SCORM doesn’t work in Moodle?

I see a lot of posts with very limited information about issues with SCORM in Moodle – Here is a common question:

My SCORM package works fine 90% of the time but 10% of my users report that it doesn’t save their score or flag as complete – help?

This question is not very specific so it’s hard to give advice but here is a list of things to check.

  1. What version of SCORM are your packages authored in?
    Moodle only supports SCORM 1.2 and AICC packages – SCORM 2004 is not supported in any version of Moodle, more information here.
  2. What Moodle version are you running?
    SCORM in Moodle didn’t work very well until Moodle 1.9.12, If you’re using an earlier version of Moodle – don’t bother asking questions about why it doesn’t work – UPGRADE!
    SCORM in Moodle 2.0 is more stable/reliable than Moodle 1.9, and Moodle 2.3 is even better than 2.0 – if you are able to upgrade to the latest Moodle version it may help a lot.
  3. SCORM requires JavaScript
    Are your users trying to access with a browser that doesn’t support JavaScript? Moodle 2.0 has a setting called “Force users to enable JavaScript” – go to Admin > Plugins > Activities > SCORM and make sure this is set.
    Moodle policy states that everything must function with JavaScript disabled however I have been tempted to remove this setting and force SCORM to always require JS – drop me an e-mail if you disagree with this and give me reasons why you think it wouldn’t be a good idea.
  4. Browser specific bugs
    1. Internet Explorer 9
      There is a bug with Adobe Flash that prevents communication from occurring correctly. The fix is to run IE 9 in compatibility mode but you can fix this in Moodle by adding this line to your Moodle theme directly after the <head> tag in your theme (it must be the first item after the <head> tag or it will not work.
      <meta http-equiv=”X-UA-Compatible” content=”IE=8″ />
      More info here (although it states that bug as fixed the fix does not work as it doesn’t add it directly after the <head> tag)
    2. Internet Explorer and Moodle 1.9
      When using the “new window” option in Moodle 1.9 IE  may freeze during the load of the SCORM – the fix is to either use the “current window” option instead or upgrade to Moodle 2 (this fix requires a significant rewrite of the Moodle player so an easy to apply patch to fix this in 1.9 is not available) More info here.
    3. Chrome
      When using the pop-up window option, chrome may open a window with a size of 0x0 so the content is not displayed – the fix is to upgrade to the latest stable release as this is fixed in most stable branches. More info here.
    4. Moodle 1.9 has a range of other browser specific issues – especially when using the “new window” option – Moodle 1.9 is no longer supported for bug fixes so you should really upgrade asap.
  5. Debugging
    Moodle has a nice debugging tool that logs each call from your SCORM package to Moodle – this can be configured to be enabled for all users or for a specific user – If you are unable to reproduce the issue yourself, you can enable the debugger for the specific user and ask them to email you the results.
    To enable debugging see here: Moodle 1.9 Moodle 2
  6. Multiple Attempts
    The way attempts in SCORM works can be confusing – when a learner enters a SCORM package and gets a score, then re-enters the package their score can be changed or updated, losing their previous score. I’ve recently written an FAQ item on this in the Moodle docs site here.
  7. Grading
    SCORM packages can be graded in multiple ways – some SCORM packages return a raw_score, others only return a lesson_status. Moodle has a range of grading methods to suit these different packages – for help on this see here

If none of that helps with your issue, make sure you read the FAQ on asking for help in the Moodle SCORM forums – this explains a list of the things we need you to include in your post to allow us to help. Usually our biggest difficulty is trying to reproduce the issue you are having.

The majority of the time I spend on SCORM in Moodle is as a volunteer – so please be kind!

I’m thankful to all those who have helped with SCORM from the  original developer of SCORM in Moodle – Roberto Pinna and the GSOC program which has allowed us to progress on SCORM 2004 compliance, I’m especially thankful to those people who have provided funding for my time to work on specific bugs in SCORM that have been causing them grief.

There are still many other issues with SCORM in Moodle (let alone the work on SCORM 2004) but my volunteer time is limited so if there’s something in Moodle that doesn’t work the way you’d like, any funding you have available for my time to fix the issues would be really appreciated. I work for the certified Moodle Partner Catalyst IT, we have offices in the UK/AU/NZ and provide a range of services around free and open source software.

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