Dynamic SCORM: update LMS courses without re-uploading

A traditional SCORM package is a snapshot. The moment you export it, the content is frozen inside a ZIP file. Fix a typo, update a policy, swap a screenshot, or add a lesson and the usual process begins again: export, upload to a staging LMS, test, deploy to production, and sometimes reassign learners.

For a stable course in one LMS, that tradeoff is often reasonable. For compliance, onboarding, product training, or a course installed across several LMS platforms, it can turn a small correction into a release project.

Dynamic SCORM takes a different approach. You upload a lightweight package to the LMS once, then maintain the published course in Slate. When the next learner launches the course, the package securely loads the latest published content from Slate. The LMS still launches the course and remains the system of record for completion, scores, and bookmarks.

How standalone SCORM works

A standalone SCORM export bundles the course player, text, layout data, images, audio, documents, and configuration into one package. Once it is installed in an LMS, it can run without depending on Slate.

That independence is valuable. Standalone SCORM is the better fit when learners need offline access, the LMS cannot reach the public internet, a customer requires a self-contained archive, or the content rarely changes after release.

The cost of that independence is repetition. Every content change creates a new package, and every LMS that uses the course needs the update. Even when an LMS supports replacing a package in place, the team still has to coordinate the upload and verify that tracking, bookmarks, and assignments behave as expected.

How Dynamic SCORM works

A Dynamic SCORM export contains the SCORM manifest and a small HTML loader instead of a complete frozen copy of the course. The manifest lets the LMS register and launch the course. The loader connects the LMS session to the published course hosted by Slate.

From the learner's perspective, the course still opens inside the LMS. From the administrator's perspective, completion status, score, and bookmarking still report through SCORM. The difference is where the course content comes from: Slate serves the current published version when the course launches.

This also keeps the uploaded package small. Media and course data do not need to be copied into every package because they are delivered from the hosted version. Learners do need an internet connection while taking the course.

Publishing an update

For routine content changes, the workflow is simple:

1. Edit the course in Slate.
2. Open the Publish menu and select Publish Update.
3. Review the confirmation and publish the latest course content.

Every active Dynamic SCORM package for the course stays connected to that published version. Learners receive the update when they next open or refresh the course, with their SCORM progress preserved.

Most text, media, lesson, block, and theme changes can use this flow. Adding or removing the course assessment, or changing its passing score, alters settings in the SCORM manifest. Those changes require a new export and LMS upload because the LMS reads the manifest when the package is registered.

Standalone vs. Dynamic SCORM

Feature	Standalone SCORM	Dynamic SCORM
Course content	Bundled in the ZIP	Hosted by Slate
Routine updates	Export and upload again	Publish in Slate
Internet required	No, after installation	Yes, during the course
LMS tracking	Completion, score, bookmarks	Completion, score, bookmarks
Best fit	Stable or offline content	Changing or multi-LMS content

Neither approach is universally better. Standalone SCORM gives you a portable, independent file. Dynamic SCORM reduces the work required to keep changing content current. Slate supports both delivery options so course authors can choose the right fit for each course.

When Dynamic SCORM is a good fit

• Compliance and policy training: Update regulations, procedures, or required wording from one published course.
• Onboarding: Keep benefits, systems, contacts, and processes current as the organization changes.
• Product and customer education: Replace screenshots and guidance as features evolve.
• Multi-LMS delivery: Maintain one source when customers, business units, or regions install the same course in different LMS platforms.

It is less suitable for air-gapped environments, offline delivery, permanent archives, or courses whose content will not change. Those are good reasons to choose a standalone package.

Included with Pro, with room to grow

With standalone SCORM, your LMS stores and serves the course. With Dynamic SCORM, Slate provides the live delivery layer: hosting the published content, serving media, checking access, and keeping the installed package connected to the correct version.

That delivery has an ongoing infrastructure cost that grows with the learner audience. Every active Pro workspace includes up to 100 unique learners per year, which is enough to test Dynamic SCORM in a real LMS and use it for a small audience without another purchase.

Organizations that need more can contact us about annual hosted delivery for up to 500, 2,000, or 5,000 unique learners. Larger audiences can use a custom plan based on their delivery needs.

The allowance is shared across every Dynamic SCORM course in the workspace. When the LMS supplies a stable learner identifier, the same learner can reopen a course or take another course without being counted again during the annual period.

Available with Pro

Dynamic SCORM is available to active Pro workspaces for audiences of up to 100 unique learners per year. For larger audiences, contact our team to discuss an annual add-on.

For setup instructions and current limitations, read the Dynamic SCORM documentation. If this would remove a painful update process for your team, see the audience levels and contact us about your LMS, expected audience, and delivery needs.