Frequently Asked Questions for Creating SCORM eLearning Courses with THESIS

Q: What is THESIS and how much does it cost?

A:  THESIS is an eLearning application that allows content authors and subject-matter experts to create and deploy standards-based, multimedia learning content to be used with any SCORM (Shareable Content Object Reference Model) conformant learning management system.  Click here for pricing.

Q: Where can I go to learn more about the SCORM standard?

A: If you are just getting started with eLearning or SCORM visit this SCORM Primer Link.  Also, you can visit the Advanced Distributed Learning Initiatives website at http://adlnet.org

Q: What Microsoft applications work with THESIS?

A: THESIS shifts the content development and deployment to familiar Microsoft Office and Web Authoring applications commonly used within an organization.  THESIS is tightly integrated with the Microsoft Office Suite: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, FrontPage, and Visio.  In addition, THESIS has facilities to manage Microsoft Producer and Web Content.  Read THESIS Case Study

Q: Can THESIS be customized to my organization’s Learning Management System (LMS)?

A: With a few mouse clicks THESIS can convert one of your existing files or one sourced from elsewhere, into SCORM conformant learning objects for any conformant LMS/VLE.  In Fact, it takes only minutes to have your files ready for loading into your organization’s LMS.

Q: Learning Essentials applications have THESIS included.  How is this different?

A: With Learning Essentials, educational publishers can present their instructional content within the tools that students and teachers use every day to complete assignments and lessons.  Educators can use these simple authoring tools to create their own educational modules, teaching resources or administrative templates.  When combined with the Learning Essentials special edition, THESIS content authors who are already familiar with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel can immediately develop and publish their own SCORM conformant learning objects.  Read THESIS Case Study

Q:  What languages is THESIS available for?

A: THESIS Lite, Learning Object Manager, and Professional are available in English, Spanish, Italian, French, German, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Hebrew, Danish, Dutch, and Arabic.

Q:  Can THESIS be installed over a network?

A: Yes, THESIS can be installed from a shared folder on a network as well as SMS or any tool that can distribute and install a MSI or EXE file.

Q: Do THESIS and SharePoint work together?

A: Yes, with THESIS Professional.  THESIS Professional is an Office Application and works with SharePoint like any other Office application.  Learning Essentials templates and THESIS can be posted and shared from a SharePoint site.  Documents created with Learning Essentials can be saved to a SharePoint site.  Links to documents on SharePoint Sites can be added to Learning Essentials and THESIS.

Q: What is the Learning Object Manager, and is it included with Learning Essentials?

A: The THESIS Learning Object Manager (LOM) “course builder” module is a part of both the Standard and Professional THESIS editions only and provides lesson previews, sequencing, test and assessment facilities, and applies the SCORM standards to the final output.  Learning Essentials contains the THESIS Lite Application which does not include the Learning Object Manager.

Q: Who should use the THESIS family of products?

A: Whether yours is an educational institution, healthcare organization, or Fortune 500 company, today’s training regulations require your computing environment to be agile and responsive to the needs of the individual and your existing network.  This agility requires an education, training and development infrastructure to adapt quickly to an enterprise for content creators and deliver critical training to those who need it.

Q: I don’t have a Microsoft Academic License, can I still download LE with THESIS?

A: No. Learning Essentials with THESIS is available only to Microsoft Academic Volume Licensing customers.  Academic customers who have or acquire volume licenses for Microsoft Office 2003 or Microsoft Office XP, Professional or Standard editions are licensed to use Learning Essentials at no additional licensing cost.

Q: Can I use THESIS without Office?

A: Yes, the Learning Object Manager (LOM) can be used to transform images, PDFs, and any HTML based documents.  For further information please see our (link) How To documentation.

Q: What is the Microsoft SharePoint Learning Kit (SLK) and does THESIS work with it?

A: Yes, THESIS will work with the SLK, click here for more details

Q: Why is there no THESIS Import button with Visio?

A: Visio does not support the import of HTML files.

Q: When I saved a document from FrontPage with the SAVE with THESIS option in FrontPage only the current document was saved. Is there a way to save the entire scope of documents?

A: Yes, open the FrontPage document as a FrontPage web page and not just as an HTML document.

Q: When testing my FrontPage packages I have found that they are not considered SCORM Conformant.  Is there something special I need to do to make them SCORM conformant?

A: Yes.  FrontPage has a tendency to encapsulate file names from the original site in square brackets [].  This can be problematic for some LMSs.  To correct this problem, open the web site in FrontPage and remove the square brackets from all file names.

Q: I’m a Moodle user and I’ve noticed that every time that I answer a test question a warning is thrown.  This warning says “Data Dependency Not Established”.  Is there a way to fix this?

A: This is a known issue with the Beta version of Moodle 1.8.  The error is generated by the SCORM API call “cmi.interactions.n.correct_responses.m.pattern” which tells the LMS what the correct answers to a question are.  The Beta version of Moodle 1.8 does not support this call, and uses the pop up to alert the user of this.  This has been reported to Moodle and we hope that this will be addressed in the final release.

Q: Are the Meta-data fields that THESIS includes created by HunterStone?

A; No, the Meta Data fields that are included in the THESIS products are those that are mandated by the ADL.

Q: I’ve created a test in the Learning Object Manager, but I’d like to customize the look and replace the THESIS banner.  Is there a way I can do that?

A:  Yes, the Learning Object Manager has several customizable features.  To see these highlight the test in the Learning Object Manager and click the Layout tab.

Q: Is THESIS supported on Vista?

A: THESIS will be supported on Vista in the very near future.

Q:  I’d like to save a Microsoft Project file as a SCORM object.   Does THESIS provide a way to do this?

A: Yes.  Save the Microsoft Project file as HTML then use the Learning Object Manager to convert the HTML to a SCORM object.

Q: If I need to make changes to a SCORM object is it better to open the original document and make the changes then Save it with THESIS, or should I import it?

A: You should import the object back into the application that was used to create the object.  This will preserve the metadata that was associated with the package.

Q: What are the systems requirements?

A: Client OS Support: Windows 2000 & XP

Microsoft Office Support: 2007, XP, 2003, 2000

Hard Disk Requirements: 15 MB

Memory Requirements: 128Mb

Optional Server Support: SharePoint Portal Server v2.0, WSS 3.0, MOSS2007

Client Browser Support: IE 5.5+

Q:  I’ve installed THESIS Professional and noticed that the Plug in components show up in all of the Office components except for FrontPage. How can I get it to work with FrontPage?

A: This is a known error that occurs with Office 2003.  The fix is to install Office 2003 Service Pack 2, then reinstall THESIS Professional.

Q:  I used the Learning Object Manager to convert a Flash presentation to a SCORM compliant package, but I can’t bookmark within the presentation.  Is there any way to do this?

A: No.  This occurs because there is no unique URL per animation in flash for the LMS to record.  Therefore it cannot point back to any particular point within a Flash presentation.

Q:  I receive an error when importing a THESIS created PowerPoint package in PowerPoint 2007.  What could the problem be?

A: There is a known issue with PowerPoint that keeps presentations with Excel charts in them from being imported.  This problem has been reported to Microsoft.  An alternative is to replace the chart in PowerPoint with an image of the chart and then save it with THESIS.

Q: When viewing a test created with the THESIS Learning Object Manager, if I finish the test and then select to return to the test, how do I exit the test?

A: When reviewing a test, an “X” close button shows in the right hand corner of the test viewer that allows the user to exit.

Q: I’ve created a Visio package and can’t find a way to access other pages of the presentation.  Is there a way to make this option available?

A: Yes, when creating the package select the Go to Page option to enable this.

Q: What is THESIS Librarian?

A: With THESIS Librarian, Learning Objects can be searched, checked in and out, edited and copied.  THESIS Librarian can store any content that is SCORM 1.2 or SCORM 2004 compliant whether created by THESIS Professional or by any other SCORM 1.2 or SCORM 2004 compliant tool.  Download THESIS Librarian White Paper.

Q: Is the Librarian a Learning Management System (LMS)?

A: No the Librarian is Learning Content Management System (LCMS).  It allows teachers to share and manage their courses… but has no capacity for assigning courses or recording results of courses.

Q: Why is it important to implement work flow prior to saving to the Librarian?

A: Workflow is an optional component of the Librarian.   From a content publishing perspective it has been assumed that before material is added to a library or moved between libraries that users will want to go through review process for the objects.

Q: Is another version of my object still held in the original library after it is moved?

A:  Yes, publishing an object from My Site to the Public library will keep an original will stay in the My Site SCORM Library.  If you move an object from the Public SCORM Library to the Reference SCORM library the original read/write copy will stay in the Public Library.

Q: Is the Librarian just a document library template that has been customized?

A: No, there is a document library web part that has been customized included in the Librarian, but there are other features as well that HunterStone has added including scripts to interact with THESIS Professional and custom search technology.

Q: How many libraries can you have?

A: In Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 you can create as many sites as you want per server.  Licensing is based on the number of users/servers not the number of sites one creates.  Download THESIS Librarian White Paper.

Q: Can non-SCORM compliant objects be saved in any of the THESIS Librarian libraries?

A: Yes, the THESIS Public Document library can hold all non-SCORM compliant objects.

Q:  Can I access an objects meta-data from the Librarian?

A: Yes, a SCORM objects meta-data can be accessed from the context menu.  One can either view or edit the SCORM packages meta-data by selecting either “View Properties” or “Edit Properties”.

Q: Who can edit the Meta-data in the packages that I upload?

A: THESIS Content Creators can edit the meta-data in the Public SCORM Library.  The meta-data in the THESIS Reference Library is read-only for all users.

Q: I’d like to be able to customize the look of the Librarian, can I do that?

A: Yes you can customize this by editing the site template.

Q: How can I make learning objects created with THESIS to be a standard window size when viewed within the LMS?

A: This can be accomplished by adding some javascript code to the template HTML file used by THESIS for creating packages.   This template file is called SCO_Wrapper.htm and is located in "C:\ProgramFiles\HunterStone\Thesis\ThesisCommon\Resources\Package\" by default.   Note, this is currently more of a workaround, we are looking at making this an option in a future version of THESIS. Please note the following: You should first make a backup copy of this file before changing it. Once you have changed it, if you reinstall or update THESIS, the file will be overwritten and your changes lost. All packages created on the machine will have this modification. The THESIS preview function does not use this file, and so the changes will not appear when you preview the file. 

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