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updating SCORM best practice

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I have a new SCORM package ready that describes our organisational systems. However, the systems are being tweaked and the package already needs updating. This has highlighted that it is going to need editing every 3-6 months.

So what is best practice in terms of uploading an edited SCORM, to preserve progress and completion data, and prevent corruption of the data? (At any one time there could be 20-50 people with the eLearning in progress).

The SCORM package is created in Articulate Rise and Storyline. Articulate say that the SCORM can't be updated once it's 'live', without risking a loss of progress data. I've run some tests making text changes, without adding or subtracting lessons, and progress was maintained once the SCORM was updated. However, I want the risk of corruption to be zero!

Are there best practice criteria for updating a SCORM to maintain compatible and preserve progress data?

One option I have for this new course is to clearly say that progress will not be saved for this version and the course needs to be completed in one sitting.

Any thoughts or strategies?

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Hi Paul

As long as the item identifier in the SCORM imsmanifest file is the same in the old and new SCORM package then the completion data should be retained.

The imsmanifest file is part of the zip file in the SCORM package.

There is also an option to automatically update the package (after checking these item ID are the same)

Step-by-step guide

Click the ‘Turn editing on’ button at the top right of the course page
Click the ‘Add an activity or resource’ link in the section you wish to add your SCORM package, then in the activity chooser, select SCORM package then click the Add button (or select ‘SCORM package’ from the ‘Add an activity’ dropdown menu)
Enter a name and a description.
click the Add button to open the File picker menu in order to choose a file a repository
Select the repository that contains your SCORM zip files
Browse and select the SCORM zip file you wish to add – makes sure you select the option to create an alias/shortcut to the file.
Set the auto-update setting to “every day” – which will check overnight if a package update is required or “every time it’s used” to check if a new package is available every time a user enters the SCORM.
Click the button ‘Save and display’ at the bottom of the page and then enter the SCORM package to make sure it has worked!

Thanks to this Dan Marsden's article

Regards

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Thanks, Craig

I'd heard before about the identifier. I tested this as each Articulate Rise course SCORM version has a different identifier and I found the progress was still tracked. However, I have 3 of 70 people that had to do the training more than once to get it to complete. The progress data was not retained at all. Maybe the identifier change is why.

What is the benefit of the auto-update? Whether I do the update manually or by auto, I still need to upload the zip file. Is the idea that with the auto-update I might simply FTP to a location and the linking is done for me.

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Hi Paul

I think the auto update is beneficial when more than one course uses the same SCORM .

Once the SCORM is linked in the courses through the alias it can be updated in the one place and the auto update will pull through the update in the courses it is linked to.

regards

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Okay. Thanks.

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Hi Craig

question. I tried to follow your suggestions but it says Auto-update frequency can only be set when the package file is hosted externally. is there no way around that?

Thanks

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