Brian Sullivan: E-Learning

Courses by Wire Blog

Tue, 07 Feb 2006 20:49:41 GMT

I have decided to post all further E-Learning related posts to the Courses by Wire Custom E-Learning Blog.

Upcoming Toolbook User's Conference

Tue, 28 Jun 2005 14:19:41 GMT

TBCON -- the annual Toolbook User's Conference will be held August 1-3:

Adobe to buy Macromedia

Mon, 18 Apr 2005 13:23:05 GMT

I am not sure what effect this consolidation will have on the graphics development software landscape -- but these seem like the last two graphics development houses of any size-- and now they are one. The effect on E-Learning software development may not be as profound as there wasn't as much competition there between them.

Courses by Wire Blog

Sat, 26 Mar 2005 22:11:13 GMT

I have been working at incorporating a weblog into our corporate website at Courses by Wire. I have chosen to do it using COREBlog. It is a Zope product (and I am intimately familar with Zope as our Learning Management System is based on it) so the Zope connection, that fact that it is open source and has all the basic components makes the choice a no-brainer.

Hopefully it will launch next week.

SCORM, Producer and cmi.core.session_time

Sun, 19 Dec 2004 01:10:07 GMT

Poking around the gogoprod.js file that provides the meat of the run time actions in a Producer production I found that the cmi.core.session_time (time for this session) was not set as required for SCORM 1.2 compliance so I took a stab at modifying the code to set it. In order to modify the file I had to uncompress it to make it reasonably readable by humans. I am providing both the file I uncompressed (using Polystyle) unaltered and the file with fixes for the session time in SCORM.

I haven't at this point had a chance to fully verify the modified file but it should work.

I am going to use the file as is -- recompressing it saves 40 k download or so but it just is too hard to work with compressed.

ADLnet.org RSS feeds

Sat, 18 Dec 2004 16:41:25 GMT

I am not too sure how new this is but I just noticed it -- ADL (Advanced Distributed Learning -the keepers of the SCORM standard) has (at least) two RSS feeds: News and Events.

Zope and SCORM

Fri, 17 Dec 2004 16:31:47 GMT

I am about to embark on a project adding SCORM "compliancy" to our existing Zope based LMS (now supporting only AICC). I am currently planning SCORM 1.2 capability (since all the authoring tools that we use are 1.2 compliant- I don't know if there are any SCORM 2004 tools out there yet). I am trying not to rule out or make difficult future upgrade to support SCORM 2004 though so I am paying attention to it as well. I am mostly a borrow and modify programmer so that I hope I can find lots of examples of features I need out there.

My first step is to handle upload of a SCO -- I already have the upload and unzip features in the existing LMS. This step should mostly be working out the Python XML tools and using them to interpret and get information from the "imsmanifest.xml" file that is part of the SCO package.

Next will be launching the SCO and providing asynchronous communications capability to the LMS. I already have the skeleton of a Javascript API adaptor. My current plan is to use XMLHTTP as the communications mechanism -- it seems to provide the widest possible browser landscape (IE 5.5+, FireFox, Opera and Safari), seems neat and straightforward to implement and lets me get away from Java -- Sun has really pissed me off over the last while by continually breaking and half fixing the Java VM.

Wish me luck. I am hoping to come out the other end mid January or so.

Microsoft Producer Ramblings

Tue, 23 Nov 2004 17:58:24 GMT

I have created a short piece summarizing my learnings(so far) from using Microsoft Producer in case it is useful to anyone.

SCORM Authoring

Sat, 20 Nov 2004 15:31:12 GMT

I found some little gems of products -- and actually purchased one. If you are looking for simple solutions to creating SCORM compatible quizzes and tests (and even html based lessons) check out E-Learning Consulting. The tools allow creation of SCORM compatible lessons with or without quiz questions.

The only negative seems to be that the packages do not include tools for creating the SCORM packages (specifically the xml manifest file) so that if you are producing stand alone courses you will have to find an xml manifest creator/editor tool. The RELOAD editor seems to fit that bill though. If you are running Dreamweaver another option might be the free Dreamweaver manifest creator (apparently created by E-Learning Consulting).

Autorun ToolBook DHTML lessons from a CD

Fri, 19 Nov 2004 02:00:56 GMT

I have created a small "toolkit" for download that has information and base files for creating an autorun CD to run TB lessons.

License to Distribute PowerPoint 2003/2002 Add-in: Office Animation Runtime

Wed, 17 Nov 2004 19:43:43 GMT

Anybody know what process I would go through to get a license to
redistribute:

PowerPoint 2003/2002 Add-in: Office Animation Runtime (msorun.exe)

None of my MVP or Microsoft contacts seem to know (at least so far).

P.S. Further investigation reveals (in the EULA when you download and install) that this can be freely distributed.

Microsoft Producer

Wed, 10 Nov 2004 16:53:21 GMT

I have been using the Microsoft Producer tool lately in an ELearning project we are working on. It is a free download that will allow digital media (audio,video) to be merged with Powerpoint slides along a time line. It merges the assets along a timeline with a CSS defined template (which can also vary on the timeline) and rerenders the whole thing using Windows Media tools and creates a SCORM manifest and SCORM run time connections so that when zipped the result package becomes a SCO.

Some downsides though:

it does not support Quicktime (.mov) media and as most production houses use MACs the exchange of media is more difficult than it should be
there seems to be a few nasties especially in the template creation end that cause crashes and weird side effects
seamless template transitions seem a little difficult to achieve
productions only run effectively in IE
productions seem to require the download and installation of a "PowerPoint animation" activex even if no animations are used -corporate settings where no installations are permitted might be troublesome

(P.S. I have summarized my learnings here.)

Stuff I am looking at now

Sun, 31 Oct 2004 01:18:05 GMT

These are some sites of products I am currently looking at:

Asterisk -- an open source PBX(and everything else telephonic)
E-lect -- an open source Plone SCORM LMS
Thinking Cap -- an XML eLearning authoring and delivery system

A Practical Approach to Creating Software Simulation Lessons in Toolbook

Sun, 17 Oct 2004 20:53:24 GMT

I have taken some time to document my process for creating Toolbook lessons including software simulations here. I hope someone will find it useful.

Toolbook Browser Compatibility

Sun, 17 Oct 2004 17:12:46 GMT

Toolbook productions exported to html tend to have very specific browser requirements either imposed by Toolbook itself or as a consequence of the production. I originally found that support was very difficult so I devised a testbrower module that users could run to determine their browser's readiness to use the lessons created by Courses by Wire. It has evolved as requirements changed and ability to detect various capabilities were discovered.

I am offering it for download for other Toolbook users to use as they see fit. From time to time as in the past I may change or update this script. If you have any problems or questions you can contact me.

Travelling in Europe

Mon, 12 Jul 2004 21:24:23 GMT

I will be travelling to Europe starting July 20 and am interested in connecting with fellow Zope/Plone or fellow Asymetrix/Click2Learn/SumTotal System Toolbook users on my trip if it is at all possible (nothing formal -- coffee, a drink, whatever).

I will be in Mannheim til July 25, near Montpelier(in southern France) until August 2, in Switzerland heading towards Zurich from August 3 to 8.

If you are interested contact me.

ConferZone

Fri, 23 Apr 2004 22:07:09 GMT

Just found this(actually they contacted me). I haven't had a chance to digest what is there yet but it looks like a mighty impressive collaborative technology resource.

Robin Good

Sun, 18 Apr 2004 16:52:54 GMT

Some good stuff here on learning technology, online collaboration tools and services and whole bunch of other stuff that interests me.

Sun Java VM

Fri, 16 Apr 2004 19:35:15 GMT

The Sun Java VM for Internet Explorer blows big time. Not only do they produce new versions faster than some people change underwear, it seems that each new version introduces new bugs or reintroduces older bugs.

With Sun in financial muck, I don't hold out much hope for it getting better. Unfortunately via SumTotal System's Toolbook I am tied to the ebb and flow of the never ending Java VM saga.

Consolidation in the E-Learning Business

Tue, 21 Oct 2003 02:16:40 GMT

From a news release:

"Today, we announced that Click2learn and Docent have agreed to form a new company in a merger of equals transaction. The combination will bring together two of the strongest and most innovative business performance and learning management software companies to create a single company well positioned for long-term global leadership. This news is exciting on many fronts, but most importantly because of how it will positively impact our ability to serve you - today and well into the future."

http://home.click2learn.com/announce/merger_letter.asp
http://www.docent.com/announce.html

I am a major Click2Learn Toolbook user -- I wonder what this will do to/for me? I would like to be optimistic but I fear the news is not good.

Eolas

Tue, 07 Oct 2003 14:30:51 GMT

This whole Eolas lawsuit is a real pain. Microsoft has posted information on how this will affect Internet Explorer. I am not sure why Eolas (or Microsoft for that matter) are forcing this issue. Eolas already has $561 million that they probably don't deserve. I am sure this is going to affect a lot of developers, users and businesses. It certainly will have a negative effect on me.

Apparently though Microsoft is actively appealing this case. Since the trial ended, a lot of prior art has come to light that predated the patent (see Ray Ozzie's weblog for an instance).

Maybe none of the problems will actually happen - meanwhile though we all have to prepare.

Toolbook.org RSS

Mon, 11 Aug 2003 19:45:31 GMT

Simon Price's Toolbook.org, a site with tips, information, code snippets, tools for use with Toolbook (Click2Learn's venerable CBT/WBT authoring tool and the tool I use in my E-Learning business) has a new look and RSS feed.

Looks like a great resource for Toolbookers.

RSS Enclosures and Time Shifted downloads

Tue, 05 Aug 2003 18:05:26 GMT

Dave Winer discusses a strategy for using RSS enclosures and an aggregator for time shifted download of high bandwidth material. He mentions porn as the target use but I think it potentially has application in a less unsavoury space - web based elearning ( a subject near and dear to my heart).

The only thing that seems missing though is a mechanism for authenticated connection and download. Am I missing something? Is there a specified mechanism for password controlled access that I have overlooked ?