CP 7 preference "send data on every slide".

[oluolu]

Does anyone know the implications of selecting this option in the advanced settings of CP7?

[RodWard]

It can slow down your course playback and places greater load on the LMS, that's all.  If your LMS can handle being deluged with all these separate requests for its attention, then it's not a problem.  However, Captivate usually waits patiently for the LMS to respond after sending data.  If the LMS server is having trouble keeping up, the end user will see this as a delay in the Captivate content responding to their interaction.  It's called "latency" and can vary from a split second to several minutes...depending on the load on your LMS.

[oluolu]

Thanks RodWard. I appreciate your detailed response. Is there any advantage to it at all? Just wondering....

[RodWard]

It sends more data to the LMS, which can sometimes help with bookmarking.

[ESLTeacher1]

If ...[the default template uses Captivate's normal 'verbose' communication method, which deluges the LMS with tons of information_R.Ward], what additional 'Data' is Captivate sending to the LMS that's not already being sent by ticking  "Send Data On Every Slide"?

Thanks!

[Erik Lord]

To add slightly - 'send on every slide' is usually the best option - it allows the LMS to 'keep up' with the current progress, especially for bookmarking...especially if the lesson > LMS communication gets interrupted at any point, the LMS has the 'latest/current' status.

However, the 'send on every slide' has caused problems where there may be a quiz lesson - say 35 questions - and the user is flying through really fast. The lesson/LMS may not be able to keep up, resulting in incomplete data being stored when the user closes the lesson (even if the lesson itself says 'done/passed/xx%', that info may not have made it to the LMS yet).

SO in those types of lessons, 'sending data at end' generall works better.

-E

[bobelmore]

I don't see an option for 'sending data at end'.

Also, the documentation for these functions is poor.  Is there a good reference available?

Thanks.

[Lilybiri]

I'm sorry about poor documentation, but I'm just a user.

[John_Meidl]

What if I left the Template field at "Default" -- how is the data sent to the LMS? (at end of session or after each slide?) (I also have Captivate 7.) It seems that the quiz data is sent correctly to the LMS.

Actually, for this course, I am basing "course completion" on 97% slide views ONLY (not on answers to the quiz questions). In the 62-page course, eight quiz questions (for review/reinforcement purposes only) are scattered throughout the course.

Is it OK that I left the "Template" field at "Default" and that I didn't select "Send Data On Every Slide"?

One other question -- Although I selected "Set exit to normal after completion," our LMS (Cornerstone) does not open the course to page 1 after the learner has worked through the entire course; rather, it just opens the course to the last page. (So I added to the last page a "click box" link that opens page 1.) What is "Set exit to normal after completion" supposed to do?

Thanks for any insights.

- Jan

P.S. By the way, Lieve (Lilybiri), I surely appreciated your Captivate presentations at DevLearn this fall. You are always so helpful.

[Erik Lord]

"Is it OK that I left the "Template" field at "Default" and that I didn't select "Send Data On Every Slide"?"

If it works for you, then it's fine. If you were having troubles with proper reporting, then changing to 'send data at end' is an alternative.

"What is "Set exit to normal after completion" supposed to do?"

It's supposed to do exactly what you're expecting.

If a user exits a lesson that is set to resume (don't check 'Never Send Resume Data') and they have NOT passed or completed the lesson...then exit should be set to 'suspend' and the LMS should launch the lesson in 'resume' mode...so it picks up where the user exited.

If a user exits a lesson set to resume and they HAVE passed or completed the lesson, then exit should be set to 'normal' and the LMS should launch the lesson in 'review' mode - without any resume data sent back (so it should start from the beginning).

If you do NOT have 'Set Exit to Normal' checked, then I assume the cmi.exit value is always 'suspend', which means the LMS should always relaunch your lesson with resume/bookmarked data...

...unless...If you have 'Never Send Resume Data' checked, then it doesn't matter if you have 'Set Exit to Normal' checked, as the lesson will never resume...as the LMS has no suspended/resume data to send back to the lesson when its relaunched.

SO what you're expecting should happen...with 'Never send resume data' NOT checked and 'Set exit to normal' checked, your lesson should start over if its passed/completed.

If it's not, then Cornerstone is not behaving properly, per the SCORM spec.

[John_Meidl]

Thanks, Erik. It appears that Cornerstone is not behaving properly per SCORM 2004 and my settings. (I left "Never send resume data" un-checked, and I checked "Set exit to normal.") I'll need to notify our Cornerstone contacts.