E-learning authoring tools (such as Adobe Captivate, Lectora, Articulate Storyline, etc.) are powerful, easy-to use tools with built-in capabilities which make for engaging, dynamic, and effective online learning experiences and learner assessments delivered online as Web Based Training (WBT) modules.
As with all Learning Management Systems, VISION integration with WBT modules requires some special considerations with regards to the design, development, and publishing options available to users of E-learning authoring tools.
E-learning authoring tools offer several modes for publishing instruction, which may include LMS reporting, web-only, DVD, or cloud. For deployment in VISION, it is recommended that WBT be published as “Web” content with no LMS reporting, wherever possible. Publishing for web will permit the use of the personalized remediation, performance support, and statistics reporting supported by VISION. Deploying packages for LMS reporting is not recommended, as doing so limits VISION’s capabilities, and results in a learning architecture which is more difficult to maintain.
How the VISION model differs from other Learning Management Systems
VISION, like other LMSs, deliver instruction in “chunks”. For other LMSs, this chunk typically represents a complete lesson. The WBT module, in such environments, will cover several learning objectives, include a knowledge check/practice questions, and/or a final knowledge assessment which is graded and then reported out to the LMS. For most LMSs, WBT modules are published from the E-learning authoring tool as an AICC or SCORM “package”. AICC and SCORM are interoperability protocols which permit a WBT to talk to the LMS that launches it. Because the WBT module can talk to the LMS, the score and other passing information can be sent from the WBT module to the LMS, so that the learner’s score can be recorded in the LMS.
Unlike other LMSs, VISION organizes its content chunks at the level of the learning objectives in order to facilitate microlearning, personalized remediation, and performance support or Just-in-Time training (JITT). VISION handles the knowledge assessment on its own, so WBT modules can be broken up into objectives-based modules. For this reason, publishing WBT for LMS is inappropriate, as no LMS reporting is needed.
Pros |
Cons |
|
Custom HTML (Web) WBT published for Web is simply a set of HTML files like any other common web page. |
•Support for personalized remediation, performance support, JITT •Question statistics •Seamless integration with VLS content module •Easier to maintain and audit |
•Limited to Multiple Choice, True/False, Matching type questions •Unable to track learner micro-interactions |
LMS Reporting LMS reporting uses AICC and SCORM standards, which are ‘interoperability’ protocols which permit a WBT package to communicate with an LMS. WBT published as AICC/SCORM contain resources necessary to accomplish the communication. |
•Able to track and report learner progress •Knowledge Assessment may use advanced question types |
•Unable to support personalized remediation, performance support or JITT •Learning architecture must be a 1:1:1 Objective:Lesson:Course structure •No question statistics •Must be launched in separate browser window |
Publishing as Web
We advise deploying your WBT as a web module. The reason for this is that VISION supports learning objects centered on learning objectives as the basic unit of content. Properly designed, a lesson in VISION chunks its content by objective, with which test questions are associated. The final knowledge assessment is delivered by VISION using objective-based test questions. VISION can identify which specific objectives a learner is having difficulties with, and then deliver instant personalized remediation targeted on the content the learner needs.
VISION seamlessly opens WBT published for Web, displaying it as content within the VLS. Because the WBT is published as a set of HTML files, the completion logic internal to the WBT is hidden from VISION. If you wish to respect the completion logic of the WBT, the WBT needs to tell VISION two things:
1.When the WBT has commenced
2.When the learner has completed the WBT
The first is accomplished by inserting a small JavaScript code into the initial loading page of the WBT, typically a file named “index.html”. When VISION loads this file, it looks for the following in the <HEAD> section of the html file:
<script type="text/javascript">
setTimeout(() => {
window.parent.postMessage('customHTMLStarted', '*');
}, "250");
</script>
The JavaScript triggers VISION to trap the learner in the HTML, disallowing any navigation out of it until the second marker is triggered. This ensures that the learner complete whatever learning activities the instructional designer has coded into the WBT. Completion can be determined by a successful knowledge check, or by simply landing on a certain slide. When the completion has occurred, a similar JavaScript need to be triggered, which both registers the WBT as being completed in VISION and also releases the learner to continue on to the next learning objective. The JavaScript code is:
<script type="text/javascript">
setTimeout(() => {
window.parent.postMessage('customHTMLFinished', '*');
}, "250");
</script>
While the first JavaScript must be inserted into the index page, the second may be able to be triggered within the WBT as a trigger, depending on the tool. An alternative method is to place an html file in the VISION Learning Station web root which contains the completion JavaScript. When the learner has met the conditions of completion in the WBT, the WBT should then redirect the html file, which will trigger the completion and release.
Publishing as AICC/SCORM
We caution against deploying WBT as AICC/SCORM. Doing so requires the instructional designer to centralize all of the content for multiple objectives into a single WBT module. There are several downsides to doing this:
1.All knowledge assessment items must be internal to the WBT
2.A single WBT will deliver content for multiple objectives
3.A single objective delivers content for the whole lesson
4.A single lesson is permitted per course
5.The WBT is launched in a new browser window
Despite these drawbacks, there may be very good reasons for deploying AICC/SCORM WBT modules in VISION. For instance, your organization may have established a training program prior to implementing VISION. Converting existing lesson-based SCORM modules to objectives-based web modules may be simply impossible if the source files are be lost or corrupted. The cost of converting them may be too high. For these or any other number of reasons it may be advantageous to deliver AICC/SCORM packages in VISION.
VISION uses an implementation of AICC which supports some features more commonly associated with SCORM. Technically, the VISION implementation is the API wrapper version of AICC. In recent years, the API wrapper has come to be associated with SCORM by the various e-learning development tools; consequently, you can think of VISION as having a hybrid AICC/SCORM implementation.
To publish your AICC/SCORM package for use in VISION, the following rule should be followed:
1.In your E-learning development tool
a.Publish the WBT, as SCORM, using the Passed/Failed reporting values.
b.Publish the WBT again, this time as AICC, using Passed/Failed reporting values, and identifying the AICC Web Launch URL as the location where the WBT package will reside on the web server.
c. In the AICC export folder, copy the AICC manifest files (.au, .crs, .cst, and .des) into the SCORM export folder.
d.Copy the SCORM export folder containing the AICC manifest files to the web location where they will permanently reside. This should be on the same web server on which VLS is installed.
2.In VISION Developer
a.Ensure the course has a single training unit, of the type Instruction and Associated Exam
b.The training unit has the assessment profile “AICC profile – with assessment” assigned, whether the WBT has an internal assessment included or not.
c.Multiple objectives may be sequenced into the lesson, but only one will deliver any content in the Learning Station. This objective ought to be the Terminal Objective.
d.Add your AICC/SCORM to the Terminal Objective, navigating to the location where the files were copied in step 1d. Select all four manifest files.
