SCORM Studio: Modernize and Localize Legacy E-Learning Courses

Overview

SCORM Studio translates and localizes e-learning courses without requiring you to rebuild them. Upload a course package in the format it was published in — Studio opens it, lets your team review it, translates it into one or more target languages, and exports a package that loads in your LMS the same way the original did.

Every course moves through the same flow: upload, source review, translation, review inside the live course, and export.

⚠️SCORM Studio does not change the structure of your course. Quizzes, knowledge checks, and other interactions keep working, and Smartcat translates the text inside those sections. SCORM Studio cannot check course logic — for example, verifying that a translated question still matches its answers, or that scoring is intact. When Smartcat finishes the translation, click through the course in the preview before you publish it.

If you want to change the layout or content of a course rather than translate it, use the Canvas Editor — it converts the course one-way into the Smartcat course format and lets you edit it there.

When to use it

• You run a course library built in Rise, Storyline, SmartBuilder, Easygenerator, or a legacy authoring tool, and want a translation that loads correctly in your LMS without a manual rebuild

• You want course translation to use the translation memories, glossaries, and review workflow your team already has in Smartcat

• A subject-matter expert needs to correct the source course — text, images, subtitles — before translation starts

• You're translating regulated or catalogue-scale content where source files may be incomplete or the original authoring tool is no longer available

Which courses SCORM Studio supports today

SCORM Studio accepts SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004 packages published by these authoring tools:

• Rise 360 (including Storyline parts inside a Rise course), Storyline (standalone), SmartBuilder, Easygenerator

• iSpring Suite, Adobe Captivate (current versions and Classic), CEGID / Talentsoft, Absorb Create. Ask your Smartcat contact to test a sample course first if you're planning a large project on one of these

• Adobe Captivate (current versions), CEGID / Talentsoft, Absorb Create: supported with limited testing so far. If you have a course from one of these tools, ask your Smartcat contact to run it before you plan a large project.

• cmi5 and AICC packages are not accepted. Upload the published package, not the authoring project file

• Any other tool: the app shows that it cannot open the format yet and offers to share the package with Smartcat engineers. New formats are added quickly once they have a real course.

How it works

Upload your file

1. Create a project through your Chief of Staff or the Projects page

2. Upload a course directly to the project or chief of staff (.zip, up to 6 GB). Smartcat detects the authoring tool automatically and keeps your uploaded courses across sessions. The project page shows the current stage, progress, and word count.

   

3. When you upload your file, Smartcat defaults to the following workflow stages: Course source review → AI translation → Translation review. This allows you to review the course before and after translation to control exactly what you receive when you export the file.

Course Source review

Source review allows you to provide the source course, including the text, images, and subtitles, to a subject matter expert. This step displays the original course in its full context, which allows the reviewer to leave comments and select which media goes to translation.

Complete the source review in the Canvas before translation to confirm only the necessary images and files go to translation, and use comments to mark any areas that require changes or additional review.

When you have finished your review, click Complete Stage in the top right corner to send the course to the AI Translation stage. Once you confirm the source review is complete, you cannot return to this stage or change the choices you made in this stage.

The UI elements include:

1. Select source language.

2. Hide/Show buttons and toggles. Click these buttons to hide or show the different elements in course studio or other functionality.

   1. Hide/Show Course structure. Toggle on or off to hide the course structure display on the left side of the page.

   2. Hide/Show Segments. Toggle on or off to hide the segments display at the bottom of the page

   3. Turn sound on/off

   4. Point. Toggle this feature on to select a segment, a region of the displayed page, or the entire page.

   5. Hide/Show Comments. Toggle on or off to hide the comments display on the right side of the page.

3. Course structure. Click a line in this menu to load another part of the course in real time.

4. Sizing toggle. Click Fit to Window to expand the course display to fit the entire space. Click Fixed Size to set a specific display size, which also allows you to zoom in or out.

5. Pointer options. Select Pick, Region, or Point at this page to select elements from the course display. Once you’ve selected an element, you can leave a comment on that element in the Comments field.

6. Course display. Review the course, in context, in real time.

7. File type selector. Click the file type to view them in the Segments display. .

8. Segments. Selecting segments from the file type selector displays individual text segments. The other file types displays thumbnails of the files in the course. You can then select which files to include in translation. This allows you to translate only images with text.

   

9. Comments. This field displays comments attached to the course.

10. Complete Stage. Click this button to complete the Course Review stage and send the course to the AI Translation stage.

11. AI Chat. Click this button to open the Smartcat AI chat window in a new pane. You can request Smartcat AI make changes directly to your course.

Translate

1. When you’ve completed the source review, click Translate.

   

2. Select the media you want to translate.

3. Pick your target languages. Languages already in the package are marked and returned without consuming Smartwords.

Course Translation Review

Reviewers correct the actual course — not a spreadsheet or a segment grid — with the glossary and TM at hand; every edit syncs back to CAT and TM. This gives reviewers the opportunity to confirm that the translation and the course layout are exactly what they need.

1. Confirm the translation. A language stays locked for editing while its translation is still in progress

2. From the project, click Open in editor on the Translation review line

   

3. Review the translated course and confirm segments to check the translation. You can view comments and translation history in the segments panel. This information is available to any user who can view this stage of the project.

   

4. Once you confirm all files and segments, click Complete stage to complete the project.

What reviewers can change:

• Text and layout — any translatable text edited directly on the slide; font, size, bold, colour, alignment; shrinking text or resizing its box so a longer translation fits

• Images and objects — moving, resizing, replacing (upload, paste a link, or generate), deleting, undo

• Course logic — course variables (create, rename, retype, delete) and triggers (what starts them, what they do, what they point at, conditions)

• A pre-finish check lists, slide by slide, any text the editor cannot rewrite, plus the variables, triggers, and edit history for the slide being reviewed

Reviewers and translators from other workspaces, freelancers included, work from their own account. Reviewers can leave comments on any spot of a page, reply, and resolve them.

Everyone who can open the editor can change everything in it, including course variables and triggers — there is no reviewer-only mode that allows text and layout while holding back course logic. Resolving or reopening a comment is restricted to the comment's author or someone in "manager mode"

Export

In the SCORM Studio, click Download to open the Export Center.

Choose the original format, Dynamic SCORM, or one package with every language. The package keeps its structure, so your LMS plays the translated course the same way it plays the original. A multilingual SCORM package means every language is stored in one file and the learner picks the language inside the course.

Dynamic SCORM lets you upload the package to your LMS once. When you publish an update, learners get the new version in the same package. One package covers all languages: the learner's language preference picks the translation.

Click Export to download the completed file.

AI Chat

Click AI Chat to open a panel that lets you chat with Smartcat AI.

The AI assistant can read your the course and see each page per language, including text that overflows its box. You can point at any spot in the course and send it to the chat. The AI assistant suggests text edits that the translator accepts as CAT revisions, fixes broken layout with before-and-after pictures, and runs a page-by-page quality check. If you have access to the Content Update Coworker, it applies "update X everywhere" to Studio courses.

Requirements and limitations

• SCORM Studio does not check course logic. It does not verify that a translated question still matches its answers or that scoring is intact. Click through the translated course in the preview before you publish it

• A translated string longer than the source can shift a course's fixed-canvas layout; review translated slides visually before finalizing

• Dubbed narration and subtitles are translated together with the text. Narration that does not finish rendering keeps its original audio, and the app marks the run as partial. CEGID / Talentsoft courses receive dubbed narration but no subtitles.

• SCORM Studio translates and lets you correct the translation in context; to change a course's structure or design independently of translation, use the Canvas Editor

• For EasyGenerator exports that keep media files on the EasyGenerator cloud, the app shows “Some media won't be translated” and asks you to export the course with media files included and upload the new package.

FAQs

Will my course still work correctly in my LMS after translation?

Yes. The package keeps its structure, so your LMS plays the translated course the same way it plays the original. Check the translated course in the preview before you publish it because SCORM Studio does not verify course logic. If the authoring-tool vendor ships a new runtime version, the in-course language switch can stop showing the translations. The course itself stays translated and functional.

Can I consolidate a course that was delivered as multiple separate SCORM files?

No. Each package is uploaded and translated on its own. You can export EasyGenerator and Storyline courses as one package with all languages and a language switch; every other format exports one package per language.

Do I need to rebuild my course to translate it?

No — the translation-in-place path works with your original package and player, so there's no manual rebuild step required.

Can I translate the video and audio in my course with SCORM Studio?

Yes. SCORM Studio translates the on-screen text, the text inside images, the narration (dubbed with AI voices) and the subtitles in one run. You choose which images, audio and video files to include before you start. Images are charged once per picture, and narration is dubbed once; a second run reuses it.