This is a general question that I'm hoping someone can help me with. Where does one go to learn about SCO's and debugging logs and what they should be looking for in them when there are problems?
I've been to SCORM Cloud and I know how to upload my file and test it but not what the next steps are.
Does anyone have suggestions of where to go to learn more about this, or what one should look for when trying to debug SCO issues?
The unfortunate answer most times is "trial and error and experiences over time."
If you have a healthy budget for getting technical support from LMS provider, or your local IT group is very helpful and knowledgeable, you can turn all this over to them. But, if you don't, you're sort of stuck.
I remember around 2001 when the company I was working for at the time brought in Saba as their LMS. I was part of the implementation team and got "anointed" "the e-content specialist" for the new LMS. "Gee, thanks" was my reaction. :) I could barely spell AICC. :) ;)
There was nothing that I could find to help me get up-to-speed. Some Saba documentation helped but it was mainly trial and error and experiences. We only got AICC working initially and that was somewhat helpful since AICC is a bit simpler to understand than SCORM.
Over time and many support cases and experiences and observation and reading what I could find, I sort of got up-to-speed.
Not sure if things have changed much since then. There was a good book on the subject written in 2003 called e-Learning Standards by Carol Fallon and Sharron Brown, but, to be honest, it was tough sledding to read and it usally put me to sleep.
What's needed is an e-Learning Standards for Dummies or some similar resource, written or presented in a way most folks with basic technical understanding could easily grasp. It's not rocket science, though all the terms and acronyms can get pretty bewildering. There's a need for something a little less "arcane." Sometimes it feels like you are trying to learn a foreign language.
There's some documentation on SCORM.com but I'm not sure if it's for the beginner.
The document Nicole cites (and the linked video inside it) is very helpful but it's only a start IMVHO. It'd be more valuable if there was some additional help and documentation given (with a good glossary) on how to actually read and understand the Storyline debugging file. If you got some basic IT technical chops you should be able to grasp it.
It's really nice and cool that Articulate Support can help out with looking at your debug file but some folks should be able to "service themselves" on this stuff, IMVHO. :)
Thanks for the link, Nicole. This is a good start :)
Liz, I'm, thankfully, not running into any debugging issues at the moment. I'm just trying to be proactive as I know as my organization ramps up elearning, there's going to be more issues.
Gerry, I'll check out the book you mentioned, if for not other reason than to help with my insomnia. I agree that it would be nice if this were all laid out easy and I think Articulate is a great spot where we could do all of this.
I'll let you all know if there are other issues that I need more specifically addressed.
Brian, that is so smart to get a jump on understanding SCORM issues ahead of time. Sure beats trying to sift through reams of SCORM at 2 a.m. under deadline! (Oof.)
The Rustici folks have a nice SCORM knowledge base -- if you've not poked around there, you might find it a useful new resource. Here's a link to the Knowledge Base. It has some good tips for specific issues, and good more-general-info articles. If you skim the article list, you'll start to get a sense of what types of issues are most common.
6 Replies
Hi there Brian!
Thank you for posting your question here in the community.
I think the following article might help you out: The Secret to LMS Debugging
Hope this helps! Let us know if you have any additional questions :) We're happy to help!
Hi Brian,
Can you share with us the types of issues you are encountering that need debugging?
With that info, we might be able to point you to previous discussions here, or other online resources specific to the issues you are seeing.
The unfortunate answer most times is "trial and error and experiences over time."
If you have a healthy budget for getting technical support from LMS provider, or your local IT group is very helpful and knowledgeable, you can turn all this over to them. But, if you don't, you're sort of stuck.
I remember around 2001 when the company I was working for at the time brought in Saba as their LMS. I was part of the implementation team and got "anointed" "the e-content specialist" for the new LMS. "Gee, thanks" was my reaction. :) I could barely spell AICC. :) ;)
There was nothing that I could find to help me get up-to-speed. Some Saba documentation helped but it was mainly trial and error and experiences. We only got AICC working initially and that was somewhat helpful since AICC is a bit simpler to understand than SCORM.
Over time and many support cases and experiences and observation and reading what I could find, I sort of got up-to-speed.
Not sure if things have changed much since then. There was a good book on the subject written in 2003 called e-Learning Standards by Carol Fallon and Sharron Brown, but, to be honest, it was tough sledding to read and it usally put me to sleep.
What's needed is an e-Learning Standards for Dummies or some similar resource, written or presented in a way most folks with basic technical understanding could easily grasp. It's not rocket science, though all the terms and acronyms can get pretty bewildering. There's a need for something a little less "arcane." Sometimes it feels like you are trying to learn a foreign language.
There's some documentation on SCORM.com but I'm not sure if it's for the beginner.
The document Nicole cites (and the linked video inside it) is very helpful but it's only a start IMVHO. It'd be more valuable if there was some additional help and documentation given (with a good glossary) on how to actually read and understand the Storyline debugging file. If you got some basic IT technical chops you should be able to grasp it.
It's really nice and cool that Articulate Support can help out with looking at your debug file but some folks should be able to "service themselves" on this stuff, IMVHO. :)
Thanks for the link, Nicole. This is a good start :)
Liz, I'm, thankfully, not running into any debugging issues at the moment. I'm just trying to be proactive as I know as my organization ramps up elearning, there's going to be more issues.
Gerry, I'll check out the book you mentioned, if for not other reason than to help with my insomnia. I agree that it would be nice if this were all laid out easy and I think Articulate is a great spot where we could do all of this.
I'll let you all know if there are other issues that I need more specifically addressed.
Thanks!
Brian, that is so smart to get a jump on understanding SCORM issues ahead of time. Sure beats trying to sift through reams of SCORM at 2 a.m. under deadline! (Oof.)
The Rustici folks have a nice SCORM knowledge base -- if you've not poked around there, you might find it a useful new resource. Here's a link to the Knowledge Base. It has some good tips for specific issues, and good more-general-info articles. If you skim the article list, you'll start to get a sense of what types of issues are most common.
Here's a link that might be most relevant to your question: Deciphering Debug Logs
Cheers~
Thanks for sharing this information, Liz!
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