Michael Leboeuf, a world renowned business author and consultant, said that "a satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all." How does one arrive at happy LMS customers? And how do LMS and courseware users as well as courseware developers decide on an LMS, and become happy customers? Luckily, there are standards to help guide the way, including SCORM.
The LMS industry strides alongside globalization, still new, expanding, and full of potential and promise. Competitors include smaller LMS product vendors, enterprise resource planning vendors, consulting firms, and training outsourcing firms.
Content Management System
But according to the ASTD and the eLearning Guild, LMS buyers widely report dissatisfaction with LMS products. Poll respondents noted problems including high prices and lack of IT support, integration, and customization.
The many shortcomings that the LMS industry needs to overcome make the way for opportunities for smaller product vendors to tackle those problems and compete in the rapidly growing market. An LMS is a big and complicated tool, and requires a great deal of attention to both design accessibility and functionality.
Typically it goes like this: courseware developers use an authoring tool to create course content. Then the course is hosted on an LMS. Users need to choose an authoring tool that integrates smoothly with their LMS in order to ensure that their course content functions correctly. There are many authoring tools on the market, but one important consideration is that they meet SCORM standards.
What exactly is SCORM? Ignore the intimidating name that may bring to mind a mix of unpleasant weather and feelings of contempt.
In 1999, an initiative was started in an attempt to facilitate the standardization of learning management systems. The Advanced Distributed Learning initiative, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense, created a set of specifications called SCORM: the Shareable Content Object Reference Model.
Though SCORM 1.1 was the first production version, SCORM 1.2 was the first widely used and is still supported by most LMSs today, along with SCORM 2004.
In summary, SCORM makes life easier for everyone involved in the LMS industry--buyers, providers, users. Say you've finally completed the process of gathering your instructional materials and you want to upload them to an LMS. A SCORM publisher tool will make the process of uploading simple and fast. Many LMSs allow you to upload SCORM modules from your desktop with just one click.
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