Create engaging, interactive learning experiences with games, choose-your-own-adventure paths, and simulations through SCORM courses, while seamlessly integrating your learning content onto Thinkific.
In This Article:
Configure SCORM Course Settings
Price and Publish Your SCORM Course
Create Your SCORM Course Product Page
Use SCORM Cloud to Troubleshoot your SCORM
About SCORM
Enhance learning engagement and unlock seamless content migration by uploading SCORM courses into Thinkific!
SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) is an e-learning standard that ensures content can be seamlessly integrated across various Learning Management Software, making it easier to migrate to Thinkific from other platforms. It also supports the use of third-party content authoring tools (such as Rise 360, Storyline, Adobe Captivate) to drive higher learning engagement by creating interactive experiences such as games, choose-your-own-adventure paths and simulations.
Adding SCORM courses in Thinkific allows you to take advantage of:
-
Interactive Learning
SCORM content can include a variety of interactive elements like quizzes, assessments, and simulations, which can be essential for engaging and assessing your customers' understanding of your product or service. -
Personalization
SCORM content can support adaptive learning, enabling course creators to tailor the content to individual learners. This personalization can be particularly valuable when offering customer education, as it allows you to address different customer needs and knowledge levels. -
Compatibility
SCORM is a widely adopted e-learning standard, which means SCORM-compliant content can be used with various LMS platforms. This interoperability ensures that you can easily migrate your existing SCORM content into Thinkific!
Important Considerations
- The ability to import SCORM files and create SCORM courses is available on all Plus plans. Curious, but not yet on Plus? Discover how Plus can supercharge your business growth.
- It is not possible to create or edit a SCORM file directly in Thinkific.
- The supported format versions include SCORM 2004, 4th edition and SCORM 1.2.
- The maximum file size is under 1024 MB.
- The SCORM file must contain one Shareable Content Object (SCO) - files with several SCOs are unsupported.
- It is not possible to use SCORM-compliant files as a lesson within the Thinkific Course Builder.
- SCORM courses are supported and can be viewed in the Thinkific or a Branded mobile app.
- SCORM courses are not supported in Thinkific Funnels.
- SCORM-compliant courses can only be copied from one Thinkific site to another Thinkific site if both sites are on Plus.
- Looking for a functionality that is not yet available? Please contact us and let us know your feedback!
How SCORM Courses Work
To import a SCORM course into Thinkific, you will need to create a SCORM file using a third-party content authoring tool, such as Rise 360, Storyline, and Adobe Captivate. It is not possible to create a SCORM file directly in Thinkific.
Once the file is created, you can upload it to Thinkific. After the file is uploaded and processed, you can configure the course settings, price your course, and publish it!
When your students open a SCORM course, they will not see the standard Thinkific course player. Instead, they will see the content you configured in your content authoring tool.
Create a SCORM Course
Start by creating SCORM content using a content-authoring tool of your choice. These authoring tools should allow you to export content in a SCORM package, which is a .zip file that contains all the information about the course.
Thinkific supports SCORM 2004, 4th edition and SCORM 1.2 formats.
When exporting the SCORM from the authoring tool of your choice, we highly recommend using the following settings:
- SCORM 2004 - 4th edition (revision) format or SCORM 1.2
- Passed/Failed (if there was a grade associated)
- Completed/Incomplete (if there is no grade)
- The file size is under 1024 MB
To import the SCORM file and create the course:
- From your Admin Dashboard, select Products
- Select Courses
- Select + New course
- Select the Import SCORM Course option
- In the SCORM file tab, upload your SCORM file
- It will take some time for the file to upload and process
When creating a SCORM course, you will not see the standard Thinkific Course Builder. Instead, you will only have the option to import the SCORM file as a whole course. It is not possible to edit the SCORM file directly in Thinkific, but you have the option to replace the imported file with a new version.
It is not possible to use SCORM-compliant files as a lesson within the Thinkific Course Builder. You must upload SCORM-compliant files as complete courses.
That's it! Now you are ready to configure your course, share it with your students, and start tracking their progress!
Replace Your SCORM File
Ensure that the file you are replacing with is the same SCORM edition as the original SCORM file (e.g. SCORM 1.2 is replaced with SCORM 1.2 file). Otherwise, existing students will see the following error: There was an error while fetching your course.
If you need to update and replace an existing SCORM course, you can do it by replacing the file:
- From your Admin Dashboard, select Products
- Select Courses
- Select the course you want to update
- In the SCORM file tab, click Use different file
- Upload the new file
- It will take some time for the file to upload and process
Please note the following when updating your SCORM file:
- The updated SCORM file should match the SCORM edition of the existing file
- The course progress and student progress will remain the same
Preview your SCORM Course
To preview your SCORM course select the Preview button on the top right. You will see the course from the student's perspective and can navigate the course content.
Configure SCORM Course Settings
SCORM courses have most of the same settings and options that courses built using Thinkific Course Builder, with the exceptions outlined below. The following options/settings are not supported in SCORM courses:
- Bulk Importer
- Drip Schedule
- Disable text copying setting
- Course Player appearance settings
- Video lesson autoplay and video completion settings
- Chapter completion message settings
- Custom course completion page settings
- Social sharing settings
- Course Reviews
Most of these settings will need to be set up directly in the authoring tool of your choice when creating the course content.
Price and Publish Your SCORM Course
SCORM courses can be priced and published the same way courses built directly in Thinkific. Follow these guides on how to price, set up and after-purchase flows, and publish your SCORM course:
- Set Your Product Pricing (Guide)
- After Purchase Flow
- How to Create a Pre-Order Product
- Publishing Your Products
Create Your SCORM Course Product Page
Similar to courses built on Thinkific, when you create a SCORM course, a product page is generated automatically. Learn how to use the built-in product page or use the external sales page instead here:
Note that built-in Course Curriculum section will not work with SCORM courses. We recommend deleting this section.
Student Experience
When purchasing or accessing a SCORM course, your students will be taken to the SCORM content player where they will be able to view and interact with the course content. The exact contact flow will depend on the way your SCORM content was organized in the authoring tool.
Regardless of the course content, your students will see an option to return to their student dashboard and go to a connected Thinkific community (if configured).
When leaving and returning halfway through the course, students will see the content where they left off.
SCORM Course Reporting
This feature is currently in Beta and we are continuing to build this functionality. If you have any feedback, please reach out and let us know.
SCORM reporting can be found in Thinkific Analytics. You can find data in different dashboards, depending on the type of data you need. For example, you can find the SCORM course:
- product page conversion data in the Marketing Dashboard
- enrollment data in the Enrollment Dashboard
- purchase and order data in the Orders Dashboard or Revenue Dashboards
- engagement data in the Engagement Dashboard (specifically, the Student Engagement tab)
You can also see the reporting in the SCORM tab in the Engagement Dashboard section of Thinkific Analytics. Here, you can track the pass/fail rates of your learners and their scores (where applicable and when provided by the SCORM package configuration). Learn more about it here: Thinkific Analytics: Engagement Dashboards.
SCORM course reporting will not be available in the following areas:
- User > Activity Feed
- User > Assignments results
- User > Quiz/Survey results
Student Progress Calculation
It is not possible to see the exact student progress while the student is working through the SCORM course. The SCORM courses can only have a 0% or 100% completion - partial completion is not visible (e.g. it is not possible to see if a student has completed 50% of the SCORM course).
You can see the completion percentage for an individual user in the Users table. The Enrollments tab might display the following progress percentages for SCORM courses:
- 0% - Not started - the user is enrolled in a SCORM course but has not started the course
- 1% - In Progress - the user is enrolled AND started the SCORM course (without finishing). Note that the progress will display 1% regardless of the actual completion percentage (e.g. regardless of whether it is 1% or 95%)
- 100% - Complete - the user has completed the SCORM course
Common Errors Troubleshooting
You might encounter errors when uploading a SCORM file to Thinkific. See the common errors below and the steps on how to resolve them.
{{file name}} is too big. The accepted file size is less than 1024 MB.
Your file exceeds 1024 MB. Choose a reduced file size export option.
If there is no reduced file size export available or that exported file is still too big, consider cutting down on the actual content.
If the content cannot be trimmed, consider dividing the course into smaller courses, and creating a new SCORM file for each. Upload each file as a new SCORM course and use Bundles to group them together. If this content needs to be consumed in a particular sequence, use Learning Paths to define how this content should be taken.
{{file name}} upload failed. Please ensure that your file contains SCORM-compliant content, including an imsmanifest.xml file.
Your SCORM zip file does not contain a manifest.XML document or the zip file selected is not a SCORM file.
A Manifest File is an XML (Extensible Markup Language) file that provides a structured outline of the content, specifying how different components are related.
If this error occurs after uploading a file, it is likely because the SCORM output was not zipped properly when exported. To correct this:
- Make sure the manifest file is included in the zip file. The manifest file is typically called imsmanifest.xml
- Make sure the manifest file appears in the root of the zipped package, and not within a file inside the zipped package.
- If the file is being manually zipped, make sure to only zip the contents/components of the output folder, not the folder itself.
- Use SCORM cloud to test and debug the file.
{{file name}} upload failed. Only SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004, 4th edition versions are supported in Thinkific.
Only SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004, 4th edition versions are supported in Thinkific.
If this error message is returned, the SCORM course needs to be re-exported in a supported version.
Most content authoring tools allow users to choose which SCORM version to export the file in, and most tools support all SCORM versions.
{{file name}} upload failed. Invalid file upload. No resource href found in the manifest file.
This error occurs when no href property is found in the manifest file. While unlikely to occur, if this error appears you will need to:
- re-create the SCORM zip file
- open the manifest.XML document included in the zip file and search for the “resource href” value/property. It should look something like the below:
<resource identifier="resource_1" type="webcontent" adlcp:scormtype="sco" href="shared/launchpage.html">
This href value is created when a course is being exported as a SCORM package.
{{file name}} upload failed. Multiple SCO (Sharable Content Object) files are not supported by Thinkific at this time.
This error occurs when multiple SCOs (Shareable Content Objects) are included in a manifest file. Thinkific can only support zip file folders that contain a single SCO.
Reexport your SCORM file with one SCO only.
If you would like to import SCORM files with multiple SCOs, please let us know!
{{file name}} upload failed. Please try again.
When this error occurs, use SCORM cloud to test and debug your file.
If the file is successfully tested in SCORM cloud with no errors reported, please reach out to our Support and provide the SCORM file you are trying to import.
There was an error while fetching your course
This error occurs when a SCORM file is replaced with a different file type/edition in an existing course and a student who has already accessed the course attempts to access it again. New users will not experience this issue.
For example, if you are using SCORM 1.2 to deliver your SCORM course and then replace the file with SCORM 2004 version 4th.
To resolve this, please reach out to our Support Team.
cmi.core.suspend_data may not be greater than X characters, your value is X characters
The suspend_data element for a SCORM course tells Thinkific) where your student leaves off when they exit the course and lets them resume the course later in the same place without having to start over. This suspend_data element stores information about a learner’s progress in a course, like:
* Current lesson or module
* Quiz scores and answers
* Time spent on each section
* Bookmark or progress marker (where they left off)
SCORM compresses that data so it stays below the limit, however, in certain cases this limit might be exceeded. See the table with limits for each SCORM edition below:
| SCORM Standard | Maximum Characters |
| SCORM 1.2 | 4,096 |
| SCORM 2004 2nd Edition | 4,000 |
| SCORM 2004 3rd Edition | 64,000 |
| SCORM 2004 4th Edition | 64,000 |
If you have a large course that exceeds suspend data limits, you can:
- Disable the resume feature in Storyline.
- Reduce the number of slides until the resume feature works as expected. The limit will vary, depending on a variety of factors. You'll need to test your content in Thinkific to verify.
- Republish your course for SCORM 2004 3rd Edition or 4th Edition, both of which support much longer suspend data. Note that replacing SCORM 1.2 file with a SCORM 2004 file might cause issues fetching the course for students who already took the course.
Use SCORM Cloud to Troubleshoot your SCORM
SCORM Cloud is a website that allows you to troubleshoot, debug your SCORM file, and narrow down the cause of an error. It allows you to see how your file is displayed and if any errors occur when doing so. If the same error occurs both in Thinkific and SCORM Cloud, the root cause is most likely your SCORM file and you will need to follow the instructions above or provided by your SCORM tool to fix it. If the error occurs in Thinkific only, but not in SCORM Cloud, please reach out to our Support Team.
To use SCORM Cloud:
- Create a free account at SCORM Cloud
- Click on Add Content
- Select Import a SCORM, AICC, xAPI or cmi5 package
- Follow the prompts to import your SCORM file in a zip format
- Once uploaded, click Launch
- Verify if you see the same error as in Thinkific
You might need to use your browser console to detect errors both in Thinkific and SCORM Cloud. Learn how do it here: Diagnosing Issues with the Browser Console.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I assign a Thinkific Certificate or a Digital Badge to the SCORM course?
Yes! You can assign a Thinkific Certificate that will be awarded to the student when the student completes 100% of the course. Additionally, you can issue Digital Badges based on the SCORM course completion.
Can I export a Thinkific course in a SCORM format?
No. It is not possible to export courses that were created in Thinkific in a SCORM format.
Can I add a SCORM course into a Bundle or a Membership or use it in a Learning Path?
Yes! SCORM courses can be added to a bundle or a membership. Additionally, SCORM courses can be used in Learning Paths.
Can I use SCORM courses as Order Bumps?
Yes, SCORM courses can be used as Order Bumps, similar to courses built directly in Thinkific.
Can I edit SCORM course directly in Thinkific?
No, it is not possible to create or edit a SCORM file directly in Thinkific.