This blog post is part of our “Ask Andy” series in which we publish Andy’s plain-spoken, straight-shooting answers to common or uniquely interesting (eLearning) questions. If you have a question, you can always fill out this form and ask Andy, too.
Hey Andy,
Our company built a Learning Management System and heard that Google’s recent browser updates may affect course completion results for SCORM and AICC content for learners using the upcoming version of Chrome 80. Could you help me understand the implications this may have in our application and any advice on how to mitigate the issue for our clients?
Thanks,
Stressed about updates
Hey Stressed about updates,
You heard right and as an LMS provider, you’ve come to the right place. In an effort to improve browser performance when navigating between pages, the Google Chrome team has decided to remove the ability of scripts to perform synchronous requests during the beforeunload and unload events of a page. Many LMSs use this method to record learner interactions that happen in the final seconds before closing the training course in their browser. If this exit request isn’t able to communicate learner progress back to the LMS, the registration may stay in an incomplete status even though the user completed the course. In non-technical terms, this may cause lost data for your client’s learners using the latest version of Chrome. These changes go live in version 80 of Chrome on February 4, 2020 (if you’d like to read more about it, here’s the article).
The good news is that we’ve been monitoring Google’s announced changes, and have already built a fix in our products to ease your worries. If you’re using Rustici Engine as the SCORM player in your LMS—you’re all set! If you’re not, then you will have to figure out how to update your application to address the postback issues and potential for loss of completion data.
Chrome 80 solution for LMSs
Rustici Engine is an integrated SCORM player that connects with your application via a modern REST API. The Rustici Engine handles all the import, launch, and tracking of a learner’s progress through a course. Rustici Engine can be deployed on your own servers or even better, we can handle the server management with our Managed Hosting services. In this way, we’ll remove all the headaches by managing your upgrades so you’re always on the latest and greatest and your application is future proofed.
The great thing about working with Rustici Software is when we find something that poses a challenge—such as modern web browsers removing functions that affect how courses are launched and tracked back to an LMS—we find a workaround. Our engineering team uncovered Chrome’s update last Fall, saw the potential for the problems it would cause, and released a patch to Rustici Engine customers.
I hope the options I described gives you some reassurance. If you have any questions about the eLearning standards, Rustici Engine, or the ever-changing landscape of modern web browsers, I’d love to chat!
Best,
Andy
