Upcoming white paper

I learned today that a white paper I have been working on for quite some time will be published in the E-Learning Guild's newsletter December 10th. The topic is Evolving Instructional Design and something that is dear to my heart. At the same time I am also going to submit a new paper to Learning Circuits for publication. The topic is top 10 B.S stuff in the e-learning industry. Here is one paragraph from the paper:

1) SCORM Compliant Learning Content Management Systems (LCMS)

Let’s be clear about what compliance means. The current ADL organization will certify two things for SCORM compliance. Those being Learning Management Systems (LMS) and content packages. They do not certify vendors, nor do they certify LCMS systems. So what then do vendors mean when they market that their LCMS platform as SCORM compliant? Most vendors who claim that their LCMS system is SCORM compliant fall into two categories:

#1 – The developer of the LCMS system has certified content with the ADL that was created using their tool.
#2 – The developer of the LCMS system has incorporated some elements of SCORM standards into their content packages but do not comply with everything.

In either case, ‘compliance’ is meaningless.

Would an LCMS system that is capable of outputting a SCORM package be considered as a SCORM compliant system? In looking through the ADL website we find no particular classification called SCORM compliant systems. There are SCORM adopters and then there are certified products. So to answer the question, No. An LCMS system that can output a SCORM package is not compliant as there is no such classification from the body that governs SCORM. To verify if a system is SCORM certified or if a content package is SCORM certified go to www.adlnet.gov. They are the sole body that can certify a product as being SCORM compliant. If your vendor isn’t there, they are not compliant!

Cheers,