What is SCORM? SCORM is a set of technical standards for e-learning software products. SCORM tells programmers how to write their code so that it can “play well” with other e-learning software. Specifically, SCORM governs how online learning content and Learning Management Systems (LMSs) communicate with each other. SCORM does not speak to instructional design or any other pedagogical concern, it is purely a technical standard.

Encase Forensics Software on this page. Can you help me with an example or analogy? Let’s take DVDs for example. When you buy a new movie on DVD you don’t need to check to see if it works with your brand of DVD player. A regular DVD will play on a Toshiba the same as it will on a Panasonic. That’s because DVD movies are produced using a set of standards.

Without these standards a studio releasing a new movie on DVD would have a big problem. They would need to make differently formatted DVDs for each brand of DVD player.

This is how online learning used to be before SCORM was created. Do you produce SCORM? SCORM is produced by, a research group sponsored by the United States Department of Defense (DoD). Rustici Software is an independent company that specializes in helping other companies become SCORM conformant. What does SCORM stand for?

High quality safety training designed by industry experts to ensure worker safety. These SCORM packages are available at substantial discount. Browse AICC, Design and SCORM content selected by the eLearning Learning community.

SCORM stands for “Sharable Content Object Reference Model”. “Sharable Content Object” indicates that SCORM is all about creating units of online training material that can be shared across systems. SCORM defines how to create “sharable content objects” or “SCOs” that can be reused in different systems and contexts. Why should I care about SCORM? The primary benefit of SCORM is interoperability. If you produce e-learning content, invariably one (or more likely many) of your clients will ask you to integrate that content into an LMS. Similarly, if you produce an LMS it is certain that your clients will want to import content from a number of different sources into that LMS.

SCORM allows this integration to happen seamlessly and simply. SCORM is the de facto industry standard for interoperability and SCORM conformance is required for most e-learning RFPs. The US government is a huge user of online training. In the late 1990s, the DoD realized that is was procuring the same training many times over but couldn’t reuse it across departments because each department had its own LMS. In those days, each LMS had its own proprietary content format which encouraged vendor lock-in. In 1999 an executive order tasked a small research laboratory, ADL, to “develop common specifications and standards for e-learning.” Rather than starting from scratch, ADL harmonized the work of existing standards organizations like the, and the into a cohesive reference model.

SCORM was released in 2001 and was quickly adopted by both government and industry. Today it is the de facto standard for e-learning interoperability. How do I know if I am already SCORM conformant? If you have to ask, then chances are that your products are not SCORM conformant.

SCORM conformance is something that must be achieved intentionally; it doesn’t happen by chance. SCORM is a set of very specific technical instructions, not a set of broad guidelines.