SCORM 2004 specifications when using quizzes

Nov 18, 2021

I've been dealing with a weird question. We have an issue where if we have a quiz in a course, the course is overloading the suspend_data in the LMS, as well as a couple of other oddities with reporting. We did some research and suspect it's because our LMS, Totara 12, does not fully support SCORM 2004. Specifically, it doesn’t support these extensions: 1) Content Aggregation Model, 2) The Run-Time Environment, and 3) Sequencing and Navigation.

My understanding is that when publishing a course with an exam with 2004, the SCORM package uses these specifications. Can someone confirm if that is true, and maybe point to any Storyline-specific documentation about what the SCORM package includes? Our LMS developers don't believe I'd need those extensions and suggest I "turn them off," which I don't think I can do unless I mess with the code in the exported package directly. They believe I'm just not building the course correctly. Any information you can provide would be helpful. Thanks!

Some source info:

https://help.totaralearning.com/display/TL12/SCORM

https://scorm.com/scorm-explained/technical-scorm/scorm-2004-overview-for-developers/ 

 

9 Replies
Phil Mayor

Totara uses the same scorm player as Moodle and this is not not supported well for Scorm 2004 I also believe that development on Scorm 2004 compatibility has been stopped. I am surprised you are overloading the scorm limit of scorm 2004 which edition are you using?

You can use scorm 1.2 in Moodle and when uploading the package override the scorm limits. 

Kristin Hatcher

Thank you Phil. The quiz in question was very difficult, and many users did what users do, which is to click through the course without reading anything and hope they know enough to pass the quiz. Some users were trying 20+ times, and when they finally achieved a passing score, the LMS was not recording the passing score. We thought it was because the suspend_data was being overloaded, but honestly there were others who tried as many times and they didn't have the problem. We couldn't understand what the problem was, and this was the best we'd come up with. 

To override the scorm limits - is this something I do in the scorm package itself? My access to our LMS is fairly limited. 

Still hoping to get an answer to whether a scorm 2004 package from Storyline, where a quiz is included, uses these specification: 1) Content Aggregation Model, 2) The Run-Time Environment, and 3) Sequencing and Navigation. 

Phil Mayor

If they are doing it 20+ times in one attempt it is more than likely their connection the LMS timed out. You should be able to pull a debug log for the attempt which will also have the resume data stored.

For Scorm 1.2 you can override the data limits, it is a long time since I used Moodle as an Admin but the option used to be in the scorm upload settings, but may have been moved to the Scorm seettngs.

I maybe wrong but I am sure all Scorm packages use the Content Aggregation Model as that specifies that it should be a ZIp file, and will also use the run-time environment as the content laods in a browser window,  Storyline does not support Sequencing and navigation.

 

Kristin Hatcher

Thank you Phil. As you may have guessed, there is a lot I don't know about scorm, so I am just learning. Based on what I'm reading and your response, it would appear that a scorm package can't be generated or be useful without the content aggregation model or the run-time environment, so how can Totara not support them, and why are they referred to as extensions? I have a lot to learn. 

Sadly, I do not have admin access to my LMS, and the admins would never agree to override the 1.2 limits, so that leaves that option out for me. 

Kristin Hatcher

Thanks Phil. You say "there should be no reason" I can't override the limits, but the reason is that I work for the US government and everything is locked down. I don't have that checkbox. I looked. 

I am still hoping an articulate employee can direct me to documentation about how a quiz in Storyline uses the content aggregation model and/or the run-time environment because this seems to be the sticking point in my courses. When I don't have a quiz, the courses interact just fine with the LMS. When I do have a quiz, I have LMS problems. Our LMS admins don't believe the CAM or the RTE is the issue, and are asking to see "proof" that Storyline scorm packages use the specifications in a way that is not supported by our LMS. I may need to open a ticket. 

Phil Mayor

I think your problems are related to using scorm 2004 , ideally in Moodle I would use Scorm 1.2, I don't think you are going to get the proof you need, the major problem is that Moodle?Totara is not Scorm 2004 compliant so you need to use Scorm 1.2 and for a large course you need to override the scorm limit. the thing I would investigate are, the bookmarking data size, you can check this yourself in scormcloud, I would also investigate if users are timing out as to me that is a very likely situation.

Kristin Hatcher

Thank you Phil, I appreciate your time on this. I agree with you completely, but sadly I don't have a lot of pull with my LMS people and they believe that the problems stem from me somehow building my courses incorrectly. It's like trying to move a mountain to get them off that idea. But I will ask about the override limit option. Maybe they will let me have access to it.