SCORM Navigation

SCORM Navigation defines how learning and system-initiated navigation events are triggered and processed, resulting in the identification of learning activity for delivery. Navigation is the process by which a learner and an LMS cooperate to identify navigation requests to realize a learning experience.

For a learner to access a course or any of its activities, a navigation request must be issued . The result of each navigation request (ideally) is one of two things: an activity is delivered to the learner or the current activity is taken away. Note that only one activity can be experienced by the learner at a time.

How the LMS knows which activity to deliver in response to a navigation request is defined by the content package's activity tree and sequencing information. By default, a learner experiencing a content package will choose an activity from the tree to launch.

Navigation Events

Navigation events can be triggered by a learner through user interface devices provided by the LMS or content or directly by SCOs. The LMS will determine the type and style of the user interface presented to a learner at run-time for navigation.

Navigation Events, their source, and description:
• Start - LMS; request to identify the first or "starting" activity of a tree, typically generated automatically by the LMS when the learning begins a new attempt
• Resume All - LMS; request to resume a previously suspended attempt on an activity tree
• Continue - LMS or SCO; request to identify the "next" logical learning activity (in relation to the current activity) available in the tree
• Previous - LMS or SCO; request to identify the "previous" logical learning activity (in relation to the current activity) in the tree
• Choose - LMS or SCO; request to "jump" directly to a specific learning activity in the tree
• Abandon - LMS or SCO; request to prematurely or abnormally terminate the current attempt on the current activity
• Abandon All - LMS or SCO; request to prematurely or abnormally terminate the current attempt on the root activity of the tree
• Suspend All - LMS or SCO; request to "pause" the current attempt on the root activity of the tree
• Unqualified Exit - LMS or SCO; indicates the attempt on the current activity has finished normally and not as the result of another navigation event
• Exit All - LMS or SCO; indicates the current attempt on the root activity of the tree has finished normally

The result of processing a navigation event will be one of the following:
• If the effect of the event is to end the current attempt on the activity tree, the LMS will process an Exit All request and return control to the LMS
• The request will be honored and the sequencing system will be invoked, resulting in one of the following:
  • A learning activity is identified for delivery
  • No learning activity is identified for delivery
  • An exception occurs resulting in undefined LMS-handled behavior
• The request will not be honored and the LMS will take no action until another navigation request is issued