ADL worked with AICC to derive from the AICC CMI data model a starting set of data elements that content can "get" and "set" over the API.

Important Thing #6: The data model standardizes how LMS systems track learners.

So far in this short primer, SCORM shows how to tag content, package, aggregate learning objects, launch content, and track learner performance. When specifications for these things were stable, ADL went to work with others in industry to add the remaining “missing pieces”.

We knew long ago that the process of creating complex behaviors, such as remediation branching, wasn't supported well (or at all) in the early CAM specifications. (We knew this, but had worked on the base specifications first, knowing we'd have to get back to this.) In early 2004, a new edition of SCORM was released that included sequencing to address the missing functionality, and to update and correct the rest of SCORM based on what had been learned by implementers, and to synchronize the versions of specifications with the final IEEE version of these standards.

Since 2004, there have been several other updates to SCORM that included corrections and clarifications to the specifications as well as to ADL’s conformance test software. As of early 2007, SCORM 2004 is in its third edition. Go here for the latest downloads and release information.

ADL worked with IMS to establish a new working group during 2001 and 2002 to address these limitations. The first thing the group did was to gather use cases from a number of content developers to see what they were designing, and to be sure we were able to do what they wanted.

This work was incorporated into SCORM 2004 in the "organization" secion of the CAM book. ADL also enhanced and extended a free, open source tool called "Reload" that you can use to create sequencing rules, test them, and export content packages with the rules embedded. You can download this tool here. Other tools can be found at in the Marketplace here in the adlCommunity.