SCORM and Its WordPress Integration

E-learning has blown up over the last few years. The worldwide e-learning market is projected to be worth $325 Billion.

Anyone who is trying to create e-learning products has probably heard of a format like SCORM.

This format is used in the industry in such a way that it is often considered to be optimal by default. And there is objectivity in this. Most of all, understanding the nuances of the SCORM format is important for developers and instructors.

This issue is as important as the competent selection of LMS (software application with which the administration of the distance learning course is carried out).

What is SCORM?

The format provides compatibility of the content with any training platform.

It does not matter which system was used to create the content.

We can talk about cloud software and individual programming.

This is exactly the feature of the content that contributes to the universality, thanks to which it can be shared without any problems.

Today, the entire stream of training materials can also be integrated into WordPress, for this it is enough to choose the optimal plugin.

Many people who are just taking their first steps in the e-learning industry are beginning to mistakenly think that SCORM is a tool or program.

Both of these statements are incorrect as they imply a set of specifications used in the direction of content creation.

This feature of SCORM-compliant solutions provides many advantages to this format.

For example, you can produce training courses for different companies using the same framework.

Everyone benefits from this.

Content developers, students, and companies benefit alike.

 

What Is SCORM Innovation and Why Was It Harder Before?

Before SCORM, while creating educational content, every company was using a different programming language.

At first sight, there is nothing bad or critical in this.

However, this situation in general made it difficult to operate in the industry.

The content was unsuitable for sharing across different platforms.

Each of the systems functioned differently.

When e-learning first appeared, in the early stages of its development, this problem significantly complicated the situation.

It is this circumstance that prompted the search for a standardized format, thanks to which the content will be adaptive for different platforms.

Based on this need, the SCORM format has been developed to create a common approach to content in the remote learning industry.

 

Format Advantages

In addition to the basic advantage of SCORM, which was described above, the format has a number of other advantages.

Among them are:

• more interactive experience for students;
• more opportunities to control the time spent on study;
• great tools to combine course elements with grades;
• ease of transferring content to another LMS (this is done by uploading a ZIP folder).

That’s not all the advantages of the SCORM format.

Thanks to its use, you can also achieve material benefits.

Now the content does not need to be produced separately for each system, accordingly - the cost of effort, time and other resources for its creation are reduced.

And the SCORM format also provides tools to improve the quality of content.

How is the training course for which this format is used different from others?

Take a presentation, for example.

It looks very similar to the one developed in PPT.

But apart from the visual similarity, there are also some differences.

For example, they appear in a higher level of interactivity.

However, the structure and other basic elements are almost identical.

This means that the student gets acquainted with the information presented in a familiar form.

 

What Data Does SCORM Track?

When a student is trained, a series of data is tracked in SCORM.

These include:

1. The learning process.
2. It concerns academic performance.
3. For coaches who work with content in this format, this is a great opportunity to keep track of how well everything is going.
4. The coach can control this by receiving additional information.
5. Also, if you analyze the data not only for one student, but for a group or stream, you can identify which part of the information is much more difficult to master than the rest of the course elements.
6. This, in turn, will provide an opportunity to make improvements to the course in that segment where it is not effective enough.
7. The time it takes a student to get acquainted with a particular part of the educational content.
8. This option is far from useless.
9. It makes it possible to track and understand if the course is interesting for students.
10. It may turn out that the trainer has stretched the presentation of the material too much, and therefore there is not enough dynamics in it.
11. Also, the trainer can compare, analyzing the data, whether he was wrong when he predicted the average time it takes for students to complete training.
12. Assessment.
13. No matter how tired we are of the assessment system at school, it is absolutely impossible to avoid it.
14. Thanks to the assessment, it is possible to understand whether the audience has succeeded in assimilating the educational material.
15. If we talk about the SCORM format, then the student sees the result immediately after the assessment, which allows him to be confident in impartiality.

In addition to the above, another advantage of this format is the bookmarks option.

The last page that the student visited is bookmarked.

This function is much more useful than it might seem at first sight, since the student can continue to get acquainted with the material exactly from the moment at which he last stopped.

This saves a lot of time.

All of the above parameters must be transferred from the course to the platform.

This enables those people who supervise the learning process to analyze student results more thoroughly and make the required changes to the educational product.

Monitoring the learning process and preparing annual reports is greatly simplified when SCORM content is used.

 

How to Integrate SCORM Into WordPress

SCORM has been an educating standard for many years.

The emergence of new systems and tools for content management has led to the emergence of compatibility issues.

So, for many users, the question remains how to integrate SCORM into the WordPress system, which today is the most relevant platform for creating sites.

And although the task is still difficult to solve, several plugins have appeared, with the help of which the integration of the format has become possible.

 

SCORM Cloud

SCORM Cloud requires registration to run, and you can download it directly using the built-in WordPress plugin installer.

There is a free version and an additional paid one.

For most companies, a trial plugin is sufficient.

With it, you can control and customize all training materials.

 

CLUEVO LMS

CLUEVO allows not only integrating all materials with SCORM, but also sorting them depending on user groups.

Materials can be publicly available, visible with certain restrictions and completely open.

The organization of content by chapters and modules is also available.

Unfortunately, the plugin supports SCORM versions and 1.2., Others may work, but not officially.

 

GrassBlade xAPI Companion

GrassBlade xAPI Companion allows you to integrate all SCORM audio, video and text content on WordPress.

After starting the plugin, you can start the download on the page, in a new window, in the same window or in a pop-up lightbox.

You will also be able to receive reports on the work with the plugin and on the contact of users with the content of training materials.

 

TinCanny LearnDash

The TinCanny LearnDash plugin also only officially supports SCORM versions and 1.2.

But it opens up advanced reporting, so you can keep track of every movement of users in the materials.

 

Conclusions

Today, the SCORM format has become the universal solution that has made it possible to adapt content to different platforms.

This saved developers time and provided effective monitoring tools.

And also - less effort has been spent on the development and adaptation of educational products, which has reduced their cost.

In addition, the format is easy to integrate into the WordPress system using one of four plugins: GrassBlade xAPI Companion, TinCanny LearnDash, CLUEVO or SCORM Cloud.

With their help, you can transfer training materials to the site, configure and manage, as well as control their use by users.