Sunday, March 14, 2010

SCORM Problems Caused by Moodle Review Mode

I ran into a problem this week involving Moodle and SCORM and wanted to share the problem and solution for my own good and for the good of anyone else out there who may be having a similar problem. What I was trying to do is relatively common so I am sure I am not the only one running into this problem with using SCORM on Moodle no matter what authoring tool you are using.

The Problem:
The problem was with a SCORM based course not tracking scores correctly in the Moodle gradebook due to it forcing learners into "Review Mode" after their first attempt. The "Review Mode" feature is designed to allow the user to review the eLearning course without their score being tracked in the gradebook. The problem I was having is that for this course I wanted to allow unlimited attempts and have their highest score tracked in the Moodle gradebook but Moodle did not make that easy on me. Moodle was forcing the user into "Review Mode" on their second attempt no matter what their score was on their first attempt. This was no good because it did not give the user the opportunity to improve their score after their first attempt like I was hoping for. The gradebook only reported scores for the users first attempt due to them being forced into "Review Mode" on their second attempt. This lead me into a scavenger hunt for information on how to disable "Review Mode." What I ended up finding is a better solution.

The Solution:
After digging through Moodle forums I discovered that "Review Mode" kicks in after the user has received a "Passing Score" on the course. At first this didn't make sense to me because in Articulate, I had the passing score set to 100%. If the passing score was set to 100% then why is "Review Mode" kicking in for lower scores? Then I realized that the Moodle gradebook has a "Passing Score" option also. After this light bulb kicked on I set the passing score in the Moodle gradebook to 100% and voila, "Review Mode" doesn't kick in unless the user has scored 100% and at that point who cares because they can't score better anyway. If you have run into this problem you can change your passing score by following the written or video instructions below.



(Click Here to view Video Instructions)

Changing the "Passing Score" to avoid Moodle's "Review Mode":
  1. The settings on the SCORM activity can vary depending on your preferences but in my case I used the settings below:
    1. Grading Method = Highest Grade
    2. Maximum Score = 100
    3. Number of Attempts = Unlimited
    4. Attempts Grading = Highest Attempt
  2. From the Moodle Grade book, turn editing on.
  3. Click on the edit icon located in the column for the SCORM activity
  4. After clicking the edit icon you will see an option labeled "Grade to Pass." Set this to 100 or whatever you would like the passing score to be.
  5. Click Save. After changing this option the user will not be forced into "Review Mode" unless they have received a passing score.

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5 comments:

JFDragon said...

Hi Joe,

As usual, nice idea...

But you should take a look at Moodle 2 (official release suppose to be on july 2010). It's incorporate some great features about that, like the possibility to "force completed", "force new attempt" or "Lock after final attempt.

After becoming SCORM 1.2 compliant, I think theses new little options will bring Moodle in a new world... not only doing and managing SCORM, but doing it great.

See you!

JF

Joe Deegan said...

Hi JF,
Yes, I am very much looking forward to Moodle 2.0. Are you going to upgrade right away or wait for later versions?

Jenna said...

Hi Joe,

I've been looking for an answer to this same problem for a SCORM 1.2 quiz I output from Articulate quizmaker and uploaded to a Moodle 1.9.10 install. In this case the grading method has been set to highest grade rather than learning objects.

In the grade book I reset pass to 100, but review mode is still available after the first unsuccessful try, with pass set to 80% for the quiz in Quizmaker.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Jenna

Anonymous said...

Back in the course settings, display course structure Never allow the user to skip the structure page which allows user to create another attempt, effectively startting over, but logging a score for each attempt.

Karl said...

Thank you. After hours of searching this is actually the right answer and explains the unexplainable!