Beyond the specifications, there are also issues related to how the course behaves with respect to the student's actions. The specifications allow for many responses by the course content based on how the course author wants to deliver the content. These behaviors need to be understood before implementation, and might not be available from an LMS.
Most LMSs are designed with a specific set of behaviors as imagined by the LMS designers. Similarly, the course content may produce behaviors beyond those expected by the LMS.
- Here are a few issues you need to consider when selecting a course authoring tool and an LMS.
Do you want to allow students to retake tests? This affects the results that may appear in reports produced by the LMS.
- Do you overwrite previous results? If you allow students to re-take tests, will you be able to see how many times they took the test?
- Can students come back to content that they have "completed"? Often, this is desirable because you want to make the material available as a reference. However, if the LMS now changes the student's status because they have revisited the course, your reports may be misleading.
- How do you declare content "completion"? Is it based on the student reading all the content, or is it based on passing a specific test?
- Do you close down the browser when the student exits the course? The specification implies that the LMS is responsible for opening and closing browser windows (not the course), but many LMSs leave this as a course content responsibility.
- How do you define "lesson_location"? (current page, progress through course)
- Do you use the "score" variable for tests or for progress?
- What happens if you have multiple tests in one "unit"/"object"? Do the scores from the various tests get averaged with each other? What happens if the student takes the various tests in separate sessions?
- How does your LMS store and report results?