Across all web browsers the support to play Adobe Flash content will be disabled or ended in June this year. This impacts LMS’s as many SCORM modules and other learning resources still use Flash content – often in files & locations that are not easy to detect.
Moodle Partner Catalyst IT explains “The problem is that IT departments think Flash is old news and even among LMS managers we don’t see any evidence of awareness of the amount of Flash in their elearning catalogues. At Catalyst we host a large number of elearning platforms and know that there is plenty of Flash hidden inside SCORM modules in both corporate and academic sites. Without action the full impact of the end of Flash support in browsers will be significant – we’re calling it the Flash apocalypse.”
Concerned about this looming problem, Catalyst IT released an open source Flash Apocalypse report plug-in. This report works on Moodle sites from version 2.9 and higher. It shows all Flash resources on a site and also detects a ‘false-positive’ condition of Articulate SCORMs ‘dual published’ with both Flash & HTML5. It’s freely available as a Moodle plugin – Flash Apocalypse report. If you need help installing it talk to your support vendor.
For more information on the upcoming changes to Adobe Flash and how you may be affected, get in touch with Catalyst. Catalyst will provide assistance in getting the report plugin working for you and with the changes and authoring of replacement learning content.
For further resources, downloads and details on the Flash Apocalypse, visit one of the links below:
Flash Apocalypse home page | https://www.catalyst.net.nz/flashapocalypse
The 3Fs of surviving the Flash Apocalypse | https://www.catalyst.net.nz/blog/3fs-surviving-flash-apocalypse
Background to the Elearning Flash apocalypse | https://www.catalyst.net.nz/blog/elearning-flash-apocalypse-0
