If you’re like many e-learning developers, your LMS has prompted numerous head-scratching (or head-banging) moments. Perhaps your course won’t play or resume in your LMS, or it isn’t tracking properly.
Job number one: identify the problem. And to do that, we recommend a handy tool called SCORM Cloud.
SCORM Cloud is an industry-standard testing engine developed by Rustici Software, an organization that knows a lot about SCORM and helped develop its successor (xAPI/Tin Can API).
It supports all LMS specs—AICC, SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004, xAPI, and cmi5—and it’s free, making it an ideal LMS troubleshooting superhero. (You can create an account here.)
In this article, we’ll show you how to use SCORM Cloud to test your project, from zipping your content to verifying tracking. Here we go!
Step 1: Zip Your Content
First, publish your course for LMS and create a zipped file of the published output.
If you’re using Storyline 360, Presenter 360, Quizmaker 360, or Engage 360, you can do this by clicking on the Zip button in the Publish Successful window.
If you’re using Rise 360, export your Rise 360 course as a cmi5, xAPI, SCORM, or AICC package and save it to your computer.
If you’re testing AICC content, see this article for special instructions.
Step 2: Upload Your Published Output
Log in to SCORM Cloud, then click Add Content and select Import a SCORM, AICC, xAPI, or cmi5 package.
Then click Browse, find your Zip file, and click Open. Finally, click on Import Course.
SCORM Cloud will upload your course and take you to the course home page.
Step 3: Create an Invitation
It’s possible to launch your course directly from the course home page, but opening it that way doesn’t mimic a true learner experience and results won’t show in LMS reports. That’s why we recommend clicking Share and then Invite.
That will open up another window. Here, click on Create Invitation.
This will generate an unguessable URL that you can use yourself or share with others. For an extra layer of security, you could also choose the Private Invitation option.
Step 4: Test Your Course
Copy the URL into the address bar of a new browser window. Enter your email address and name. Your results will be tracked under these credentials. Then, click on Ok. Now take me to my training.
At this point, test your course and attempt to reproduce the problems that prevented it from behaving as expected in your LMS. Watch for display problems of any kind, make sure your content suspends and resumes as you’d expect, and keep an eye out for unexpected behavior in general.
When you’re done testing, exit the course and confirm that your score and status are displayed correctly.
Step 5: Verify Tracking
Now that you’ve tested your course as a learner would experience it, you can review the SCORM Cloud reports for accuracy. To do so, return to the course details page, click Reportage, then drill down into the available reporting data.
Tip: If your course details page is no longer open, just return to your course library and click the course name.
What’s Next?
If your course works properly in SCORM Cloud but not in your LMS, open a support case with your LMS provider to troubleshoot the issue. They’ll know how best to help with LMS-specific problems.
If your Articulate content doesn’t play, resume, or track correctly in SCORM Cloud, submit a case to our support team so we can take a closer look. Be sure to include a copy of your project file so we can try to reproduce the problem.
Need more help troubleshooting? Check out these other resources:
If you have any other troubleshooting suggestions, share your thoughts with us and other community members in the comments below.
And if you’re tired of spending time troubleshooting your LMS, try Reach 360. Our frictionless LMS is integrated with Articulate 360 apps, so you can publish directly and be confident that everything will work as expected. It’s fast and hassle-free!
