Glossary · Education & Learning

SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model)

SCORM is a set of technical standards that packages e-learning content so it can run in any compliant LMS and report completion and scores back to it.

Updated October 6, 2026

SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) is a technical standard for packaging online learning content and for how that content communicates with a learning management system. A SCORM package is a ZIP file containing web content plus a manifest file describing its structure.

Why it matters

SCORM lets you build a course once and play it in any compliant LMS, and have the LMS record completion status, scores and time spent. It dates from the early 2000s and has limits, notably that it generally requires the course to run inside a browser session launched from the LMS. Newer standards such as xAPI and cmi5 can record learning outside the LMS. SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004 are the two widely used versions.

Example

The package root contains a manifest:

course.zip
  imsmanifest.xml
  index.html
  assets/

Inside the course, JavaScript calls the LMS API, for example:

API.LMSSetValue("cmi.core.lesson_status", "completed");
API.LMSCommit("");

Common mistakes

  • Zipping the parent folder, so imsmanifest.xml is not at the ZIP root and the upload fails.
  • Mixing up SCORM 1.2 and 2004 packages; platforms may support only one.
  • Expecting SCORM to track activity in mobile apps or offline.

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