Dynamically assembling a course

[ClayUUID]

So here's my situation: We have about a dozen training modules, but which modules you have to take vary depending on each employee's department and position. For example Employee 451 has to take modules 1, 3, and 7, Employee 888 has to take modules 1, 4, and 11, etc.

What my bosses want is for anyone to be able to sit down and click their department and position, which would then automatically serve them the correct modules. Ideally there would also be a menu of which modules they've completed, saved off to a SCORM database, so people wouldn't have to complete everything in a single session.

So far we've only gotten as far as realizing that this will require merging every module into a single mega-project. What do you all think would be the best approach to implementing this type of navigation in Captivate?

Thanks.

[Lilybiri]

That is typically something whwhich should be achieved by the LMS, not by a eLearning authoring tool.

[ClayUUID]

You're correct, this is something that should be done by the LMS. But direct word from that side is that they've tried and couldn't get it to work the way they wanted, or at all.

[Lilybiri]

Smiling... you have to look for a way to use a screwdriver to drill a perfect hole because someone else is not capable of understanding the manual of a high-quality drilling machine. Sorry... needed a smile in this lockdown period.

[RodWard]

Lieve is correct that controlling which modules each user receives according to department and role is normally controlled by the LMS. I suspect your comment about the mega module indicates you already knew that.

While it might be 'technically possible' to merge all of our modules into one huge module, there are a lot of downsides to that approach:

• The user experience will suffer.  Smaller modules download faster.  This is mitigated to some extent with HTML5 output because each slide now loads required assets when you reach the slide.  But you normally still want small rather than big downloads.
• You risk disaster if something corrupts the mega CPTX file.  If you have multiple CPTX files then the risk is spread over all of them.  You'll need very strick backup regimes that seek to ensure you don't lose work if something goes wrong.
• You'd need to use Branch Aware.  This is a feature in Captivate that allows users to be scored ONLY on the specific question slides they visit, rather than calculating their score across all slides.  But Branch Aware also ties your hands in several other areas, especially when it comes to navigation.  It's a compromise.
• You will need to use SCORM 2004.  Most LMSs still only support SCORM 1.2.  But this version of SCORM does not support Resume Data bookmarking for very large numbers of quiz questions.  The SCORM designers did not at first realise how many quiz questions learning designers would end up wanting to include in courses.   SCORM 2004 addressed this limitation.  But your company's LMS might not support it. 
• And finally, what will usually be the deal-breaker...You only get a single SCORM score at the end.  Each Captivate CPTX will only allow you to publish a single SCORM SCO zip.  When you load a single SCO into an LMS, all you get at the end is a single score and pass/fail result.  However, management will usually expect that they can slice and dice all scores much more finely than this and want a breakdown of the scoring that shows which 'modules' users struggled with.  While you can separate groups of questions into 'faux modules' within the mega project, these will not be seen as separate SCO reporting modules inside the LMS.  If your management wanted more granular reporting, you'd have to find another way to deliver that.

[TLCMediaDesign]

I'm sure this could be done creating an html menu that would be created based on the employee id. THe menu it's self would need to be SCORM. I've built something like this for courses that had 16 languages and let the user select their language. THe menu keeps track of which lessons have been completed.

[Paul Wilson CTDP]

I worked at an international airport with hundreds of different job titles. What you soon realize is that you and I both need Safety and Security training but the version of the training I receive is different than the one you should receive. We each have different responsibilities. So what any decent LMS can do is create a course that contains one or more modules. You're a supervisor, I'm not so you need the additional module for supervisors. Take a look at the following example...

Safety & Security for Employees

[

Module 1 - Introduction

Module 2 - Responsibilities

Module 3 - Safety

Module 4 - PPE

Summary Module - Employee Summary & Quiz

]

As an author, I'm not going to make an entirely different version of the course because you have a slightly different role. I'm going to take the same modules and build a new course and the only differences are the modules that are unique or not shared. The advantage is that if an update is required to only one or two slides int he course, I'm not uploading a mega-course and interrupting everyone's learning. Here is what I would build for the supervisors. Remember same course, just a couple of differences bolded. Your LMS should have everyone's roles in place and ensure that if you have the supervisor designation in your job description you will see the following version instead.

Safety & Security for Supervisors

[

Module 1 - Introduction

Module 2 - Responsibilities

Module 3 - Safety

Module 4 - PPE

Module 5 - Responsibilities of Management

Summary Module - Supervisor Summary & Quiz

]