Questionmark™ Perception™ is Now SCORM Compliant

For Immediate Release

Questionmark™ Perception™ is Now SCORM Compliant

LONDON, UK - April 19, 2002 - Questionmark, the leading provider of Web-based testing and assessment software, announced today that Questionmark™ Perception™ is compliant with SCORM™ 1.2. Perception's new SCORM support feature allows Learning Management Systems to launch Perception and track assessment results. 

The Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM), produced by the Advanced Distributed Learning organisation (ADL), allows the sharing of content through the use of a defined data model and runtime environment. Full details on SCORM can be found at http://www.adlnet.org/scorm/scorm_index.cfm. To download Questionmark's SCORM support module, visit: http://www.questionmark.com/links/scorm.htm. 

"This release of SCORM support will help Questionmark users maximise the benefits of using Perception together with their LMS, and will widen our circle of business partners," said Questionmark EMEA Business Development Director, Vivienne Shaughnessy. "Although we have concerns about the security models of SCORM for high-stakes assessments, we feel that this interface is a very useful addition for low-stakes assessments." 

SCORM-enabled assessments are launched by a SCORM-compliant LMS. Assessment results are then returned via the SCORM API. All the data needed to start the assessment is passed when the assessment is launched. As SCORM requires that score information is passed back via the browser on the client PC, there is a theoretical risk of the score being altered by the participant. These risks should be evaluated before using SCORM to deliver high stakes assessments.

Questionmark's SCORM support has been self-tested by Questionmark with the ADL Sharable Content Object (SCO) Run-Time Environment Test Version 1.2 (Self Test) - Beta 2. Conformance was reported as successful - SCO-RTE1+Mandatory and Optional.

About Questionmark
Questionmark has been producing testing and assessment software since 1988. Questionmark Perception allows people to create question files without programming experience. Users can categorise their question banks into topics and sub-topics from which to assemble tests and surveys. They can shuffle questions and answers for each participant and preview assessments to see how they will appear post-deployment. They can present questions with videos, graphics and a wide variety of styles. Participants receive feedback as specified by the author. Answers are saved to an encrypted file for scoring and analysis in a variety of report formats.

Businesses, governments, schools, colleges, and universities in more than 50 countries use Questionmark software. Questionmark has more than 1,200 customers using Perception, with approximately 9,000 authoring systems installed, and systems shipped have been configured with approximately 3,000,000 participants. Typical applications include exams, quizzes, study aids, diagnostic tests, pre-course skills assessments, and course evaluations. Questionmark is actively involved with the IMS Global Learning Consortium and supports open standards. Visit www.questionmark.com for more information.

About ADL and SCORM
The purpose of the ADL initiative is to ensure access to high-quality education and training materials that can be tailored to individual student needs and made available whenever and wherever they are required.

Starting in 1997, ADL began working with key industry leaders to identify critical technical interface points around which standards for Web-based learning technologies might be developed. During 1998, ADL observed that several organisations were developing a variety of draft standards, each of which affect different aspects of Web-based learning systems. These efforts, however, lacked a common framework. So, ADL developed the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) incorporating many of these emerging standards into one content model.

To date the SCORM has been updated three times; Version 1.0 was released in January 2000; Version 1.1 in January 2001; and recently Version 1.2 in October 2001. Future versions are expected to expand the initial scope of the work as technologies further develop.

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