SCORM activity settings
  • 05 Sep 2023
  • 11 minutes to read

SCORM activity settings


Article Summary

There are several settings you can configure when adding or editing a SCORM activity, and plugin settings that are used to set defaults for SCORM activities.

When using the single activity course format several SCORM activity options (for example the Learner skip content structure page setting) will not be available.

General

SettingDescriptionNotes

Name

The name of the SCORM activity as it will appear on the course page.

The activity name should be concise but descriptive.

Description

A description of the SCORM activity, this is a good place to include any instructions and to give a summary of the purpose of the activity.

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Display description on course page

If enabled, the description above will be displayed on the course page just below the link to the activity.

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Package

SettingDescriptionNotes

Package file

Upload the SCORM package file, either by dragging and dropping it into the upload area or by clicking the upload icon () and browsing for the file and selecting Choose to select.

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Auto-update frequency

If a SCORM file is stored on an external repository, this setting allows the package to be automatically downloaded and updated:

  • Never
  • Every day
  • Every time it's used

Please see Repositories for more information.


Auto-update frequency relies on the Background processing for Scorm scheduled task (\mod_scorm\task\cron_task) to process SCORM updates. Note that the task will fail if the file sizes set by the post_max_size and upload_max_filesize settings in the CLI php.ini are smaller than the size of the file uploaded to the repository. If you change the limits in the php.ini file you will need to restart the server for them to take effect.

Appearance

Within the quick-access menu go to Plugins > Activity modules > SCORM package to choose the default settings for SCORM activities and specify which display settings will be hidden under the Show more... link.

SettingDescriptionNotes

Display package

Choose how Learners should open the SCORM activity:

  • Current window
  • New window
  • New window (simple)

The options, New window or New window (simple) are recommended to reduce the risk of Learners closing the site when they may just want to close the SCORM activity.

The option New window (simple) allows learning objects to expand to the full width and height of a browser's viewport when launched.

When using the option New window (simple) the SCORM package is given complete control and the SCORM menu is not displayed. When using the option New window the SCORM menu is displayed as some control is retained by Totara. Note that using the New window option can cause additional scroll bars to appear as the height and width of the SCORM package are not changed.

Width

Width of the displayed package in either percent or pixels. To use a percentage enter a percentage sign (%) after the number e.g. 80%.

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Height

Height of the displayed package in either percent or pixels. To use a percentage you will need to put a percentage sign (%) after the number, e.g. 50%.

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Options

Select from:

  • Allow the window to be scrolled
  • Show the directory links
  • Show the location bar
  • Show the menu bar
  • Show the toolbar
  • Status

Some of these options are prevented by selected browsers.

Display activity name

Choose whether or not to display the activity name above the SCORM player.

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Learner skip content structure page

This setting specifies whether the content structure page can be skipped (not displayed). If the package contains only one learning object, the content structure page can always be skipped.

Choose from:

  • Never
  • First access
  • Always

If using Force new attempt you should select Never, otherwise learners can potentially enter a view-only review of the SCORM and will be unable to access an additional attempt.

When using the single-activity course format, the setting Learner skip content structure page does not allow you to select Always, as it would cause issues when the learner completes the SCORM package. If you are using the single-activity course format, you should select First access for this setting.

Disable preview mode

Preview mode allows a Learner to browse an activity before attempting it. If preview mode is disabled, the Preview button is hidden.

When a SCORM activity is completed in preview mode, it's marked with browsed icon.

Display course structure on entry page

If enabled, the table of contents is displayed on the SCORM entry (outline) page.

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Display course structure in player

How the table of contents is displayed in the SCORM player. Choose from:

  • To the side
  • Hidden
  • In a dropdown menu
  • Disabled

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Show navigation

This setting specifies whether to show or hide the navigation buttons and their position.

There are three options:

  • No: Navigation buttons are not shown
  • Under content: Navigation buttons are shown below the SCORM package content
  • Floating: Navigation buttons are shown floating, with the position from the top and the left determined by the package

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From left

Where Floating is selected as the Show navigation option, the number of pixels from the left from which the navigation displays, can be defined.

If Display course structure in player is disabled, this setting will not be accessible and thus disabled.

From top

Where, Floating is selected as the Show navigation option, the number of pixels from the top from which the navigation displays, can be defined.

If Display course structure in player is disabled, this setting will not be accessible and thus disabled.

Display attempt status

This setting allows a summary of the user's attempts to show in the course overview block on a dashboard and/or the SCORM entry page.

There are four options:

  • No: The attempt status will not be displayed
  • Course overview block and entry page: The attempt status will be displayed in both the course overview block and on the SCORM activity entry page
  • Course overview block only: The attempt status will only be shown in the course overview block on any dashboards to which it has been added
  • Entry page only: The attempt status will only be shown on the SCORM activity entry page

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Availability

SettingDescriptionNotes

Available from

Check the Enable box to set a date and time from which the SCORM activity will be available.

Use the Calendar icon () to select a date from the calendar display.

Available to

Check the Enable box to set a date and time until which the SCORM activity will be available.

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Grade

SettingDescriptionNotes

Grading method

Choose the grading method for any graded or score-based items within the SCORM package:

  • Learning Objects: Shows the number of completed/passed in-built learning objects for the activity. The maximum value is the number of the SCORM package's learning objects.
  • Highest grade: The grade page will display the highest score obtained by users in all passed learning objects.
  • Average grade: Totara Learn will calculate the average (mean) of all scores.
  • Sum grade: All scores from all attempts will be added.

If the uploaded SCORM package does report cmi.core.lesson_status, and does not report cmi.core.score.raw, use this setting.

If the selected SCORM package does report cmi.core.score.raw, and does not report cmi.core.lesson_status, use this setting, Average grade, or Sum grade.

Maximum grade

Set the maximum percentage-based grade available for this SCORM activity.

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Attempts management

SettingDescriptionNotes

Number of attempts

This setting defines the number of attempts permitted to each Learner. Choose from one to six attempts or Unlimited attempts.

An attempt is not complete until the cmi.core.lesson_status for the attempt is set to either completed or passed. After that, the Start new attempt checkbox is available to the Learner.

Attempts grading

Where multiple attempts are allowed, this setting specifies whether the Highest attempt, Average attempts (mean), First attempt or the Last completed attempt is recorded in the gradebook.

The last completed attempt option does not include attempts with a failed status.

The option to start a new attempt is provided by a checkbox above the Enter button on the content structure page, so ensure access to that page is provided to allow learners more than one attempt.

Some SCORM packages have been built to track new attempts, while some have not. Should the Learner re-enter an existing attempt, and the SCORM content does not have internal logic to avoid overwriting previous attempts. Previous attempts can be overwritten, even though the attempt was completed or passed.

Force new attempt

There are three options:

  • No: The SCORM activity will allow a Learner to return to the same attempt at any point and resume their learning. A new attempt is not possible unless the previous attempt has been recorded as completed, passed, or failed. If the SCORM package does not track this information, the Learner will always re-enter the same attempt.
  • When completed/passed/failed: The Start new attempt checkbox is hidden and review mode is hidden. Every time a Learner accesses the package, a new attempt will be recorded. This will reset all previous attempt data for that Learner every time they launch the module.
  • Always: Allows you to always force a new attempt. A new attempt will be generated every time the Learner re-enters the SCORM and any previous attempts will be ignored. This does not comply with the SCORM specification.

An attempt is not complete until the cmi.core.lesson_status for the attempt is set to either completed or passed. After that, the Start new attempt checkbox is available to the Learner.

Where No has been selected, a Learner cannot obtain a passed or failed status unless there is an assessment in the SCORM package, so ensure the activity has been built to include at least one graded question.

A Learner cannot obtain a completed status unless the SCORM package has been built to include a completion requirement such as viewing a certain amount (percentage) of the content.

Lock after final attempt

When set to Yes, the Learner will be prevented from further attempts of the SCORM activity once they have used all of their allowed attempts.

An attempt is only considered finished if the SCORM package has a cmi.core.lesson_status of passed, failed, or completed.

Compatibility settings

SettingDescriptionNotes

Force completed

If enabled, the status of the current attempt is forced to a completed status.

This setting is used where a SCORM package has not been designed for multiple attempts and cannot record a completion status.

Auto-continue

If enabled, subsequent learning objects are launched automatically, otherwise the Continue button must be used.

Auto-continue will navigate the Learner from one SCORM activity to the next in the same course topic.

Auto-commit

If enabled, SCORM data is automatically saved to the database.

This setting is useful for SCORM objects which have not been built to save data regularly.

Mastery score overrides status

If enabled and a mastery score is provided, then when Finish is called and if a raw score has been determined, then the status will be recalculated using the raw score and mastery score, and any status provided by the SCORM (including incomplete) will be overridden.

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Activity completion

Please see Activity Completion for more information on the standard activity completion settings. Additional setting options for SCORM activities are detailed below.

SettingDescriptionNotes

Require minimum score

Enabling this setting will require a user to obtain at least the minimum score entered here, in order to be marked complete in this SCORM activity.

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Require status

Checking one or more statuses will require a user to achieve at least one of the checked statuses in order to be marked complete in this SCORM activity.

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Require all SCOs to return completion status

Some SCORM packages contain multiple components or 'SCOs' (Shareable Content Objects). When this is enabled all SCOs within the package must return the relevant lesson_status for this activity to be flagged complete.

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Plugin settings

As a Site Administrator you can set default values for the SCORM activity settings and also configure admin settings. This is done from the quick-access menu under Plugins > Activity modules > SCORM package.

Use the Advanced checkbox to move less common or unused settings under the Show more... area of the SCORM configuration page to help streamline SCORM activity setup.

Alongside configuring preferred default settings the following admin settings can be defined:

SettingDescriptionNotes

 

Disabling this setting allows Totara to store more data than the SCORM 1.2 specification allows. If your SCORM packages allow users to enter large amounts of text or if your package tries to store large amounts of data in the suspend_data field disable this.

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You can choose to add externally hosted SCORM packages, either via URL or via the file picker.

If enabled, a URL field is provided in the SCORM activity settings where a link to a remote imsmanifest.xml (in an unzipped remote SCORM package) can be entered.

Content is played from the designated location and not unpacked into the Totara Learn file system. 

 

If enabled, a URL field will be provided in the SCORM activity settings for an externally hosted SCORM package. This package will be downloaded and unzipped within Totara Learn.

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If enabled, a direct URL to a simple AICC package can be provided.

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If enabled, AICC HACP external communication (without requiring user login for post requests) from the external AICC package is permitted.

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Length of time (in minutes) that an external AICC HACP session can remain open.

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Length of time (in days) to keep the external AICC HACP session data.

A large number of days will fill up the table with old data but may be useful when debugging.

The AICC standard for usernames is very restrictive compared with Totara Learn and allows for alphanumeric characters, dash and underscore only. Periods, spaces and the @ symbol are not permitted. If enabled, user ID numbers are passed to the AICC package instead of usernames.

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If enabled, access to SCORM objects when JavaScript is not supported/enabled in a users browser is not permitted.

If disabled the user may view the SCORM but API communication will fail and no grade information will be saved.

It is recommended that this setting is enabled.

 

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Set a mask for the debug, so that the debug log only appears under certain conditions. For example, you can use a simple regex on <username>:<activityname> e.g. admin:.* will debug for the admin user only.

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If enabled, SCORM packages can be downloaded only if the user has the course:manageactivities capability. If disabled, SCORM packages can always be downloaded (by mobile or other means).

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Enable the SCORM player to keep the user session alive

When enabled the SCORM player will automatically communicate with the server in order to keep the user's session from expiring, providing the user keeps the SCORM player open in their browser and that the browser can communicate with the server. 

This may be considered a minor security concern, but it may also be required in order to prevent unwanted session timeouts during SCORM attempts.

C024 - SCORM(1)The Totara Academy has a whole course dedicated to using SCORM in Totara Learn. Give it a go yourself and see what you can learn today. 

© Copyright 2024 Totara Learning Solutions. All rights reserved. Some content originally obtained via GPLv3 license and continues to be available under GPLv3. All other content is the sole copyright of Totara Learning Solutions. 


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