Avendoo® online documentation

Web-based trainings up to version 17.19

A Web-based training (WBT) is a learning program, which is based on technology of the Internet. A WBT in Avendoo® represents a learning content, which allows you to embed learning content, which was generated with other programs. Avendoo® supports outputs of programs, which were generated by SCORM or AICC standard.

You see in the overview (Learning content → Web-based trainings) all already created web-based trainings. If you click on a title, you get to the appropriate Web-based training wizard.  Via click on the symbol of the translation area you get into the translation management of the appropriate web-based training. Via click on the national flag you get to the preview of the user. You see also the appropriate owner of the web-based training.

There are the mass processing functions Copy, MoveDeleteChange owner, and Export for Web-based trainings. More information about these functions you find under Web-based trainings: Mass processing functions.

The following functions are available via the context menu of the appropriate title of the web-based training.

To create a new web-based training, choose Learning content → Web-based trainings → New web-based training. The Web-based training wizard opens.

Master data

Enter a title, a teaser and choose the main language for the web-based training.

Parameters

External reference

External references are used for organizing and for linking to other systems. This you can use for manual assignments and on using interfaces, for example: REST API. You can search for external reference in the advanced filter function.

Examples:
SAP customer number 100234
SAP user ID 000004

Valid from

Enter a date from which web-based training is valid. You can delete the date if applicable.

Valid until

Enter a date until the web-based training is valid. You can delete the date if applicable.

Note

Until now there is no effect, if you have entered “Valid from” and/or “Valid until”. Only the apppropriate value is saved.

Version

Enter the version of the web-based training.

Note

Enter some notes for the web-based training.

You can do further options for web-based trainings. Therefore go to Courses → Course contents (Learning path) → Settings per learning object.

Introduction

You can write via the editor an introduction in this area. This introduction will be shown if you open the learning unit. Select Empty page, if you want to design the introduction individually or use the suggested design template.

These are your benefits:

  • You can refer at this point to audio, Flash or other content with certain prerequisites for example.
  • You can inform the learner, what they will expect.
  • If the WBT opens in an extra dialog window, the introduction page and the navigation Back to course will remain.

If you have WBT without starting page, the learner can’t navigate directly back to the course. This is no problem, if you have a learning path with only one object and the appropriate WBT. If you have courses with further learning objects besides the WBT, you should always create an introduction page for the WBT.

WBT with remote content and content connector LTI WBT with remote content and content connector Offline with XAPI feedback channel
If you’ve maintained an introduction page, the users got a Start button. If the users click on this button, the remote content is opened in another pop-up window. The users get back to the course via the original pop-up window. If you’ve maintained an introduction page, the Start button is not available for users, because the performance of the remote content is in another system or program, this means the feedback from the external system is done via Avendoo®.
You explain for example, how the users get to the external system on the introduction page.
If you don’t have maintained the introduction page, the users see the remote content directly in the opened pop-up window. Thus the users can’t choose Back to the course. This variant you can use mainly for one object courses. If you don’t have maintained the introduction page, an empty introduction page opens.

Variable hinzufügenFor creating a web-based training there are different variable in the editor available.  Via variables selected content is automatically inserted:

  • $CourseTitle$ = teaser of the course
  • $ObjectCertification$ = link to the certificate, when the course is completed
  • $ObjectDuration$ = expected processing time (HH:MM) of theWBT
  • $ObjectState$ = AICC processing status of the WBT
  • $ObjectStateNumber$ = AICC processing status of the WBT as number
  • $ObjectTeaser$ = teaser of the WBT
  • $ObjectTitle$= title of the WBT
  • $UserCountry$ = country of the registered user
  • $UserDivision$ = division of the registered user
  • $UserFirstname$ = first name of the registered user
  • $UserGroup$ = group of the registered user
  • $UserLastname$ = last name of the registered user
  • $UserOe$ = organizational unit (OE) of the registered user
  • $UserRegion$ = region of the registered user
  • $UserSex$ = gender of the registered user

Preferences

Interface type

Select the type of interface:

  • AICC/SCORM or
  • XAPI
    Articulate Storyline WBTs with the tracking/protocol XAPI are supported.
    Also Articulate WBTs are supported. These can then be edited by the user.
    For further questions, please contact our support team.
  • Remote content
    Note

    If you use the remote content with the content connector type Offline with XAPI feedback channel, it’s important that there is no direct link for the user to the content, because the content is external. The author can use the introduction page therefore  to explain the steps for doing the task in the external application. Further information about the introduction page you find here.


    If you add a WBT with this interface type on the learning place, the following steps are necessary:
    • Define interface for calling the remote content of the user,
    • Define interface for calling the media of the remote content (OB3 API),
    • Define the OAuth2 Authentification at Avendoo XAPI and
    • Define feedback of the status via XAPI.

If you got questions about using this interface type, feel free to contact our support team.

Select medium

Select an already uploaded web-based training medium compatible with SCORM/AICC, if you have selected AICC/SCORM before.

Select an Articulate Medium, if you have selected XAPI before. Maintain the parameters Use as web-based training and Open the content.

Select a medium of the remote content.

Use as web-based training

This medium can be used as web-based training if the ZIP file contains a valid imsmanifest.xml. For this to happen, an organization has to be selected for display from the manifest.


Set comments

You can enter a text here for transfer to the SCOs in the web-based training medium. The individual SCOs within the medium determine whether or not the text is displayed.


Jump to next SCO

Here you can set whether you want the completion of one SCO (Shareable Content Object) to be followed automatically by the opening of the next SCO.


Menu display options

Here you enter whether the navigation menu should be displayed when the SCORM medium is started. With an automatic setting, the menu is hidden if it has just one menu point.


Close window

The window with the SCORM content is closed if the content sends the action “Exit”.


Opening the content

Indicate whether the content should be shown in the same window or in a separate window.

Also if you select “A separate window” the already opened WBT starting page will be updated after closing the WBT window.

Supported SCORM 1.2 standard

SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) is a standard for the exchange of WBT content. If you contain SCORM content, you have to note the version. Avendoo® has a SCORM 1.2 interface.

Note
  • Avendoo® can process the following SCORM lesson status:
    – complete/incomplete
    – passed/failed
  • The updating of the lesson status of WBTs, which set the final lesson status not before closing the dialog window, is now considered.

The SCORM package has to be a WBT (course). Simple SCO or Asset collections are not processed (SCO or Asset collections are only materials like images, files etc.).

Furthermore the data of an “organization” is in the lmsmanifest.xml required, because it is not a course, but a pure data exchange package. According the SCORM definition the lmsmanifest.xml has to be in the main register of the .zip file. It shouldn’t be in a sub folder, even some SCORM author tools generate it.

Note

The standard for the SCORM wizard is “Separate window”.

Updating the SCORM .zip file of a Web based training

Background facts

Handling SCORM Web based trainings (WBTs), you got a .zip file, which contains the required data for displaying the learning content and the structure details (SCOs = Shareable Content Objects, this means one or more basic modules of a WBT; Organization = sequence of the SCOs; one WBT can provide several organizations). A WBT is normally “completed”, if all SCOs of the organization have been edited. If there are changes regarding the content (corrections, new chapters etc.) in the author tool, with which the SCORM file has been created, this can also change the structure and can influence for example the designation (ID) or the amount of the SCOs.

These changes of the structure have to be transferred on exchange of the .zip file for the SCORM WBT (for example for a new version after done corrections) also into the Avendoo® data of the WBT learning object. This happens, if the tab Preferences of the Web based training wizard is opened and then the WBT will be saved. In this connection the current structures from the .zip file will be read out and the changes will be saved.

Effects

If the structure won’t be updated after changing the .zip file of the SCORM content, this can lead in some special cases to not transferring the results (for example result success control) and the status changes. This can cause that a learner cannot complete the WBT successfully.

Important: If a new publishing of the .zip file of a SCORM WBT caused by a change, leads to a structure change, you cannot simply identify. There are cases, in which the structure remains after a change. In some author tools the structure also changes, if there was a software update of the author tool. Then also small corrections of typing errors lead to a new structure.

Thus we strictly recommend to update the structure of the WBT in Avendoo® always after the exchange of a .zip SCORM file.

Procedure for updating the SCORM .zip file of a Web based training

  • Edit the medium with existing .zip file (click on the title of the medium or open the translation area if language versions should be available), click in the lower area of the old file (section medium) on +Select, select the new file and click on Upload in Avendoo®.
  • Save the medium.
  • Open the Web based training wizard regarding the WBT, which uses this .zip file (this also can be several) or open if language versions should be available the translation area, switch to the tab Preferences. Then the structure of the current .zip file will be read out and updated for the WBT. The Organization will be updated or newly displayed if applicable and the single components (SCOs) will be updated.
  • Save the WBT.

Notes:

If handling “Articulate Rise” content, there is the possibility, that “progress data” of the old version aren’t compatible with these of the new version. This maybe doesn’t matter, but unfortunately the user, who has edited a WBT before, sees a white page. Since Avendoo® version 16.18 there is for these cases a function in the participant management, which deletes the suspend data and the lesson location.

The status (Completed, Incomplete) and the existing results (for example points and time) will be not deleted. Participants, who have begun, but haven’t completed, start again.

  • If applicable (for example big changes) first create a new medium, with this creating and testing a new medium. Not till then substitute the correct .zip file in the already used medium.
  • If the WBT contains several “Organizations”, select the favored “Organization” in the drop down menu. Most SCORM contents have only one single “Organization” available.
  1. If an WBT could be finished by one user at least, please check which browser the user is using for opening the WBT. If applicable the user should clear the cache. Furthermore please check, how the user finishes the WBT.
  2. If the WBT transfers no status, please check at the producer, if the WBT tranfers the status (complete/incomplete and passed/failed) and how the finishing fo the WBT is done.
  3. If the WBT doesn’t work from a technical point of view, test an alternative browser or set back the status on the learning object by removing the status via the recycle bin icon in the participant management of the course activation (before click on the status of the participant -> window Learning results – >  Select Course component).
  4. Because  Avendoo® saves a LOG, which reports each change during the editing, out support team can see the status in the LOG and thus they can see the errors. Therefore please contact our support team.

The object identifier allows not all values. The following attributes are allowed: characters (A to Z), numbers and underscroll. If you use not allowed values, an error message occurs.

In this case SCORM isn’t selectable under the option Select medium on the tab Preferences of the Web based training wizard.

If SCORM transfers no status, this means there is no transferring o lms_finish to the LMS, there will be no change of the object status in Avendoo®.

To correct, you can do the following steps (=criteria for transferring the status lms_finish):

  • Click on the button Close in the WBT or
  • check the number of the viewed pages in the WBT or
  • open the last pages of the WBT.
Note

Because the status “lms_finish” was sent on closing the dialog window or by clicking a certain button, there were “Not completed WBTs”, also the result was “Passed”. Therefore is since version 16.19 an actualization of “assignment_object_status” after the “Commit” of “lesson_status”, except the repair option “status calculation by Avendoo” is acivitaed (Default: this option is not activated) AND point values are transferred, with which a status can be calculated. Define in the system setting “wbtwizard.scorm.calcLessonStatusOnFinish”, if on new SCORM WBTs the new calculation of the learning object status should be done only on “lms_finish” by standard.

To correct, do the following steps:

SCORM wrapper or SCORM package

The SCORM wrapper is a zip file, which serves as opening an Avendoo® course activation with learning path via another LMS (not Avendoo®). There are SCORM tracking data like time needed and status transmitted via the SCORM 1.2 interface.

Note

You can use only UTF-8 coded file names for guaranteeing WBTs with special characters in file names. If you enter the parameter “cu” in 7-Zip, there will be an UTF-8 coding.

To create a SCORM wrapper zip file, do the following steps:

  1. Activate a course in Avendoo®. Then click in the list of course activations on the course title and choose Information in the context menu.
  2.  On the tab IDs click on the icon besides SCORM package (see screenshot below). Now you get the Avendoo® course ready for download.
  3. Click on the button Save and then on the button Open folder. Now you have a package, which meets the SCORM specification.

Note the following prerequisites for using a SCORM wrapper zip file:

  • The user has to authenticate at opening, either regularly via entering login and password or via SSO. If you want to use SSO, please contact us.
  • The participant has to be registered to the course activation.

Supported AICC standard

AICC is in this case a standard or container format for development and distribution of WBT offers. The committee of the american aviation industry, the Aviation Industry CBT Committee (AICC) created this format.

AICC differs three types for binding content:

  • HACP = Hypertext AICC Communication Protocol, link to web-based LMS
  • Disk = communication via files, for example for local storage and link of AICC content
  • API = communication vai API, use of a JavaScript API for communication

Avendoo® supports AICC with HACP for binding of content.
The content can be saved as ZIP file (as medium). If you use AICC all required data and functions (mandatory) of the AICC interface for HACP binding are completely supported.

Optional AICC data/interface function:

  • Optional data fields for points “Core.Score.Max” and “Core.Score.Min” are supported in the Avendoo® AICC interface. This completes the Core.Score.Raw (can represent i.a. “achieved points”) and enables the display and calculation of percentage values.
  • Optional data fields for “Interactions”/AICC tracking
    Avendoo® can accept besides the status interaction data via the AICC interface. These (optional) AICC data contain data of the user input according to AICC PutInteraction function. Optional data fields for PutInteractions save data of user activities in knowledge test questions and cover the following data:
    • student_id
    • date
    • time
    • interaction_id
    • objective_id
    • type_interaction
    • correct_response
    • student_response
    • result
    • weighting
    • latency
    • course_id

Example for data like transmitted by Adobe Captivate for example:

  • “0”
  • “0”
  • “2007/12/12”
  • “09:53:26”
  • “Interaction10305”
  • “Quiz10030”
  • “true-false”
  • “false”
  • “false”
  • “C”
  • “1”
  • “00:00:04”