by Kevin Siegel
Last week I talked about the Aggregator, which allows you to present multiple SWFs under one uniform TOC. The Aggegator is perfect if you are uploading the SWF lessons to a Web server and you don't have the time to create a menu. But what if you want to combine SWFs under a single TOC and you're uploading your lessons to a SCORM compliant LMS? No worries... use the SCORM Packager.
The SCORM Packager ships with Adobe Captivate 4, but it's an often-overlooked program. To start the Aggregator, simply choose Start > All Programs > SCORM Packager. I'll show you how to use the SCORM Packager soon enough. First, let's discuss a few terms you should be familiar with.
LMS stands for Learning Management System. An LMS handles issues related to providing access to the content, delivery of the content and student performance tracking/reporting. In short, an LMS is the backbone of a Web-based training system.
SCORM stands for Sharable Content Object Reference Model. Developed by public- and private-sector organizations, SCORM is a series of e-learning standards that specify ways to catalog, launch and track course objects. eLearning courses and LMS's that follow the SCORM specifications allow for sharing of courses between federal agencies, colleges and universities. Although SCORM is not the only eLearning standard (AICC is another), SCORM is one of the most common. There are two primary versions of SCORM--version 1.2, released in 1999, and version 2004.
SCO stands for Shareable Content Object. Once you Enable reporting in a Capitvate project and publish the project as a zip file, you've got yourself a SCO. Each SCO will be added to the SCORM Packager and then uploaded into your LMS.
The Manifest file allows your published Captivate projects to be used and launched from a SCORM 1.2 or 2004 compliant LMS. When you publish projects, you can have Captivate create the manifest file for you. The manifest file that Captivate creates will contain XML tags that describe the organization and structure of the published project to the LMS.
Publish SCOs to be Used in the SCORM Packager
The first step in combining multiple lessons under one TOC is to publish each of the individual lessons as SCOs.
- Choose Quiz > Quiz Preferences.
The Preferences dialog box appears. Reporting is selected from the Quiz category.
- From the Quiz: Reporting area, select Enable reporting for this project.
- Select Standard from the Learning Management System (LMS) area.
- If necessary, select SCORM from the drop-down menu to the right of Standard.
The Manifest button activates. You'll come back to this later.
- Speak with your LMS vendor and set the Report Status options, Report Data and Reporting level to meet the requirements of your LMS.
- Click the Manifest button to display the Manifest dialog box.
- From the SCORM Version drop-down menu, select the appropriate version.
- Leave the Course Identifier set to the default.
The Identifier specifies a name used by the LMS to identify different manifests.
- Type a title into the Title area.
The Title specifies a title that can be viewed by students using the LMS. While you must add a title here, not all LMS's support Titles. In that case, the Title you add will be ignored.
A Description is not required. Some LMS's support and show this text, some don't. If the feature is not supported by the LMS, it will be ignored, just like the Title. You'll leave it blank for this lesson.
The Version number can be used to distinguish manifests with the same identifier.
There are two other optional areas in the Course area: Duration and Subject. Duration lets you show how long it takes to complete the Captivate project. Subject allows you to specify a short description. When the course is displayed via a browser like Internet Explorer, the description can be searched like any Web page.
- Leave the SCO Identifier area set to the default.
The Identifier specifies a name used by the LMS to identify different SCOs. No spaces are allowed in a SCO Identifier.
- Type the same title you used earlier into the Title area.
- Click OK to close the Manifest dialog box.
- Click OK to close the Preferences dialog box.
- The final step to creating your SCO is to Publish the lesson as a SWF (File > Publish) and select Zip Files from the Options area.
Repeat this process for each lesson you'd like to include in the menu.
Package the Published SCOs
After publishing all of the lessons (SCOs) you'd like to include in the menu, start the SCORM Packager (Start > All Programs > SCORM Packager).
The first thing you will see is the Course Manifest Details dialog box. Select your SCORM version, type a Course Identifier, a Title and a Description.
Click OK.
All you'll need to do now is add your SCOs to the Package, which is a process almost identical to using the Aggregator (you can review that article to learn the step-by-step process).
Your published SCOs will be packaged into a single ZIP file, which can then be uploaded into your LMS.
Worried about your class canceling? You'll be happy to hear that we never, ever cancel our classes (even if there's just one student registered).
eLearning courses and LMS's that follow the SCORM specifications allow for sharing of courses between federal agencies, a zip file, you've got yourself a SCO. Each SCO will be added to the SCORM Packager and then uploaded into your LMS. The Manifest file Management System (LMS) area. If necessary, select SCORM from the drop-down menu to the right of Standard.
Posted by: wii raquettes | December 29, 2009 at 08:10 AM
I'm trying to make one TOC work across multiple scos. I've been able to use the Aggregator to create a single course from multiple files with one TOC, but I don't have the same options when I use the SCO packager. I've been able to create a multi-sco package to import into my LMS, but they are series of individual lessons and no shared TOC. Any suggestions?
Posted by: Jennifer Zapp | July 08, 2011 at 08:10 PM