[Building Sakai] Interface Mock-Ups In Sakai

Thu May 21 11:15:40 PDT 2009

Hi Mathieu, thanks for the information  this is really helpful,  I
definitely need to learn more about this SCORM & IMS Common Cartridge
technology, yes, you are correct, it seems I am building learning objects
and I do need to track users and score them with tests embedded in Sakai. (
any more information about how to go about doing this in a timely manner
would be very helpful )

I¹ll definitely contact Robert as suggest for more info on the CRIM SCROM
player  I really need to know more about this, as it seems it will solve so
many issues I¹m currently facing ( sad about the lack of Sakai Gradebook
integration, but there¹s a chance I may be able to dedicate some of my
limited programming bandwidth to help with that issue ) - thanks also for
the tip about Mike Zackrison¹s efforts.

I¹ll include the text of a response I sent earlier regarding this issue  it
doesn¹t mention anything about SCORM, but maybe it¹ll clarify further what I
have in mind, though I think everybody pretty much gets it as it seems to be
a re-occurring theme:

There are other options, but to be honest, I¹m desperately trying to avoid
them  Adobe has a full blown solution, that requires quite a bit of cash,
and from what I can see  that¹s just not the way things are going. Plus, it
doesn¹t foster community, which is half the value of any system: I love
Sakai¹s open source, modular & community based concept, and I¹d like to see
it in Sakai.

Here¹s the use case:

Let¹s suppose you¹re an aircraft manufacturer, and you¹ve created this new
improved flight instrument: but in order to create it in a cost effective
manner, you had to change the interface  this is dangerous, because the
moment you change things from what people are used to, especially in such a
mission critical situation, mistakes can be made, and training and
certification is either too costly or too time consuming. ( this applies to
many scenarios outside the aviation realm, but it¹s the best one I can think
of to illustrate the point).

What I see is a full blown mockup of the interface being presented on screen
as part of a course  this can be produced in Flash, or some higher form of
HTML  this allows the pilots to interact with the interface, while being
guided through it.

Once the course is completed, an on-line examination takes place  where the
pilots interact with the mock up  and at the end of it, they¹re ³certified²
on the new interface: fair enough, this is about as far as most ad-hoc
solutions take it. But with Sakai, instead of this simply being an ad-hoc
scenario, the test is done in Samigo, the results are then tabulated in the
grade-book, this allows the results to identify the places in the interface
that tend to cause the most errors to be more closely examined  and there¹s
also a list of all the pilots who¹ve passed, plus any necessary feedback
they have provided in the forums etc.

Unlike an ad-hoc solution, useful information is generated well beyond a
simple list of, who passed and who didn¹t.

This is the advantage of a Œcommunity¹ based solution like Sakai  and now,
people have become familiar with the Sakai environment, they can ask
questions, and interact and everybody, including the organization, gains a
lot from it.

That¹s the vision  I¹ve worked in both situations in the past, coding up
ad-hoc interface mock-ups SAP stuff, and creating communities  but getting
the two integrated together is where I see most of the future value to be
gained.

I¹m still trying to figure out what¹s the best way to go about this?

* Get really good at Action Script/Flash and try to figure out a way, by
modifying Samigo, to interact with it ( tried this already  it was a bumpy
road  though perhaps I missed something or things have improved since last
summer)
* Wait and see what HTML 5 has in store, and see what can be done with that
* Wait until Sakai III comes around, and try to do this with a combo of
AJAX/HTML 5, and tweak Sakai to interact in the fashion described above:
this is nice because it would allow me to avoid Flash with an open source
solution  however, I¹ll have to wait a year before I can recommend a Sakai
III production solution to anybody

Hope this helps
Charlie

On 5/21/09 10:04 AM, "Plourde, Mathieu" <mathieu at udel.edu> wrote:

> Hi Charlie,
>  
> Your case seems to be a typical SCORM or IMS Common Cartridge compliance
> issue. As I understand it, you are building learning objects with a
> third-party tool, then want to track users and their score on embedded tests
> in Sakai.
>  
> We have the same issue here at UD. We will be deploying the CRIM SCORM player
> (based off the UC Davis engine) later this Summer to be able to track SCORM
> 2004 3rd edition objects. The CRIM player is not integrated with the Gradebook
> though, but it¹s a start! Contact Robert Bolduc to know more (I have CCed him
> to this post).
>  
> I have seen a tweet from Mike Zackrison from rSmart a week ago about
> integrating the Icodeon engine in Sakai, but I don¹t know if that¹s really
> going to happen.
>  
> Anyway, I have started to track some bookmarks about SCORM, IMS CC, and
> potential vendors at the following URL:
> http://www.diigo.com/list/mathplourde/scorm
>  
> Hope this helps!
>  
> 
> Best Regards,
>  
> =================================
>  
> Mathieu Plourde, MBA
> LMS Project Leader/Instructional Designer
> IT-User Services
> mathieu at udel.edu
>  
> =================================
>  
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>  
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> 
> From: pedagogy-bounces at collab.sakaiproject.org
> [mailto:pedagogy-bounces at collab.sakaiproject.org] On Behalf Of Charlie Macchia
> Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2009 9:23 AM
> To: Sean DeMonner
> Cc: pedagogy at collab.sakaiproject.org
> Subject: [DG: Teaching & Learning] Interface Mock-Ups In Sakai
>  
> Hi Sean, I noticed you had some insight into this sort of thing, so I thought
> it might be worth while asking.
> 
> Currently, or in the near future, do you know if it¹s possible to train/test
> people on an working interface mock-up of a given piece of gear/software - say
> a medical pump, or even a software interface using Sakai?
> 
> I know when Sakai III hits, you should be able to pull something off using
> it¹s AJAX structure, but for now ...
> 
> .. I know it¹s quite possible to mock these things up in Flash, but
> integrating that Flash animation with Sakai  as far as I¹ve found - is pretty
> much only superficial (yes, you can host the test/training interface in Flash,
> you can even put your Flash movie/mock-up into a Samigo window, but it does
> not connect its results in any way with Sakai¹s reporting, Samigo/Sakai merely
> host the flash file  so you can¹t get any site wide results/averages/etc).
> 
> I know HTML 5 is slowly making its way to fruition  which, I¹m hoping  will
> negate the need for using Flash to mock up an interface (perhaps with some
> sort of basic way to animate vector graphics): regardless, I¹m wondering if
> you know of any solutions that may have happened ( or will soon ) to allow for
> testing/training on interface mockups?
> 
> Thanks
> Charlie
> 

-- 
Charlie Macchia
BrainOVision
Unit #301
39 Harcourt Ave.
Toronto, Ontario
M4K 1M3

Tel. (416) 466-5469
email: Charlie at BrainOVision.com
www.BrainOVision.com
Skype ID = eclecto

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