Convergent Learning LMS and eLearning Blog

Contracting in the Learning Space

2010-03-14T23:01:00.000-07:00

Over the last year I have seen more and more companies looking to bring on eLearning consultants instead of hiring full time employees. Many learning professionals may consider this a blessing after the work doldrums of ’09, but before you jump into the ocean of contracting, you should make sure you understand some of the advantages and pitfalls of Contracting in the Learning Space. Given the

Adobe Learning Suite – There is more than just Photoshop, Flash, and Captivate (Part 2)

2010-03-07T21:48:00.000-08:00

In this conclusion to our examination of Adobe’s secondary eLearning tools, I will look at the last of the Adobe eLearning Suite support tools: the Flash Learning Interactions templates. Flash CS4 Learning Interactions Flash Learning Interactions are a set of question templates used to build out course assessments or knowledge checks. During my initial search for supporting documentation, it

Adobe Learning Suite – It's more than just Photoshop, Flash, and Captivate (Part 1)

2010-03-01T07:58:00.000-08:00

Ever since Adobe bought Macromedia, it has been the big player in eLearning tools. In addition to their major applications, they are providing a number of smaller helper apps. Since there are plenty of reviews on the main tools, I wanted to investigate some of the more specialized eLearning support tools that Adobe provides. SCORM Packager I can’t help but think Adobe missed the mark on this

What is AICC and why do I care?

2010-02-22T06:14:00.000-08:00

It may not be obvious why anyone should pay attention to an eLearning standard that is falling in popularity, but the AICC isn’t (quite) dead yet, and many corporations still use it – and require it – as their only supported eLearning standard. The AICC standard is the oldest existing standard in the eLearning industry: The Aviation Industry CBT Committee (http://www.aicc.org), composed mostly

What is the big difference between SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004?

2010-02-15T23:06:00.000-08:00

So what is the big difference between SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004? SCORM 1.2 greatly simplified the effort to deploy eLearning courses to an LMS; but even with this support, it still had tangible areas for improvement, and the ADL made some of those improvements with the release of SCORM 2004. Since SCORM 2004’s release in January of 2004, it has continued to evolve, with the most recent edition (

What is SCORM 1.2?

2010-02-07T21:37:00.000-08:00

For an eLearning standard that has been used in the industry for the last ten years, there remains a surprising lack of understanding about what the SCORM standard is, and what it can do for training groups. With this blog post, I hope to clear up some of this mystery. I’ll describe SCORM 1.2 and, in a follow up post, describe the differences between SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004. SCORM stands for

Three hurdles to using an open source Learning Management System in a corporate environment.

2010-01-28T20:17:00.000-08:00

Are you tired of paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for a system that doesn’t meet your needs? Have you heard you can save big on an open source solution like Moodle or OLAT? Well, don’t put away your checkbook quite yet. Although you can save significantly in the long haul, there are a number of issues that you will need to overcome, and these can take time and money to make happen. The

What are the minimum requirements for a Learning Management System?

2010-01-19T10:46:00.000-08:00

The question of selecting a Learning Management System (LMS) is one the most significant decisions a learning organization will make. The LMS will be the central location users will to access training for years. Since it is a new year, I decided to list the five most basic components that all Learning Management Systems should support for me to even consider them. SCORM compliance. There was a

Is an Open Source Hosted Learning Management System Truly Free?

2009-12-15T09:08:00.000-08:00

When I launched my hosted Moodle Learning Management System (LMS) solution, I had a number of people ask me why anyone would pay to have you host a solution that is free. That made we realize that many people don’t understand that just because you don’t pay licensing fees does not mean that there aren’t costs to set up the system and keep running. There are numerous overlooked costs that can

From an LMS integration perspective, how turnkey are the off-the-shelf eLearning solutions (Articulate Presenter, Adobe Presenter, et cetera)?

2009-11-30T09:47:00.000-08:00

With the eLearning industry moving from relying mostly on proprietary systems to utilizing standards-based eLearning (within the framework of the AICC and SCORM), off-the-shelf eLearning creation tools are positioned to make eLearning cheaper and easier to deploy than ever before. That said, they may still need to be tweaked to work on your LMS. Over the past few years authoring tool vendors

What Do You Say To an LMS Vendor Who Claims To Support a Tool?

2009-11-13T13:51:00.000-08:00

The short answer: Show Me! The long answer: As with any change to your training solutions, you should perform an appropriate amount of due diligence before taking a Learning Management System (LMS) vendor at their word when they claim support for a tool or standard. I find that often when the LMS vendors say they support a specific tool, what they mean is that they support only the most basic

Should I make my homegrown LMS SCORM compliant? (Volume 2)

2009-10-25T08:40:00.000-07:00

In the last post I examined what it would take to add SCORM functionality to an existing homegrown LMS. Now I'm going to look at the alternative, which is to migrate to a new system. This is often a daunting task and companies will often stay on an inappropriate system for years, just to avoid having to go through this process. It is not an insignificant task, but with proper planning and

Should I make my homegrown LMS SCORM compliant? (Volume 1)

2009-10-21T19:34:00.000-07:00

Over the past year I have run across this question several times. After thinking about it, I realized that many companies have an existing training solution in place that has been growing organically for years. At some point every company needs to look at their infrastructure and decide whether maintain/upgrade it or migrate to a new solution. To help determine which way you should go, it is