You've got Moodle and Articulate now you want them to talk to each other using SCORM. One of the most common questions I see in forums, twitter, and blogs is how to use SCORM so that the results of eLearning courses developed with articulate can be tracked in the Moodle gradebook. While it is a fairly simple process, many eLearning developers run into problems tracking scores for Articulate courses in Moodle. All it takes is one wrong setting for your scores to not be tracked and there are a lot of SCORM settings to choose from in both programs. This blog post is an attempt at helping out eLearning developers having trouble using SCORM features in Articulate and Moodle. I hope that the video and written instructions below help one of those many people encountering issues using SCORM with Articulate and Moodle.
How to use SCORM reporting with Articulate and Moodle: The instructions below highlight some of the key points covered in the video. For full details and a visual example please see the video above. Articulate Settings:
From within your Articulate Presenter project, access the "Publish" feature.
Select LMS as the publishing option
Click on the SCORM Reporting and Tracking button
Enter course description on "Reporting" tab (Optional)
Click on the "Tracking" tab and set the project to track slide views or a quiz score.
Slide views - Best used for Presenter projects that don't include a quizmaker or Learning Objects quiz.
Quiz score - Best used for Quizmaker and Presenter projects that include a Learning Objects quiz.
Click OK and Publish
After publishing, compress all of the published files into a compressed Zip folder
Moodle Settings:
From the Moodle course site in Editing Mode, add a "SCORM/AICC" Activity. A common mistake is to use the "Link to file or web site" resource.
After selecting the "SCORM/AICC" activity, you will be able to upload the zipped folder of published articulate files.
After uploading the zipped folder, click the "Choose" option.
From here you will be able to adjust the rest of the settings to your liking.
Once you have all the settings adjusted you can go back to the course site and test your Articulate project. After completing the project your grade should show up in the grade book on the course site.
Hope this helps out and let me know if you have any questions or alternative approaches to using Articulate, Moodle, and SCORM.
Adobe Captivate and Articulate Studio have different skill sets and sometimes you need the best of both worlds. While Captivate is great for software simulations, I think Articulate is better for soft skills projects and tying the whole thing together. Because Captivate and Articulate have unique qualities you may come across the situation where you want the best of both worlds by using the two programs together. For example, I'm currently working on a project where branching scenarios lead into software simulations. I wanted to use Articulate presenter for the branching scenario but I also wanted to use Adobe Captivate for the software simulations. This brought me to the challenge of embedding an Adobe Captivate software simulation in an Articulate Presenter project. Through a little research and trial and error I found a way to smoothly embed an Adobe Captivate software simulation in an Articulate Presenter project. This post includes a Screenr video and written instructions describing how to take advantage of the best of both worlds by integrating Adobe Captivate and Articulate Studio. Please post a comment if you have any questions or ideas of how to improve upon what I started.
Video Overview:
The Screenr video below overviews how to embed Adobe Captivate Software simulations in an Articulate Presenter project as well as a cool way to transition from a branching scenario into the Captivate software simulation. Check out my post "How to Create a Zoom and Pan Effect in PowerPoint" for more information on the "Zoom and Pan" transition effect.
Written Instructions:
Why reinvent the wheel? Dave Perso wrote up great instructions of how to embed Adobe Captivate in Articulate Presenter in his post at the link below. You may have got the jist from my Screenr video above but if you would like more details or a written set of instructions then click on the link below to check out Dave's post. I also included a link to my previous post which describes a method for transitioning from a scenario into a software simulation by creating a "Zoom and Pan" effect in PowerPoint.
I am working on a software training project developed with Articulate where the eLearning course transitions from a branching scenario into a software simulation and I wanted to create a smooth transition from the scenario into the simulation. The scene transitions from the character sitting at a desk in front of the computer to a full screen software simulation developed with Adobe Captivate. I thought it would be cool to zoom in over the characters shoulder for a smooth transition into the full screen simulation but I wasn't quite sure how to approach this "Zoom and Pan" effect using Powerpoint animations. After a little playing around I discovered that by grouping all objects on the slide and using the "Grow/Shrink" animation I was close to achieving this effect. I figured out the Zoom but I knew there was room for improvement. I knew that with a little help from the Articulate community I could improve the effect so I recorded a Screenr video describing how I created the effect I had so far and asking for suggestions on how I could improve on it. As usual the Articulate community came up huge and responded with some great suggestions to improve the effect.
The Screenr videos below take you start to finish through the process of creating the "Zoom and Pan" transition using PowerPoint animations. The first video is what started things off and the following videos take it to the next level by using Powerpoint "Motion Paths" to add the "pan" effect and "parallel proximity." With the help of David Anderson, Kevin Thorn, and other helpful Articulate users I now have a nice transition from the scenario into the software simulation. Now that I know how to create this affect I have a lot of ideas of how to use it in other types of eLearning scenarios to bring attention to certain parts of the screen or scene that you are developing. In the spirit of sharing I have included the source files and posted the videos for anyone looking to create a similar effect. Please post a comment if you have any suggestions to improve the scene or ideas of how to use this effect in other types of eLearning scenarios.
I started things off by describing how I created the "Zoom In" effect using the "Grow/Shrink" animation. This was getting close to what I was looking for but there was still room for improvement.
David Anderson and Kevin Thorn both responded with the suggestion of adding a "Motion Path" to go along with the "Grow/Shrink" to achieve the Zoom and Pan effect. David Anderson describes this in the Screenr video below.
I guess I got David's wheels turning because later in the day he took it to the next level describing how to use the "Grow/Shrink" and "Motion Path" animations to create the "Parallel Proximity" effect.
Written Instructions:
I also received a response pointing me to written instructions from Microsoft explaining this and alternate methods of creating the "Zoom and Pan" effect.
Source Files:
If you would like to tinker around with the PowerPoint or use it for your own projects feel free to download the source files using the links below:
Related Posts: If you are looking for tips on creating an indoor scene in eLearning like you see in the Screenr videos then check out the post at the link below:
A great way to create effective eLearning is to throw the learner into a simulation of the task or performance you are training them to complete. Don't just tell the learner about it, make them do it. This often requires simulating the scene where the task takes place which can be difficult to make look realistic in whatever authoring tool you may use. One way to create a realistic scene is to use pictures of the actual environment but in some cases you might want to design a scene that is easier to manipulate so that various scenarios can be constructed from the same scene. The latter is the situation I was in in for an eLearning project I just finished. I was trying to create a scene of the inside of a room and was struggling to make it look realistic with 3D perspective so I turned to the Articulate community for a little help by adding this Articulate forum post and they came through with some quality tips as you can see by the before and after image. This blog post takes you through the development of this scene, and describes some of the lessons I learned along the way with a little help from fellow eLearning developers.
Tools: The eLearning course was developed using Articulate so most of the work was done in Power point. I did use Photoshop to create the floor and wall textures but other than that it's all Power point.
Before: I started out by creating floor and wall textures in Photoshop to create the scene in Power Point. You can find images of floors and walls on sites like istock or create your own. In my case I used an image of carpet for the floor, and I created the walls by following the steps in this tutorial to create a drywall texture. You can also find textures on this Flickr site that David Anderson (@eLearning) referred me to. Once you have the images you are going to use for the floors and walls you are ready to put your scene together in powerpoint using the 3D formatting and rotation options. This is where you will need to spend time tinkering with the 3D options to give your floors and walls the correct perspective. The video below describes what 3D options I used and how I got started creating this scene.
After: After posting the Screenr video in the Articulate forum I got some great tips to make the scene more realistic. I learned that there are many different ways to do the same thing and ended up using a variety of tips from multiple contributors to the forum post that helped to improve the scene. The lessons I learned and used to improve my scene are described in the points and videos below:
David Anderson recommended removing the shadow underneath the wall, moving the floor and wall higher, and adding a person to the scene to add perspective.
Andrea05, and David Anderson all recommended adding depth and perspective to the room by using a larger image of the carpet and drywall that is not so focused, shrinking the baseboard, adding more objects to the scene, and adding a side wall.
Jeanette Brooks recommended adding a dark to light gradient on the carpet to add perspective and depth to the room.
Tom Kuhlmann demonstrated and described how to implement many of these ideas with the Screenr video embedded below. This was a big help in making the ideas happen.
Bruno De Pace (@evolve4success) suggested an alternative way of adding perspective by using side walls. This is also a great tip that may be a little easier to develop than what Tom suggested. Like I said, there are many different ways to do the same thing and this video proves that point.
Posting this question was a very educational experience for me and I hope others can learn from it. Although I learned a lot about design and power point one of the most powerful lessons learned for me is to not be too proud or embarrassed to ask a question. There are a lot of eLearning all stars out there more than willing to make a contribution to the eLearning community. That being said, I'll bet some of you have more ideas or questions about how to attack this situation. If you have a tip or a question please post it as a comment here, post it in the Articulate forum, or even better do both. I also highly encourage you to jump on Screenr and show us what you are talking about with a short demo. Help make the eLearning world a better place by sharing your thoughts.
I'm just finishing up my test drive of Articulate Studio 09 and I am sold on driving my own version off the lot. As I discussed in my post "Articulate, Captivate, Both, Or....?", I have been using Adobe Captivate but would like something that integrates with Power Point and speeds up the development process. Articulate has definitely proven that it provides what I was looking for and many other benefits that I was not aware of. Here are 5 reasons why I decided to pay the price for Articulate Studio 09.
Rapid Development - Yes, it still takes time and effort to design and develop a quality eLearning experience but Articulate has definitely sped up the development process for me. I went into this just hoping to eliminate the steps I was taking to convert my power point into a Captivate file but got more than I was expecting with Quizmaker and Engage. I was expecting these tools to speed up development but I was not expecting the quality results. Before diving into this I thought these tools were just for cookie cutter eLearning and not as flexible as you see in the Screenr videos here and here and here.
Community - I had been following Tom Kuhlmann's Rapid eLearning blog for quite a while and have learned a lot from him but I had no idea about all the great Screenr videos, blog posts, and forum posts from other Articulate gurus such as David Anderson (@eLearning), Dave Mozealous (@dmozealous), and Jeanette Brooks (@JeanetteBrooks) all of whom have already helped me troubleshoot an issue or sparked a creative idea for a project after only a month of using Articulate. The community's ability to show me the potential of Articulate products and quickly help me troubleshoot an issue is what truly sold me.
Bandwidth - The learners in my organization are what I like to call "Bandwidth Challenged." You may have read previous posts of mine describing the problems I have with learners computers freezing on SCORM based Captivate projects. This is no problem with Articulate. SCORM based projects are running like a dream even for my "Bandwidth Challenged" learners. I believe this may be due to Articulate producing a package of smaller files compared to Captivate publishing one big .swf file. However, I am using Captivate 3 and I have heard that this is not as much of a problem in Captivate 4.
PowerPoint Integration - I often find myself doing the majority of the work in power point then importing those slides into Captivate to make the final touches and publish. I felt like I was taking extra steps by jumping between the different programs and thought I might be able to save time and possibly get better results using a tool that integrates with Power Point. I was right about saving time and pleasantly surprised about the difference in results of the published files. I have noticed that power point slides with Articulate come out with a cleaner, crisper look and smaller file size compared to Captivate.
Flexibility - Compared to other tools that integrate with Power Point, Articulate is more flexible. There are many more options giving you control of the navigation and behavior of each slide and the overall template. I've only completed a couple of projects so I feel like I am just scratching the surface with all of the customization options available.
I am excited about the potential for future projects now that I am able to leverage the best of what both Articulate Studio and Adobe Captivate are best at. I'm sure not everyone will agree but from the perspective of a busy eLearning Developer in a smallish organization, Articulate will definitely improve the quality of many projects and reduce the time it takes to produce those results. Please help others lost in all the software options by posting your take on Articulate, Adobe Captivate, and other eLearning development tools.
I've been using Adobe Captivate for a while now and I am very happy with it for technical training projects but I can't help but wonder if other tools like Articulate may be a great addition to my toolbox. Since I already have Captivate, I need to determine whether it would be worth the investment to purchase new software when I may be able to get along just as well with what I already have. I'm hoping you can help me make this decision by commenting with your thoughts on the skill sets of Articulate, Captivate, or a different eLearning authoring tool altogether.
In my humble opinion, Captivate is second to none when it comes to software simulations and technical training projects but I believe there is a little left to be desired when it comes to soft skills projects that don't require screencasting. I often find myself creating most of the content in Power Point, then importing those slides into Captivate to add interaction and publish as flash. Being that Articulate integrates so well with Power Point it makes me wonder if maybe I would be happier with it for certain projects. But then there's that price tag that comes along with Articulate that makes me think I should just stay with what is already working okay for me. So, what do you think, is Articulate worth the investment when I already have Captivate? Before I jump into the trial version of Articulate to test it out I'd like to hear your opinion on eLearning development tools. Here's a brief description of some of the requirements that will come into play in the decision making process.
Requirements: This is definitely not an exhaustive list of requirements but my main concerns going into the research stages.
Works well for low bandwidth users - You could say that my learners computers are bandwidth challenged. I have a difficult time using SCORM with Captivate because of the added bandwidth. Keeping bandwidth to a minimum is a huge concern for me.
Moodle friendly - If you've read this blog before you know I am using Moodle so it is important that whatever tool I use is Moodle friendly.
SCORM works well on Moodle - I've had my challenges using SCORM with Captivate and Moodle due to bandwidth issues. Hoping a different tool might be able to handle this better.
Budget Friendly - I don't have much room in the budget so it needs to be something that's not going to leave too much of a dent in it. The price tag on Articulate is pushing it. Although I do have a student discount so I may be able to find a better deal then what is advertised on the web site.
Branching Friendly - This year I will be working on a lot of scenario based branching eLearning tutorials. I'd like a tool that is designed well for laying out a branching tutorial and makes it easy to create menu screens with variables based on the users path.
