Lectora Best Practices For essential LMS 8.24.1

Lectora Best Practices For essential LMS 8.24.1 Author: Greg Shell Creation Date: September 28, 2008 Last Updated: August 20, 2010 Version: 1.2 1 essential v.8.24.1 Lectora Best Practices 2010 elogic Learning

Contents Contents... 2 Introduction... 3 Title Properties... 4 Assignable Unit Properties... 6 Test Properties... 7 Test Properties Content Tab... 7 Test Properties Results Tab... 8 Test Properties When Canceled/Failed Tab... 9 Test Properties When Completed/Passed Tab... 10 Passed Landing Page... 11 Canceled/Failed Landing Page... 12 Submit Test... 13 Publish Menu... 14 Publish SCORM Location... 15 AICC_Lesson_Status... 17 2 essential v.8.24.1 Lectora Best Practices 2010 elogic Learning

Introduction The following document outlines several specific setup properties which elogic Learning has found important when using Lectora to create/publish SCORM courses. If these parameters are not carefully considered during the course creation, the result can be a SCORM course which creates performance issues or does not have the desired behavior related to the LMS application. When creating a SCORM course with any authoring tool, it is important to understand how that SCORM course interacts with a SCORM certified LMS application. The following steps outline the typical life cycle of a SCORM course: 1) The SCORM course is created/published using an authoring tool. 2) The SCORM course is imported in the LMS application. 3) The import process creates shell information about the course in the LMS. 4) The LMS administrator will need to complete the course setup (add metadata, link to pre-assessments, assign the course, etc.) 5) When a student starts a SCORM course, the LMS application launches the course. It is important to note while the student is in the course, the LMS system has no control over the course or its behavior. 6) The SCORM course will pass information back to the LMS depending on what the student has done. This information includes whether the course was completed/passed and the score if a post assessment was involved. 7) If the SCORM course sends a Completion status to essential, that course will be removed from the My Training list. If the SCORM course does not pass a completion status to essential, then the course remains available to be re-taken in the My Training list. elogic clients have experienced issues with courses being closed improperly that has led to course completion data not being properly passed from the SCORM course to essential. Our clients have also experienced issues with courses having options to close the course but not score the post assessment. It is important to ensure that when the course is setup, these potential issues are accounted for in the course design to ensure your course experience provides your desired outcome. The following document outlines some commonly encountered setup problems with general property setup. In Lectora, course configurations are managed mainly at the property level. 3 essential v.8.24.1 Lectora Best Practices 2010 elogic Learning

Title Properties The title properties screen controls the properties for the entire course (title in Lectora terminology). This property screen is accessed by performing a right click on the Title name in the left navigation screen ( Lectora Best Practices is the Title Name in the screen shot below). Then select the Properties option which is the first on the drop down screen. Right Click 4 essential v.8.24.1 Lectora Best Practices 2010 elogic Learning

The title Properties screen will appear. Make sure the Type of Title selected is the AICC/SCORM/Course Mill (3.x and above) Published Title. 5 essential v.8.24.1 Lectora Best Practices 2010 elogic Learning

Assignable Unit Properties The Assignable Unit Properties is mainly used to define the Mastery Score. This score marks the threshold where a user will be considered to have passed the assignable unit. By default, the value is set to 75% of the maximum score of all tests combined within the assignable unit. In order to access the Assignable Unit Properties screen, right-click on the Assignable Unit (Default is A001). The Assignable Unit displays with the brown suitcase icon with AU. After the right-click on Assignable Unit, select <Properties> from the drop down. 6 essential v.8.24.1 Lectora Best Practices 2010 elogic Learning

Test Properties Test Properties Content Tab The Test Properties is an area where performance issues can be encountered if the incorrect setup is selected. The Retain Answers to All Questions Between Sessions should NOT be checked. If this option is checked, the communication between the application server and the database server increases exponentially. In order to access the Test Properties screen, right-click on the Test option from the left navigation tree. If you have more than one test in the course, multiple test lines will appear. A test is identified by the Book Icon with a? centered on the book. After the right-click on Test, select <Properties> from the drop down. Once the Test Properties screen appears, select the Content tab. 7 essential v.8.24.1 Lectora Best Practices 2010 elogic Learning

Test Properties Results Tab The Test Properties is an area where performance issues can be encountered if the incorrect setup is selected. The Retain Answers to All Questions Between Sessions should NOT be checked. If this option is checked, the communication between the application server and the database server increases exponentially. In order to access the Test Properties screen, right-click on the Test option from the left navigation tree. If you have more than one test in the course, multiple test lines will appear. A test is identified by the Book Icon with a? centered on the book. After the right-click on Test, select <Properties> from the drop down. Once the Test Properties screen appears, select the Results tab. 8 essential v.8.24.1 Lectora Best Practices 2010 elogic Learning

Test Properties When Canceled/Failed Tab The Test or Post Assessment is typically the point where clients will setup a course to complete and report results back to the essential LMS. This section describes how to setup the action for the SCORM course to perform when a Test has been canceled or failed. In the screen shot below, the course has been setup to go to a Summary page. From the Summary page, it is important that a Button be present to allow for the course to be appropriately closed or for the test to be re-taken. In order to access the Test Properties screen, right-click on the Test option from the left navigation tree. If you have more than one test in the course, multiple test lines will appear. A test is identified by the Book Icon with a? centered on the book. After the right-click on Test, select <Properties> from the drop down. Once the Test Properties screen appears, select the When Canceled/Failed tab. 9 essential v.8.24.1 Lectora Best Practices 2010 elogic Learning

Test Properties When Completed/Passed Tab The Test or Post Assessment is typically the point where clients will setup a course to complete and report results back to the essential LMS. This section describes how to setup the action for the SCORM course to perform when a Test has been Completed or Passed. In the screen shot below, the course has been setup to go to a Next page. From the Next page, it is important that a Button be present to allow for the course to be appropriately closed. In order to access the Test Properties screen, right-click on the Test option from the left navigation tree. If you have more than one test in the course, multiple test lines will appear. A test is identified by the Book Icon with a? centered on the book. After the right-click on Test, select <Properties> from the drop down. Once the Test Properties screen appears, select the When Completed/Passed tab. 10 essential v.8.24.1 Lectora Best Practices 2010 elogic Learning

Passed Landing Page From the screen launched with the above Completed/Passed action, the course author will need to define the variable to pass to the LMS. In the screen shot below, the assumption is that this action is being called from a Completed/Passed landing page. The value completed has to be typed and spelled precisely or it cannot be read by the SCORM engine. In order to create the SetCompletion action, right-click on the Passed Landing Page in the left navigation tree. Select <New> and then Select <Action> from the drop down menu. Once on the Action Properties screen, select the General tab. The Action selected must be Modify Variable The Target selected must be CMI_Completion_Status The value entered must be completed *NOTE The author MUST set the CMI_Completion_Status variable at the point in the course that the student has been determined to have completed viewing the necessary content for the course. This action can be set a multiple locations if the course has multiple exit options. Without this action target, a completion status will NOT be sent to the LMS and thus the course will not be marked completed in the student s portfolio. 11 essential v.8.24.1 Lectora Best Practices 2010 elogic Learning

Canceled/Failed Landing Page From the screen launched with the above When Canceled/Failed action, the course author will need to define the variable to pass to the LMS. In the screen shot below, the assumption is that this action is being called from a Canceled/Failed landing page. The value incomplete has to be typed and spelled precisely or it cannot be read by the SCORM engine. In order to create the SetCompletion action, right-click on the Canceled/Failed Landing Page in the left navigation tree. Select <New> and then Select <Action> from the drop down menu. Once on the Action Properties screen, select the General tab. The Action selected must be Modify Variable The Target selected must be CMI_Completion_Status The value entered must be incomplete 12 essential v.8.24.1 Lectora Best Practices 2010 elogic Learning

Submit Test In order to score a test and submit the results back to the LMS, the Submit/Process Test/Survey action has to be called from the SCORM course. This action is setup on the appropriate buttons within the course. Once the test has been started, the course should be setup in a manner to force the test to be scored before the Completion status can be passed back to the LMS. This is typically on a <Exit> or <Submit> button. This action causes the test to be scored, results to be submitted, and the appropriate When Completed/Passed or When Canceled/Incomple test actions to be executed. The Button Properties screen is launched via a Right-Click on the button, then selecting the properties option from the drop down. The On Click tab defines the action to take when the button is clicked. 13 essential v.8.24.1 Lectora Best Practices 2010 elogic Learning

Publish Menu Once the course is complete in Lectora, it must be published as a SCORM course. To publish the course use Publish to SCORM/Web-Based option from the Publish menu. Select the Publish Button to view and edit SCORM Publish options 14 essential v.8.24.1 Lectora Best Practices 2010 elogic Learning

Publish SCORM Location The last three checkboxes on the SCORM Options tab impact the operation of the SCORM course when it is called from the LMS. The published course will be presented in a separate window than the LMS option drives whether the course launches in the same browser window or in a new window. This does not have an impact on performance or course reporting but will likely have an impact on data passed back to the LMS. elogic clients have experienced inconsistent results from SCORM courses when the SCORM course is closed using the X option at the top right of the window. For this reason, we recommend to our clients that this option not be checked. The published course will report Test/Survey Question Interactions to the LMS option does have an impact on performance. If this option is checked, the following data will be passed back to the LMS for each graded question Question text (SCORM 2004 only) User's answer Whether the user's answer is correct or not Time the question was answered Amount of time the user spent on the page containing the answer Most companies find the additional information to not be meaningful versus the performance trade-off. The published course will prompt to restore the last viewed location within the LMS option is a valuable option for longer courses and will allow the student to return to the last viewed page if they exit the course before completing. 15 essential v.8.24.1 Lectora Best Practices 2010 elogic Learning

Once the OK button is selected, the following window will display with any warnings highlighted in blue font. 16 essential v.8.24.1 Lectora Best Practices 2010 elogic Learning

AICC_Lesson_Status The AICC_Lesson_Status also has to be set with the Lectora authoring tool. This passes back course status and has to also be defined (in addition to the CMI_Completion_Status). The values listed below are the values for publishing in SCORM 2004 and are established by SCORM for the cmi. success_status even though the field is labeled AICC_Lesson_Status by Lectora. The values have to be spelled correctly and are case sensitive (all lower case). We have also included the definition of each value from the Lectora documentation. 1) passed : The learner has passed the SCO [1]. Indicates that the necessary number of objectives was mastered or a necessary score was achieved. 2) failed : The learner has failed the SCO [1]. Indicates that the learner did not master the necessary number of objectives or that a required score was not achieved. 3) unknown : No assertion is made [1]. This indicates that no applicable assertion can be made that indicates the success status. 17 essential v.8.24.1 Lectora Best Practices 2010 elogic Learning