Introduction

Coke or Pepsi? Letterman or Leno? Does it matter?

To Use AICC or SCORM, that is the Question! What is the answer?

As strange as it sounds, only you can decide.

Consider the following:

The end-user experience for navigation.

• Is it acceptable to have more than one training window open?
• Is it preferable to have the student launch multiple VTA Lessons?

Your reporting needs.

• Do you just want the training to start and simply get a completion returned to VTA?
• Do you need a score stored in VTA for each Lesson within a course?
• Do you need to see the actual test taken?

Your resources for storing and making content available to students.

• Are you developing and storing training content locally?
• Do you have a web server?
• Do you use a vendor website as your content source?

Do you have a choice?

• Are there already processes in place that must be followed?
• Is there a mandate that requires a use of only one standard or can you use both?
• Are you using a development tool or vendor that only produces modules of one standard?

To help determine what might be best for your organization, let’s briefly review both standards.

AICC

The AICC (the committee) develops guidelines for the development, delivery, and evaluation of Computer and Web-Based Training (CBT/WBT) and related training technologies.

AICC (the standard) is an interoperability specification that training content uses to communicate with an LMS.

AICC is “very robust and unambiguous and many consider it to be more secure and reliable than alternatives such as SCORM…” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviation_Industry_Computer-Based_Training_Committee)

For more information, see:  http://www.aicc.org/joomla/dev/

SCORM

SCORM is another interoperability specification that training content uses to communicate with an LMS.

* A “stub file” is a zip file containing an imsmanifest.xml file (and more) to allow a connection between VTA and the content when the content is not within the same domain as the LMS.
For more information, see: http://scorm.com/scorm-explained/

Part 2 of this series will discuss the SCORM Specification.

Marc Letendre

eLearning professional with over 20 years experience positively impacting corporate productivity through skillful management of staff development programs and implementation of RISC LMS solutions. Marc attained an M.S. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Springfield College in 2005 and is reputable for working with groups to identify issues and create tools, processes or training solutions to achieve and exceed measurable objectives.