SCORM security (two kinds of SCORM people)

I’ve had a flurry of emails and messages regarding my SCORM cheat the past few days, and have received feedback from a number of well-regarded SCORM aficionados, some of whom contributed to the standard and helped make SCORM what it is today. This is wonderful, I’m very happy to hear from everyone, especially regarding such an engaging topic.

But as I hear more from these seasoned SCORM pros, I’ve made (what I believe to be) an interesting observation: there is a sharp division between die-hard SCORM developers and casual users. I suppose I’ve felt this way for a long time, but it’s really coming into focus this week. Let me try to define the camps.

Cheating in SCORM

I’m always surprised how little people talk about cheating in e-learning; maybe it’s a fear of revealing just how easy it can be. The fact is, SCORM — the most common communication standard in e-learning — is fairly easy to hack. I’ve whipped up a proof-of-concept bookmarklet that when clicked will set your SCORM course to complete with a score of 100 (works with both SCORM 1.2 and 2004).

The pipwerks forum is dead, long live the new eLearning Technology and Development Google Group!

I’d like to say thank you to all the people who posted in the pipwerks forum, and invite you to join me in the new eLearning Technology and Development group.

I’d also like to ask anyone and everyone who develops e-learning to drop by and sign up for the eLearning Technology and Development group. Ask questions — lots of questions — and let’s see if we can get a good community going!

Adobe eLearning Suite and Captivate 4 released

Adobe has officially announced Captivate 4 and the Adobe eLearning Suite. My first thought upon finding out about the eLearning Suite a few months ago: “Why should I buy the eLearning Suite if since I already have CS3/CS4? The only real difference seems to be the inclusion of Captivate, which I can get separately, and Presenter, which I probably won’t even use.” The answer is…

SCORM resources

I recently emailed a shortlist of good SCORM development resources to a colleague, and figured I should probably post a list here, too. This is a quickie list, and I’m sure I’m leaving someone out. If you know of any resources I’ve missed, please add a link in the comments. This list is presented in no particular order.