SCORM KNOW-isms

Over the last two weeks I have received a crash course in SCORM elearning development and packaging thanks to Lynda.com, Adobe, Moodle.org, and a few other websites and books. Below is a random list of a few of my new elearning SCORM know-isms. Some of them are "Duhh!", while others were news to me

- Within Moodle, SCORM packages can be added several different ways:

•     Added to the Moodle shell
•     Added by URL using a URL link to the manifest
•     Added by URL using Download Package Type

-If it is not desired to add a Moodle package to a Moodle shell, the Download Package option is the best since the package needs to be local in order to communicate with the Moodle grade book

- If using the link from Manfest option is used in Moodle, package contents must sit on the same URL as the Moodle server.

- Moodle options for SCORM package types must activated at the site level

-Moodle 2.5 is compatible with SCORM 1.2, not SCORM 2004

-Videos can be linked within an elearning SCORM package from an external source (duhhh!)

-Settings in the source files for the presentation must match settings in Moodle (duhhh!)

- Experience API/Tin Can API is the next generation of SCORM

- Experience API and Tin Can API are the same. Each are used by different groups.  Elearning professionals refer to it as Experience API, while technical professionals refer to it as Tin Can API

-If publishing elearning in Captivate, you must ensure that you use quiz reporting set as percentages and not points. This ensure SCORM compliance.

There is lots of additional information that I absorbed during this crash.  However, above is my random dump of my biggest take-aways.

"To know is to KNOW"
Tammy

Education vs. Training for Higher Ed Types

A couple of years ago I did a post on the differences between education and. training, http://trainingframe.blogspot.com/2012/12/education-vs-training.

This topic is something that I am still very interested in as I hear people discuss actions that are clearly training related in an education environment.  

During the most recent issue of Leadership Journal, published by the Chair Academy, there is an excellent article (page 6) that further delves into this topic. Vaughan (2014) does an excellent job explaining the differences between the two.  He takes it a step further by answering key questions about how trainers fit into academia and how academics fit into the training world.

As a member of the Chair Academy, I appreciate this article, along with the great works they do to further Post secondary leadership. 

Here is the link to the latest issue:

http://www.chairacademy.com/journals/journal_20-2.pdf

Vaughn, R. (2014). Training professors to be trainers (and vice-versa). Leadership Journal for Post Secondary Leaders 20 (2). Retrieved from http://www.chairacademy.com/journals/journal_20-2.pdf

I'm here! ..kinda

I almost became a victim of my previous post. Since that post, I have been trapped in the clutches of the summer doctoral semester and oh it was brutal. I have scar tissue, but I am still here! 

I can proudly say that I am now an expert at educational system (not systems) design, needs analysis, causal analysis, methods and means, instructional technology theory, doctoral dissertation components and analysis, and bad and good instructional technology and distance education research. From my trip to Orlando for preliminary work on my dissertation, I can also say that I am now very familiar with the walk from the 7th floor of the Contemporary resort to the Disney Convention center, all stops in between, and every part of the convention center(Ha!). That week was exhausting! However, it was well worth it. I worked with my dissertation chairperson each day and gained a lot of valuable input on my dissertation topic.

Aside from school, I have graduated from being a mother to being a grandmother (glam-ma). I have perfected my glam-motherly duties and am so excited that we have a mini version of my son. To say that this has been a busy summer would be an understatement! Ciao for now.

Old Blog Waste Land

I decided to take a look at additional Blogger blogs to get a feel for who are my blogging neighbors. Sooo, I selected "next" numerous times to go on to the blogs that come sequentially after mine. What I found was a no mans land of abandoned blogs. Many hadn't been updated since 2011...what!? Blogs updated this year were few and far between. What's up with that? I am guessing that people jumped on the blogging bandwagon with hopes of perhaps having a post go viral, creating a pop cultural meme, or hopes of earning some bucks by monetizing. However, once they found there was actually some work that went into blogging, they said "au revoir". So to those abandoned blogs I say RIP.

Learning New Suff

I always enjoy attending webinars. Of course, some are better than others. The webinars I tend to enjoy the most are the ones presented by Adobe. I always leave their webinars super excited with a new tool in my ID tool belt that can be applied right away. Case in point, I attended the Meet the eLearning legends; Make your eLearning legendary webinar hosted by Dr. Allen Partridge. To say it was awesome would be an understatement. It gave me insight about tools that I didn't even know existed and now I am like, "How did I not know that!?" One such tool was Adobe Kuler, kuler.adobe.com where you can create custom color pallets for use in projects by using an existing image. The webinar also visually addressed some of the differences in what can be done with Adobe Presenter and what can be done with Adobe Captivate, animations, branching, and the best places for stock photos. As much as I try to explain some of these techniques and information to people, a visual is always helpful. I WILL be sharing the recording of this webinar.

With great pleasure, now reading...

Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069, Neil Howe & William Strauss

So far, so good. It is interesting to the read about my generation and how the Baby Boomers and others had such little hope for us...