Português do Brasil

Articles in this section

See more

SCORM and xAPI (Tin Can): overview

Elizabeth
  • Updated

Summary

SCORM and xAPI are the most popular technical standards for eLearning software products. LearnUpon supports both standards. This article provides a brief introduction to each specification.

Using these standards, content is easy to make, easy to migrate between different learning systems, and let you track learner progress.

LearnUpon supports SCORM and xAPI modules in courses for all customers.

SCORM explained

SCORM is a technical specification for eLearning software products. It standardizes the way in which eLearning courses are created, and how they’re launched. Learning management systems (LMS) and authoring tools are built  to "play well" with each other. 

LearnUpon supports SCORM v 1.2 and SCORM 2004 (3rd and 4th editions). The supported features for SCORM 2004 include:

  • most features previously supported in SCORM 1.2
  • single Shareable Content Object (SCOs)
  • single objectives
  • learner comments

Note: the Exams/Interactions transcript report is not currently available for SCORM 2004.

When you create a course with a SCORM-compliant authoring tool, the output is a ZIP folder, which you upload to LearnUpon. The SCORM course tells LearnUpon which data to receive. You publish the course, and your learner launches it in a browser.

LearnUpon collects data to track and report results of your learners' performance.  For the SCORM version 1.2, the data includes:

  • lesson_location (where learner left off, so they can pick up again without restarting)
  • suspend_data (bookmark with the specific information e.g. paragraph)
  • lesson_status (pass, fail, complete, incomplete)
  • session_time and total_time
  • score_raw (score learner got)
  • mastery_score (passing score - learners must score equal to or higher than this score)
  • interactions (individual answers to exam questions, time spent etc.)

These fields cover the learner's status, the suspend data and the mastery score.

LearnUpon uses 4 SCORM statuses for modules, to indicate the status of the learner in a particular course:

  • Incomplete: learner has not finished the module
  • Completed: learner has read or reviewed all the content in the module
    • Passed: subset of Completed, where learner completed the content and passed an exam
    • Failed: subset of Completed, where the learner completed the content and failed the exam

Note: Completed and Passed are two different and distinct statuses in SCORM. Their meanings are similar for humans, but different for SCORM and for LearnUpon. Both Passed and Failed are sub-statuses of Completed. If you can keep these status meanings straight, SCORM features make more sense.

Tracking scores in SCORM modules

Not every SCORM module is designed to track scores: users can get a Completed status alone.

Modules which use exams or knowledge checks, sometimes referred to as quizzes, almost always have scores.

Check with your SCORM course developer to ensure your courses have score tracking capabilities.

Mastery score in SCORM

For graded content like an exam or assignment, mastery score is the "passing" score. Learners must receive a score equal to or higher than this score to pass the module.

When you upload a SCORM module to LearnUpon, you import a mastery score with the module. LearnUpon needs a mastery score to track quiz or exam results.

If your SCORM doesn't include a mastery score for graded content, you can set a mastery score in the application.

xAPI (Tin Can) explained

Experience API, or xAPI, began life  as a research project called "Project Tin Can", and the nickname stuck. The terms xAPI and Tin Can are used interchangeably and refer to the same standard.

The major difference between xAPI and SCORM is the type of learning content each can track.

SCORM records online learning only: documents, videos, webinars, Live Learning. xAPI can track almost any activity including: reading a webpage, attending an event, borrowing a library book, playing a game, blended learning, and team-based learning.

xAPI compliant systems send records of learning in the form of statements. Each statement is composed of three elements, a structure known as xAPI syntax:

  • Noun (Actor - or the ‘who’ part of an action)
  • Verb (The action)
  • Object (The ‘what’ part of an action)

For example:

  • "I - did - this"
  • "Phily - completed - health and safety training"
  • "Kim - read - LearnUpon’s help guide"

xAPI uses these statements to track data about learner actions and reports them back to a learning management system, Learning Record Store (LRS), or any application that understands the xAPI language.

Your authoring tool exports your Tin Can course as a ZIP file, which you upload to LearnUpon. This file contains all the components of your course like images, video, or HTML. It also contains a tincan.xml file, at the root of the ZIP. 

xAPI vs SCORM

SCORM and xAPI are different protocols, which provide different ways to record and track data about your learners' progress. 

The quality of your learning content still relies on good authoring tools, and good instructional design. LearnUpon runs on any supported browser, and learners can use LearnUpon on phones, tablets and desktops. 

Tip: for best results, test your course content on different devices. Make sure your course layouts and graphics are responsive, so they scale smoothly and clearly at any viewing size.

As best practice LearnUpon recommends: make an "upload" copy of each SCORM or Tin Can zipped file, to use in LearnUpon. Keep your original files separate, in case you need to revise or edit them.

After you upload your zipped file, LearnUpon combines your file with its own code, to work in the user interface. You can't download the SCORM or Tin Can file again to edit it, or use in another LMS.

Other learning software standards

Learning Tools Interoperability, or LTI, is a proprietary standard from IMS Global Learning Consortium. It provides a platform-to-platform connection for organizations with courses to deliver. SCORM and xAPI provide a platform-to-user connection for delivering content.

AICC, a technical committee which developed guidelines for the aviation industry, was the original source for several standards for learning software, including:

  • AICC HACP
  • SCORM
  • xAPI 
  • cmi5

AICC is considered a legacy standard, and its committee was officially disbanded in 2014.

LearnUpon supports SCORM and xAPI standards only. 

See:

Related articles