Combine multiple SCORM packages into one

When moving to a new LMS you may find that it’s view of what makes up a ‘Learning Object’, ‘Module’ or ‘Course’ is quite different than what you are used to. This was the case when I was transferring content from Dokeos to Learnflex.

I had to find a way to quickly combine the modules I had exported from Dokeos (which was using learning paths) into one SCORM package. The tracking of each individual SCO was not neccesarry in this instance as it would only have a final assessment that needed tracked. My first thought was to launch RELOAD and start building a new package using all the exported files and my knowledge of the structure of the course. RELOAD however seemed to suffer from slowdown as soon as I was dealing with lots of items, I quickly became frustrated with having to wait to add a new page or module, so I began thinking about a faster way.

I loaded up a couple of exported IMSManifest files that I had exported from Dokeos. One thing I immediately noticed was that the “identifierref” attributes used in the files were numbered and unique. With that knowledge I figured the fastest way to combine Dokeos exported SCORM packages into one package was to manually cut and paste the XML files together. (or to use a script to do this that I should really just write and put online for others to use… will certainly update you if that happens) Anyways, for those proficient with XML here is what I did:

1. The first XML file will be your starting point, wrap all the <item>’s of this manifest into one <item> tag.
   
   tip: replace the <organization> tag with<organization identifier=”some id”> <item identifier=”some id”>, and then replace the bottom </organization> tag with </item></organization>.
   
   
2. For each package you wish to add, create a new <item ></item> and paste the items from that IMSManifest into your new <item> tag.
   
   
3. For each package you wish to add copy all the <resource> information and paste into the main file’s <resources>
   

This will give you one giant manifest!

If this solution doesn’t help with your problem Dave Mozealous also has a solution that may be what you are looking for. See: http://www.mozealous.com/repackaging-articulate-content-to-allow-multiple-scos/

Missing Files from an Exported Dokeos SCO

I was working on moving content from Dokeos to Operitel’s Learnflex LMS when I noticed that there were missing assets from Dokeos’ exported packages. I was not familiar with how the original courses had been developed, if they were built offline or by using Dokeos, but for some reason or another, the course relied on assets that the Dokeos system was not aware of.

While I have not discovered why this occurred, I did find a very quick way to resolve this problem and have a working SCO that I could transfer into another LMS. The solution relied on using both Dokeos’ SCO export, and its document file export.

1. From the learning path Export the required SCO

   

2. Unzip the SCO and take the IMSManifest.xml file you’ll find inside and copy it to a new folder. You can then delete the zip you downloaded.
3. In that new folder create a folder called "document"
4. From the course home go to documents

   

   and select save (zip)

   

5. Unzip all the contents and copy the files into the “document” folder you created
6. So your new folder should have the imsmanifest file and a document folder with all your content, simply zip these together and you will have yourself a working SCO!