Course
Components
Courses consist of modules,
each module being a separate component of your course.
In ToolBook terms, a module is a book. A module might
also be a Word or PDF document, a link to another website
resource, a flash file, a VBTrain.net course or any other
type of a communicating or non-communicating course
component. A course is made up of one or more modules.
Within a course you may mix module types so that one course
might consist of two ToolBook programs, a word document, and
a powerpoint slide show.
Modules
can reside on any server anywhere in the world; they do not
have to be on the EspritLMS server. As long as you can
access the module via a fully qualified domain name (FQDN -
in other words - http://www.somesite.com/somedoc.pdf) the
component can be a module in your training course.
Reusability of Course Objects
Another nice feature with
EspritLMS is that you can use modules in more than one
course. This gives you the ability to create a variety
of different levels of courses reusing modules that already
exist. For example, with QualityTrainingPortal we mix
and match our ToolBook modules to make three different
"courses." One course is our comprehensive Statistical
Process Control Training course. One course is an
Introduction to Statistical Process Control which is made up
of just one content module and one quiz. The third
"course" is all of the quizzes from the course that some of
our CD-ROM and Network customers use.
EspritLMS's ability to run any
type of a course component coupled with the ability to mix
and match components within a course gives you tremendous
flexibility in designing your courses - you can use the best
tools to communicate specific points rather than trying to
fit your training needs into the confines of one tool.
Communicating vs Non-Communicating
A communicating module is one
that can send and receive information via http post back to
and from EspritLMS. Any component can do the necessary
http posts, can communicate with EspritLMS. Of course
ToolBook communicates this way with EspritLMS, but a flash
component or VBTrain.net course can easily communicate
with EspritLMS also.
Other course components do
not have the ability to "communicate." For example, a
Word doc or Powerpoint slide show are not able to http post
back and forth with EspritLMS. These components are
considered non-communicating components. That means
that while non-communicating components can be a part of
your course, the data collected from them is limited
tracking if the module has been launched or not.
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