Pasadena, MD (PRWeb), 1, February, 2012–

ICS Learning Group’s Inquisiq R3 – Learning Management System software (LMS), won the coveted Brandon Hall Gold Award for excellence in the “Best Advance in Learning Management Technology” category for 2011. Inquisiq R3 has been established as a proven leader in innovative Learning Management Technology, as the LMS has won Gold Awards consecutively since 2009.

Inquisiq R3 was awarded the 2011 Brandon Hall Gold Award based on breakthrough innovation, unique differentiations, value proposition, and measurable results. The LMS allows users to quickly load and deploy SCORM-compliant training content to employees or customers while maintaining ease of use, a powerful feature set, and a lower than average price point. The system has become increasingly popular within the training industry over the past year, and recently reached a record number of one million users on the Installed version. ICS has an optimistic outlook for the future of Inquisiq R3 and is proud to be recognized by Brandon Hall.

Mike Cooke, CEO of Brandon Hall Group was quoted as saying, “2011 provided us with a unique viewpoint of how organizations are driving business results and performance improvement through technology. This was the year in which technology providers and their clients have been able to transform the power of mobile, social, talent, learning, sales and marketing technologies, with proven, validated results.  Most impressive to our judges was an underlying theme around collaborative relationships, a deep understanding of client needs and how technology can be leveraged to create opportunities and operating efficiencies for organizations of all sizes.  I am proud to announce these first-rate solution providers as award winners in the most competitive year yet.”

A panel of veteran, independent senior judges evaluated the entries along with Brandon Hall Group’s industry expert analysts and leadership.

About Brandon Hall Group
Having worked with more than 10,000 clients globally and after 20 years of delivering world-class solutions, Brandon Hall Group is the preeminent research and analyst organization focused on developing research-driven solutions to drive organizational performance for emerging and large organizations.  Brandon Hall Group has an extensive repository of thought leadership, research, data and expertise in Learning and Development, Talent Management, Sales Effectiveness, Marketing Impact, and Executive Management. (www.brandonhall.com)

About ICS Learning Group
ICS Learning Group, established in 1998, is a leading provider of custom training solutions and eLearning software systems. The company, headquartered in Pasadena, Maryland, serves several markets including software, manufacturing, health care, financial services, pharmaceutical, and government clients. With an emphasis and expertise in instructional design, ICS Learning Group develops customized software simulation training, corporate communications applications and computer-based training solutions to meet the critical training needs of today’s workforce.

http://www.icslearninggroup.com

http://www.inquisiqr3.com/

Classifying the level of training is a flexible metric. It is important to have a general framework for such levels, however, so both the project sponsor and the developer have a standard reference point to ensure scope and requirements are aligned. For example, when a company requests a bid on an eLearning project, everyone should have the same point of reference to determine what is being requested – resulting in pricing that is accurate and comparable.

We therefore need fairly strict definitions of what the levels are, or else they are not of any practical value. One such attempt is known as “CBT Levels”, a term reflecting its age since ‘CBT’ is somewhat dated terminology these days. So while perhaps better titled “Levels of eLearning” (or “Levels of e-Learning”, depending on your hyphenated preference), the concept remains the same: how can training be classified for purposes of style, presentation, depth and, perhaps most importantly, cost?

As applied to eLearning, such classifications are impacted by general complexity, range and richness of multimedia, and – perhaps most dramatically – the depth of interactivity. Of course, defining “interactivity” can be a nebulous quest in itself! Clicking on a ‘Next button’ requires the user to interact with the lesson, but that’s a pretty tame definition. On the other hand, it is generally accepted that the more interactive the module, the more effective it will be in achieving the objectives.

Interestingly, the actual levels defined within this class are somewhat arbitrary. Some sources suggest there are three levels of interactivity, others say four, and still other specify five! For customers looking to work with our group of eLearning experts, we’ve settled on a simple 3-level definition focused on the interactive complexity as well as the range of potential media, from simple images and photography to video and complex 3D animation.

Level 1: What are commonly referred to as ‘page-turners’, purists grumble that such courseware shouldn’t even be considered ‘eLearning’ as its efficacy is questionable. However, in our experience, such modules can be effective for communicating simple concepts and rules, and are indeed relatively inexpensive to develop. Most current ‘authoring tools’ publish these (Level 1) types of modules by default – commonly through simple PowerPoint conversions – though how truly effective they are depends on the author, the presentation, and the content. Overall, such Level 1 eLearning titles offer very little interactivity beyond ‘clicking Next’ and basic quiz questions, and simple media elements like stock images, transitions, and general narration.

Level 2: At this level, courseware starts to get a bit more complex with a moderate level of interactivity and multimedia assets (such as audio, video, and animation). Often the objectives are geared more toward more involved concepts, single-path simulation, and procedural tasks. Many customers shoot for Level 2 courseware as a compromise providing an effective course at a moderate cost. Aside from some content-related interaction, the lesson navigation expands to menus, submenus, branching, glossaries, and links to outside resources. The actual learning content within these lessons is somewhat static, aside simple transitions and animation, and often accompanied by simple exercises (i.e. drag-and-drop, matching, and identification components) and professional narration. Multilingual versions of the courseware are also a consideration at this level.

Level 3: Level 3 eLearning courseware includes sophisticated exercises, such as software or hardware simulation, a variety of ‘branching’ to reflect and provide feedback at decision points, and serious games. These highly-interactive modules may include very complex simulation with multiple response and feedback pathways, and most certainly include a liberal assembly of multimedia assets from pre-recorded or live video to interactive 3D objects, and perhaps the use of digital ‘avatars’. Such courseware could be defined as a ‘serious game’.  The oft-referenced ‘flight simulator’ remains a good example of Level 3 training.

Those three levels generally suffice as general guidelines, but variations are easily configured. A ‘Level 1’ page-turner could quickly reach the ‘Level 3’ price-point with addition of custom video. A ‘Level 3’ piece with complex navigation could have a lower cost by using simple stock art resources. As noted above, content, style, presentation, images, animation, audio, video, and overall instructional design – all are crucial factors in creating ‘good’ training material, as well as factors that will affect the development effort (cost) of the courseware.

With so many potential components of an eLearning courseware, it can be difficult to estimate the pricing for such development; the more that is known up-front on the style, media, presentation, and interactive components of the desired modules, the more accurate the cost estimate will be. As mentioned, while the levels of e-Learning provide solid guidelines for initial approach and pricing, each level can contain its own set of variation, requiring a clear definition of the project.

Splitting the project’s development into two phases facilitates this process. The first Instructional Design analysis phase helps to identify the style, audience, content, media, etc. of the desired courseware – not only making the final development costs more accurate, but also identifying key objectives and processes that may be enhanced through multimedia and interactivity. The results are generally detailed in a Design Document deliverable, including the scope, tasks, and pricing for the subsequent Development phase.

While the goal of this paper is to better define the levels of eLearning, other considerations must be considered in defining the project’s scope and timeline, such as:

• Availability of subject matter experts (SMEs); can the customer provide the SME or should the developer find and price an outside party into the project?
• What is the customer’s expected response time for discussions and product review?
• Is a project site required to manage the assets and deliverables?
• What are the overall ‘seat time’ minimum or maximum requirements?
• Are government requirements, such as Section 508 specifications, a factor?
• How will the courseware be delivered – via CD, Kiosk, web, or a SCORM-compliant learning management system (LMS)?
• Does the delivery method impose any restrictions on the types of preferred media or the development approach?

Understanding these factors, along with the overall required ‘level’ of your eLearning courseware will assure accurate pricing, a streamlined design and development process, and an effective training product. With over a decade in the eLearning field and extensive experience with custom content design, development, and SCORM implementations, ICS Learning Group can assists with all these components. Contact us for discussion, industry resources, and reference papers to help quantify your project.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – September, 2011

ICS Learning Group announced today that they are  now a proud partner of  Rapid Intake,  creators of the mLearning Studio Ultra-Premium software suite- a software product that allows developers to build eLearning and training content for iPhone, iPad, Android 2.1 or higher, using both Flash and HTML5. The product can be purchased separately or packaged with Inquisiq R3, ICS’s flagship learning management system that deploys eLearning content.

ICS chose to partner with Rapid Intake and sell mLearning Studio particularly because it is expected to give clients a jolt of functionality and efficiency for the new mobile generation. Mobile developers can build their courses once and publish a Flash and HTML5 package simultaneously using this time saving authoring tool. Additionally, the product is a great fit for Inquisiq, as the package offers clients seamless and affordable capability for mobile eLearning, while providing a robust courseware content management system that will manage courseware developed using Rapid Intake or other authoring tools.

Inquisiq R3 has been awarded the coveted Brandon Hall Gold Award for Technology Excellence in the “Best Advance in Learning Management Technology for Small- and Medium-Sized Businesses” category for 2009 and 2010, and also the “Best Advance in Learning Management Technology for External Training” category for 2010. The system is thought to be highly rated because of the intuitively designed interface, ease of use, and lower than average price point.

ICS Learning Group
ICS Learning Group, established in 1998, is a leading provider of custom training solutions and E-Learning software systems. The company, headquartered in Pasadena, Maryland, serves several markets including software, manufacturing, health care, financial services, pharmaceutical, and government clients. With an emphasis and expertise in instructional design, ICS Learning Group develops customized software simulation training, corporate communications applications and computer-based training solutions to meet the critical training needs of today’s workforce.

For more information about ICS: http://www.icslearninggroup.com

More about mLearning Studio: http://www.icslearninggroup.com/index.php/mlearning-studio/

More about Inquisiq R3: http://www.inquisiqr3.com/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – June, 2011

ICS Learning Group’s Learning Management System software (LMS), Inquisiq R3, has been awarded the coveted Brandon Hall Gold Award for Technology Excellence in the “Best Advance in Learning Management Technology for Small- and Medium-Sized Businesses”, and the “Best Advance in Learning Management Technology for External Training” categories for 2010. This is the second year in a row for winnings, as ICS also won a Gold Award from Brandon Hall in 2009 for the product.

Inquisiq R3 provides the technology infrastructure for web-based training programs, allowing users to quickly load and deploy SCORM-compliant content  to employees or customers. The system is thought to be highly rated because of the intuitively designed interface, ease of use, and lower than average price point.
The Brandon Hall Excellence in Learning Technology Awards are presented by Brandon Hall Group, a leading research firm in training and development. The Learning Technology Awards program showcases innovations in the products in the marketplace for creating and managing learning, talent, and performance.

“These excellent tools and systems are the cutting edge of learning technology,” said Tom Werner, chief research officer and director of the Awards program. “They really change for the better how people learn in the workplace.”

ICS Learning Group
ICS Learning Group, established in 1998, is a leading provider of custom training solutions and E-Learning software systems. The company, headquartered in Pasadena, Maryland, serves several markets including software, manufacturing, health care, financial services, pharmaceutical, and government clients. With an emphasis and expertise in instructional design, ICS Learning Group develops customized software simulation training, corporate communications applications and computer-based training solutions to meet the critical training needs of today’s workforce.

For more information: http://www.icslearninggroup.com

More information about Inquisiq R3: http://www.inquisiqr3.com/

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Introduction

The design, creation and implementation of corporate training solutions, especially ones that are highly reliant on technology, are very complex projects with many aspects to consider. The objective of this white paper is to provide guidance related to the planning of e-learning solutions as well as to present a survey of the many instructional and technological building blocks that should be considered as part of your solution. Skillfully blending these elements together will ultimately give you the most effective training and the best results for your company.
Successful corporate training solutions can vary greatly from each other; however, they all have some common elements that make them successful. The most important components of success are:

• A sound plan with a well defined mission and objectives.
• Appropriate technological infrastructure and implementation strategy.
• Good course design that contains well-written and engaging content.

A good plan is the starting point. Like any corporate initiative, the training program should have a stated mission and a set of business objectives that are well defined. The plan will also need to include a business analysis that identifies the costs and benefits of the training program. This will help bring the project into focus and provide solid grounding on which your many decisions will be based.

Once the big picture is in focus, it is time to create the implementation strategy and plan. This will start with a thorough assessment of many aspects including such considerations as specific training needs, current and planned technology, corporate culture and trainee demographics. Your complete implementation plan will include a proposed curriculum and a description of training methods along with a delivery infrastructure.

Ultimately, a good plan and implementation strategy is meaningless if the courses and training content are not properly designed or are ineffective. A sound design process begins with a thorough analysis of the training needs and a determination of the learning objectives. The next step is to design the instruction necessary to accomplish the teaching objectives and create an assessment structure to assure that the objectives have been met. It is also important to realize that despite a thorough analysis and well-formulated learning objectives, the quality of the instructional content is still critical. The instructional content must be relevant to the student and presented in a way that is engaging and memorable. The use of interactive multimedia, if well done, can make the instruction much more interesting and effective.

The Plan

Training solutions can range from being focused on a specific problem to being very broad, touching many aspects of a company’s operation. Regardless, before you design and implement your training solution, you need to do some planning.

The initial plan will include a basic top down analysis that identifies the key elements of a sound and successful training program. It is critically important to understand that your training solution is ultimately a solution to help achieve business goals. For example, your ultimate goal is to increase sales, raise the level of customer service, reduce manufacturing costs due to human error or increase employee moral and their overall wellbeing. Therefore, to ensure your training solution is successful, you must define it and plan for it much like any other business project. Finally, the training solution must be economically viable and the desired outcome clearly defined so that the benefits can be continuously evaluated. Your initial plan should include the following:

1. Identify and define the business goals. The fundamental business goal(s) must be clearly identified. This is a basic step but critically important because it is the driving force behind the training. All training will ultimately map back to achieving specific business goals and solving business problems. It is a very good idea to document these objectives in the form of a mission statement that can be reviewed and approved by the project stakeholders.
2. Develop a solution to the problem. Presumably, on analysis of the business goal or problem, it has been determined that at least part of the solution involves a change in human behavior or performance. Developing a training solution to address these issues will require specifying the details of the training needed to bring about the desired changes.
   The training should be defined in terms of its desired outcome, specific objectives, amount or scope and necessary content. Also, remember that training, regardless of how well it is designed, is not effective unless the employees are properly motivated to take it. Part of the solution should therefore include the proper communications to motivate and engage the trainees. Motivation is also a key element that should be considered in the design of the instructional content.
3. Develop a strategy for implementing the solution. Given the general scope and objectives of the training, an implementation strategy will need to be developed. The implementation strategy will include two fundamental components. First, it will include a curriculum based on the identified training needs. Secondly, you will need an infrastructure and delivery plan. The infrastructure plan includes identifying all training and information delivery methods and technology. The implementation strategy will likely be a phased plan requiring evaluation and refinement. Additionally, the plan should identify the implementation team and their responsibilities. Good strategies strive for early measurable success, are flexible and scalable and take into consideration the corporate culture and politics of the situation.
4. Prepare a business case for the training program. Given that a training solution to a business goal has been identified and an implementation strategy developed, you must now analyze its economic viability. This translates to quantifying the costs and the benefits of the training. This analysis, both initial and ongoing, will be the fuel that drives the training initiative forward.
   With a well-defined implementation strategy, the investment or expense side of the equation is usually pretty straightforward. The problem is that, initially, the scope and many of the details of the implementation strategy will not be defined precisely enough to give you an accurate development cost. This may warrant an investment in the preparation of a detailed implementation plan. This process is equivalent to hiring an architect to design the house and develop a detailed set of blueprints. Once you have this detailed implementation plan, you should be in a position to accurately estimate the development cost and project schedules. It is also important to estimate ongoing costs for new courses, maintenance, updates and new technology.
   The other side of the equation is quantifying the benefits. This process is more complex and should include both the direct and indirect benefits of the training program. Sometimes, the benefit is a clear cost savings or gained efficiency. Other times, it is a matter of projecting benefits based on new capabilities. The indirect benefits are much harder to quantify and may include such things as improved employee morale and wellbeing.
   For a more detailed treatment on this topic, please also see the ICS Learning Group’s white paper titled “Is e-Learning Worth It.”
5. Develop a set of metrics. Metrics are measurable performance parameters that can be used as feedback to evaluate the training results, to help refine the implementation strategy and to keep the training initiatives on track. Training solutions need to be constantly evaluated and refined. Make sure that the metrics are closely correlated to the fundamental business goals that are being addressed.

Keeping your training solution in this framework will allow you to keep the big picture in mind and will help you keep the project on track. If the analysis is performed carefully and honestly, it will result in a logical plan that advances the mission of the company in a cost-effective manner. It will also be an essential element in engaging the support of all stakeholders including senior management, the development team and participating employees.

Project Management – The above plan is a starting point that ensures that the business objectives have been properly stated, a solution has been identified and a business case for that solution has been presented and approved. The next step will be to create a detailed project plan for the design and implementation of the solution.

You have many important decisions that need to be made ranging from issues related to the use of technology to required facilities to instructional design to software development and media production. For this reason, training projects and specifically e-learning projects are inherently complex and require the integration and coordination of many different disciplines. It is important that the project manager be aware of the many facets to these projects and understands the interrelationships of all of the required tasks. A typical e-Learning project team will include the following types of professionals who must all work together for the common goal:

• Project managers
• Instructional designers and technical writers
• Subject matter experts
• IT professionals including network engineers, software developers, database engineers and technical support staff
• Facilities personnel
• Multimedia developers including graphics production specialists, multimedia programmers, computer animators and video/audio production personnel
• Art director, graphic designers and interface designers
• Quality control and assurance personnel

E-learning projects are complex and need to be broken down into logical phases or subprojects. Each phase results in a deliverable to the client and is a transition point to the next phase. These deliverables are critical and must be carefully evaluated by the project team and client. They must be approved before moving on to the next phase.

The typical phases of an e-learning development project include:

Phase 1: Analysis
Phase 2: Design
Phase 3: Content Production
Phase 4: Software Development
Phase 5: Implementation
Phase 6: Evaluation

Phase 1. Analysis: The objective of this phase is to gain a complete understanding of the goals and constraints of your training project. The analysis phase will require the gathering of many different types of information. The deliverable of this phase is the Analysis Report and may include one or more of the following:

• Audience/Needs Analysis
• Environmental (hardware, software, bandwidth, etc.) Analysis
• Content Analysis
• Task Analysis
• Problem/Risk Analysis

The analysis phase will provide you with the information you need to properly define the scope of the training and will be the primary input into the design phase.

Phase 2. Design: The design phase takes into consideration all that has been learned in the analysis phase and creates a total solution that meets the training requirements. The design process will address all of the instructional needs as well as the infrastructure and technical requirements. The design phase will usually consist of several sub-phases that allow for progressive refinement. This is very important because it allows the designers to take a top down approach and get approval by the project sponsors before moving down into more detail. This phased design approach helps keep the project on target and minimizes the potential for mistakes and rework. The deliverables of the design phase will typically include:

a. Design Document – will identify objectives and goals, instructional approach, implementation strategies, detailed curriculum, content outlines for all instruction and will establish all design standards.

b. Storyboards – are a screen by screen treatment of the instructional content. This will include all of the text content that appears on screen, all audio narrative and the identification and description of all multimedia content and interactivity for the instruction.

c. Functional Design Specification (for Software Applications) – For computer and web-based training delivery, the solution may frequently include the development or modification of software applications. The design of this software is usually addressed separately from the training content. This document defines all of the applications functionality, user interface, system interfaces and data formats.

d. Prototypes – are the step after the paper design but before the programming or production phase is started. Prototypes are a very useful way to mockup the software interface and typical instructional content to allow the design team and project sponsors a way to evaluate how the training and software application is going to look and work. Evaluation of the prototype will frequently reveal subtle but necessary design changes that were not apparent in the paper design documents.

Phase 3. Training Content Development (Production Phase): This phase includes graphic, video, audio and multimedia production. The production team will use the storyboards to create all of the content that makes up the instruction. This is a very labor-intensive and expensive part of the job which is why it is so very critical that the storyboards be carefully reviewed and approved by the SME and client.

Phase 4. Software Development: Using the software functional specification document and the prototype, the programmers will create the training software application. Like the content production phase, this phase also includes a lot of work and thus it is critical that the design documents and prototype have been carefully reviewed and approved by the client.

Phase 5. Implementation: After the production is complete and the training system is finished, the implementation phase addresses the details with final delivery, installation and the final testing/acceptance by the client.

In some cases this final phase can be very involved and require a lot of interaction with the IT personnel so that the software can be installed, configured and properly tested. This is especially true for web-based applications that are to be installed on the client’s web server.

In addition to the issues involved with the deployment of the technology and the acceptance by the client, there are also issues surrounding transition of ownership and control. For example, it is important that proper training and documentation exist. Depending on the nature of the training system, ongoing technical support should also be considered and planned for.

Phase 6. Evaluation: Although evaluation is a very important part of the design process, it must also be continued after the training is in use. It is this evaluation that can determine if the objectives of the training have been met. Evaluation can drive the continuous improvement of the training for better and better results.

What are the Instructional and Technological building blocks?

These days, you have many options with regard to developing and delivering your training solutions. Each option has its strengths and weaknesses and must be strategically used to optimally achieve your goals. Typically, a blended approach works best, where you can combine a variety of techniques to get the most effective training. For example, traditional instructor-led training is still one of the most successful methods of teaching, but it has drawbacks. It requires physical classrooms and everyone must gather in one place at one time. For a company with a national or worldwide workforce, this can be a time consuming and expensive proposition. On the other hand, there is a lot of benefit in getting your people together and perhaps the training is being combined with other efforts that require physical presence. The optimum solution may then be to reduce the required instructor-led training through the use of on-line (asynchronous) prep courses. This solution could result in more effective training at less expense.
Another issue you might face is how to handle the spontaneous training needs of a distributed work force? For example: getting new product information and training out to a large distributed sales force. A viable solution might be on-line, live (synchronous) instructor-led training combined with an easily updateable on-line reference library of sales support material and current promotional materials.

The possible combinations are endless and must be crafted together to give you the best overall solution for your situation. The following descriptions of the fundamental instructional and infrastructure components are the building blocks that can be used to implement your training solutions. Your business needs and environment will ultimately dictate the details of how these techniques are combined and utilized.

Instructor-Led Classroom Training

The traditional approach to training, instructor-led classroom training, is still one of the most effective ways to teach. Studies show that instructor-led training routinely outperforms other methods. Unfortunately, instructor-led training has some practical limitations related to the cost of employee downtime, travel expenses and training facility costs. Another serious drawback to instructor-led classroom training is the limited “training bandwidth” that can be achieved. If you have a situation where you need to train many people relatively quickly, the instructor classroom model may become a bottleneck.

Traditional Training Media

Print and video training materials are the core assets of many traditional training programs. They have the advantages of being very portable and familiar to people. On the other hand, they have disadvantages related to their duplication and distribution expenses as well as being inherently difficult to update and maintain. Once printed materials or videotapes have been distributed, they cannot be easily changed and must frequently be reprinted and distributed.

Synchronous e-learning

This method allows an instructor and students to participate in an on-line virtual classroom. It is called synchronous in that it is a live event where everyone logs into the web-based virtual class at a specific time. The training sessions emulate the traditional classroom approach in that an instructor controls the delivery of content and students have opportunities to ask questions or engage in discussions. Usually, the instructor can deliver just about any type of web-based content along with their voice. These systems will typically also have collaboration tools such as whiteboard functionality and application sharing capabilities.

The whiteboard functionality is very much like a traditional chalkboard. The instructor can draw on it or type in text. You can also load in previously prepared graphics and annotate them. If granted permission by the instructor, students can also take control of the whiteboard.
The application sharing is very useful for collaborative discussion of a document or other electronic media or for demonstrating how certain software programs work.

Most synchronous e-learning systems also provide methods for the instructor to implement assessments or gather feedback from the students by either receiving messages or polling.

The strength of synchronous e-learning systems is that they are a natural extension of traditional instructor led classroom training. This means that training that is currently delivered by traditional methods can fairly quickly be adapted for the on-line version. The repurposing of existing training material can usually be done quickly and efficiently. Like traditional training, the instructor can control the pace and direction of the instruction based on feedback and interactions from the students. Also, like a classroom, questions can be answered as they arise and the instructor can promote discussions. Synchronous e-learning maintains many of the positive attributes of traditional instructor-led training while reducing cost and making training more convenient. A group of people can convene on-line to take a course without being collocated. This means no travel costs, a minimum of employee down time and no facility expenses.

It should also be pointed out that it is possible to include video as part of the synchronous e-learning environment. Video can come in two forms. First, prerecorded video can be delivered by using video streaming technology. This is relatively straightforward and, assuming the network bandwidth is available, can be integrated into most systems just like any other web-based content. The second type of video is live video and is more complicated to implement. Live video requires cameras and the necessary hardware and software to compress, encode and transmit a live video signal.

More traditional video conferencing systems have been available for many years and provide a convenient alternative to face-to-face meetings. However, many of these systems were not designed to be e-learning platforms and therefore lack many of the needs associated with the delivery of corporate training. However, if a company already has a video conferencing capability, it should be factored into the plan for implementing the corporate training program.

The drawbacks to synchronous e-learning are similar to traditional instructor-led training in that it still requires everyone to meet at a specific time and thus lacks the flexibility to accommodate different and conflicting schedules. Synchronous e-learning can also place extra demands on the instructor. They must become very familiar and comfortable with the delivery tools (although many solutions include meeting facilitators that handle the technology) and it is also that much harder to teach when you are not in the same room with the students.

Asynchronous e-learning

Asynchronous e-learning includes courses and training materials that can be accessed by the student at any time. It is self-paced and typically independent from an instructor or other students. However, many good asynchronous courses do provide access to forums and threaded discussion groups to give the student the ability to ask questions or have non-real time discussions.

This independence from the instructor and classroom environment can be a great convenience to the student because the course can be taken any time and at a pace controlled completely by the student. This, however, puts additional demands and requirements on the asynchronous training content, as it is responsible for 100% of the training and must keep the student engaged. Consequently, asynchronous courses take more planning and are more difficult to create than synchronous courses. One of the primary advantages of an asynchronous course is that, once created, they can be deployed at a very large scale and become completely automated. For this reason, asynchronous courses are usually best suited for situations where the audience is large and dispersed.

Simulation

Simulation training methods, a subset of asynchronous training, teach by presenting the trainee with real world scenarios and allow them to practice procedures or solve problems by making decisions and interacting with the simulation software. A very important part of learning is the application and practicing of new knowledge. Simulations are one method of providing a safe, controlled and convenient way to practice these newly acquired skills. It can also be a very effective assessment tool to find out if new information and skills are being properly applied.

Simulation training software was classically used to model physical processes and equipment interfaces such as airplane simulators and the like. These types of simulators are very effective ways to train operators on the usage of equipment by allowing them to practice in a safe and controlled environment. Additionally, you can simulate problem scenarios that can teach users how to overcome adverse situations that, in real life, may be either very dangerous or expensive when mistakes are made. Today, however, the term simulation is frequently extended to describe any training software that “simulates” a scenario or problem and gives the user a way to make decisions to create a desired outcome. For example, simulations can also be used to teach soft skills such as closing a sale, management skills and even, for attorneys, how to cross-examine a witness.

For simulations to be effective, however, they must adequately replicate the desired scenario and give the user enough options and interactivity to provide realistic and effective practice. This gets harder to do as the training scenarios become more complicated and the necessary user actions and skills diverge from what can be translated to a computer interface.

Simulations almost always need to be combined with other methods of training to teach all the prerequisite skills. Simulation is a valuable teaching method because it allows a user to apply what they have been taught and experience the application of this knowledge. For example, simulation is very effective right after a lesson that has taught basic skills. It is also important that the simulation has teaching resources built into it. For example, the simulation should have the ability for the user to access a hint or help system, access reference materials or even jump back to other lessons. In this way, knowledge gaps that are realized by the user can immediately be filled. This bi-directional back-and-forth process of applying learned knowledge and then discovering knowledge gaps and seeking the information that is needed, is a very powerful way of teaching.

For several reasons, implementing training simulations usually require more computing resources than your typical training software. First, because you are always trying to mimic a realistic work situation, it is usually desirable to include multimedia and visually rich environments and interfaces. Secondly, as you are usually trying to create highly interactive environments, the simulation will necessitate a more sophisticated user interface. Finally, because simulations frequently need to perform many calculations and are tracking a multitude of variables, they can be more computationally intensive than most training applications. For these reasons, training simulations were historically run on multimedia enabled PCs or workstations. Today, because of increased bandwidth and web programming tools such as Macromedia Flash, it is possible to implement many training simulations on the web.

Learning Management Systems

A Learning Management System (LMS) will provide all of the administrative functionality behind a web-based training system. LMS can range greatly in their capabilities and specific features but, basically, they handle all issues related to providing access to the content, delivery of the content and student performance tracking/reporting. This translates to capabilities such as:

• Student registration and course access.
• Assigning instructional responsibilities and access.
• Course setup and curriculum planning.
• Delivery of tests/assessment.
• Tracking and reporting of student progress and performance.
• Providing certifications and regulatory compliance reports.

Some LMS also include capabilities such as course authoring tools that may allow instructors to load their course content or assessments into the system. This type of capability is usually more commonly delivered through a content management system as discussed later in this paper.
Note that LMS are not only used for computer delivered content. Like any well-rounded training program, you will likely have some traditional training as well. The LMS can or should be able to record an employee’s entire training history including live training events. Some systems will also manage the use of training resources such as meeting rooms and presentation equipment.

Many LMS will also have abilities to interface with other applications such as HR and ERP systems to share data and facilitate tracking and reporting.
The LMS can be a very important part of your system, especially if your training program is large and has many students and many courses that need to be managed. Originally, LMS were very complex and therefore expensive and time consuming to implement. However, more recently many basic LMS are available at costs much less expensive than their predecessors.

Learning Content Management and Authoring Systems

The Learning Content Management System (LCMS) is another core piece of the training system infrastructure. The previously described LMS provides all of the administrative and delivery functionality, while the LCMS provides capabilities more directly related to the storing and management of the learning content itself. Frequently, Learning Content Management Systems will also have authoring capabilities in which case they are called a Learning Content and Authoring Management System or LCAMS. The LCAMS will make it possible to:

• More easily enter, update and edit the training content.
• Centralize the storage and management of content.
• Facilitate a workflow process related to the authoring, review and approval of training content.

The fundamental concept behind a LCAMS is the separation of the content from the presentation of the content. The raw content is stored in a database where it can be accessed independently of the presentation. This independence opens up many possibilities. For one, the content can now be entered into the database by an authoring application, which allows someone to easily enter or edit the content without being involved in the details of how to implement the presentation. Secondly, now that the content is independent, it can be used or presented in a variety of ways or media. A perfect example of this is content that is going to be used for both an asynchronously delivered on-line course and a printed manual. The two media are quite dissimilar and the information will need to be presented and formatted differently in each case. The LCAMS now makes it possible to easily update the content in a single place. The different presentations that access the content will then automatically be kept current.

Knowledge Management Systems

Knowledge management within an organization is defined in two parts. First, it is the systematic process of finding, selecting, organizing, distilling and presenting information. Second, employees and managers must utilize that knowledge for such things as problem solving, dynamic learning, strategic planning and decision making.

A common problem is “knowledge attrition.” People leave an organization and the valuable information in their heads goes with them. In order to preserve and grow knowledge within an organization, a cultural bias must exist which, at the very least, promotes the transfer of knowledge from one person to another. In large organizations, cultural bias is not a practical Knowledge Management System, since this method does not necessarily span geographical and political boundaries.

Enter technology. A technology based Knowledge Management System helps to transcend geographical boundaries and to centralize the knowledge of an organization. Technology solutions must be evaluated for compatibility with an organization’s culture, objectives and with existing or planned systems.

Performance Support Systems

Electronic Performance Support Systems (EPSS) are computer programs that are structured to provide immediate individualized access to information, software, assistance, data, images and tools required to perform one’s job. They support the concept of just-in-time training. They are, by their nature, typically focused on defined tasks or processes.

An EPSS can be very useful to complement training, especially when used as job aids to provide step-by-step procedures that explain, demonstrate and show users how to perform complex tasks. An EPSS can minimize classroom time and can serve as a valuable reference tool after training is completed.

It can also empower an employee to perform tasks with a minimum amount of external intervention, resulting in an increase in general productivity.

Open Standards

Standards are important to the extent that systems need to be interoperable, easily maintained and scalable. There are really two basic standards issues. First, it is important that the programming languages, databases and other technology being used are consistent with the rest of your information technology. These integration issues will affect, for example, your own IT staff’s ability to maintain and scale the system.

The second issue is regarding the development of course content for your e-learning system. For example, different groups such as the Aircraft Industry CBT Committee (AICC), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, (IEEE), IMS Global Learning Consortium and the Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative (ADL) have developed specifications for the packaging and delivery of training content so that it is more independent and transportable. This promotes greater flexibility and reusability of the course content.

The Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) is an evolving set of guidelines and specifications developed by the ADL that is becoming a widely accepted standard. SCORM compliant courses are designed to be:

• Reusable – easily modified and reused for other training efforts.
• Accessible – can be made widely available to a general audience.
• Interoperable – less dependant on specific hardware and software platforms.
• Durable –upwardly compatible with new versions of system software.

The SCORM specification has three main components. The first is a set of course packaging requirements. This defines all the course content resources and navigation. The second is a set of run-time requirements that define how the course must communicate with the LMS. The third component is a specification for course and student meta-data. The course meta-data is essentially a formatted description of the course and its content. The student meta-data is a description of the specific student data that can be tracked by the LMS.

Course Design & Content

Ultimately, the most important element of your training program will be the courses and content that make them up. Some deficiencies can be worked around or compensated for, but poorly designed courses that do not meet their objectives, or content that does not effectively teach, will negate all of your efforts.

First, it is helpful to realize that your training needs can roughly be divided into two categories. There is the training that is fairly universal and can likely be purchased as “off-the-shelf” training. For common training needs such as learning popular software applications, basic IT training or common soft skills, the demand is high enough to warrant their development. Using off-the-shelf training is obviously going to be less expensive and quicker than developing the courses on your own.

The second category is training that is unique to your specific needs and must be custom developed. If you need to develop your own training, you will need a team that consists of subject matter experts, instructional designers, content developers and the appropriate programming and integration talent.

Course design and the creation of effective content is a subject that goes beyond the scope of this paper, although there are fundamental elements that can help guide the way. The Instructional System Design (ISD) process is a commonly used method to develop corporate training. ISD is a learner centered approach that is driven by the needs of the learner, as opposed to the instructor or institution. It is also characterized by a very methodical approach that determines the specific learning objectives of the training and designs the training around achieving those objectives. It also acknowledges that the design is an iterative process that should incorporate evaluation and feedback to refine the instruction. The key phases to this approach are:

• Analysis
• Design
• Development
• Evaluation

The analysis phase identifies the training needs of the learner by defining the desired outcome along with the learner’s current state of knowledge, skills and attitude. The analysis phase will allow you to define the overall scope of the training in terms of necessary content and the amount of instruction.

The design phase first takes into consideration the needs identified in the analysis phase and then develops a specific set of learning objectives. The instruction content and sequencing is designed to best accomplish the learning objectives.

The development phase is the creation of the learning content.
The evaluation phase is used to collect feedback and assess whether or not the desired learning outcomes are being achieved. If not, then the feedback is used to refine the instruction.

Conclusion

The development and deployment of a corporate e-learning system can appear to be a risky and daunting task. However, the risk can be minimized by developing and following an implementation plan which takes this very large and complex task and breaks it down into a methodical step-by-step process. ICS Learning Group has years of experience in all phases of this process, from initial needs assessment to the development of computer-based and web-based training software to the creation of training content.
For more information on ICS Learning Group or how we can help you develop and integrate your online training program, visit us on the web at http://www.icslearninggroup.com or give us a call: (410) 975-9440.

Introduction

When I started researching SCORM in preparation for developing content and implementing an LMS, what I remember most was my frustration at the lack of any concise, hands-on information that was available about SCORM. Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) has the complete specification (all 400+ pages of it) readily available on their site, but I was looking for a quick, “get your hands dirty” explanation that skipped all the mumbo-jumbo and would let me dive in and start trying things out. Hopefully, you’ve found this whitepaper early in your search and avoided that frustration. My purpose is to give you a “real world” explanation of SCORM that you can actually use to begin understanding the details of what you’ll find in the specification itself. I’ll skip the e-learning history, theory and other vague ramblings as I’m sure you can find an abundance of it elsewhere with relative ease.

Overview

The SCORM specification, developed by Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL – http://www.adlnet.org), is a set of rules that learning management systems (LMS) and learning content follow in order to be compatible with each other. This theoretically allows the content to be loaded into, launched and tracked by any learning management system using a common rule set. Imagine your typical kitchen toaster and its electric plug that you plug-in to your wall socket. That same wall socket can have a blender, electric can opener or coffee maker plugged into it because all those appliances, along with the socket itself, comply with a set of rules dictating plugs and sockets. Things such as the number of prongs, shape and dimensions of the prongs, polarity and voltage have been published as a standard that manufacturers follow to insure that their plugs and sockets all work together. The SCORM specification is no different. Your learning management system is the wall socket. Your content is the toaster, blender, coffee maker or whatever else you plug into that socket.

Introducing the SCO…

E-Learning content is delivered as a single unit called a Sharable Content Object or SCO. SCOs are independent, self-contained, transportable packages that represent the lowest level of granularity that is tracked by a learning management system. In other words, SCOs are mini-applications that when launched from an LMS report, among other things, one score and pass/fail status. Your SCOs should contain all the necessary files required to function, have or require no knowledge of any other SCO or external information, and as a matter of design, should remain relatively small such that they can be easily reused.

And since the spec indicates that SCOs shall be transportable, you could infer that they should also be platform independent, although this is not explicitly stated. Server dependencies such as Coldfusion, Perl, ASP or server-based databases are problematic as a particular LMS might be running on a server that does not have those services available. So unless you are working in a tightly controlled internal environment, your SCOs should only be using client-side technologies such as HTML, Flash and Javascript.

…and the Content Package

Now before we get into the details of the SCO, realize that we must to be able to transport it – even if that only means getting it from our desktop computer where we created it to the server where our LMS is hosted. To do so, we use a Content Package. Going back to our wall socket analogy, imagine that the content package is the box in which the toaster is packed and transported. In reality, it is simply a single compressed file containing all the files (html, images, flash swf, etc) necessary for the SCO to function. The content package may contain more than one SCO (a toaster and coffee-maker perhaps) and a single manifest file which describes the contents of the package. The LMS will use the manifest file to properly find and import each of the SCOs.

Web-Based and Script Enabled

While there is no specific requirement that learning management systems be web-based, SCOs must be. This requirement gives developers a common platform (the web browser) to design and develop their content to function within, thereby removing unnecessary barriers to compatibility and transportability. Of course, even with the current maturity of web-browsers, they are not all created equal and SCORM makes no mention of a specification to be followed to ensure web-browser compatibility. Compliance with the latest W3C standards however, is a safe course of action to ensure compatibility with a wide range of current web-browsers. And in order for a SCO to communicate data to and from the LMS as well as potentially provide interactivity and quizzing functionality, it’s going to require more than just client-side HTML. SCORM specifies that SCOs use an ECMA Standards compliant scripting language to communicate with the LMS. The most notable ECMA compliant language is one you’ve probably heard of – JavaScript.

SCO and Content Package Summary

So what we’ve covered regarding Sharable Content Objects can be summarized as follows: SCOs are mini-applications containing the content itself. SCOs are self-contained and transportable – all required files are included and compressed into a single content package. Content packages contain a single manifest file and may contain more than one SCO. SCOs are web-based and script-enabled – consisting of HTML, Javascript and any other client-side technology (images, Macromedia Flash, etc). SCOs are the smallest level of granularity tracked by an LMS – they report, among other things, only one score and status.

The Details

Now that you understand some of the high-level layout, we’ll explore the fundamental details to understanding SCORM. Realize that this is by no means an exhaustive exploration, but it should provide a good foundation of knowledge. Be sure to download and read the complete SCORM specification as there are many details that will not be mentioned here.

The Content Package and Manifest File

As I have mentioned, for a SCO to be uploaded to the LMS, it must be contained in a Content Package – a single compressed file conforming to the Process Interchange Format (PIF) specification. In most cases, this is simply a .ZIP file and may contain multiple SCOs.

The Content Package must also contain a Manifest File – an XML file containing information about the included SCOs and their organization. By reading the manifest file, the LMS can gather information about the SCOs that are contained in the package and will be able to launch them when appropriate.

Here’s an example of a very basic, yet fully compliant “hello world” manifest file. Note that a fair amount of optional information not covered here is usually included in a typical manifest file. For complete details be sure to refer to Section 3, Content Package Conformance Requirements of the SCORM 2004 (1.3) Conformance Requirements (CR).

Notice that the basic structure is a manifest node containing a metadata node, an organizations node and a resources node.

The Metadata Node

The required elements of this node that we have included specify the schema and schema version. Our example indicates that this content package uses the ADL SCORM schema and is compliant to the Content Aggregation Model of the SCORM 2004 (1.3) specification. Optionally, this node may also contain metadata containing extensive information about the content package including keywords, copyright information and more. This optional metadata may be included using a lom node or in an external XML file whose location would be referenced by an adlcp:location node. In either case, the lom or adlcp:location node would be located within the metadata node.

The Organizations Node

The primary layout and relationship of the contents of our package is contained in the organizations node. Notice however, that information about the assets themselves such as file location are not included here.

You’ll notice a single organization in this node, although any number is allowed. Each organization that is listed in this node can be thought of as a course once it’s uploaded into the LMS.

Each organization listed must contain a title node to indicate the title of the organization or course.

We have titled our sample course “Hello World Course.” Once imported, the LMS will use this as the display title of the course.

Each organization may contain any number of item nodes which, in turn, may also contain any number of item nodes. There is no limit to the nesting of these nodes. The lowest level of item nodes represents the SCOs or assets contained in the content package and will each include an attribute identifierref.

Our sample’s identifierref value is “sco_hello_ref” which references a resource node that we will discuss shortly. An individual resource node may be referenced by more than one item node throughout the organizations node, even from within different organizations. When this occurs, the identifierref attribute for all instances should be the same.

When present, upper layers of the item node nesting represent groupings or modules within the organization as shown by this example not contained in our sample:

Most manifest files that you see coming from authoring programs such as Macromedia Captivate and Articulate Presenter will not nest the item nodes into modules, but rather contain only one item node (representing the SCO) within the organization.

Each item node representing our SCOs and assets must contain a title node to indicate the title of the resource itself.

We have titled our SCO “Hello World Lesson” and the LMS will use this as the displayed title of the lesson once imported.

The Resources Node

Whereas the organizations node defined the layout and relationship of the content, the resources node is where the actual content information is located. Each SCO or Asset that is contained within the content package will have a corresponding resource node within this node.

The identifier attribute of our resource contains the value “sco_hello_ref”, which will correspond to the identifierref’s value in our item node that is in the organizations node above.

The href attribute lets the LMS know where the launch file for this resource is located and the adlcp:scormtype attribute indicates that this resource is a SCO rather than simply an Asset. So in our sample, the index.htm file located in the root of the content package as indicated here, is the launch file for the SCO that is titled “Hello World Lesson” as listed in the organizations node and referenced using the “sco_hello_ref” identifier.

The result of all of this is that when an LMS imports a content package containing our sample manifest it will, at a minimum, create a new lesson, title it “Hello World Lesson” and upon launch execute the file “index.htm” that is located in the root of the content package. Optionally, the LMS may also create a new course, title it “Hello World Course” and include our “Hello World Lesson” in it. In either case, our LMS has successfully imported our SCO and has the capability to launch it.

A Communications Channel – The API

Once it’s been launched, a SCO and the LMS need a communication channel through which to pass data. This is done through an object known as an API (Application Programming Interface) that is the conduit for all of the SCO to LMS and LMS to SCO communication.

The technology that the LMS vendor chooses to implement the API is completely up to them – no recommendations are made within the SCORM specification as long as the API is exposed to the SCO correctly and implements the methods and data structure required. We have seen APIs developed using Java applets, ActiveX controls and even pure JavaScript.

The SCO will be opened by the LMS in either a new browser window or framed within a page in the LMS browser window. Before communication can occur, the SCO must find the API and make contact.

The SCORM specification indicates locations where the SCO should look for the API, requires that the LMS expose the API in one of those locations and that it be a Document Object Model (DOM) object named “API_1484_11″ or “API” depending on the SCORM version you are following. Since the SCO is launched in either a new browser window or a frame within the LMS window, it will use a very simple process such as: look in my parent window (if framed) or in the window that opened me (if a new window) and see if there is an object named “API_1484_11″ (or “API”). If the API is not found, the SCO can expand its search by looking in the parent of the window that opened it, the parent of its parent, and so on according to the spec.

Once the SCO finds the API, it can invoke methods of the API to send data to and receive data from the LMS. If the API is not found, the SCO should alert the user that the connection to the LMS failed and no communication will occur.

Data Transfer

Once the SCO has found the API, they must both speak the same language if any communication is to occur. The SCORM specification has defined a small set of methods that must exist in the API and be available for the SCO to use. The methods are accessed by the SCO via JavaScript code with the syntax of objectname.methodname(argument(s)) where objectname references the API itself, methodname is the method being used (the API methods are explained below) and argument(s) are the data passed to the method. In all cases, the SCO initiates interactions and data transfer by invoking these methods.

SCORM 2004 (1.3) API Methods:

Initialize - Initializes communication with the LMS. No other API methods should be called by the SCO until Initialize has been successfully called.

When completed, the resulting returnValue will contain “true” if the method was successful, “false” if it was not.

Terminate - Terminates communication with the LMS. No other API methods should be called by the SCO after Terminate has been successfully called.

When completed, the resulting returnValue will contain “true” if the method was successful, “false” if it was not.

Commit - Saves the data that has been sent to the LMS via SetValue calls. If a SCO exits without invoking Commit, none of the learner’s data is saved to the LMS. Commit is implicitly invoked by the API when Terminate is called.

When completed, the resulting returnValue will contain “true” if the method was successful, “false” if it was not.

GetValue - Retrieves data from the LMS for use in the SCO. The SCO must pass the data element that it is requesting as an argument.

When completed, the resulting returnValue will contain the score that is retrieved from the LMS.

SetValue - Passes data from the SCO to the LMS. The data is retained and may be retrieved during the user session, but is not saved to the LMS until Commit is invoked. The SCO must indicate the data element and its value that is to be saved as arguments.

When completed, the resulting returnValue will contain “true” if the method was successful, “false” if it was not.

GetLastError - Retrieves the last numeric error code that occurred in the API as a result of invoking these methods.

When completed, the resulting returnValue will contain the code corresponding to the last error that occurred. GetErrorString – Retrieves the text description corresponding to the error code priveded.

When completed in either case, the resulting returnValue will contain a text description of the error corresponding to the errorCode that was provided.

GetDiagnostic - Exists for LMS specific use. Returns a diagnostic text description based on the parameter that is passed as an argument.

When completed, the resulting returnValue will contain the text of the diagnostic information.

Using the GetValue and SetValue methods, the SCO is able to send and retrieve all the necessary data for effective tracking to and from the LMS. Some commonly used data elements include learner_id, learner_name, score, completion_status and suspend data. The example that follows will demonstrate proper usage of a few of these elements.

An Example

So what you will find when looking at the code of a SCO is some process that is executed at launch, usually found in the onLoad event of the body tag, that finds and initializes the API. In some cases the SCO will then request and load basic information using GetValue, such as the learner’s name and id. Additionally, the SCO may attempt to load previous session data such as score, progress status or learner responses that may be necessary to continue the learner’s interaction with the SCO. From that point, SCO interactivity and functionality such as navigation and quizzing will likely operate independently of any SCORM-related functions. At certain points though, result data is passed to the LMS (using SetValue and possibly Commit) and upon completion of the SCO, perhaps within the functionality of an Exit button, the Terminate method is called.

Let’s take a look at the following HTML and Javascript code as an example. Note that the getAPI function used in the doLMSInitialize function would be included in the apiwrapper.js script file that is referenced by the script tag in the header. This function would follow the process discussed earlier to search for and return the API from the opener window or parent frames. While this process is too detailed to completely explain here, the api wrapper that is available from the ADL contains this functionality so it is not necessary to develop your own from scratch.

Let’s briefly step through this code to see what is actually happening. On page load, the doLMSInitialize function is called which uses the getAPI function to search for and return the API. The API is initialized, the learner’s name is retrieved and a welcome message is displayed in the div element whose id is “welcome.”

The question is displayed using a standard HTML form. Upon clicking the Submit button, the learner’s response is passed to the postAnswer function.

The postAnswer function evaluates the response, alerts the learner and sets the appropriate SCORM values using the API’s SetValue method.

Finally, the learner clicks the Exit button which invokes the API’s Terminate method.

What this example should illustrate for you is that a SCO is coded very much like any other interactive lesson with the occasional addition of method calls to the API when data is required or ready to be posted.

You can download this SCO and content package including the example manifest file at http://www.icslearninggroup.com/resources/helloworld.zip. This package is a functional SCORM 1.3 (2004) package that can be imported into a SCORM compliant learning management system.

Conclusion

So we’ve examined the SCO and its general operation, the API and how it provides the communications portal between the LMS and the SCO and the manifest file and how it facilitates the importation of the SCO into the LMS. In other words, we’ve only scratched the surface. To fully understand SCORM and its functionality, you should download the full specification from the ADL’s website and get familiar with it. Begin working with our sample content package and study as many other SCORM compliant SCOs as you can. The code is all client-side, so you will be able to open it with a basic text editor such as Notepad.

For more information on SCORM, learning management systems, SCORM compliant authoring tools, or to sign up for a free trial of Inquisiq Learning Management System where you can upload and test your SCORM compliant SCOs, visit us on the web at http://www.icslearninggroup.com.

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Introduction

While many larger companies have already transitioned into e-Learning and embrace it as a vital component of their overall training efforts, many mid-size and smaller companies have been waiting on the sidelines observing how the technology, methods, and costs evolve. As with any relatively new industry, things have indeed changed and evolved. Many new products and technologies are available and, in general, the industry has matured. These new options have made e-Learning much more achievable for smaller companies with limited resources and budgets.

However, with the new choices come complexity and the need to understand how the pieces all fit together. The purpose of this article is to assist you in understanding what the pieces of the solution are, along with the associated choices that you will have to make. While there are many new possibilities, there are also many potential pitfalls that if not understood, can cause delay, frustration, increased costs, and disappointing results.

The key to success is in understanding what the possibilities are and how they map into your needs and requirements. This article is a roadmap of the decisions that you need to make along with the pros and cons of the different options that should be considered.

Content versus System

To begin with, it is important to realize that any on-line training solution should be divided into two key components. First, there is the content which consists of your lessons, courseware, quizzes etc. Secondly, there is the infrastructure or system that you will use to deliver the content. The system will perform all of the management, tracking, reporting, and administrative functionality. The system that provides this infrastructure is generically called a Learning Management System (LMS) and is a software program or web application that you will either develop or purchase. The key point to make is that these two components, content and system, are separate and should be addressed individually.

The SCORM Specification

So, we have these two pieces – the instructional content (or “courseware”) and the LMS. The key to allowing these two components to be separate is providing a framework for them to work and communicate with each other.

An analogy would be a CD and a CD-Player. You can be fairly confident that if you purchase a new audio CD and go home to play it, that it will work regardless of the brand of player that you have. The manufacturers of both the CDs and the CD players developed a common specification that allows for this type of plug and play interoperability.

The e-Learning industry has developed several specifications of its own whose goal is to allow courseware to be “plugged” into any LMS so that it can be properly launched and tracked. While there is some history behind the evolution of the specification, it is generally accepted that the prevailing industry standard is the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) specification that was developed by the Advanced Distributed Learning (www.adlnet.gov) organization.

In laymen’s terms, it is this SCORM standard that allows courseware or Sharable Content Objects (SCOs) of all types to be loaded into any SCORM-compatible LMS. The LMS will be able to launch the SCO and communicate with it, so that things like status and quiz scores are passed from the SCO back to the LMS and recorded as part of the student’s records. The development of the SCORM specification is essentially what has allowed the e-Learning industry to make a clean division between LMS solutions and content/authoring solutions. This development has allowed for and encouraged the many new options with regard to purchasing:

• Previously developed “off-the-shelf” SCORM content
• New SCORM compliant content authoring tools
• SCORM compliant Learning Management Systems

Developing your Instructional Content

We will first discuss some of the options regarding how you can obtain your instructional content. This involves determining whether or not you can purchase your content or whether you should develop it yourself. If you develop it yourself, there are many issues to consider regarding the necessary skill sets, tools & technology, and outsourcing and teaming with experienced vendors.

“Make” versus “Buy”

The first determination you will need to make is whether you will purchase your training content or attempt to development it yourself. It is likely that some of your training requirements will be common enough that a market already exists for the content. This enables you to purchase standard “off-the-shelf” products. Doing so will allow you to obtain better quality for a substantially lower cost than that of developing it yourself. So, if you have training needs that you feel are fairly standard such as basic IT skills, accounting skills, sexual harassment prevention training, safety training, or office productivity training, you should perform a search to find out what is already available for purchase.

The other advantage to this approach, beyond cost and quality, is time. You can purchase the product and load it into your LMS in a matter of days. Custom development will usually take weeks or months.

Options and Strategies for Creating your Own Training Content

So, while some of your training needs may be satisfied with off-the-shelf training products, it is probable that not all of them can be. Most companies have training needs that are unique to their company and, therefore, can’t be purchased as pre-packaged products. In this case, you will need to create your own instructional content. The approach you take will largely be dictated by the resources that you have available to you – both in terms of capabilities and availability. Of course, the classic three parameters; quality, cost, and schedule will also play a determining role.

Developing the Content In-house

There are many books dedicated to the design of engaging and effective on-line training and getting into the details of good design is beyond the scope of this article. Regardless of specific design and instructional approaches, there are many decisions that need to be made as to how you will create custom courseware.

If you have available in-house resources with the proper skill set, then you are in a good position to do it internally. This will probably cost less than hiring an outside vendor and may give you more control over the project. However, the skill set to create quality custom training is diverse and may be difficult to obtain. For example you will need a team with the following capabilities:

• Subject Matter Experts (SME) – the people who are the experts in what needs to be taught
• Instructional Designers and Technical Writers – are experts in knowing how to convert your SMEs knowledge into quality computer based instruction
• Graphic and Interface Designers and Production Staff
• Animation, Video, and Audio Production Staff
• Multimedia Programmers – that also understand SCORM and your LMS
• Project Managers – that have experience in developing e-Learning content

The other very important topic to discuss with regards to “do-it-yourself” e-Learning development is that there are many good authoring tools now on the market. These tools allow you to rapidly produce content and are much easier to use than what was once available.

For example, it used to be that on-line content would be developed using powerful but fairly complex tools such as Adobe Flash. While Flash is still a preferred tool for most professional developers, it is too complex for most non-developers to master. Newer tools may not allow as much creativity and flexibility as Flash, but they are much easier to use and quicker to learn. Additionally, most of these new authoring tools will automatically handle a lot of the behind the scenes programming such as SCORM communication or quiz engine functionality.

These tools can range significantly in their cost and capabilities, so it is important to understand what each tool can do and what its strengths and weaknesses are. You will find that, in general, the tools are designed for a very specific type of content and are very limiting beyond the original design intention. For example, some tools are good at creating training for software applications, while others are designed to convert Microsoft PowerPoint presentations into SCORM-compliant training modules.

Typically, the more flexible and powerful the tool, the more complex it will be to learn, and likely, the more expensive to purchase. The cost for all the tools may pale in comparison to the potential time and energy they could save. Most of these tools are relatively easy to learn and can be mastered by non-developers in a matter of a few days to a couple of weeks.

A word of caution however; while these tools lower the technical barriers and experience necessary to create SCORM-compliant training content, they do not provide any of the other design and production skills necessary in creating quality instructional content. The strength of these tools is typically to enable non-technical staff to rapidly create SCORM content. To create high quality content, there is still a need for skilled designers and production staff. Also, it should be mentioned that highly interactive content typically cannot be created with many of these basic tools.

Outsourcing the Development

In many cases, it may not be possible to assemble a complete team with only internal resources. The alternative option would then be to outsource the development to a vendor that specializes in e-Learning development. To successfully outsource a project to a vendor takes some special knowledge and skills of its own. These skills are primarily related to project management, the most important of which is the knowledge and skill necessary to prepare a good request for proposal (RFP). Unfortunately, custom training development projects are sometimes hard to define in terms that allow you to get accurate and comparable bids – especially before any of the detailed design work has been performed. It is equivalent to asking a builder to quote on the construction of a house before an architect has created any plans. It can only be done in very general terms and is, therefore, not very accurate.

This inaccuracy or vagueness must be avoided in your RFP if you want good competitive bids. One approach: if you do not have the experience to prepare an accurate RFP, hire a consultant or a development vendor specifically to help you prepare the RFP. It can be a situation of “not knowing what you don’t know”, and having the help of an experienced developer in preparing the RFP will allow you to avoid scope creep and misunderstood expectations.

In working with outside vendors, the other approach to consider is using an experienced developer as a way to augment your internal team. This can be a very effective method for optimizing the use of your internal resources, while bringing in the specialized talent and knowledge that a vendor may have. For example, you may decide to team your internal subject matter experts and some of your experienced training and IT staff with the specialized instructional design skills and production skills that a vendor can provide. Most vendors are very happy to team with you and realize that it is in their best interest to provide you with the best quality in the most cost efficient manner. The vendor often brings a wealth of experience in terms of best practices, as well as their own existing technology which can be used to more efficiently and rapidly create your content.

Choosing a Learning Management System

There are many LMS solutions on the market, all with a variety of capabilities offered over a surprisingly wide range of costs. While providing different capabilities, most LMS products fundamentally provide the following functions:

• User Access to the instructional content – students will login and launch the training modules that they have been enrolled in
• Enrollment Functionality – students need to be enrolled in courses either automatically, through self-enrollment (browsing a course catalog), or individually by a supervisor or administrator
• Content Configuration – the ability to upload and manage all content and training events. This would include uploading the SCOs into the LMS, establishing Instructor Lead Training events, and creating Course Catalogs and Curriculums
• Administration and User Management – setting up and managing all user accounts, managing permissions, and group management
• Tracking and Reporting – the LMS will record all student activity and provide ways to run reports on that activity
• Miscellaneous – functionality such as creating and granting certificates, e-commerce if you are selling access to your content, content authoring, employee evaluation, gap analysis and curriculum planning are all examples of features and capabilities that many LMS systems can provide.

So, how do you find the best system for you? The starting point is identifying your needs. You should prioritize your requirements into the “must have” and “nice to have” categories. You will find that as your list of needs gets larger and larger, the LMS that satisfies all of those requirements likely becomes exponentially more expensive. Additionally, it is not just cost that becomes an issue; the more complex systems will also take much more time to implement and the “user friendliness” of such systems can be seriously compromised.

It stands to reason that unnecessary complexity is a bad thing. The key is to get the LMS that truly satisfies your basic needs. Don’t be lured to a system having so many bells and whistles that it ultimately costs a lot of extra money, and ends up being under utilized because of the associated complexities.

In sum, there are a variety of approaches one can take to transition into e-Learning for their company; from developing the LMS and content in-house, outsourcing either requirement, or a combined approach. Brandon-Hall has a good review of many LMS products on their website (http://www.brandon-hall.com) which may be a helpful place to start. Otherwise, one key approach to a successful e-Learning implementation is finding an experienced company who can help guide you through the process.

For more information on ICS Learning Group or how we can help you develop and integrate your online training program, visit us on the web at http://www.icslearninggroup.com or give us a call: (410) 975-9440.

Overview

Until recently, anyone who wanted to author SCORM-compliant content had few choices. Not many authoring programs existed and the technical knowledge to create compliant content was and, in fact, still is beyond the reach of most training developers. Now there are many affordable, easy to use content authoring programs to create SCORM-compliant content that can be deployed to learning management systems (LMS). Adobe, a leader in the multimedia authoring and programming industry, has recently thrown their hat into the ring and released Adobe Captivate – a SCORM-compliant authoring tool that includes screen capture, simulation, automated testing and more.

ICS Learning Group was a beta-test facility for Adobe Captivate and has an ongoing dialogue with Adobe representatives discussing how to improve Captivate and its LMS integration with relation to SCORM-compliance. Our Inquisiq R3 Learning Management System is also featured in Essentials of Adobe Captivate from IconLogic and underwent extensive testing with Captivate lessons in preparation for the book’s release.

Adobe Captivate and LMS Integration

When exporting content from Adobe Captivate, you have the option of making your package SCORM 1.2 Compliant. Specifics of the SCORM specification could fill an entire book (in fact, it does!), so let’s just say that SCORM defines what must be included in a content package (certain files which contain certain information in a certain format) and the methods that the content package must use to communicate information (student name, score, etc.) to and from the LMS. The idea is that content authoring programs and learning management systems would all be programmed to comply with the spec and therefore be compatible with each other. Unfortunately, reality has not lived up to the vision.

The SCORM 1.2 specification is long, open to some interpretation and not always logical. Developers have had to make some assumptions and, at the same time, had to predict and hope that other developers made the same assumptions! Our experience with the workings of Adobe Captivate and the development or our own SCORM-compliant LMS has given us some insight to help you get the most out of Adobe Captivate and your LMS – even if it’s not our LMS! Note that we are only focusing on SCORM 1.2. The SCORM 1.3 specification was recently released, however most learning management systems and authoring tools, even those recently released, still support SCORM 1.2 and rightfully so.

Making Sure Your Captivate Lesson is Compliant

Problem #1:

I’ll get right into it here. If you export a Captivate package that does not have any graded questions in it, it will not be SCORM-compliant. I don’t mean that it just won’t track because it has no grade to send; I mean it is not compliant. In tracing method calls from Captivate lessons, we’ve found that a lesson with no questions will not make the required call to the LMS to initialize itself upon startup. It will make the finalize call upon exit, however any compliant LMS will throw back an error when this happens. The spec dictates that a content package must initialize itself before it can finalize itself. Makes sense, right?

A tangential problem to this is that a lesson with no questions (even if the correct initialize and finalize calls are made) has no way to tell when it’s been completed, so it does not send that information to the LMS either. This secondary problem is not an issue of compliance as the SCORM specification does not require this information to be sent, but more an issue of usability. What’s the point of making a SCORM-compliant lesson and loading it into an LMS if you never find out when your users have completed it?

The Solution:

The resolution to both these problems is easy – just make sure that you have a graded interaction in your lesson. It can be an interaction that is actually presented as such or even a button or hot spot that you are sure your users will click while viewing the lesson. The possibilities here are endless, so be sure to test your solution, but the bottom line is that there needs to at least one graded interaction in your lesson.

Passing the Proper Lesson Status Value

Problem #2:

Adobe Captivate lets you choose whether to report ‘pass/fail’ or ‘complete/incomplete’ values for lesson status, but this is not an arbitrary choice. The spec dictates that this shall be determined by the lesson after querying the LMS and deciding based upon the response it receives.

When publishing with Captivate, if you select complete/incomplete, and the user fails or fails to finish the lesson, the value of ‘incomplete’ will be reported to the LMS. In the event that the user completes or passes the lesson, the value of ‘complete’ will be reported to the LMS. Likewise, if you select pass/fail, then the value of ‘pass’ will be used instead of ‘complete’ and the value of ‘fail’ will be used instead of ‘incomplete’.

Additionally, Captivate lessons never query the LMS for the value of ‘credit’, which is the element that the lesson should be using to determine whether to use ‘complete/incomplete’ or ‘pass/fail’.

The Solution:

Solving this problem may or may not even be necessary – it’s a rather minor issue. The best thing to do is make sure that you coordinate the credit setting you use in the LMS with the lesson status value you select here. Lessons that are for credit should use ‘pass/fail’ and lessons that are not for credit should use ‘complete/incomplete’. However, one thing to note, and this takes us indirectly to Problem #3 and beyond, is that the spec dictates that the LMS reevaluate the score and change this value if you have set a mastery score. We’ll come back to this when we get to Problem #4.

Passing Score In The Proper Format

Problem #3

The ‘Publish’ interface in Adobe Captivate lets you choose whether to report score as a raw value or as a percentage while the spec dictates that this value must be ‘normalized between 0 and 100′ (meaning it must be a percentage score). When you choose to report this value as a raw score, your lesson is not compliant.

Adobe tells us that they put this option for a very specific reason. The spec defines 3 values relating to score and all shall be normalized between 0 and 100 – minimum score, maximum score and what they call raw score (oddly enough, the spec calls it ‘raw score’ and at the same time dictates that it be normalized – no wonder everyone is confused!). Logically, since they are required to be normalized between 0 and 100, minimum score would always be 0 and maximum score would always be 100 so why even use them? Because of this confusion, Adobe decided to allow the content author to decide whether to report score as raw or normalized.

The problem occurs when you choose to report score as raw and then load your content into an LMS that has been implemented according to the SCORM spec because it will expect to receive score normalized. Confusion ensues!

Scenario:

You create a Captivate lesson and choose to report score as a raw value. Your lesson has 5 questions and your user gets them all correct. Your lesson is going to report ’5′ as the score and a compliant LMS is going to interpret this as 5%. Of course, your lesson should also report a lesson status of ‘complete’ or ‘passed’ (see problem #2) which will truly confuse your user when they look at their stats and see that they passed/completed a lesson with a score of only 5%!

The Solution:

This is an easy one. Unless you are certain that your LMS implements score as a raw value, always select ‘percentage’ to ensure that your lesson is compliant.

Tying It All Together

Problem #4

Take a deep breath, because problem #4 might get a little confusing. The SCORM specification instructs the LMS to change the lesson status (the same value discussed in problem #2) when certain conditions apply. When this happens, the LMS shall use the score to decide how to change the lesson status value. If you remember though, from problem #3, you may be reporting score as a non-compliant raw value, so the LMS may change the lesson status based on bad information.

To get a better understanding of this, let’s introduce mastery score. You set the mastery score by clicking the ‘Manifest’ button on the Publish Interface. mastery score is value stored in the manifest file that is included in the content package you load into the LMS. The LMS reads this value and stores it with the lesson. If you notice, Captivate instructs that this value should be between 0 and 100, or normalized.

Now the SCORM specification instructs the LMS that if mastery score is set, the lesson is being taken for credit and the lesson status is not ‘incomplete’, the LMS shall change the lesson status to the appropriate value (complete, incomplete, pass or fail) by comparing the score reported from the lesson and the mastery score that is defined in the manifest. This occurs even if the lesson has already passed a value for lesson status.

The first thing to notice is that you probably should set the mastery score to the same value that you set passing score. That way, if the LMS re-evaluates the lesson status, it will use the same value as the passing score that the lesson itself does.

Now let’s refer back to Problem #3. You had the option of reporting score as a raw value. If you chose that option, when the LMS performs this re-evaluation of lesson status, it is going to compare a raw score to the normalized mastery score. Since one value is normalized and the other is not, it should be clear that you will have some unexpected results from this.

Scenario:

You create a Captivate lesson with 20 questions. You choose to report score as a raw value (non-complaint per Problem #3, but Captivate lets you do it), choose to use ‘pass/fail’ for lesson status, enter a mastery score of 80% and enter a passing score of 80%. Your user gets 17 questions correct.

When the lesson finalizes, the lesson reports ‘pass’ to the LMS for lesson status and ’17′ for score. Everything looks good until the LMS sees that there is a mastery score and therefore it must re-evaluate the lesson status. The LMS looks at score (’17′) and sees that it is less than mastery score (’80′), so it changes lesson status to ‘fail’. In fact, a lesson created with these settings will always have its lesson status re-evaluated to ‘fail’ by the LMS because even a perfect raw score (’20′) will always be less than the mastery score (’80′).

The root of the problem is that Captivate prompts you to enter mastery score normalized, but gives you the option to report score as a raw value. They need to be on the same scale for the re-evaluation by the LMS to work properly.

The Solutions:

#1: Don’t enter a mastery score. By doing this, the LMS will not re-evaluate the lesson status and you avoid the problem altogether. But don’t forget about Problem #3 and its solution.

#2: Make sure that mastery score and score are both normalized by choosing to report score as a ‘percentage.’ You’ll notice that this is also the solution to Problem #3. If you have confirmed that your LMS expects to receive score as raw, then use Solution #3.

#3: If you must report score as a raw value, then be sure to enter a raw value for mastery score. In our scenario, instead of entering ’80′ for mastery score, you would enter ’17′. That way, when the LMS re-evaluates lesson status, both score and mastery score are on the same scale and the calculation is done correctly. While technically incorrect since the spec dictates that mastery score be normalized, we won’t worry about it because you’d only use this solution in the case that your LMS is also non-compliant because it’s expecting raw values for score. It’s a workaround.

Summary

We’ve seen that Adobe Captivate provides a robust solution for quickly developing online training solutions. But let’s not forget that we need to be mindful of the implementation of the SCORM specification by the LMS and how it’s going to react to our Captivate lessons.

Review the problems and their solutions and you can be sure that your Captivate lessons are going to comply with SCORM 1.2 and function properly when loaded into a SCORM 1.2-compliant learning management system.

For more information on ICS Learning Group or how we can help you develop and integrate your online training program, visit us on the web at www.icslearninggroup.com or call toll-free 877-427-4770.