The difference between SCORM 1.2 vs. SCORM 2004

Comparing SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004

SCORM is the most widely used eLearning standard and comes in three predominant versions: SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004 3rd Edition and SCORM 2004 4th Edition. We are often asked what is the difference between SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004. This page helps clear up the main points of both versions and help you decide which one to support in your platform or publish your content.

	SCORM 1.2	SCORM 2004
Is widely adopted	Yes	Yes
Normalized reporting	Yes	Yes
Has the easiest “Big 4”	Yes	No
Rollup determined by the course	No	Yes
Rollup determined by the LMS	Yes	No
Robust interactions model	No	Yes
Longer suspend data*	No	Yes
Sequencing	No	Yes

 

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About the different SCORM features

Visit the Evolution of SCORM page for more information about each SCORM version and other eLearning standards.

Adoption rates

SCORM 1.2 is the most widely adopted eLearning standard, but SCORM 2004 3rd Edition and 4th Edition both have significant adoption rates. Vendors should strive to support all three, and content creators who want to reach the largest audience should have the ability to distribute courses in all three standards.

Normalized reporting

SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004 have established reporting rules and track, at minimum, what we call the “Big 4”: completion, score, duration and satisfaction.

Easiest “Big 4”

SCORM 1.2 is the easiest to implement and start tracking the “Big 4”.

Rollup determined by the course

Rollup is the act of “rolling up” activity data to the summary level that feeds your reports. SCORM 2004 specifies that the course handles indicating to the LMS that the data is ready to be rolled up.

Rollup determined by the LMS

In SCORM 1.2, the LMS is responsible for handling the rollup.

Robust interactions model

SCORM 1.2 has very limited capability in its data model for accepting details about interactions. SCORM 2004 enhances interactions, allows for objectives and has full question and answer text.

Longer suspend data

For SCORM 1.2, the maximum suspend data size is defined at 4096 characters. Some authoring tools like to use that bucket to store things like bookmarking and interactions. If you have a big course, you are going to run out of space quickly. SCORM 2004 is set at 64000 characters. 

*Only use SCORM 2004 3rd and 4th Editions for this.

Sequencing

Sequencing is what happens between SCOs and outside of SCOs. When a learner exits a SCO, sequencing is responsible for determining what happens next. Sequencing determines what navigational controls and options are available to the learner. While the core SCORM books are very stable in all of SCORM 2004, sequencing is a VERY complicated specification.