Admin settings - "Enable SCORM 1.2 standard mode" definite meaning

Admin settings - "Enable SCORM 1.2 standard mode" definite meaning

Alex Legg - ން
Number of replies: 5
Hi all,


As many of you know, there are some known bugs with SCORM.


I was looking to overcome issues such as SCORM internet connection breaks, resume behaviour errors, and incomplete retrieved tracking data to name a few by altering configurations.


It is my belief that the authoring tool we use - in cases where the courses built and compiled to SCORM contain a lot of data; potentially exceed the threshold of the suspend_data field... which may therefor be a cause of issues users have reported for example the "resume behaviour error" where the user would return to the course at a different point to where they had left off.


So to the point of the discussion, I've come across this admin setting "Enable SCORM 1.2 standard mode"... @Site administration > Plugins > Activity modules > learning module. Where it enabled by default (ticked), it states the following..

"Disabling this setting allows Moodle 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."


In the Moodle SCORM 2.7 documentation is expands with:

"If this setting is disabled, then it will be possible to exceed the allowed amount of stored data for SCORM 1.2 packages. Many SCORM packages go over the 4096 characters limit and while SCORM 2004 allows a higher number of characters, it is not supported. This setting will mean users can allow their 1.2 packages to store more data."


Am I correct in saying my Moodle 2.7 site, where I run only SCORM 1.2 packages, that it would be wise to untick the box and (therefore would disable it?)?


This has been a controversial topic at my workplace, as a specialist of Moodle advised us to keep it ticked (enabled) as "It only applies to SCORM 2004".


Many thanks,


Alex

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In reply to Alex Legg

Re: Admin settings - "Enable SCORM 1.2 standard mode" definite meaning

Alex Legg - ން

Bump (if allowed)...

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Re: Admin settings - "Enable SCORM 1.2 standard mode" definite meaning

Dan Marsden - ން
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The SCORM 1.2 specification sets some limits on the amount of data that different variables can store.

This means that when complying with the standards if a SCORM package tries to store more than the allowed amount of data the LMS must return an error.

Good examples of this are "suspend_data" and student responses to quiz questions. These bits of data can often go over the limit that the SCORM 1.2 spec defines and this often occurs with packages developed by the major well-known authoring tools. The biggest issue when this occurs with "suspend_data" is that when a student returns to a previous attempt it can't resume where they left off last as the suspend_data is not complete. When this occurs with student responses, the data is not stored. Sometimes these errors can cause other failures within the SCORM package as they do not always have good error handling implemented within the packages.

Many people publish their basic SCORM packages as SCORM 2004 to get around these limits because the SCORM 2004 standard has much higher data limits on the same variables, but Moodle doesn't provide full support for SCORM 2004 (particularly the sequencing and navigation component of SCORM 2004) By un-ticking this box Moodle won't return an error state when your SCORM package tries to store more data than the 1.2 spec allows, it will accept the data and allow your SCORM to function as you expected it to in the first place.

This setting affects SCORM 1.2 packages and allows them to work as expected by the teacher - I tend to disable standards mode on all our clients sites, I think the only reason I would enable standards mode would be to allow us to run Moodle through the official ADL compliance tests. It's possible that in a future version of Moodle we might have it disabled by default.

Hopefully that helps?

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In reply to Dan Marsden

Re: Admin settings - "Enable SCORM 1.2 standard mode" definite meaning

Matthew Leathes - ން

Hi Dan

I've just stumbled across this setting and it sounds extremely useful, particularly for people who feel the need to have very lengthy courses in Articulate/Storyline/Captivate as such modules can easily be made to exceed the standard 4096bytes of storage that the SCORM 1.2 spec allows.

My question is: when this option is unchecked, what is the new upper limit on suspend_data storage? Is there any hidden setting for controlling what that is or is it simply the limit set on whatever field in the database the suspend_data is stored in?

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Re: Admin settings - "Enable SCORM 1.2 standard mode" definite meaning

Dan Marsden - ން
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it extends the items restricted to 256 and 4096 by the SCORM 1.2 spec to 64000 (the highest value allowed in the SCORM 2004 spec)

https://github.com/moodle/moodle/blob/master/mod/scorm/datamodels/scorm_12.php#L45

at some point we should probably make the default value for that set to "off" for new installs - the only reason I can think of for it to be turned on is if you are running the ADL SCORM compliance tests.

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In reply to Dan Marsden

Re: Admin settings - "Enable SCORM 1.2 standard mode" definite meaning

Matthew Leathes - ން
Thanks Dan, that's very useful info. My colleague must have created a truly enormous course because he said he had exceeded even that limit..!
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