This paper explores the impact that SCORM conformance has had on workplace e-learning. 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. The rationale for this request was that the training centre management wanted to track learners’
progress via a Learning Management System (LMS). However, in order to integrate SCORM-conformant tracking
functionality into the programmes, the learning materials would have to have been stripped of all the
collaborative, productive and communicative aspects of their pedagogy. The learning designers and training
centre management had to engage in a steep learning curve to find an alternative solution that was both
pedagogically sound and administratively efficient. This anecdote highlights some of the challenges facing the
corporate sector in terms of the management of e-learning content. To put the issues into context, the paper
gives an overview of SCORM, and defines some related terminology - Sharable Content Objects (SCOs), LMS
and Learning Content Management System (LCMS). SCORM conformance 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 across disciplines and
across institutions, 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. This instructivist
style pedagogical model is considered in relation to the military and programming origins of SCORM, and 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. This study will be of value
to anyone who needs to develop SCORM conformant courses, as well as managers who are charged with
overseeing such projects, or developing an organisational training strategy involving an LMS/LCMS. |