SCORM (Shareable Content Object Reference Model) has become the industry standard for e-learning interoperability. In simple terms, SCORM acts as a “certificate of compatibility” that an LMS must obtain to ensure it can work seamlessly with SCORM-compliant content. For e-learning professionals, the term “certified” signifies reliability, completeness, and system interoperability.

Consider owning a collection of DVDs without a universal DVD player. Without a player capable of handling all types of DVDs, you would need multiple players for different discs—a recipe for inefficiency. SCORM solves this problem for e-learning content, ensuring courses can play smoothly across any SCORM-compliant LMS.

Understanding SCORM Compliance

SCORM compliance ensures an LMS can function correctly with SCORM-based content across platforms. It defines a set of standards allowing content from one system to work seamlessly on another. Without SCORM compliance, content created in one platform could be incompatible elsewhere.

SCORM is simply a set of specifications used for web-based e-learning, detailing the way content on the client side interacts with an LMS. Essentially, SCORM compliance ensures that any type of compliant content will work on any compliant system.

SCORM compliance is not just about compatibility; it’s about unleashing the full potential of your e-learning content. It enables course authors to create dynamic and engaging content that is not only playable on any SCORM-compliant system but also provides a rich set of data for tracking learner progress. Additionally, it promotes content reusability, allowing you to create content once and use it across multiple platforms. All this and more, when an LMS becomes SCORM compliant!

Tin Can API / Experience API / xAPI – Expanding Learning Insights

The Tin Can API (xAPI) complements SCORM by tracking learning experiences beyond the LMS. It records learner activities such as online research, video consumption, conferences, and peer interactions in a Learning Record Store (LRS).

To state an example, let’s take the a learner ‘X’. Now, if X watches a video on YouTube which is relevant to her training, the information would be sent to the LRS. However, this would have gone unnoticed if it was not for Tin Can API. Indistinct ‘statements’ like these, give the course-makers valuable insight for designing and upgrading courses.

Unlike SCORM, which primarily tracks course completion, xAPI provides a 360-degree view of learning experiences, offering actionable insights for course improvement and learner engagement.

To rehash, Tin Can API captures data about a learner from various technologies. Rather than data, it captures experiences that matter, both from the online and offline undertakings of a learner. Tin Can API is clearly of great importance as it provides a more robust and accurate picture of the progress being made outside of formal learning.

With the Tin Can API now in place, compliance with SCORM will no longer be a deal-breaker for collecting e-learning data. However, SCORM compliance is the base on which Tin Can is built; hence, even as it becomes redundant, it’ll never be out of the picture.

Integrating Social Learning into SCORM

Through the mode of social learning, we understand that learning is not simply restricted to formal, structured training. It highlights the aspect of holistic education through the interactions that occur in our daily lives. Hence, there is a need for the Tin Can API, which is designed to record and track these interactions in a way that SCORM compliance cannot.

The social learning aspect of the Tin Can API offers numerous opportunities for learners to collaborate and discuss their learning experiences on various social platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Wikis, forums, blogs, RSS feeds, and more.