Adding an Adapt course to your learning management system isn’t difficult, but there are a few things that can trip you up the first time.


These steps will help you get it right.


1. Do a test run early

Don’t wait until you’ve built a full course, or even worse your deadline is looming, to test-drive the process. Have a go with a small, simple file that’s quick to download/upload as soon as you get your authoring tool so that you know what to expect.


2. Enable the SPOOR extension

Adapt uses a series of code plugins, so each course only has to use code for the functions it needs.


An extension called SPOOR is what makes the course a SCORM file – which is what your LMS needs. (If you just wanted to run the content from a web server – like we do with our Adapt demo courses – you wouldn’t need this.)


Within each course, there is a menu option to Manage Extensions. Go there and click the ADD button on the SPOOR extension, if it’s not already been enabled.


(NB Adapt uses SCORM 1.2 by default – the standard used most commonly by LMSs. You can use the Adapt authoring tool to create SCORM 2004 and TinCan/xAPI files. But we won’t deal with that here – contact us if you need help.)


3. Publish, don’t export

Adapt from Can Studios has two buttons for getting a course out of the authoring tool, and they do completely different things:


  • PUBLISH: Creates the SCORM file for your LMS.
  • EXPORT: Gives you an editable source file so you can continue editing the course in another compatible authoring tool, or even edit the course directly in the Adapt Framework.


(NB A lot of Adapt-based authoring tools don’t give you the Export option, meaning your content is locked into that one tool for editing.)


Make sure you’re using the PUBLISH button to get the file for your LMS.


Adapt course menu showing buttons for Publish and Export source



4. Don’t unzip/rezip the SCORM file

The file structure within the SCORM file is very precise and shouldn’t be altered. If your computer unzips files automatically when it downloads, that structure could be broken.


Be sure to download the SCORM file from the authoring tool and upload it into your LMS without unzipping it.


If you’re an Adapt from Can Studios customer who’s followed these steps, and you’re still having problems, get in touch with us.


It will help if you:


  • have a note of the exact error messages your LMS gives when you try to add the course
  • ensure the course is shared with support@canstudios.com (or all users) in your authoring tool so we can access it and check settings.