As new developers of small e-learning projects for audiences (right now) of 100 or less, do we need to worry about it?
What exactly is a learning object? How, in practice, are they separated from one another, and how are they re-used?
Is this relevant to us if we are not currently using an LMS (but looking at the freebies such as Moodle)?
How is SCORM relevant when we put it all together?
Many thanks to all who are willing to share their expertise as we move from classroom based training to e-learning!

Hi Kathy ... are your employees spread out all over? (I've been seeing a lot of your questions about e-learning, and I can't figure out why you'd even need e-learning when you have only 100 people in your organization.)

That said -- I would not even worry about scorm. You're not even in the realm of big enough to worry about. That's my opinion.

SCORM is a big ugly document full of rules for how you must build and code things so that they are easily interchangeable and accessible in various systems. The government is big on that. You're a small business. Don't even go there. Again - JMO

Well...I might have given you the wrong idea. We directly support 100 people, but there are thousands working for this employer.
You asked if the employees are spread out all over, and sure enough they are -- in different states, on different schedules even if they are in the state, etc. (which is one reason for e-learning).
I had worked in the past for an employer that required precise documentation of outcomes at all levels. The terminology was a slight bit different than trainers use (different industry).
As we are just getting into e-learning here, I don't know where it might go...how many people we might end up supporting, or what kind of documentation might ultimately be asked for (whether it might be something like my previous employer wanted).
So...as we start building, I would like as much as possible for our products to be created in such a way that additional requirements can be responded to without having to start all over.
Thanks, by the way, for your comments in response to all posts, not just this one. They're always appreciated.

You know how standards like HTML or XML allow someone's web page to work on standard browsers? SCORM is a subset of code specifically to ensure that learning content plays nice with SCORM compliant Learning Management Systems.

Most simply, if your learning materials pass the SCORM test (adlnet) and your LMS is SCORM compliant (this is a bit 'fuzzy')- you SHOULD be getting a nice handshake of data between your Learning Management System to know how folks used the material.

Hopefully, I followed KISS principles for what is a completely overblown concept in my humble opinion.

As a follow up comment- MOST tools vendors have software engineers ensuring their products create SCORM compliant stuff- you don't need a team to learn it (but if you can get your hands on folks who do, you have a LOT of control on exxactly what gets reported, and how).

I've been on MANY tools and LMS platforms, and honestly have only had to go "SCORM lite" in a very few select cases. As you are just starting in e-learning, feel free to reach out. I actually do find positive elearning ROI in select cases for companies as small as 100 (which I understand is a bit different than your scenario) and have worked on implementations with over 10,000 ees across 2500 unique locations.

I think David's SCORM definition is about all you need at this point. I'm not convinced that the LMS is going to be with us in the long run. I think the trend will be toward more integration of learning content with on-the-job references, so the learning modules are searchable and accessible all the time rather than locked away in an LMS.

For example, I'm putting procedures and training interactives in a wiki-based tool. Someone using the tool as a job aid will see step-by-step instructions plus optional Flash interactives that explain the concepts or reasons behind the procedure.

The entire tool will be searchable, the Flashes will be small and easily reused in other materials (they'll be "learning objects"), and the info will be easy to update.

For example, if you sell widgets and you're adding a new customer relationship manager (CRM) system, you could build a wiki or intranet-based tutorial on using the system. You could combine HTML-based procedures along with short embedded Flashes that present scenarios of salespeople using the system or that show a video of how to use the system for a particular task. These Flashes would be easily incorporated in other materials, such as PowerPoint presentations, or attached to emails. If the HTML info is well structured, each page of the tool could also be considered a learning object that people could bookmark, incorporate in another web page, send in an email, etc.

Cathy