Recently we were working on an assignment where we have to share the Lectora courses from a file server that will be hosted by the course provider, and the courses will be accessible through the client’s LMS using the AICC files (AU files).

A twist in this assignment is that we have to capture the data of the users who are accessing the course on the courseware provider side. That is, the course needs to be compatible to cross domain and cross LMS.

I will walk you through the steps created to make the course work as per the client’s requirement.

Pre-Requisites

1. ASP Server-Though the LMS were hosted on PHP servers, we have to include a small code build in ASP in the course.
2. PHP Server-Client LMS and the courseware developer were using PHP server.
3. ASP Script-To make the course compatible to cross LMS, small code build in ASP was integrated.
4. LMS-to upload the AICC files.

Explanation for the above Framework

• On the client side, only the 4 AICC files will be uploaded on the LMS.
• From the LMS, a request for accessing the course will be sent to the File Server.
• Course will call the ASP script to develop a connection between the client LMS and the database on course provider. ASP script is responsible for sending data to the client LMS and the course provider database.

Crossdomain.xml

A cross-domain policy file is an XML document that grants a web client to handle data across multiple domains. When a client hosts content from a particular source domain and that content makes requests directed towards a domain other than its own, the remote domain would need to host a cross-domain policy file that grants access to the source domain, allowing the client to continue with the transaction.

(The LMS Server needs to have this file to access the Content Server, where it provides the ability to manually and/or automatically access and/or transfer between two or more differing security domains). Policy files grants read access to data as well as permit a client to include custom headers in cross-domain requests.

The crossdomain.xml file needs to be placed on the root folder of the server. Here is the sample code:

<cross-domain-policy>

<allow-access-from domain=”www.example.com”/>

</cross-domain-policy>

ASP Script for Lectora Cross LMS

Using the following script it allows you to use either an unsigned “Title Manager Applet” or a “JavaScript Title Manager” to perform cross-domain communications.

Save the following script in a “sample.asp” file on the ASP server:

[ASP Script: sample.asp]

<%@ %>

<%

Response.Buffer = True

Dim objXMLHTTP, xml, command, aicc_loc, version, session_id, aicc_data, postbody

aicc_loc=Request.form(”aicc_loc”)

command=Request.form(”command”)

version=Request.form(”version”)

session_id=Request.form(”session_id”)

aicc_data=Request.form(”aicc_data”)

‘ Build the post body string’

postbody = “command=” + command + “&version=” + version + “&session_id=” + session_id

if aicc_data <> “” then

postbody = postbody + “&aicc_data=” + aicc_data

end if

‘ Create an xmlhttp object:’

Set xml = Server.CreateObject(”Microsoft.XMLHTTP”)

‘ Or, for version 3.0 of XMLHTTP, use:’

‘ Set xml = Server.CreateObject(”MSXML2.ServerXMLHTTP”)’

‘ Opens the connection to the remote server.’

xml.Open “POST”, aicc_loc, False

‘Actually Sends the request and returns the data:’

xml.Send postbody

‘Send back the response’

Response.Write xml.responseText

Set xml = Nothing

/*

The below lines of code is to track the “course data” on courseware provider side along with LMS on client side, we need to define the “xml2” variable at the top of the script and add the following code at the end of the script. The script will post the aicc_data to tracking file where it stores the data in a desired format.

Set xml2 = Server.CreateObject(”Microsoft.XMLHTTP”)

xml2.Open “POST”, “Enter your tracking file Path”, False

xml2.setRequestHeader “Content-Type”, “application/x-www-form-urlencoded”

xml2.Send postbody

Response.Write xml2.responseText

Set xml2 = Nothing

*/

%>

Steps to perform in Lectora

• Add the required “Student Data” in the lectora course before publishing the course.
• Go to “Publish” and click on “Publishing to AICC/Web-Based”
• Once it compiles without errors. Click on the “Publish” button.
• From the “AICC Options” tab,
  • Uncheck the option “The published course will reside on the same network server as the LMS”.
  • This enables the cross-domain redirector. Enter the URL where the “sample.asp” file is located. This will work as an API to communicate between the cross-domains.
• Check the other checkboxes based on your requirement.
• Click on “OK” button.
• Add the student data to the aicc_data in the file “trivantis-titlemgr-aicc.js”. Here are the list of changes to be performed in the code:

Function: TMPr.PutParam = function (grp, param)

After the line,

cparm.add (“\r\nlesson_status=” + this.strAiccLS);

Add the following code,

‘To track “student name”:

cparm.add (“\r\nstudent_name=” + this.strAiccSN);

‘To track “student id”:

cparm.add (”\r\nstudent_id=” + this. strAiccST);

In this blog, you will learn how to add our own variable to the question in Lectora, a rapid elearning tool. If you want to customize the question functionality, you can do it using variables. In this example, you will check whether the learner has attempted the question or not.

First you need to create questions using the question tool of Lectora. Follow the steps mentioned below:

1. Right Click on the Lectora page icon.
2. Click on New from the list.
3. Click on the Question from the menu.
4. Follow all the steps to create the question.

After you create the questions, you need to create a new variable using the “New Variable” button present in “Action Properties” dialog box.

Click on the “New Variable” button to open “Add Variable” dialog box.

Enter the name of the variable “attempt” and enter the initial value as “0″. This variable should be updated after the learner has attempted the question. You need to add an action on the question submission button to modify the value of the variable.

You can enter the attempt variable value to 1 if learner attempted the question. You need to add below action to the submit button:

On : Mouse Click

Action : Modify Variable

Target : attempt

Value : 1

Modification Type : Enter Variable Content

Now as per your requirement, add extra functionality using the “attempts” variable value. For example, you can check the status of the question in the next page and recommend user to go back and complete the exercise first.

Similarly, you can create as many as variables and modify the values for all the questions. In the quiz summary page, you can show the complete status of the questions attempted and the questions not attempted. You can also display customized feedbacks pop-ups with messages.

As you are aware CommLab India has been providing eLearning and Custom Courseware solutions to a wide variety of organizations worldwide?

We also practice what we preach, so to speak! We use eLearning very extensively for our employee training. We believe that eLearning is an effective tool that saves time and cost. Best tool to update employees on new technologies and policies.

Most of our technical, product and procedural training happen online. We have a New Employee Experience Course, which is used as induction training for new employees at CommLab India.

Know Your CommLab

We use eLearning for all our technical product training. We train our employees on using Lectora and Flash by creating self-paced Elearning courses.

Our employees are given product/ software training on all the products of MS Office Suite through eLearning mode. Our Instructional designers learn how to create storyboards in Word and PowerPoint and Excel through this medium.

Employees are trained and tested using our Learning management System, which we have customized using open source SCORM/ AICC LMS, Moodle. We have a dedicated Training Manager who monitors and administers learning to all our employees.

We believe that eLearning is very effective even for small companies like ours and also for our clients who are Fortune and Global Fortune Companies that in different industry segments.

eLearning is a very effective tool to manage your scarce resources – people, time and cost. Use it extensively for all your training needs.