The SCORM module is a course activity which allows you to upload any SCORM (or AICC) package to your course. Totara Learn will track a Learner's access, progress, scores and completion of SCORM packages, provided the SCORM file contains this information.
SCORM packages are an excellent way of bundling up externally developed interactive e-learning content and integrating into online and blended courses.
Totara Learn fully supports the AICC and SCORM 1.2 specifications. It also supports the SCORM 2004 specification, with the exception of these extensions:
- Content Aggregation Model
- The Run-Time Environment
- Sequencing and Navigation
SCORM 2004 packages that do not use these extensions should function correctly in Totara Learn.
This activity is also available in the Totara Mobile app. Please note that the SCORM activity works slightly differently in the Mobile app compared to on a desktop site.
Creating a SCORM activity
- Within the required course, Turn editing on.
- Select SCORM from the Add an activity menu.
- Drag and drop a compressed SCORM file onto the file upload area or use the add file icon (
) to browse and add a file. - Set the SCORM settings.
- Set the Activity completion settings if required.
- Select Save and return to course or Save and display.
Once you are happy with the default settings for SCORM packages in your course, you can instead drag and drop the zipped SCORM package directly into the course (providing editing is turned on).
Next, select Add a SCORM package from the dialogue box and select Upload. Once you have uploaded your SCORM package you can still edit the settings as normal.
Updating SCORM packages
There may be times when you need to update a SCORM package but need to retain the completion data and current Learners' progress. For example, you may have updated text in an e-learning module without adding new content. In order to retain this data, you need to ensure that the new SCORM package's IMS manifest file has the same item identifier as the current SCORM package.
If you need to update a SCORM package that is used in multiple courses, it is useful to turn on auto-updating. You can do this by following these steps:
- Within the required course, Turn editing on.
- Select SCORM from the Add an activity menu.
- Enter a name and description.
- Select the Add button (
) and select the repository containing your SCORM files. - Select the zipped SCORM file.
- Select the Create an alias/shortcut to the file radio button, then Select this file.
- Set the Auto-update frequency setting.
- Select Save and display.
Now the SCORM activity will automatically check the selected repository (depending on the Auto-update frequency you selected) and update the activity with the latest ZIP file.
If you use the automatic update method described above, you still need to check that the current and new SCORM packages have the same item identifier in their IMS manifest files. If the new package has a different number, regardless of whether you update the SCORM automatically or manually, you will lose your completion and progress data.
SCORM settings
When using the single activity course format a number of SCORM activity options (for example the Learner skip content structure page setting) will not be available.
General
| Setting | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Name | The name of the SCORM activity as it will appear on the course page. | The activity name should be concise but descriptive. |
| Description | A description of the SCORM activity, this is a good place to include any instructions and to give a brief summary of the purpose of the activity. | - |
| Display description on course page | If enabled, the description above will be displayed on the course page just below the link to the activity. | - |
Package
| Setting | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Package file | Upload the SCORM package file, either by dragging and dropping it into the upload area or by clicking the upload icon ( | - |
| Auto-update frequency | If a SCORM file is stored on an external repository, this setting allows the package to be automatically downloaded and updated:
| Please see Repositories for more information. |
Appearance
Within the quick-access menu go to Plugins > Activity modules > SCORM package to choose the Default settings for SCORM activities and specify which display settings will be hidden under the Show more... link.
| Setting | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Display package | Choose whether Learners should open the SCORM activity in the Current window, a New window, or a New window (simple). | New window or New window (simple) is recommended to reduce the risk of Learners closing the site when they may just want to close the SCORM activity. New window (simple) allows learning objects to expand to the full width and height of a browser's view port when launched. When using New window (simple) complete control is given to the SCORM package, and the SCORM menu is not displayed. When using New window the SCORM menu is displayed as some control is retained by Totara. Note that using the New window option can cause additional scroll bars to appear as the height and width of the SCORM package are not changed. |
| Width | Width of the displayed package in either percent or pixels. To use a percentage enter a percentage sign (%) after the number e.g. 80%. | - |
| Height | Height of the displayed package in either percent or pixels. To use a percentage you will need to put a percentage sign (%) after the number, e.g. 50%. | - |
| Options | Select from:
| Some of these options are prevented by selected browsers. |
| Display activity name | Choose whether or not to display the activity name above the SCORM player. | - |
| Learner skip content structure page | This setting specifies whether the content structure page can be skipped (not displayed). If the package contains only one learning object, the content structure page can always be skipped. Choose from:
| If using Force new attempt you should select Never, otherwise learners can potentially enter a view-only review of the SCORM and will be unable to access an additional attempt. When using the single-activity course format the setting, Learner skip content structure page does not allow you to select Always, as it would cause issues when the learner completes the SCORM package. If you are using the single-activity course format, you should select First access for this setting. |
| Disable preview mode | Preview mode allows a Learner to browse an activity before attempting it. If preview mode is disabled, the Preview button is hidden. | When a SCORM activity is completed in preview mode, it's marked with browsed icon. |
| Display course structure on entry page | If enabled, the table of contents is displayed on the SCORM entry (outline) page. | - |
| Display course structure in player | How the table of contents is displayed in the SCORM player. Choose from:
| - |
| Show navigation | This setting specifies whether to show or hide the navigation buttons and their position. There are three options:
| - |
| From left | Where Floating is selected as the Show navigation option, the number of pixels from the left from which the navigation displays, can be defined. | If Display course structure in player is disabled, this setting will not be accessible and thus disabled. |
| From top | Where, Floating is selected as the Show navigation option, the number of pixels from the top from which the navigation displays, can be defined. | If Display course structure in player is disabled, this setting will not be accessible and thus disabled. |
| Display attempt status | This setting allows a summary of the user's attempts to show in the course overview block on a dashboard and/or the SCORM entry page. There are four options:
| - |
Availability
| Setting | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Available from | Check the Enable box to set a date and time from which the SCORM activity will be available. | Use the Calendar icon ( |
| Available to | Check the Enable box to set a date and time until which the SCORM activity will be available. | - |
Grade
| Setting | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Grading method | Choose the grading method for any graded or score-based items within the SCORM package:
| If the uploaded SCORM package does report cmi.core.lesson_status, and does not report cmi.core.score.raw, use this setting. If the selected SCORM package does report cmi.core.score.raw, and does not report cmi.core.lesson_status, use this setting, Average grade, or Sum grade. |
| Maximum grade | Set the maximum percentage-based grade available for this SCORM activity. | - |
Attempts management
| Setting | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Number of attempts | This setting defines the number of attempts permitted to each Learner. Choose from one to six attempts or Unlimited attempts. | An attempt is not complete until the cmi.core.lesson_status for the attempt is set to either completed or passed. After that, the Start new attempt checkbox is available to the Learner. |
| Attempts grading | Where multiple attempts are allowed, this setting specifies whether the Highest attempt, Average attempts (mean), First attempt or the Last completed attempt is recorded in the gradebook. The last completed attempt option does not include attempts with a failed status. | The option to start a new attempt is provided by a checkbox above the Enter button on the content structure page, so ensure access to that page is provided to allow learners more than one attempt. Some SCORM packages have been built to track new attempts, while some have not. Should the Learner re-enter an existing attempt, and the SCORM content does not have internal logic to avoid overwriting previous attempts. Previous attempts can be overwritten, even though the attempt was completed or passed. |
| Force new attempt | If set to Yes, the Start new attempt checkbox is hidden and review mode is hidden. Every time a Learner accesses the package, a new attempt will be recorded. This will reset all previous attempt data for that learner every time they launch the module. If set to No the SCORM activity will allow a learner to return to the same attempt at any point and resume their learning. A new attempt is not possible unless the previous attempt has been recorded as completed, passed, or failed. If the SCORM package does not track this information, the Learner will always re-enter the same attempt. | An attempt is not complete until the cmi.core.lesson_status for the attempt is set to either completed or passed. After that, the Start new attempt checkbox is available to the Learner. Where No has been selected: A Learner cannot obtain a passed or failed status unless there is an assessment in the SCORM package, so ensure the activity has been built to include at least one graded question. A Learner cannot obtain a completed status unless the SCORM package has been built to include a completion requirement such as viewing a certain amount (percentage) of the content. |
| Lock after final attempt | When set to Yes, the Learner will be prevented from further attempts of the SCORM activity once they have used all of their allowed attempts. | An attempt is only considered finished if the SCORM package has a cmi.core.lesson_status of passed, failed, or completed. |
Compatibility settings
| Setting | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Force completed | If enabled, the status of the current attempt is forced to a completed status. | This setting is used where a SCORM package has not been designed for multiple attempts and cannot record a completion status. |
| Auto-continue | If enabled, subsequent learning objects are launched automatically, otherwise the Continue button must be used. | Auto-continue will navigate the Learner from one SCORM activity to the next in the same course topic. |
| Auto-commit | If enabled, SCORM data is automatically saved to the database. | This setting is useful for SCORM objects which have not been built to save data regularly. |
| Mastery score overrides status | If enabled and a mastery score is provided, then when Finish is called and if a raw score has been determined, then the status will be recalculated using the raw score and mastery score, and any status provided by the SCORM (including incomplete) will be overridden. | - |
Common module settings
Please see Common Module Settings for more information on these settings.
Restrict access
Please see Restrict Access for more information on setting conditional access to this activity.
Activity completion
Please see Activity Completion for more information on the standard activity completion settings. Additional setting options for SCORM activities are detailed below.
Setting | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Require minimum score | Enabling this setting will require a user to obtain at least the minimum score entered here, in order to be marked complete in this SCORM activity. | - |
| Require status | Checking one or more statuses will require a user to achieve at least one of the checked statuses in order to be marked complete in this SCORM activity. | - |
| Require all SCOs to return completion status | Some SCORM packages contain multiple components or 'SCOs' (Shareable Content Objects). When this is enabled all SCOs within the package must return the relevant lesson_status for this activity to be flagged complete. | - |
Tags
Please see Tags for more information on adding activity tags.
SCORM reports
As soon there are attempts recorded against a SCORM activity, reports on the usage of the package are accessible within the Reports tab.
There are four reports available:
- Basic report: Displays the first and most recent attempts each user
- Graph report: A bar chart displaying the number of users who have attempted the SCORM activity and the grade percentage achieved within that attempt
- Interactions report: Provides a summary of learner attempts along with their responses, correct answers and results
- Objectives report: Displays which objectives have been achieved by learners (where a SCORM package is set up to report course objectives)
All reports (except the Graph report) can be filtered and exported to either ODS, Excel or text format.
Unenrolled users and Site Administrators are excluded from the activity level SCORM report however they will be included in the SCORM report source when using Report Builder.
Plugin settings
As a Site Administrator you can set default values for the SCORM activity settings and also configure admin settings. This is done from the quick-access menu under Plugins > Activity modules > SCORM package.
Alongside configuring preferred default settings the following admin settings can be defined:
| Setting | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Disabling this setting allows Totara to store more data than the SCORM 1.2 specification allows. If your SCORM packages allow users to enter large amounts of text or if your package tries to store large amounts of data in the suspend_data field disable this. | - | |
You can choose to add externally hosted SCORM packages, either via URL or via the file picker. If enabled, a URL field is provided in the SCORM activity settings where a link to a remote imsmanifest.xml (in an unzipped remote SCORM package) can be entered. | Content is played from the designated location and not unpacked into the Totara Learn file system. | |
If enabled, a URL field will be provided in the SCORM activity settings for an externally hosted SCORM package. This package will be downloaded and unzipped within Totara Learn. | - | |
If enabled, a direct URL to a simple AICC package can be provided. | - | |
If enabled, AICC HACP external communication (without requiring user login for post requests) from the external AICC package is permitted. | - | |
Length of time (in minutes) that an external AICC HACP session can remain open. | - | |
Length of time (in days) to keep the external AICC HACP session data. | A large number of days will fill up the table with old data but may be useful when debugging. | |
The AICC standard for usernames is very restrictive compared with Totara Learn and allows for alphanumeric characters, dash and underscore only. Periods, spaces and the @ symbol are not permitted. If enabled, user ID numbers are passed to the AICC package instead of usernames. | - | |
If enabled, access to SCORM objects when JavaScript is not supported/enabled in a users browser is not permitted. If disabled the user may view the SCORM but API communication will fail and no grade information will be saved. | It is recommended that this setting is enabled. | |
| - | ||
| Set a mask for the debug, so that the debug log only appears under certain conditions. For example, you can use a simple regex on <username>:<activityname> e.g. admin:.* will debug for the admin user only. | - | |
If enabled, SCORM packages can be downloaded only if the user has the course:manageactivities capability. If disabled, SCORM packages can always be downloaded (by mobile or other means). | - | |
| Enable the SCORM player to keep the user session alive | When enabled the SCORM player will automatically communicate with the server in order to keep the user's session from expiring, providing the user keeps the SCORM player open in their browser and that the browser can communicate with the server. | This may be considered a minor security concern, but it may also be required in order to prevent unwanted session timeouts during SCORM attempts. |
Totara Academy
The Totara Academy has a whole course dedicated to using SCORM in Totara Learn.
