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What is “Outstart’s ForceTen?”

Outstart is a company who bought out Eedo the company who originally owned ForceTen which is an LCMS (Learning Content Management System) authoring tool. Got it?

We have been using ForceTen for a little over a year now for a client, and have gone through some “ForceTen growing pains” and thought you out there might be interested in what we’ve learned and embraced during our ForceTen experience thus far.

First, let’s get it out in the open now, ForceTen is not Flash and the “force” is not at all involved. The truth is, ForceTen was not built with multimedia developers (those who are proficient in Flash, HTML, Lectora, etc.) in mind. ForceTen is built for the business content developer who needs to deliver lots of content quickly to a lot of people. It allows you to store documents, images, charts, or anything else you would want to put in a course, in one central searchable repository. The metadata functionality is a huge plus for developers who share content (why create things twice?) and for updating content – because content is always changing!

So, what are the challenges? How did we overcome them? Read on to learn about some of the challenges we faced and how we overcame them…

One challenge, regardless of the tool, is how to organize the information on the screen. For this course on facilitation skills, we wanted to explain the differences in facilitating a course in several different countries. At first, we thought a table would be the best way. But after laying everything out on screen, that was way toooooo much text. Instead, we decided to create a graphic that highlights the different countries; using the graphic, the learners can rollover one or more of the countries to learn some facilitating tips for that area. The lesson here = graphics still play a large part in what you develop and ForceTen allows you to store and reuse common graphics.

Another particularly large challenge for the same course was the use of multiple videos. One issue we faced was the file size: they had to be small enough to fit the 20 MB limit of ForceTen. The larger (and unexpected limitation) was the video player. We wanted the video to play on click, but the ForceTen player auto-starts when you reach a screen. The custom player we traditionally use couldn’t be uploaded into the course. Then, when it was finally in the course, it interacted and broke our navigation. Eventually, we gave up the custom player and went with a much simpler solution. A black screen counting down to the start of the video. Not a perfect solution, but it did give learners some time to read the onscreen text before the video began to play. The lesson here = we can still add video (and a lot of the other “flashy” stuff we currently use), but have to think of creative workarounds to get the same desired effect.

Using ForceTen as a development tool has certainly challenged our processes and how we develop courses, but it has allowed us to explore creative ways to present content and still get the same learner outcome. And really, I could say that about any new tool we try! Each tool in a developer’s tool box has its strengths and weaknesses, the key is to now how to play up the strengths, use the right combination of tools, and always keep the end goal in mind…the learner’s experience!

We started the month talking about the features and functions of learning management systems. It’s only fitting we end talking about the changes the future holds for those features. Soon, it won’t be enough that the LMS tracks formal learning like instructor-led training courses or e-learning modules; the future is here, and learning management systems are changing rapidly to keep up.

Leanne talked about Moodle’s ability to categorize those on the system by their expertise in her last post. In a sense, she saw the LMS as more like a social network and less like a database. In this online community, learners can create their own “real” with profiles and list their experience; by searching the profiles, learners can use the LMS to contact others for help and support in a specific subject area.

According to a July trend report published by T&D,

“Within the next two years, 45 percent of respondents say they will upgrade their existing learning portal and 14 percent plan to launch a new learning portal. Most respondents use all of the 12 major learning tools and technologies listed on the survey in their portals. These include blogs, online coaching, polls, self-study programs, communities of practice, and more.”

Instead of discussion forums, these new learning management systems provide blogs and wikis to foster collaboration. And in the place of multiple-choice and true/false tests, more complex polling features keep learners engaged. With the addition of informal learning opportunities, hopefully, learners will stop thinking of the LMS as “the place to go to get to the training”  and start viewing it as “where I can find what I need to know.” The LMS becomes a true repository for learning, housing job aids, coaching guides, and courses, along side videos created and uploaded by learners and informal wikis run by study groups.

In researching LMSs and Moodle, I found an article that discussed combining an LMS with a virtual learning environment, Second Life. When I dug a little further, I found Sloodle. It uses Moodle to generate a 3D version of the LMS in Second Life. Want to decide what course to take? Look at the sessions displayed on a calendar in Second Life and “teleport” yourself to the classroom immediately. Sounds like something out of a science fiction novel.

I’m not sure I can even imagine the future of learning management systems; I just know they will very soon be much more than a database that assigns coursework.

Last week I hosted a webinar called “Come Moodle with Us: Straight Talk on Moodle as an LMS Solution.” Along with two of my colleagues at BLP, we showed attendees OUR Moodle site – and attempted to illustrate many of the cool features Moodle provides and how Moodle facilitates informal learning and not just functions as a place to house and track e-learning. If you’d like a copy of our session slides – or a link to our Moodle site, please feel free to sownload my notes: moodle_08272009_sessionnotes.

A few “highlights” that I want to share:

1) Moodle is about creating a learning community. Those who want to use it just to track learning are missing its point. In our case, it connects all the employees in our organization to each other. Our employees can now easily locate other resources inside the organization who can help them with a variety of things such as instructional design, Flash development, game design, simulations, etc.

2) Moodle CAN host e-learning courses….but it can do so much more. Example: I created a “course” in Moodle called Adobe Max. Six of our employees are going to the Adobe Max conference in October; by creating a course using the “social” format in Moodle, I am setting up a way for them to share learning on specific topics (i.e. After Effects, Acrobat, CS4, etc). Also – I can give many, many people the ability to become course creators. If you have something you want to teach someone else, Moodle can let you set up a course and do it!

3) Moodle can provide a company-wide calendar of learning events that everyone can see. This is a simple feature…and yet one we didn’t have before.

4) Moodle can make it easy for me to post links to great blogs – and to get everyone in our organization blogging. Even better, I can create assignments within courses to blog on specific topics (such as learning to work in a virtual environment.) The blogger can create tags that make it very easy for other employees to find posts on topics of interest (such as working in a virtual environment).

5) Moodle makes it super-easy to share rich media. Links to our YouTube channel are embedded on our company’s front page. I can share any video from YouTube…or other video-sharing sites. I could also share photos from Flicker, etc.

6) I can help people acquire our BLP lingo by setting up a glossary. Our glossary lets people rate the entries for their value. Employees can also add to or edit glossary entries. Even better, the posts show the author’s picture and provide a link to the author so people can get in touch with the author if they’d like.

Moodle is going to be a major help to us in developing employees and fostering informal learning. I think many organizations could find it to be an answer to their quest for facilitating learning throughout their organizaton. My goal is to help people “discover” Moodle.

I read yesterday that during times of economic recession people actually become healthier. The reason is that during fiscally tight times people tend to drink and smoke less to save money. They also head outdoors for lower cost and healthier entertainment such as hiking. Yesterday on the BLP LOL Live webinar about Moodle, we heard that quite a few organizations are interested in Moodle due to budget constraints. As Lisa pointed out in her post Leveraging Learning, informal learning is gaining popularity at least in part due to the economic crunch as some organizations can’t or won’t pay for a formal learning solution.

Implementing Moodle as an LMS or social networking as a tool for sharing knowledge still has a learning curve and costs associated with them. They’re not necessarily easy to implement. The implementation process will take time and require new learning by staff. BLP invested 160 hours to set up our Moodle site, load three courses and 16 users. The folks on the project learned a lot along the way and at the end of the day we have quite a nice tool for a relatively low cost. Likewise designing and implementing an informal learning solution is new territory for most organizations. It will take time to properly design it and educate users as to how to use it. However, you gain a cost effective and useful tool. One of my favorite options on Moodle is the ability to identify a peer by area of expertise. I remember a manager once complained how she spent an hour and a half making five phone calls to find the person who could help her use the company’s accounting software. It would have been nice if she could have performed a two second search to locate the right person or search a discussion board that may have had the answer to her question.

By saving money and increasing the utility of new tools we can stay financially fit and implement effective solutions. I’d like to hear your stories. How has the need to tighten the budget helped you develop solutions that make your company or department fiscally fit while improving knowledge sharing?

At BLP, we work with many different learning management systems for our various clients. The only thing they all have in common is that invariably they are nothing like the one we used the week or month before.

Because we want to make sure our courses work perfectly with the LMS, we’ve started asking a series of questions at the beginning of every e-learning project. If this is the first time you’ve worked with an LMS, these questions may be able to save you some time fixing “problems” you didn’t expect.  With the answers to these questions, we are usually very successful in getting our courses uploaded to an LMS with limited difficulty.

Questions we ask at the start of every e-learning course.

I’m sure this list isn’t complete. What other questions would you add to the list?

PS – Interested in learning more about learning management systems? Register for our free webinar this week on one low-cost solution, Moodle.

You have very specific wants and needs for your learning management system. You need to be able to track who took what course. You want to be able to automatically assign courses to learners. And so you pick a solution that fit your needs. But did you stop to ask what your learners want?

The best LMS won’t help you if your end-users, your learners, hate it. You need to test your LMS from your learners perspective. Some questions to ask yourself:

• How do you know what courses are assigned to you? 
• Where do you see the courses you’ve completed? 
• How do you take the test or complete the electronic signature requirement?
• When do you learn about new courses as they become available?
• How can you add a course to your learning plan?

When you’re testing, document what’s easy to use and what features your struggle with. Then, you’ll want to make an implementation plan. The eLearning Guild offers a great list of tips for implementing your LMS with your learners in mind. Check out their 339 Tips, paying particular attention to Section IX, Tips on Training Users. There are several great suggestions, including:

• Explain what the learning management system can do for them and why they should use it.
• Consider only implementing the easiest features, adding more complex functionality over time.
• Train, train, train!

I checked today and since April we’ve logged about 160 hours getting Moodle installed and configured as well as getting 3 courses created in it. We’ve also input a whopping 16 users (who I still haven’t figured out how to send a mass email to). In general, we’re having a ball learning Moodle and I am extremely excited about its power to enhance learning in an organization.

When I say “we,” I mean two people with some peaks over the shoulder from a third one. Thank goodness I have a “techie” person who did the installation and some initial configuration tasks. I’ve taken it from there and done tons of work setting up courses and continuing to configure the site. Moodle is definitely a learn by trying it kind of thing; it also simply takes TIME to do system admin and course creation tasks.  Yes, it’s “free” in that the code doesn’t cost you anything, but I don’t work for free and neither does my “techie” partner, Kelly. We get paid, and when we’re workin’ on Moodle we aren’t doing the other parts of our jobs.

I’m excited by the possibilites and I really, really want to know: who else in the corporate world is Moodling? If you are using Moodle:

1. Why did you choose it as your LMS?
2. What have been your greatest triumphs?
3. What has been your greatest challenge that you want to share with others?

If you aren’t using it, share what you’ve heard about it!

I’ll be posting more on Moodle the rest of this month. In my next post, I’ll share what two other Moodlers have done with it – and why they chose it for their organizations.