## Overview

When learners are in a course, it is sometimes necessary to leave the content. The content may be too long to complete in one sitting or other situations may require the learner’s attention.

For example, if the learner has to remember where they were in the content, frustration could arise if they have to navigate through content until they find the place they left off. Depending on the instructional strategy, the learner may be able to return to the exact location they left the content. This action is enabled by using bookmarking. Bookmarking allows the learner to return to their previous location in the content when they re-enter the course.

## Purpose

This content example has been developed to provide Content Developers, Instructional Designers and others with conceptual information and examples on how to track where the learner has been in the content using bookmarking. This information can be used in the design of courses. Tracking where the learner has been in the content is referred to as bookmarking. Bookmarking enables a more fluid content experience by making access easier from a learner’s point of view.

Occasionally, there is confusion with the term bookmarking. Some confuse bookmarking with favorites (a common term used in Internet Browsers). In certain web browsers, “bookmarking” is used to save Uniform Resource Locator (URL) addresses into a list for later access. For example,

- Internet Explorer: Favorites
- Netscape: Bookmarks
- FireFox: Bookmarks

In Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM®) 2004 content development, bookmarking is defined as the functionality of building content to allow a learner to return to a specific location if the content is exited prior to completion. So in essence, this is considered a way of check pointing a learner’s progress through the content. As they reach certain places in the content, the content may record where the learner is.

## Importance of Bookmarking

By allowing the learner to re-enter the content, without actually remembering which page or set of content they had last interacted with, frustration can be alleviated and the experience will be more appealing. By stopping frustration, the learner will be more willing to participate and complete the sections of content. Bookmarking is also important to the designer and developer, allowing the learner more ease with the learning experience, allowing the course to become more learner-centric and fulfilling a common project requirement.

## Implementation of Bookmarking

In order to implement bookmarking in content, the Content Developer must understand what happens when bookmarking is added to the content requirements. The following three things must happen in order to successfully implement a bookmarking feature in content:

- Navigating to the SCO is the responsibility of the LMS since it handles all of the sequencing aspects for the course content. The LMS is responsible for keeping track where in the course the learner left off.
- The SCO is responsible for keeping track of where the learner is in the context of the SCO (i.e., within the SCO).
- The LMS allows the SCO to access information set in a learner attempt as long as the previous learner session in the learner attempt was suspended.
- The learner’s session can be suspended by the SCO setting cmi.exit to “suspend” or a “Suspend All” navigation request that comes from the SCO or LMS. These basic requests enable the use of bookmarking, letting the learner return to a previous location after leaving the content.
- The SCO is responsible for retrieving the location and state data it stored in the LMS during the previous session and resuming the content from that point. This action is a function of the SCO.

## Conclusion

Bookmarking can be an important part to any course design and development process. By using bookmarking, learners are able to enter and exit a course without remembering where they last left off, creating a more seamless, learner-centric experience.

For more information about SCORM and the Data Model Elements used in bookmarking, please visit ADLNet.gov.