How do I upload a SCORM package to Blackboard?

In Original Course View, open the content area and choose Build Content then Content Package (SCORM). In Ultra Course View, use the plus icon on the Course Content page and select the SCORM content type.

Why did my SCORM package fail to import into Blackboard?

Most often because it was unzipped and re-zipped from the extracted folder, which puts the manifest one directory deeper than the standard expects. Upload the exported ZIP unopened.

Why is Blackboard not recording SCORM completion?

Usually the learner did not reach the final page, or closed the tab before the course communicated with the platform. Grading settings and browser privacy blocking the frame are the next most common causes.

Should I use SCORM 1.2 or 2004 in Blackboard?

SCORM 1.2 unless you specifically need complex sequencing or the richer interaction data of 2004. 1.2 has the broadest and most reliable support.

How do I update a SCORM course already in Blackboard?

Replace the package on the existing item to keep attempts and grades attached, or add a new item to reset everyone — appropriate when the content changed materially. Test in student view afterwards.

Course Creation

How to Upload a SCORM Course to Blackboard

November 2, 2026

Blackboard supports SCORM well, and the main obstacle is that "Blackboard" refers to two quite different interfaces. Whether you are in Ultra Course View or Original Course View changes where the upload option lives and what it is called.

How do I tell which version I am using?

Ultra Course View has a clean single-column content list with a plus icon between items. Original Course View has a left-hand menu of content areas with grey action bars containing dropdown menus. If you see menu bars reading "Build Content", "Assessments" and "Tools", you are in Original.

Institutions frequently run both at once, so the answer can differ between two courses in the same account.

What do I upload?

A single ZIP file — the SCORM package as exported, unopened and unextracted. Export from CourseConverter as SCORM 1.2 and upload the file exactly as it comes.

Do not unzip it, do not rename anything inside it, and do not zip it again from an extracted folder. Re-zipping is the most common cause of a package failing to import, because it usually puts the manifest one directory deeper than the standard expects.

Where is the option in Ultra Course View?

On the Course Content page, use the plus icon where you want the item to sit, then choose the option to add content. SCORM appears as a content type in that menu — the exact wording has shifted across releases, so look for SCORM or SCORM package rather than a fixed label.

Select your ZIP, and Blackboard will process the package and present settings before it appears to students.

Where is it in Original Course View?

Open the content area where the course should appear, then use the Build Content menu and choose Content Package (SCORM). Browse for your ZIP and upload it.

Original then shows a settings page covering availability, tracking and grading, which is where the decisions that matter are made.

What settings actually matter?

Four, and they cause nearly all the support tickets:

Grade SCORM. Decide whether this creates a Grade Centre column. If your course is completion-only with no meaningful score, a grade column confuses students and staff.
Which attempt counts — highest, average, first or last. Last attempt is a poor default for a course learners revisit as a reference, because a casual re-open can overwrite a good result.
Number of attempts. Unlimited is usually right for training and wrong for assessment.
Availability dates. Set deliberately, and remember they interact with any institutional term dates already applied to the course.

Why is completion not being recorded?

The usual causes, in order of how often they turn out to be the problem:

The learner did not reach the end. Completion is reported by the course when the final page is reached, so closing the browser two screens early reports nothing.
The window was closed rather than exited. Closing a tab can prevent the final communication with the platform. Reaching the end and letting the course finish cleanly is more reliable.
Grading is off but you are looking for a score, or grading is on and you are looking at the wrong column.
Browser privacy settings blocking the frame the package runs in, which shows up disproportionately in Safari.

Should I use SCORM 1.2 or 2004?

1.2, unless you have a specific requirement for 2004. SCORM 1.2 has the broadest and most reliable support across platforms, including Blackboard, and its limitations — a simpler data model and coarser sequencing — are irrelevant to most courses.

2004 is worth the trouble when you need complex sequencing rules or its more detailed interaction data, and not otherwise.

How do I update a course already uploaded?

Export the revised course, then either replace the package on the existing item or add a new one. Replacing keeps existing attempts and grades attached; adding a new item resets everyone, which is what you want when the content changed enough that a previous completion no longer means anything.

Test the replacement with a student-view account before telling anyone it has been updated. It is the cheapest possible check and it catches the case where the upload silently did not take.

One last habit worth adopting: keep the exported ZIP for every version you put into Blackboard, filed by date. Grade Centre will tell you that someone completed a course in March, and only that file will tell you what the March course actually said.