Troubleshooting LMS Issues

Oct252012

If your organization is like most, you need to track and report on learner activity. And when you use Articulate software to author e-learning, publishing courses to a learning management system (LMS) is really easy.

But sometimes your course doesn’t behave as expected with your LMS. Why? More often than not it’s because each LMS implements tracking communication standards (AICC, SCORM, or Tin Can API) a little differently—and that can cause problems.

In this article, we’ll suggest some ways you can troubleshoot the most common of these issues:

Published content won’t upload to your LMS

If you get an error when you upload content to your LMS or it simply fails to upload, try following these steps:

1. Publish for LMS.
Make sure you’re publishing content correctly for LMS hosting. If you’re not sure, then review the publishing tutorial for your Articulate product:

2. Use a supported e-learning specification.
When you choose a publishing option in your Articulate software, be sure to select a communication standard that’s supported by your particular LMS.

We recommend choosing the newest spec that’s supported by your LMS. The supported specs, listed in order of age (from oldest to newest), are AICC, SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004, and Tin Can API.

3. Zip your published output.
Most LMSs need you to zip content before you upload it. The best way to zip your course is to click the Zip button on the Publish Successful dialog in your Articulate software. If you manually zip your published output instead, be sure to zip only the content files, not the containing folder.

4. Contact your LMS provider. 
If you still can’t upload content to your LMS, contact your LMS provider for specific instructions.

Course doesn’t play as expected in your LMS

If your course doesn’t play the way you’d expect or if it doesn’t play at all, try following these steps:

1. Upload the published output to your LMS.
Check to see if you’re viewing the content from your LMS and not your local hard drive. Security restrictions from your computer, web browser, Flash Player, and network can cause issues with published output when viewed locally. Upload the published output to your LMS, and then view it.

2. Specify the launch file.
If your LMS needs you to manually specify the launch file for each course, make sure you’re pointing to the correct launch file.

  • If you’ve selected AICC in the publishing dialog, your launch file is: index_lms.html
  • If you’ve selected SCORM in the publishing dialog, your launch file is: index_lms.html
  • If you’ve selected Tin Can API in the publishing dialog, your launch file is: story.html

3. Don’t launch the player in a new window.
If your LMS opens courses in a separate window, you’ll need to disable the Launch player in new window option in the player template for your course. Otherwise, your course content won’t be able to communicate with your LMS and won’t work as expected. To learn more, click your Articulate product below:

4. Update Adobe Flash Player.
Install the latest version of Adobe Flash Player for your web browser. This does not apply if you’re viewing content on an iPad.

5. Use a supported version of Java.
Ask your LMS provider if you need Java and, if so, which version of Java you should install. Articulate content doesn’t utilize Java. However, some LMSs require it. (Note: The most recent version of Java might not be supported by your LMS.)

6. Delete the browser cache.
Delete your browser cache, and then view the course again. If you’re not sure how to delete the cache, click a browser below to learn how:

7. Test your course at SCORM Cloud.
If none of these steps resolve your issue, test your published content at SCORM Cloud and compare the results with your LMS. SCORM Cloud is an industry-standard testing engine, and although “SCORM” is in its name, you can also use it to test AICC and Tin Can API content. (Click here for AICC testing instructions.)

If your content works properly at SCORM Cloud but not in your LMS, open a support case with your LMS provider to troubleshoot the issue. Your LMS provider may request a debug log to help identify the problem. Click here to learn how to generate a debug log.

If your course doesn’t play correctly at SCORM Cloud, submit a case to Articulate.

Course doesn’t track or resume properly in your LMS

If your course doesn’t track or resume properly in your LMS, first follow the recommendations in the preceding section. If it still doesn’t track or resume correctly, try the following steps:

1. Change the reporting status.
Ask your LMS provider if it requires specific values for the reporting status. Articulate provides four pairs of values that can be reported to an LMS. When publishing, click the Reporting and Tracking button and select the pair of values you want to use:

  • Passed/Incomplete
  • Passed/Failed
  • Completed/Incomplete
  • Completed/Failed

2. Select a tracking option.
When you’re publishing a course authored in either Articulate Storyline or Articulate Presenter, click the Reporting and Tracking button and specify whether you want to track course completion based on the number of slides viewed or by a particular quiz in the course.

3. Check the Resume setting.
Verify that the Resume setting is properly configured in your content. If it’s disabled, your course will always start over at the beginning. Learn more about resume options by clicking the Articulate product you use:

4. Close the web browser.
If you authored your course in Articulate Studio ’09, instruct learners to close the browser window (or browser tab) when they’ve finished the course. Their results and resume information will be communicated to the LMS when they close the browser.

5. Upload Tin Can API content to an external server.
If you published for Tin Can API, you may need to host the published output on a server that’s separate from your LMS. Click here to see where you should upload published files.

6. Determine if AICC content is in a cross-domain environment.
If you published for AICC and you’re hosting the published output on a server that’s separate from your LMS, you may be facing an AICC cross-domain limitation. You’ll need to add a file to your published output to resolve the issue. Click here for more information.

7. Test your course at SCORM Cloud.
If tracking or resuming issues persist, test your content at SCORM Cloud (see above). If it works properly at SCORM Cloud but not in your LMS, open a support case with your LMS provider to troubleshoot the issue. However, if it also fails to track or resume at SCORM Cloud, submit a case to Articulate.

25 responses to “Troubleshooting LMS Issues”

1

[…] Troubleshooting LMS Issues […]

2

Talk about timely! THANK YOU! This article ROCKS and should be required reading for everybody who is publishing in Articulate! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!

Elizabeth Israel // Posted at 9:05 pm on October 29th, 2012
3

[…] Update: Also check out Troubleshooting LMS Issues. […]

4

Thanks for all the advice. I’m trying to use scorm cloud to test a Storyline course, and my course won’t display in either Chrome or Safari. When I launch the course a new window opens that is just blank. When I shut it, scorm cloud records that I ended a session, but the course never appeared. Sure, I’ll go try some PC browsers, but I’m wondering if anyone has had similar trouble and can offer advice. Thanks.

Chris Ammon // Posted at 8:47 am on October 24th, 2013
5

Hi Chris,

That’s strange behavior. Would you mind uploading your story file to us, so we can test it out? http://www.articulate.com/support/contact/submit.php

David Fair // Posted at 2:11 pm on October 24th, 2013
6

Hello,

I’m a new user for Articulate Storyline and have been having a hard time for our LMS recording the learning after completion of a course. I followed all of the instructions you provided above, but still can’t get our LMS to record the learning after completing. I am hoping I can receive somekind of guidance.

Thanks,
Romeo

Romeo Horvath // Posted at 6:50 pm on January 8th, 2014
7

Hi Romeo,

Welcome to the Storyline family! I’m sorry to hear about the tracking issue. We’ll be glad to help. Would you mind uploading your project file to our support team, so we can take a look? http://www.articulate.com/support/contact/submit.php

David Fair // Posted at 7:12 pm on January 8th, 2014
8

I have course tracking issues in at least one course as well (though, I suspect that there’s something going on in that course that I don’t understand that, if I don’t get a handle on it, will happen again in other courses). Here’s my issue:

I have two courses. Both of which are assessed as Completed/Incomplete, and, to get the “Complete” status, you have to view all the slides in each course. One course has 72 slides (arranged in multiple chapters all in a linear path you must go through sequentially), and for that course to be completed, you must view 72 slides (there are no additional slides that users may opt not to view, for instance, a Help slide).

The other course requires you to view all 50 slides (of a 50-slide course). This course, however, allows you to complete chapters in any order you wish.

The 50-slide course works and published completed status to our LMS correctly

The 72-slide course, though, does not report that a course has been completed even though you’ve viewed all 72 slides in the course.

Like I said, the course status for both courses can be either Completed/Incomplete, and the completed status depends on viewing every slide in the course.

What do I need to look for to troubleshoot this?

Thanks.

Chris Wall // Posted at 3:40 pm on January 15th, 2014
9

Hi Chris,

Thank you for providing these helpful details. Would you mind uploading your 72-slide project file to our support team, so we can take a closer look? http://www.articulate.com/support/contact/submit.php

David Fair // Posted at 4:08 pm on January 15th, 2014
10

I’ll have to ask my boss about it. We’re not even supposed to post things on your test site (it’s a corporate security thing).

Either way, the soonest I’d be able to do it will be tomorrow.

Thanks for the quick response.

CW

Chris Wall // Posted at 4:11 pm on January 15th, 2014
11

I understand. While we’re waiting for your boss’ approval, I’ll be glad to do some digging. Which Articulate product are you using (Storyline or Studio)? Also, which LMS and web browser are you using?

David Fair // Posted at 4:20 pm on January 15th, 2014
12

Working in Storyline (and loving it). This is the only thing that’s giving me fits.

Chris Wall // Posted at 8:41 pm on January 15th, 2014
13

I’m glad to hear you like Storyline. 🙂 It has a way of making course development fun.

I’ve done some simple testing, but I haven’t been able to reproduce the tracking issue yet. Would you mind submitting a support case even if we can’t get your project file? It’ll help us track the issue and communicate offline.
http://www.articulate.com/support/contact/submit.php

David Fair // Posted at 8:59 pm on January 15th, 2014
14

Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner David. I had to work from home the last half of last week (sick daughter, but she’s well now). I spoke with my boss, and he said I can share the file with you, but he’d rather, if it’s possible, that I send the file directly to you. My problem is that the *.story file is 34 Mbytes, and my mail server won’t accommodate an attachment that large. Even zipped, the file is 31 Mbytes.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Chris Wall // Posted at 10:27 am on January 20th, 2014
15

I have successfully published courses to our LMS using Presenter 09 in the past, until I changed the final assessment quiz to no longer be a scored quiz. So when I published to the LMS I selected to report course completion by “the number of slides” and not a score. Now the LMS will only say IN PROGRESS even when the user has completed the course. Help! What might be wrong?
Thank you!
Jann

Jann Iaco // Posted at 7:54 pm on January 23rd, 2014
16

Hi Jann,

I wonder if you might be encountering an issue where the quiz’s previous “passing score” may still be coded into your published output. The good news is that it was fixed in Update 6. Details here:
http://www.articulate.com/support/presenter-09/presentation-does-not-track-completion-correctly-in-lms-after-updating-a-quiz

Check to make sure your software is up to date. If you’re using the latest update and the issue is still occurring, please upload your project files to us for review:
http://www.articulate.com/support/contact/submit.php

David Fair // Posted at 8:06 pm on January 23rd, 2014
17

I need someone to contact me. I’ve been trying to submit a support case for 3 hours without it going through.

I’ve tried a variety of options for tracking and completion. None are working.

I’m using Scorm 1.2

Tracking 29 of 29 slides; also tried 5 of 29 slides.

Report status to LMS as “complete/incomplete” and also tried “Passed/incomplete” – neither are accurately reflecting in the LMS.

At first, I had “Include HTML5” output selected, but now I’ve deselected it.

I’ve also tried adding in the javascript at the last slide to have it change the status to complete and this didn’t work either.

Scormcloud debugging says everything is working and the manifest is fine. (I can provide a screenshot for additional debugging.)

Also to note, the course is not resuming where you leave off. I starts on the first slide every time.

I’ve tested in IE and Firefox. I also noted that the pilot participants who went through the course did not update as completed either.

I use Meridian Global LMS. In our test site, we have a Scorm debug log, errors are coming up. However the line items to show set the status to complete or passed are working. I’d be happy to share the log if it would help in debugging.

I tried a different course file that was created within the past 2 months and checked to see if my completion settings were the same as that file and they are. The other file is completing in the LMS; this course is not.

One additional item to note. While I was creating the course when I would press the play button to adjust timing for audio in the timeline, the course froze numerous times and a window popped up to notify about the error and what I was doing. I submitted that feedback every time I could. There were additional times when the course was frozen and it wouldn’t allow me. I hope that this did not in someway corrupt my file.

Erin Holbrook // Posted at 4:20 pm on January 29th, 2014
18

@Erin: Sorry for the trouble with contacting us (I’m not aware of any recent issues with our contact support form), and for the LMS issues. I do see that we’re helping you in Case #00381938 already.

In the future, please feel free to email support@articulate.com for assistance, too. That will also create a case and give you a unique case number.

Gabe Anderson // Posted at 3:56 pm on January 31st, 2014
19

Hello,

I wonder if you can help me. I have published a Storyline module with a quiz to our LMS with a result slide requesting 80% passing score.

When the learners complete and pass, the LMS report their score and displays a “Complete” status. It works just fine.

When the learners complete and fail, that is to say when they get less than 80%, the LMS report their score but continues to display a “In Progress” status.

Does it come from the fact that I have ticked “allow user to retake questionnaire” when they fail ?

Thank you for your help.

Claire

Claire // Posted at 6:18 am on April 23rd, 2014
20

Hi Claire,

Just a guess, but have you tried different reporting options when you publish? Some LMSs handle them differently. I’d recommend trying Passed/Failed or Completed/Failed in your scenario.

If none of the four reporting options work as you’d expect, could you upload your project file to our support team for testing?
http://www.articulate.com/support/contact/submit.php

David Fair // Posted at 11:25 pm on April 23rd, 2014
21

Hello,

I published my Storyline project as a Tin can Api and loaded it to our LMS – Blackboard 9.1. Everything is now working after a few tweaks except my character wont speak on clicking – the trigger seems to have stopped working. Any suggestions?

thanks,

Archana

Archana Bhandari // Posted at 3:49 pm on June 2nd, 2014
22

Hi Archana,

First, I’d check the order of triggers on the slide. Triggers are executed in the order they appear in the Triggers panel. You may get unexpected results if there are multiple triggers and they’re not in the optimal order.

Depending on the device/browser that you’re using, you may need to review the Flash/HTML5/Articulate Mobile Player matrix to see if the features you’re using are supported:
http://www.articulate.com/support/storyline/comparing-storylines-flash-html5-and-articulate-mobile-player-output

Also, I’d recommend testing your course at cloud.scorm.com for baseline results, then compare it to what you see in Blackboard.

David Fair // Posted at 4:02 pm on June 2nd, 2014
23

When I published a module in articulate the quiz work with IE 08 & 09 but not10. What could the problem be?

Anna Marie Phillips // Posted at 4:51 pm on July 7th, 2014
24

Hi Anna Marie,

Are you using Articulate Studio ’09? There was a temporary issue with Studio ’09 content in Internet Explorer 10. We fixed it with a free update. See this article for details:

http://www.articulate.com/support/presenter-09/articulate-studio-09-content-doesnt-track-in-an-lms-when-viewed-in-internet-explorer-10

David Fair // Posted at 5:01 pm on July 7th, 2014
25

I am trying to launch a course that we did in Articulate Storyline using SCORM 2004 version 1.3 and I keep getting an AICC error at the closing of the course. How can I keep this from happening? The course is tracking and scoring correctly with SCORM it’s just this error message that keeps popping up that is the issue.

Shannon Susman // Posted at 10:05 am on July 8th, 2014

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