You can still find SCORM mentioned in just about every corner of the e-learning universe, like an old pop song refusing to leave the charts. But behind the scenes, the winds have shifted. Many companies are quietly putting SCORM in the rear-view mirror—and honestly, it’s about time. The learning world that needed SCORM is long gone. People want to learn on their phones, track more than multiple-choice quizzes, and do weird things like share progress with multiple platforms or fit training into the middle of a real job, not just tick boxes on a course. SCORM just doesn’t keep up anymore. So, what’s actually replacing it?
Why SCORM Had Its Moment (And Why It’s Fading)
Ask any learning manager to find one good thing to say about SCORM, and you’ll likely hear: "It just works, or at least it sort of does." That was good enough—for 2001. Back then, e-learning meant a company-made course sitting on one Learning Management System (LMS), tracking completions and scores. SCORM came out of the U.S. Department of Defense initiative, and it solved a real problem: how to get content from different vendors to talk to any SCORM-compliant LMS. It offered:
- Basic tracking: Completions, pass/fail, how much time spent.
- Plug-and-play: Upload a SCORM package, and it "just works"—so they say.
- Vendor compatibility: Authors and LMS companies finally spoke a common language.
But pretty quickly, its limits showed. Try using a course on a phone, and it’s all awkward resizing, stuff not saving, or worse, a total crash. The data is rigid—no recording if someone completes a real-world task or learns outside the LMS. Forget about tracking podcasts, Zoom sessions, performance feedback, or even gamified elements. Nobody wants to sit inside a browser window for an hour just to please a progress bar. SCORM also stops being reliable in modern cloud environments, where people hop across platforms, devices, and content like my cat Simba jumps from window sill to bookshelf. And privacy? Not built in. Security? Meh at best.
xAPI: E-Learning’s New Powerhouse
So, meet xAPI (sometimes called Experience API or Tin Can API, if you’re feeling retro). It’s like the smart, flexible cousin that doesn’t mind whether you’re on an iPad, attending a live event, or learning on the go. xAPI tracks much more than course completions. It grabs data from nearly any learning moment and stores it in something called a Learning Record Store (LRS). Here’s why people are obsessed with it lately:
- It works everywhere: Phone, laptop, AR headset, whatever—if it can send data, xAPI collects it.
- Rich data: Tracks not just "Who did what," but "How did they interact?" Click streams, social shares, simulation scores—the works.
- Offline support: Learn without Wi-Fi? xAPI caches then syncs once you’re back online.
- Real-world activity: Want to track an engineer who set up actual hardware? Or a nurse who demonstrated a skill in-person? xAPI logs it.
- Third-party integrations: Connects easily to HR systems, CRM tools, apps—whatever you want.
If you’re into numbers, this makes a massive difference. Take this for stats:
| Feature | SCORM | xAPI |
|---|---|---|
| Tracks completions | Yes | Yes |
| Tracks detailed actions | No | Yes |
| Mobile support | Poor | Strong |
| Works offline | No | Yes |
| Integrates outside LMS | No | Yes |
| Real-time feedback | No | Possible |
It’s not just hype. Care to know how many Fortune 500s are piloting xAPI-powered learning? A survey by the Brandon Hall Group back in 2024 found over 68% had xAPI mentions in strategy documents for future-proofing their training setups.
cmi5 and Other Fresh Faces
Now, xAPI is a superhero, but sometimes superheroes need a helper. Here enters cmi5. Think of cmi5 as a wrapper or set of "rules" that adds structure where xAPI was almost too flexible. SCORM gave lots of guarantees for old, classic courses. xAPI says you can track anything—maybe too much, honestly, for a traditional LMS. So cmi5 is the handshake between power (xAPI) and process (what LMS admins expect). If you want progress tracking, gradebooks, or resuming courses across devices, cmi5 delivers without losing the freedom xAPI brings.
Besides cmi5, a few other upstarts are catching attention. AICC was big in the airline industry but is now almost extinct. There’s also LTI (Learning Tools Interoperability), which is more for connecting apps and content across campuses than detailed tracking. People love LTI for plugging Zoom or YouTube into university systems, but it won’t replace SCORM on its own. What you’ll really see is a blend—xAPI for versatile data, cmi5 for compliance and flow, LTI for integrations.
Quick tip: If you’re updating your LMS or courseware, always check for xAPI and cmi5 compatibility, especially if you are planning to scale or want analytics that actually mean something. And look out for vendors who promise "SCORM compatibility" as a main selling point—that’s a sign they’re behind the times.
What Makes the New Standards Better Than SCORM?
Imagine tracking every bit of learning your team does, both online and face-to-face, then rolling up that data into performance reviews or skill dashboards across platforms. With classic SCORM, you’re stuck in silos and can’t connect dots between learning and real-world impact. New standards like xAPI and cmi5 flip that. Here’s what really matters about the change:
- SCORM alternatives like xAPI support adaptive learning—delivering resources at the right time based on personal progress, not just at the start.
- The ability to report fails, retries, partial completions—SCORM usually just offers "completed/incomplete."
- No more browser jail: Courses run natively in apps, VR environments, or straight from cloud links.
- Much stronger privacy controls and better support for encrypted data, matching today’s compliance laws like GDPR and CCPA.
- It opens the door to AI-powered recommendations. Imagine your online platform noticing when you struggle with a module and nudging out a perfect explainer video. Can’t do that if you only have pass/fail stats.
- It lets L&D teams actually prove their courses work. Connect performance data to learning completions, not just test scores.
My friend who works at a big consulting firm shared that after they rolled out an xAPI/cmi5 combo, their compliance reporting time dropped from weeks to minutes—because everything syncs in real-time and feeds custom dashboards, not static spreadsheets.
Making the Switch: Getting Ready for Life After SCORM
Worried about the switch? It isn’t always smooth, but you don’t need to burn everything to the ground. Most modern LMSs can run SCORM, xAPI, and cmi5 together for a while. Start by mapping what you want to track—beyond completions. Do you care about how learners explore resources, collaborate, or show skills in the real world? That list tells you if you need xAPI alone, with cmi5, or plus LTI for tools integration.
If you’re authoring new content, tools like Articulate Storyline, Adobe Captivate, and Elucidat already support xAPI and cmi5. Existing courses can often be exported in newer formats without an overhaul. But don’t forget your reporting setup—what good is more data if you can’t make sense of it? Find an LRS you like (Learning Locker and Watershed LRS are leaders) and test-drive dashboards before committing.
- Check your compliance needs—do you need to prove completions for audits? cmi5’s your friend.
- Work with IT on security—privacy and data flows are bigger when your learning data suddenly gets valuable.
- Plan for training: Show your team how richer data translates into better performance, not more micromanagement.
My own tip? Take it slow. Keep your SCORM courses, run pilots with xAPI/cmi5, and get feedback from both learners and admins. The best tools are the ones people actually want to use.