EJEL
Volume 7 Issue 2
June 2009
Special Issue ECEL 2008

The Implications of SCORM Conformance for Workplace e-Learning

Gabrielle Witthaus
New Leaf Training Network Ltd, Leicester, U.K.

In this paper, the author describes a project in which she was requested to “repurpose” some materials that had originally been designed for the face-to-face teaching of English as a Foreign Language, into SCORM conformant e-learning materials. SCORM conformance is the adherence to a set of technical standards that enable e-learning materials to be used across all Learning Management Systems (LMSs). In this instance, the training centre management wanted to use the LMS’s ability to track learners’ progress through the courses. However, in order to integrate SCORM-conformant tracking functionality into the programmes, the learning designers would have needed to strip the materials of all the collaborative and communicative aspects of their pedagogy. This anecdote highlights some of the challenges facing the corporate sector regarding the management of e-learning content.
The paper then gives some background on SCORM conformance, which has two main aims: the ability to deliver content on any Learning Management System, and the ability to track learners’ actions and scores when they use the materials. It is argued that, while the higher education sector has chosen to emphasise the first aim, focusing more on the development of stimulating learning content that can be shared, the corporate sector has emphasised the second aim, focusing more on tracking learners’ progress through learning programmes. It is suggested that this is one of the explanations for the continued proliferation of relatively rigid, behaviourist style teaching materials for workplace e-learning. A number of more innovative approaches to workplace e-learning from the recent literature are discussed.
The paper concludes by arguing that, for corporate e-learning programmes to be successful, all stakeholders need to be included in the strategic decisions, and all stakeholders need to engage in a learning process to understand each others' points of view and explore the available options and their consequences.

Keywords: learning design, SCORM conformance, LMS, LCMS, learning objects, e-learning 2.0

Download FULL PAPER

Back to Contents