Online Learning – the Right Way

Having been a part of many LMS/Assessment migration projects I have been lucky enough to work with many amazing RTOs and have learned a lot in the process.

Background: VET Campus includes VET LMS. They both read and write data using web connectors (API) to AVETMISS Done!, Enquiry Mate and VETtrak. Only your administrators will understand the difference between the two products – to students and trainers they are one and the same. VET LMS may also be run in ‘stand-alone’ mode where required.

The key concepts I have learned are;

• Go slowly to go fast
• Use what you have

Students ‘At Risk’: VET LMS when setup as outlined below provides a set of standard tools for your trainers to identify and support students at risk. Losing students, as individual, is one of the key pitfalls of a transition to online learning. VET LMS has you covered.

The process we recommend works like this;

LMS Phase 1

1. Build a course in the LMS for each qual and course you deliver. Even if there is currently no content.
2. Map the courses in the LMS to the delivery programmes in your SMS using our WebEnrol module
3. Upload existing assessments to assignments and quizzes in the LMS for all students to complete – even if they are PDF or templates
   1. ‘Map’ the assessments via the LMS – creates a dynamic mapping document
   2. For quizzes provide multiple questions for each mapping point – enhances learning outcomes by discouraging clickers!
   3. Configure resubmission for assignments, document upload and archive – evidence evidence evidence!
4. Record Results – VET LMS uses te result types in your SMS to allow course developers to record a result automatically on the completion of an assessment or a course AND create an award, issue a certificate if required.
5. Go live for Face to Face (always test as a student before anything goes live – logical but often missed)
   1. Upload existing training resources as documents so students and trainers have all the data where they need it i.e. in VET Campus
      – add a student or trainer to an occurrence, tick the portal access option in VETtrak and they have access to required assessments and resources automatically
6. Go Live for Blended

LMS Phase 2

1. Identify the most used content on your scope and create content and formative assessment blobs natively in the LMS. In the first instance, think linearly;
   1. paragraph to a page, then next to a new page – bight sized content looks great on mobile devices!
2. Typically we suggest you use the following structure;
   1.  Content
   2. Formative assessment
   3. Content
   4. Formative assessment
   5. Revision/Summary
   6. Summative assessment
3. The content can be HTML or a SCORM created by a third party or yourself – more on SCORM later.
4. The assessments can be a variety of types of quizzes and assignments including individual and group tasks and employer or third party assessments.
   1. We recommend there are lots of quizzes with multiple questions for each mapping point in order that students see a combination of the same questions and news ones where they need to redo a quiz.
   2. Where a student does not meet the standard there is an automated Trainer Intervention mechanism that stops progression, informs the trainer there is an issue and the content the student is struggling with (all of this is recorded in the SMS)
   3. All assignment resubmissions steps are recorded in the SMS.

Trainers and students: The LMS facilitates the association of trainers to students based on the staff associated with the enrolment in the SMS. This can be overridden for classes or specific content in a course to allow a content specialist or ‘group’ to assess students in the LMS.

VET LMS maintains a single course for all cohorts: As occurrence or class groups undertake the course only the associated trainers/staff are able to assess or view progress. The same separation is used for accessible discussions. There is also an internal Facebook/discussion board as well as programme and programme type-specific news and discussion groups.

LMS Phase 3 – SCORM Content Blobs
Standard HTML content, while useful, may not be particularly engaging. eLearning specialists generally recommend building SCORMS. This has become a generic term for an online learning component that is built separately to the LMS and then uploaded. A SCORM is complete component with everything in it. They often require a third party to edit the content using special software. Instructional designers often want to build an entire course (or UOC) as a single SCORM object. We recommend against this. In order to use VET LMS to its best advantage use multiple SCORMS for small chunks of content and not assessment. Because the SCORM is a separate entity we can’t track the time the students spend on it or the questions they struggle with and many other of the cool VET features that make VET LMS a stand out. Auditors love the detail of the learning journey we are able to provide – many SCORMS and third part content undermine this by reducing the data we are able to collect for trainers and auditors.

Sharing: VET LMS allows you to create content and then share it to multiple courses. Sharing means that content or an assessment used in multiple places is able to be administered for all instances at once.  Copying of a course component or entire courses to another course in the LMS is also available and once created acts as a completely separate learning component.

The reason we recommend developing SCORMs for the most used content first is that they represent higher value when used in multiple courses simultaneously.

Content Providers

The most difficult part of the implementation of a new learning management system is the decision about content development and the utilisation of 3rd party resources. The point of tension is generally are around ‘control’ and the protection of intellectual property.

For security, contextualisation, automation and compliance reasons the RTO wants to have control of the content in order to make the most of VET LMS.

Often a content provider wants the RTO to use their content in their LMS in order to ensure their intellectual property is safe and to minimise their maintenance costs and vulnerability. This often adds significantly to the maintenance overhead for the RTO.

VET LMS works best when … the content is in our clients’ LMS. Often content providers use technology deficiencies and plagiarism as an excuse not to allow this. It is our view that there is no reason for tools available for more than a decade that allow content providers to safely share content to RTOs not to be available.

Another issue with third party content providers is that in the main they deliver courses based on UOC whereas real learning is often undertaken in clusters. This UOC approach does make it easier for vendors to package up and sell products however it may restrict the learners and can make learning repetitive where there is a high degree of common content.

In VET LMS a clustered learning course can be created to allow the recording of results for multiple units at the same time and for a result/completion in one component to be carried seamlessly across to another course, a sort of RPL/credit transfer within a course and content may be dynamically removed based on a student prior learning, credit transfer of recognition of prior learning recorded in the SMS.

Overall

Our product is huge and powerful. It is impossible to learn it all at once. By developing the implementation in a step by step basis your team will be able to learn new skills as they need them and leverage what they already know while your students, trainers administration staff and employers are gaining benefit from day 1.

Warning: I have seen two LMS project failures and many delays. All have been related to content conversion and the belief that the LMS is firstly a platform for learning. This is an outdated concept. VET Campus and the LMS manage the student journey. The ‘presentation’ of learning is a small part of it. It’s a great discussion to have with your project team and I’d love to be involved in it.