SCORM Still Dominating ELearning?

By: Justin Ferriman • September 17, 2014
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tincanimageFor a very long time, SCORM was the go-to protocol for tracking and recording elearning. All the major elearning development platforms made it possible to publish to a version of SCORM so that the courses could be uploaded to the learning management system of your choice.

SCORM dominated the landscape for over a decade, used by private organizations, non-profits, and government agencies alike.

As technology became leaner, the learning industry began to realize that the SCORM specification that we used was falling behind. Eventually, Advanced Distributive Learning (a division of the U.S. government), commissioned a new specification to be created that would be in line with today’s technology.

You see, instead of retrofitting a dated way of doing things, we decided to move forward with Tin Can API (also known as Experience API, or xAPI).

Yet, it still amazes me how many people still talk about (and ask for) SCORM support. Every week we reply to potential customers who ask if LearnDash supports SCORM (we don’t).

It’s a sad reality that we are faced with today, but we have to ask ourselves “why is this happening”?

Personally, I believe that Tin Can API has a marketing problem. A big one. The first of which being that it goes by three different names. But names are just names. The real problem is that us working in this industry are not properly educating our employers, our clients, and co-workers about the latest industry updates. The thing is, Tin Can API can do what SCORM did, and more.

When I speak to potential LearnDash customers about this, it’s often the first time they have heard of the new API. I explain what it can do and how to use it specifically for their organization. Sometimes they choose us and sometimes they don’t. The bigger picture here though is that they now know that there is a better way of doing things than what we did in 2004.

If you work in the elearning industry, look to see where you have the opportunity to educate people about Tin Can API. If you need to learn a bit more on the subject, check out this infographic for a good overview.

Justin Ferriman

Justin started LearnDash, the WordPress LMS trusted by Fortune 500 companies, major universities, training organizations, and entrepreneurs worldwide. He is currently founder & CEO of GapScout. Justin’s Homepage | GapScout | Twitter