1. Identify the target device(s) like IPhone, Android based devices, Blackberry, J2ME based device(s) etc,
2. Identify the Device OS version. e.g. Blackberry 4.6 and 5.0 has very different browser implementations.
3. Does your targeted mobile device browser support the popup window functionality?
4. Does your targeted mobile device browser have iframe or frameset support?
5. Identify the implementation method of SCORM.  e.g. we considered –
   1. JavaScript plus Google Gears API
   2. JavaScript plus HTML 5 database
   3. JavaScript plus native device language
   4. JavaScript plus MIDP profile i.e. J2ME
6. Consider the application’s running mode; will it be
   1. Online: Requires continuous internet connection
      1. You may like to consider intermittent  internet connection while attempting a course
   2. Offline: Doesn’t require continuous internet connection
7. Are you planning for cross platform SCORM player
   1. Currently this is possibly only using a web based SCORM player.
   2. Right now it seems offline applications cannot achieve cross-platform SCORM implementation

Keep these in mind before considering SCROM implementation for mobile devices.

The post Top 7 Things To Consider Before Implementing SCORM For Mobile Devices first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

Again, as in implementation of SCORM for mobile devices, we encountered some interesting issues in its implementation for Blackberry.

Find our experience on the same.

Target Platform:

After a good amount of R&D and feasibility study on available device software for Blackberry devices, we selected device software 5.0+ as our target platform. Device software 5.0 has good inbuilt browser support (some of the features are from HTML 5.0) and, also has Widget SDK, which is used to create native applications in HTML.

Implementation:

1. Development tools required:

• Normal J2EE development environment like Eclipse and Java SDK.
• Blackberry Widget SDK: You can get more information about Widget SDK here.

We created a Blackberry Widget, which is a combination of two parts:

• Actual Widget
• Custom JavaScript Extension

• Actual Widget
  • The complete UI of solution is defined (in HTML and JavaScript) in the Actual Widget.

• Custom JavaScript Extension
  • A JavaScript Extension is Java code that is built into a BlackBerry Widget, and can be accessed through JavaScript. This capability allows you to extend the functionality of your BlackBerry Widget application to include native BlackBerry functionality.
  • We used it as a backend of our solution to communicate with online database/LMS.

2. Solution:

• We implemented SCORM standard in JavaScript files. These files were then included in the widget.
• As mentioned before, this was an offline solution hence course content was residing in the device itself. We built JavaScript extension to download the actual course content.
• After launching the SCORM complaint course content, the communication took place with JavaScript files, as it would happen in a normal desktop browser.
• We used Google Gears API to store the tracking information of the user. Google Gears API provides ability to create database/tables which greatly simplify storing of tracking data. It uses the open source SQLite database system. (Note: Recently Google has decided to drop Gears in support of HTML 5 database and Blackberry has also decided to use Google backed webkit in their new device OS 6). To sync tracking data back to online LMS, you can use normal browser based method or you can use JavaScript extension built in Java.
• The widget name, icon image, start file etc. were defined in the config.xml file of the widget.
• The final solution was built using command line (bbwp.exe). Alternatively, you can use Eclipse to build the solution.

3. Problems encountered while trying to implement SCORM for Device software 4.6:

• Online mode:
• There was no problem in running SCORM complaint mobile LMS in Blackberry browser.

• Offline mode:
  • Device software 4.6 doesn’t have widget support, so we had to create everything in native Java language including invoking the browser instance for running the courses.
  • While running the courses we had to manually tell the browser which type of file it is rendering like HTML or JavaScript.
  • Till this point everything seemed fine, but we got stuck at a point where actual SCORM communication occurs, using frameset or iframe. We were not able to make API calls or normal JavaScript calls from one frame to another frame.
  • As yet, we haven’t been able to find any solution to this problem nor do we know if the problem lies with Blackberry.(Blackberry  browser has had a very bad reputation until Device software 5.0)

I hope our experience helps you in implementing SCORM for Blackberry devices. Have you followed some different approach? Or implemented it for Device software 4.6? We would like to hear your experience too.

The post SCORM Implementation For Blackberry first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

Mobile devices have limitations:

– Screen size
– Availability of required technology/software like J2ME, a compatible browser
– Availability of consistent internet connection

Considering the limitations the UpsideLMS implemented two types of solutions:

A Web/ Browser Based Solution:

SCROM Implementation Method: JavaScript

• Mobile browsers now almost fully support JavaScript and this makes it possible to implement SCORM using JS support.

• Each mobile device has different configurations and it is always better to identify the device requesting content before rendering the HTML content. For identifying devices we used the information in request headers. Here you will find that there is some variation in each mobile device browser. We used the following variables from the headers to get the device type.
  • User-Agent (Most widely used)
  • x-operamini-phone-ua
  • x-wap-profile
  • x-skyfire-phone

• Ideally when we launch course content from LMS we open it in new popup window, so that course gets its own desirable window size. But while implementing such on mobile devices we encountered that some of the well known mobile device browsers don’t support pop up windows – the Blackberry is an example. So we had no choice but to open it in the base window. Accordingly we made changes in our SCORM implementation to accommodate both conditions. Some of the low level mobile devices browsers don’t support either popup windows and frame structures. If that’s the case, you just can’t run SCORM courses on them.

• SCORM has provisions to track time spent by the user in session. Normally the setTimeOut() function is used to track time. But some browsers don’t support it. If you are targeting such a browser time tracking may not happen.

• Also while coding SCORM implementation try to avoid [advanced JavaScript functions (DHTML, regular expressions)] as each browser has varying degree of JavaScript support.

The web/ browser based solution has a wide reach as every basic mobile handset has a browser but it also has one drawback – it requires a continuous internet connection. This isn’t a problem on a desktop PC as normally they have continuous internet connections. But on a mobile device there is no guarantee of continuous connectivity and this may lead to issues with SCORM tracking .

A Native application solution:
The problem that arises from not having continuous connectivity can be resolved by developing a native application for the mobile device. These days, a SDK is available for almost every mobile device which can be used to develop native applications for that specific device.

SCROM Implementation Method: JavaScript plus mobile device specific SDK

• A native application is an installable application which you download on your mobile device and install. The application can run offline so you don’t need a continuous internet connection. You can synchronize your application whenever required with online databases to download the latest course material and send back tracking information to the LMS database.

• We launch the course in a SCORM player which has SCORM implemented using JavaScript. Here we typically use the native browser instance of mobile device. Also most mobile device SDKs provides some way of accessing JavaScript methods in html page. So from within the native code you can communicate with your course.

• You must take care to ensure the native browser supports
  • JavaScript
  • Popup window or frame structure
  • Advance JavaScript functions

The primary drawback of native application is that you will have to create a separate one for each mobile device as there is no common SDK available and the learning curve for a SDK is steep compared to HTML and JavaScript.

This may give some insights on SCORM implementations for mobile platforms. Have you tried to get SCORM working on mobile devices? What was your experience like? Share it with us in the comments.

The post SCORM Implementation For Mobile Devices first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

“And then I send stuff off to Linus. So, Linus trusts 10 to 15 people, and I trust 10 to 15 people. And I’m one of the subsystem maintainers. So, it’s a big, giant web of trust helping this go on.”

Web of Trust’ Networks of trust are becoming very important to the way we create products/services where each individual on the network is a potential contributor. There are just such networks in the enterprise as well, and they play a big role in how tacit knowledge is transferred in the organization. Increasingly, social networking tools are available within the organization and analyzing these networks gives a good idea who the knowledge leaders in an organization are, and which individuals form their network. The ability to target and influence knowledge leaders will lead to similar effects on their networks as well.

“…consider Android, which threw away everything from Linux except the kernel, and they built something totally new on top of it. That’s a great proof point that the Linux kernel itself has to be really, really flexible to let people do something like that. It still meets the needs of a very big market, which is pretty funny to watch…”

While this may seem far-fetched, the instant I read this. I was thinking this is exactly how the LMS will be in couple of decades; there’ll be one crowd sourced root kernel. Each provider would use that kernel in their own way; what’ll be cool is there’d be a huge offering of interfaces, infinite customizations, almost an individualized system even. The data contained would be open and you’d be able to seamlessly go from vendor to vendor, perhaps an individuals data would follow them from system to system.

“Then you get to the tiny consumer devices, which is where I like having fun, because I do USB. I work really hard to get everything supported, and we don’t know of anything these days that isn’t. I was in Tokyo the other day for the Kernel Summit and walking around Akihabara and trying to find devices that we don’t support. We had all the kernel developers there and we couldn’t find anything.”

This just points to the power of crowd sourcing. Perhaps eventually any (even all?) content that gets created will be totally compatible with the kernel system. Every user of the system will be a content generator and consumer; the system and its interface will only act as an intermediary.

Will Moodle evolve into this system or will another ecosystem similar to the Linux model emerge in the learning space? I look to it positively, either way it’ll make learning easier and better focused.

The post Will Learning Adopt the Linux Model for Development in the Future? first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

First impressions suggest that it does sort of look like the Kindle with the curved edge plastic case. Check out this Engadget video that shows it being used.

The similarity begins and ends with the plastic case, while the Kindle uses a physical keyboard, the Sony reader uses one that’s virtual software-based, the Nook uses a color touch screen for navigation. It comes with 3G and even includes support for WiFi, a feature the Kindle lacks. Overall, this looks like a device to beat Kindle, given its features and price point. I’m sure we are going to see many more such readers out in the market soon.

At this point, some of you are wondering why I’m going on about eBook readers when I typically write about instructional technology and elearning. If it isn’t obvious already, I’m a big fan of such readers and I think they’re going to have a substantial place in academic and workplace learning because of these four factors:

1. Displays – eBook reader displays tend to use eInk technologies and these are much more soothing on the eyes and users can spend very long periods of time working with such displays without eye strain. With a display format that’s typical of a book such readers can be used irrespective of location.
2. Operating System – While Kindle came with its own proprietary operating system, the Nook comes with Android. Just having an operating system on the device opens it up to a wide range of applications that would typically have been considered suitable for a personal computer. I’d think it’s only a matter of time before some enterprising individuals or group of individuals hack the Nook to make it capable of being more than just a eBook reader.
3. Capable of Interaction – A great display and an operating system do not a capable device make. The ability to interact with the device is critical if it’s to be effective in learning applications. I think the Nook is going to set of a trend that will lead to eBook readers being transformed from page turning static content to dynamic interactive content.
4. Connectivity – eBook readers seem to come with increasing numbers of connectivity options. While the Kindle came with 3G, the Nook goes a step further and includes WiFi. Couple this with increased 3G and WiFi coverage across the globe, and the eBook Reader goes beyond just page flipping into a connected device that can be used to surf the web, summon content, and a host of other connected activities.

In the learning development world, we should be preparing for this wave of devices. Books were great information stores and learning tools, eBook readers shouldn’t be any different. However, unlike a book, the reader has many other capable features, and eLearning developers should look to target this platform next.

On another note, I wonder if the advent of cheap and capable eBook readers will finally result in the end of civilization’s environment unfriendly obsession with paper.

The post Kindle and Nook: eBook Readers in eLearning first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

Jim Kirkpatrick (is SMR USA’s vice president of global training and consulting, and presents workshops for and provides consulting to Fortune 500 companies around the world) and Wendy Kirkpatrick (is a director of Kirkpatrick Partners, LLC and a certified instructional designer)  have written a paper which honors Don, and takes a fresh look at Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels.

The whitepaper delves into the many issues associated with the use and implementation of the model to evaluate training. The authors espouse Five Foundational Principles

1. The end is the beginning – An incisive comment: ‘For decades, practitioners have attempted to apply the four levels after a program has been developed and delivered. It is difficult, if not impossible, to create significant training value that way.’ They go on to add it’s important to distinguish a plan to build effective training & the evaluation methodology from the actual collection of data.
2. Return on Expectations (ROE) is the ultimate indicator of value – Despite what they might say, training professional tend to jump into the task of designing and developing learning without a proper needs assessment. Learning professionals do nothing to track the expectations of the business stake holders. Without this critical assessment, it’s not possible to map expectations to observable and measurable success outcomes.
3. Business partnership is necessary to bring about positive ROE – The authors point out that they do not believe that training events in and of themselves can deliver positive bottom-line outcomes. They go on to add that research suggests that 70% of learning happens on the job in many different ways. In this context, they emphasize the role of the supervisor or manager after the training event. Reinforcement and coaching by such individuals directly correlates to improved performance and positive outcomes.
4. Value must be created before it can be demonstrated – Research has identified statistical correlations between the four levels. In short, it suggests that providing excellent training does not lead to significant transfer of learning to behavior and subsequent results without deliberate and consistent reinforcement. They mention that learning designers are putting most our time on designing, developing and delivering training and getting only about a quarter of the result. This is mainly because we spend virtually no time on follow-up reinforcement activities to promote behavioral change that leads to results.
5. A compelling chain of evidence demonstrates your bottom-line value – Authors mention L1 and L2 as consumptive metrics, L3 and L4 are classed as impact metrics. While working at L1 and L2, we are talking only about costs – because we only talk about number of programs, attendees (typical L1 and L2 data). If we had the data for L3 and L4 metrics, the data would point to the value the training delivers. They go on to mention that a chain of evidence connects the four levels and will actually show the contribution the training has made to the business.

Other than listing and describing the Five Foundational Principles, the authors also introduce a revised new-look Kirkpatrick Model. The authors mention that the model retains the fundamental ideas that Don (& the authors) have been communicating, it’s now said to offer a more complete illustration so both learning professionals and their business partners can create maximum training value. They further give detailed information about the model and various examples. The last example they give of ‘The Window Washers’ makes an excellent case for ‘not just training’.

Anyone interested in evaluating learning programs based on Kirkpatrick’s Four Level model should read this paper; if offers great insights, I’d recommend it.

The post 50 Years of the Kirkpatrick Model first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

Additionally, the application needed elements of randomization from a question bank and a timer based quiz.

Approach:
Typically, these sorts of requirements lend themselves for development in Objective C language (the native language for developing IPhone applications). But when considered we realized that it be difficult to develop an animated user interface in the given timeframe. At one point, given the timeframe, we even thought about abandoning the project as not feasible.

But several internal team meetings later we thought of developing it in HTML, while realizing with this approach would not take full advantage of iPhone’s rich user interface. Ultimately we determined that a blended approach of using HTML plus Objective C function calls to iPhone components.

So by blending traditional web development with native iPhone development we were able to develop a cost effective mobile application. Feel free to try our approach in an appropriate situation and comment here.

The post How to Develop Cost Effective Game Applications for the iPhone first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

In recent years, with the inclusion of various features in Flash and the vast installation base of Flash Player amongst internet users, Flash has become be first choice for eLearning development and delivery over web. With the growing popularity of Flash for elearning, many elearning vendors developed their Rapid authoring tools which were aimed to publish Flash based elearning content without requiring major programming. One of the other major advantages of Flash is that is supports close designer-developer collaboration. It blurred the boundaries between the design and development of eLearning content.

Is there a competitor to Flash?
Is there an alternative to Flash? Perhaps not better than Flash, but at least its equal? Till the release of Silverlight 1.1, realistically there was no competitor to Flash. However, the release of Silverlight 2.0 last year changed that. Silverlight is positioning itself as a major competitor to Flash, especially from the RIA development perspective because of its functional aspects. However, we haven’t heard much about elearning development using Silverlight.

Given the architecture of Silverlight, it does seem more structured to produce feature rich RIAs rather than eLearning content. We considered what features are required to produce engaging eLearning content, areas where we see Silverlight is lacking. We’ve been playing with Silverlight to understand its power and limitations relevant to eLearning.

Using Silverlight/Expression Blend

Installation
Our experience started with the installation of Silverlight and associated tools. Before one can start developing Silverlight applications, you need to install a whole bunch of software and tools – the SilverLight runtime, Visual Studio, Silverlight tools, Blend and various service packs. An average eLearning developer will find the installation a daunting process. Post installation, configuration and getting it all to work seamlessly is another task altogether.

Expression Blend

Elearning content more focuses on presentation and experience rather than functionality. Hence for from that perspective, perhaps the MS Expression suite is more important than Silverlight itself and its underlying. NET framework features. The Expression Blend provides features to create and edit XAML files which in turn rendered by the Silverlight runtime. Expression also provides familiar drawing and editing tool similar to that of other graphics creation tool.
If Silverlight is used alone within the Visual Studio IDE, it’s cumbersome to create and edit graphics and layouts. Creating animation is also quite complicated as one has to code time slots and animation effects parameters manually into the XAML file. This implies the use of tool separate tools, always – one to create and edit graphical content and another to write the program logic which manipulates the graphics and environment.

Designer/ developer collaboration
In eLearning content development, the skill sets required by a graphic designer and a programmer are very different. The architecture of Silverlight and Blend is such that the process of graphics creation and associated programming overlaps closely. Using file sharing and versioning tools to get various people to work together on a single project will be quite complex using the Silverlight/Blend combination.
While creating any eLearning content, there is a mix of people with different skill sets working on same project. The tendency is to adopt a methodology where there is minimal dependency on each other while developing elearning content.

Audio / Video synching
Another aspect is the use of audio / video in the content. While there is quite a buzz on the high quality audio / video presented through Silverlight, it lacks an essential aspect i.e. synching audio with the animating graphical content on stage. Although, it is supported in Silverlight Windows Application (WPF application which is standalone), there is no direct method to sync audio with onscreen content for web-application. As of now, majority of eLearning content is delivered through the web and all audio driven courses require audio to be in sync with the onscreen content (graphics / text animation).

Shell / Content player
The elearning course is generally presented with the help of some kind of shell or content player which lets the learner navigate learning modules using simple user interfaces. Creating such a content player may be tough job using Silverlight (relative to Flash).

Standard compliance and course delivery
ELearning content is typically hosted and delivered through various Learning Management Systems. To be able to host the courses hosted on the LMS, the elearning content should comply with standards guidelines published by SCORM, AICC or custom compliance conventions which the LMS in question supports.
While, implementation of these guidelines in the Silverlight architecture is possible, it not going to be as easy as ensuring compliance using Flash and JavaScript.

Reaching the Intended Audience
ELearning courses are meant for specific groups of learners – the audience. These groups could consist of children, adults, individuals living in specific territory, or those who understand a specific language, employees of a certain company. Course developers would like to ensure that the courses they develop reach their intended audiences.

As compared to Flash, which has about 85% install base, Silverlight runtime penetration is about 25%+ on PCs as depicted by Scott Guthrie in this article. Apart from installation of development environment, there are some goof ups in runtime installations too which need to be addressed while targeting the intended version. The article here depicts the problems that would be faced and the associated tweaks if you are targeting for SL3 beta. The runtime installable size too is quite bigger than its Flash counterpart. This article has the comparison figures.

The Silverlight runtime is not yet available on Linux and the Mac version has some issues. The open source implementation – Moonlight for Linux – is still in development. A preview version of Moonlight was released some time ago.

Silverlight is not yet available on mobile and handheld devices. This means learning content can’t yet be delivered to mobile devices. This is a snafu as more and more learning content will be accessed on mobile devices.

So, should you be developing elearning using Silverlight / Blend?

As we’ve discussed, eLearning solutions emphasize user experience more than features and functionality. We rarely need the superb data binding features provided by Silverlight or rich feature set of the Visual Studio IDE.

No product is perfect, we’ve seen that Adobe Flash has its own drawbacks; ones that have persisted from its earliest versions. However, due to its dominant nature in past few years, a world-wide developer community was able to overcome those problems with tweaks and techniques. The majority of eLearning developers use Adobe products and have a HTML-JavaScript development background; for these individuals there is a considerably steeper learning curve to move to the Silverlight development environment.

Silverlight has a long way to go to beat Adobe Flash in eLearning content development. While the new Silverlight marks a major improvement and gives companies and developers new reasons to give it a try, it still lacks the basics required for eLearning content development. Silverlight’s universal acceptance and adoption rate is not satisfactory yet. There is mounting evidence that major organizations like the NY Times, and the MLB has dropped Silverlight in favor of Adobe products.

Microsoft has a very deep base for building good functional solutions; with Silverlight, they are slowly moving to building experience-based solutions. We’ll be watching closely to see if Silverlight and its accompanying toolset will give us what we need to develop eLearning content.

The post Using Silverlight/Expression Blend for eLearning Development first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

If you have been bugged by previous Flash versions not allowing you to publish for latest Flash Player there is some relief here. Flash CS4 allows us to finally publish SWF files for Flash Player 10 – the latest version of Flash Player. Flash Player 10 is becoming very popular and in December 2008, was already installed in more than 50% of the computers surveyed worldwide. By first 2 quarters of 2009, it should cross 80%.

And here is Richard Galvan, Product Manager of Flash CS4 Professional, demonstrating the new features of Flash CS4.

Overall FlashCS4 does look like a great improvement and would help eLearning developers immensely in improving the quality and efficiency of development.

If you have experienced FlashCS4, do write in to us to share your thoughts.

The post eLearning Development: What’s new in Flash CS4? first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

For relative newbies, the middle path to elearning salvation lies in trying to find out when rapid authoring (RA) tools should (or should not) be used. And if we’re using these tools, well, please let’s not forget about learner engagement. Because the most commonly heard crib is that a rapid authoring tool does not an engaging course make. (Here, ‘engaging’ refers to a state where the learner is an active participant in the learning experience, not just a passive receiver of information).

RA tools won’t design your learningPerhaps one needs to realise that the problem may lie with how the tool’s being used, rather than the tool itself. Take a look at these posts from Tom Kuhlmann and Mark Berthelemy, which explain why elearning goes wrong with RA tools.

It’s true that RA can eliminate the need for an elearning developer; but it certainly doesn’t eliminate the need for good learning design. The content that is put through rapid authoring is, a lot of times, an SME created presentation, which kind of kills it right at the start. SMEs are indubitably knowledgeable in their chosen field; but they may not necessarily be clued-up about how and why content needs to be delivered in a certain way to the learner.

Secondly, a PowerPoint presentation is a PowerPoint presentation. It’s an aid for the content that the SME would normally deliver face-to-face, while calling on their internalized knowledge and experience to add depth to the session. The PowerPoint is not the content. Sometimes, this gap is plugged by adding details to the point that the learner is set adrift in a sea of information, with no learning whatsoever in sight.

When you have content like this, know that no RA tool can save it; actually, nothing can save it if you don’t redesign it.

RA tools are also the weapon of choice when the eLearning development team is small, where a few members have to carry out multiple development roles. Also, when the developers are more used to dealing with content in a PPT (which, once again, are usually SMEs), it helps to have a tool that can convert it into ‘eLearning’ with the minimum of fuss. Perhaps the last point is one of the biggest reasons for the buzz behind RA tools. Philip Hutchison says about these tools “Most eLearning tools do not promote the creation of effective courses, do not promote web standards, and do not promote accessibility; they merely make cookie-cutter course development easier for technically inexperienced course developers.” This comment sums up the feeling that most elearning professionals have towards rapid authoring.

There’s a time and a place for RA
Rick Nigol suggests using RA tools when time is a major constraint. At Upside Learning, we feel that RA works best when:
–The content to be delivered is almost completely at the knowledge level of Bloom’s Taxonomy (facts and information),
–It’s going to be frequently updated or changed,
–It’s a JIT (just-in-time) reference,
–Demands for training requirements are sudden,
–The budget doesn’t allow for “proper” eLearning development, and
–It needs to be rolled out in about 2 weeks or less.

The RA tools that are available these days do have a lot of options to help make your course engaging. You can do neat interactivities, have branching scenarios, insert multimedia, and create different types of practice for the learner. Ultimately, it depends on you how you use these tools to create a learning experience.
If we keep the content type and the “shelf life” of the course in mind, RA courses may prove to be useful in creating job aids and refreshers that can be used during transferring learning to the job.

Whether or not you approve of them, RA tools can’t be ignored. It’s up to you to decide whether the content lends itself to rapid authoring or not, rather than what Philip Hutchison pithily calls “shoehorning course content into templates”.

The post Should you be using rapid authoring tools? first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.