Question
Good Afternoon I would like to enquire regarding the use of Flash EXE's and SWF files for content in a SCORM compliant environment please ? Are the allowed ?? Are they preferred ?? What is the best way to run Video style content or interactive content generally ?? Just looking for best preactice methods most commonly used....
Answer
Let's handle SWFs and EXEs separately... we'll start with the easy one... SWFs.
SWFs are used in SCORM training all the time. In fact, I might guess that SWFs are present in more pieces of SCORM content than they are absent. Articulate, Captivate, and others use SWFs all the time.
Communicating from Flash to Javascript, a requirement to make SWF based training work, is a challenge, but a surmountable one.
EXEs, however, are a different beast. EXEs raise concern for just about everyone involved, and are therefore used rarely. LMS vendors don't welcome the EXEs on their servers. Many servers simply don't allow them to be served. Further, many clients don't want to see EXEs downloaded on to their networks. Lastly, communicating from an EXE back into a browser session initiated by a SCORM LMS is a challenge at best.
So, while EXEs might be technically allowed, they are absolutely not a best practice.