Problem with Scorm LMS resume

[Javier.Rodriguez]

Hi,

I published a Quiz made with Articualte Quizmaker, with SCORM 2004 option (2nd edition), and uploaded to a custom LMS (I'm developing a new LMS product).

All is working fine if you take the quiz, and after you see the results. And if you close in the middle and then open again, you can choose to continue, and all is working well too. But, if you take the quiz, and close in the middle, the you launch the quiz again (the LMS sent the cmi.entry as "resume" and all the information loaded like the quiz left last time), and you choose NO when the quiz ask if you want to continue, then the quiz does not delete the previous interaction information, and the information can be wrong, mixing answer from the previous session.

I think that if the user choose to not continue, the SCO should clean the cmi object. But maybe I'm doing something wrong.... how should this work if the user choose no? there is any way to avoid this question?

Any ideas to solve this problem will be very appreciated.

Thanks

Javier Rodríguez

[Justin]

If you say No then your LMS should be interpreting it as a new attempt, not mixing a previous attempt with a new attempt. While we don't offer support for custom LMS implementation, you may want to look at hiring a consultant to assist you who specializes in issues just like yours. We recommend Rustici Software. You can contact them here:
SCORM

[Javier.Rodriguez]

"If you say No then your LMS should be interpreting it as a new attempt, not mixing a previous attempt with a new attempt."

Yes, I agree, the problem is that this answer is never informed to the LMS, and I don't know a way in scorm to comunicate something like "This should be the same attempt continued but the user say no so I decided to make a new one".

"While we don't offer support for custom LMS implementation, you may want to look at hiring a consultant to assist you who specializes in issues just like yours. We recommend Rustici Software. You can contact them here"

Ok, Thanks, I will contact them.

[beeneeb]

Originally Posted by Javier.Rodriguez

Yes, I agree, the problem is that this answer is never informed to the LMS, and I don't know a way in scorm to comunicate something like "This should be the same attempt continued but the user say no so I decided to make a new one".

Most LMS's have the ability to determine what should be done with the subsequent attempts. They can either accept each new attempt and overwrite the previous. They can accept each attempt and then average all of the attempts. They can accept only the first attempt and never allow subsequent attempts to be written. So, this is definitely something that should be handled on the LMS side.

[Javier.Rodriguez]

Originally Posted by beeneeb

Most LMS's have the ability to determine what should be done with the subsequent attempts. They can either accept each new attempt and overwrite the previous. They can accept each attempt and then average all of the attempts. They can accept only the first attempt and never allow subsequent attempts to be written. So, this is definitely something that should be handled on the LMS side.

Maybe I was not clear in my first explanation, or I'm missing something.... I'm realy confused... :S

I will try again.

From the "SCORM_RunTimeEnv.pdf" 3rd edition document:

The LMS is responsible for initializing the cmi.entry data model element based on the following rules:
o If this is the first learner session on a learner attempt, then the LMS shall set the cmi.entry to “ab-initio” upon initial launch of the SCO.
o If the learner attempt on the SCO is being resumed from a suspended learner session (cmi.exit was set to “suspend” or “logout”), then the LMS shall initialize this value to “resume”.
o If the previous learner session on the SCO ended due to a Suspend All Navigation Request triggered by the LMS, then the LMS shall initialize this value to “resume”.
o For all other conditions, the LMS shall set the cmi.entry to an empty characterstring (“”).

This is the behavior I'm describing (in my first post, the problem match with the second point here, the learner attempt is being resumed from a suspended learner session), I know some LMSs let you do other things, but I'm trying to make the basic behavior to work, and maybe later more advanced features.

I think the LMS is doing right, but, this is not working fine, so, I'm asking for some help because I can't see where is the problem.

BTW: Like Justin suggested, I asked a SCORM expert, I'm waiting the response....

Thanks

Javier

[Javier.Rodriguez]

Here is the question and answer to ADL.... maybe I'm missing something, but I can not find what it is. Any help or ideas will be appreciated.

Thanks

Javier

Question sent to ADL:

Hi,



I’m working on a new LMS product, specifically with the SCORM API implementation, we found some problems when resuming a session from a previous attempt. With some contents (generated with Articulate Quizmaker 09), we found some communications issues, and I want to know in general (not only articulate) how to manage the information when resuming.



This particular problem is using SCORM 2004 3rd edition.



This is the scenario:



1)The learner starts an SCO, and close without finish. 3 interactions are saved in cmi.interactions. The cmi.exit value is set to suspend by the SCO.

2)The learner starts the same SCO again, the LMS load all the information like it was left the previous time by the SCO, including interaction information, and sets the cmi.entry to resume.

3)The SCO ask the user (internal SCO logic) if they want to resume, the user answers no. The user only answer one question (the first interaction) and close the content.

4)The LMS receives the cmi object with 4 interactions loaded. This is not correct in this case.



Question:



It is correct that the LMS preload the interactions information in point 2?

There is other important fields that I’m missing in this explanation that should be loaded or checked?



Thanks in advance



Javier Rodríguez



Response from ADL:

From: <scormhelpdesk@adlnet.gov>
Date: Fri, Jun 26, 2009 at 11:35 AM
Subject: Response for service request #14426
To: javier.rodriguez@interzoic.com


Javier,

From your explanation it sounds like your LMS is behaving correctly. If cmi.exit is set to suspend, upon return to that activity it is expected that the data was preserved and available for the resume. If the SCO is going to provide a way to "restart" this activity, then it needs to take the responsibility to clear any of the previous data that is available.

Again, I don't know if there are other details that would alter this behavior, but from what you have described, your LMS appears to be performing correctly.

tom creighton
ADL Technical Team

[Wylie]

Hello,

What is the status on this bug report? Can you get Articulate quizzes to resume correctly with testrack or not? Have you been able reproduce this problem locally?

Please keep us updated as we would like to recommend Articulate products to our LMS clients.

Thanks,
Chris

[Justin]

This has not been reported as a bug because it has not been reproduced.

[Paco]

I have experience the same issues with a Quizmaker quizzes embedded in an Articulate Presentation 09. We are using IE7, Moodle 1.9.5 (build 20090515). It allows you one attempt to to choose resume where you left off but if you close out again and re-launch the package game over, everything locks up.

I want to add this to the previous posting related to Scorm fixes.

This however does not happen when you are using just Quizmaker quizzes by themselves.

Please take a look at this issue.

Paco

[Wylie]

Originally Posted by Justin

This has not been reported as a bug because it has not been reproduced.

Has the Articulate team tried to reproduce this?