Exit and Resume on a different computer

Apr 30, 2013

I just received this email from a student re exit Articulate SCORM and resume on a different computer...

'I have a question in regards to my online training. I have attempted several times to do my training on my work computer and then continue it onto my home computer. When it asks me if I want to pick up where I left off (and I answer yes), it does not advance me to the spot where I originally had left off. I have completed several of the courses over again (thinking that would help) but it still does not show that I have completed them. I  have completed the courses #4 - #12 and yet when I pulled it up on my work computer today, it is having my repeat all of those and not showing that they have been completed! Please help me! Thanks so much!'


Is it possible to straddle 2 machines like this? How is exit and resume and completion tracking handled? are there cookies on the first machine that are not on the second or is the information stored on the LMS host?

Thanks, Doug

1 Reply
Steve Flowers

In a SCORM package, the module should resume no matter where the participant launches. It seems like there could be multiple problems here.

It is possible to straddle 2 machines / networks like this. Exit and resume are handled through a couple of different data fields on the LMS. Status is primarily held in a field called suspend_data. This is analogous to a cookie but it's stored on the LMS so it's pulled up no matter where the participant accesses the course. In a SCORM 1.2 course, suspend data can be limited to 4K characters. If this is a very large course, the suspend data could be overloaded but it would have to be a REALLY big module. 

Not completing the module is a different mechanism entirely. This still uses JavaScript to communicate but is a separate call than the storage and retrieval of suspend data.

A few questions to help get to the cause of the problem:

  • Is this a unique issue or are other folks experiencing the same thing? 
  • What browser was the participant using (at work and at home)? 
  • What LMS is the module being launched from?
  • If the module is launched exclusively from work, is the participant able to complete the module? 

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