SCORM “student_name” format in Moodle not according to SCORM specs

I use a Moodle platform often for testing SCORM packages, especially because Moodle has a very extensive SCORM debugger.

At a certain point, I got into trouble because the student name (cmi.core.student_name) was in a “weird” format: where the SCORM specifications expect something in the format lastname,firstname, I suddenly got firstname middlename lastname. Because of the missing comma, our LMS no longer managed to distinguish the last name from the first name.

Turns out that there is a new option under Dashboard > Site administration > Plugins > Activity modules > SCORM package called SCORM standards mode. By default, it is set to No (why o why?) and that causes the format of the student_name to be different.

2 thoughts on “SCORM “student_name” format in Moodle not according to SCORM specs”

  1. Thanks Jan. Just been searching to vent my frustration at my (admittedly poor) JS code pulling learner names breaking courses. Wasted heaps of time debugging just to see the name being reported ‘Admin User’ not ‘User, Admin’ like my earlier version of Moodle used to so the array splitting undefined out and crashed the Storyline SCORM file.

    ‘Standards mode’ optional, and off by default – might go read the rationale for that from the Moodle devs some day!

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