This matters if you are relying on eLearning records for compliance, and it is much better understood before an audit than during one.
Identity is reliable
A result is always recorded against the signed-in account. Course content cannot name a different learner, and a modified package cannot write to somebody else's record. If the record says an account completed a course, that account did.
Scores are asserted by the content
This is inherent to all of these standards, not a limitation of ActiveManage: none of SCORM, xAPI or cmi5 marks work on the server. The course, running in the learner's own browser, decides what score to report and then reports it. Anyone comfortable with their browser's developer tools can report whatever they like.
What follows from that
- Treat completions and scores as evidence of engagement. For the overwhelming majority of training programmes that is exactly what is needed, and it is what these standards were designed for.
- Do not describe a SCORM pass as an invigilated assessment in a policy or a regulatory return. It is not one, and writing that down creates a problem you do not need.
- Where a result must genuinely be trusted — a qualifying examination, a regulated competency — build the assessment into your own application, with the questions and the marking held on the server.
- Think about what the completion gates. Recording that somebody watched a module is fine. Automatically granting access to something hazardous on the strength of it deserves more thought.
Course packages are web content
A package is HTML and JavaScript hosted on your own domain. Only publish packages from suppliers you trust, exactly as you would only install software from sources you trust.
Worked Examples
- Fire safety awareness: engagement evidence is entirely appropriate — record and report the completion.
- Regulated professional competency: use the course for learning, but assess separately with server-side marking.
- Machine operation sign-off: pair the module with a supervised practical check recorded by an assessor.