Nine Steps to Setting Up a Training Module

Nine Steps for setting up new training modules with RoboTutor quizzes using corporate Safety courses as an example: 
 

1. Open a Service Desk ticket.
   • Every month there is at least one or more new Safety Standards training modules that need to be put up on the corporate intranet, usually near the end of the month. Specific clients at various divisions will control this process.
   • Clients typically email a PowerPoint, Flash or PowerPoint presentation for the coming month. Or they specify a presentation module that was used the previous year and that they want to use again this year. They also email a test to go with the presentation in the form of a DOC or TXT document.
   • You are not notified by the 20^th of the month concerning new training modules by one of the above clients or by a service desk ticket, then these persons should be contacted and their training plans explored.
   • If the client did not create a service desk ticket, request one.
2. Get the training module.
   • The presentation module with the test may be sent to you via email or it may be taken off a CD or downloaded from an outside developer.
     • The test should be created in a word processor such as Microsoft Word using multiple-choice or true-false questions and preferably, but not necessarily, in the format required by RoboTutor for importation.
     • Fill-in-the-blank and other RoboTutor question types cannot be imported directly and must be entered by hand.
   • The presentation and the test should be saved in a folder under My Documents on the C drive of your PC.
3. Edit the training module. Assuming the client sent a PowerPoint, locate it on your hard drive where you saved it, open it , and do the following:
   • Go to Slide Show > Setup Show and set it in Kiosk mode. The purpose of this is to make it more difficult for employees to move forward and back at will.
   • Next put forward and back buttons  at the bottom of the screen for navigation.

                                                              i.      If they are already there, check to make sure they are on all the screens except those with interactive questions.

• Add interactive questions every 3 or 5 slides if not already there. We have found that these questions greatly enhance employee learning.

                                                              i.      The questions are based on previous slides.

                                                            ii.      They are multiple choice questions with the answers setup as hyperlinks.

                                                          iii.      If an employee gets it right, he moves forward to the next screen and hears a “clapping” sound file (This is why the forward button is removed on these slides).

                                                           iv.      If an employee gets it wrong, he goes back to where the material can be found and hears a “bomb” sound file (The backward button remains on this page).

                                                             v.      If the interactive question is already in the PowerPoint, check to make sure the links are setup properly.

• Most developers of the presentations like us to add some appropriate animations to make them more entertaining. So next go to http://www.animationfactory.com or other sources to which you may have access and search for appropriate animations.

                                                              i.      Search by subject

                                                            ii.      Select the Extra Large (XL) Clear Animation

                                                          iii.      Download it to your hard drive and save it in My Pictures or other appropriate folder.

                                                           iv.      Import the animation into the PowerPoint where desired using Insert > Picture > From File

• Go the last slide of the presentation and add a button that says QUIZ. You may need to condense other material on that page to make room for the Quiz button.

                                                              i.      Go to Slide Show > Action Buttons and create a blank button.

                                                            ii.      Go to Insert > Text Box and create a text box positioned on top of the button.

                                                          iii.      Type Quiz in the box, make it bold, size 48, centered.

                                                           iv.      You will hyperlink the button to the RoboTutor quiz, but since the quiz has not yet been created, this will be done later.

• Save the presentation (PPT file) on your hard drive.
• It is sometimes appropriate to add sound to slides that talk about the outline on the slide. This is rarely done because of the time involved in creating the text and the sound files, but when done, it is a very effective way to make the presentation content rich and effective.
3. Setup the RoboTutor test.
   • Open the folder on your hard drive where you saved the test DOC or TXT file.

                                                              i.      If it is a DOC file, save it as a TXT file.

                                                            ii.      Open the TXT file. Remove the heading above the first question or anything after the last question.

                                                          iii.      Make sure every question is in the format:
1. Question
    a. First option
    b. Second option*
    c. Third option,

                                                           iv.      Make sure the correct answers are marked with a * at the end of the question as shown above with option b.

                                                             v.      Save the text file to your hard drive.

• Open the RoboTutor application on your server:

                                                              i.      Log In as “Administrator” with the designated password:

                                                            ii.      Select Test Administration from the Main Menu

                                                          iii.      Select List/Edit Existing Tests

                                                           iv.      If the new module is for Safety, in the User column, find any Safety hyperlink and click on it.                                                                  

                                                           vi.      You should now be in the Safety Test Area with a list of existing tests shown in a table. At the top of the table there is a Search field. Enter in a key word from the name of the PowerPoint presentation. For example, if the presentation is on record keeping, enter “%Recordkeeping%” and click Search. This will bring up any prior tests on this subject. This is very useful so we can build the new test from the same template and use the same Ellipse number, unless otherwise specified by the person providing the presentation.

                                                         vii.      Click on the top test in the table from those displayed by the search. This will then open the test in edit mode.

                                                       viii.      In the top RIGHT side there is a drop-down field. Select “Create Test from Template.”

                                                           ix.      Modify the heading to include the current date. For example, “Jan07 Recordkeeping Requirements”. The month for the training is very helpful for identification by both administrators and employees.

                                                             x.      Set the Session to the current year: “2008”

                                                           xi.      Change the Ellipse number if a new one is provided.

                                                         xii.      Change the Test ID. This can be anything as long as it is unique. But a test id that shows the Test Area and the date is very helpful. For example, “SE_01_07” for Safety, January 2008. Use _ instead of blank spaces to separate sections.

                                                       xiii.      Enter the author if he or she has changed and click Submit. You will be returned the Question List page with no test questions.

                                                       xiv.      You now need to import the test questions.

·        Select “Import Test Questions” from the drop down menu at the top right side.

·        Select “Import questions from a Text File on your hard drive” and click the Browse button.

·        Locate the TXT file on your hard drive and click Open.

·        This will put the address to the file in the Import Questions field. Click Submit

·        This will put the test questions from the TXT file on the screen in a field you can view and edit if necessary. It should not be necessary to edit it. Click Submit. If you get an error, correct the problem and click Submit again.

·        All the test questions will now appear in the Question List page. Here you can edit, view, or setup the look and feel for how they are displayed.

                                                         xv.      To see how the test will look using the template you chose, select “Show Test Mockup” from the top right drop down menu on the Question List page.

                                                       xvi.      To change most test parameters, back color, header graphic, etc. select “Edit Test Setup” from the top right drop down menu. You should not need to make any changes to the setup if you used a template with which you are satisfied.

                                                     xvii.      You now need to copy the test down to each of the Plant Test Areas where it will be used. From the top right corner of the Question List page, select “Copy Test to Lower Levels”

·        When the Copy to Lower Level screen opens, click the  button and enter “XX”  in the Password field (where XX is the Navigator Password setup for Administration in System Admin). The purpose of this is to give you access to all Test Areas and not just the ones below the Test Area in which you are currently located. Click Submit.

·        Back on the Copy to Lower Levels screen, check the “Show All” box. All system Test Areas will display.

·        Check the boxes of the Test Areas for each of the areas where we keep separate records.

                                                   xviii.      You are now ready to create the hyperlink for employees who view the presentation to take the test.

·        From the Question List page, scroll to the bottom and click the “Take Test” hyperlink.

·        The test Log In screen will open.

·        Select the address to the page and copy it using Edit > Copy.

·        Close the window to the Log In page.

                                                       xix.      Close RoboTutor by clicking the Log-Out button near the bottom of the page.

5. Create the link from the presentation to the test.
   • Return to the PowerPoint presentation and navigate to the last slide on which you created the button for the Quiz.
   • Select the Quiz text field, right click and select Hyperlink
   • In the Address field, paste the link you copied from RoboTutor using Control-V.
   • Modify the hyperlink by removing from it the section that says “testarea=XXXXXXXX&” where XXXX is the name of the test area. Be sure and remove the “&” that follows.  By removing this, a drop-down menu will appear on the Log-In page that displays all the test areas to which the test was copied down. We want the user to select his or her own test area. If we did not remove it, all the test records would be saved in the area in which the test was created.

                                                              i.      Test the hyperlink by clicking the “Slide Show from Current Slide” icon in the lower left corner. Then click the Quiz button and see if it opens the test Log-In page. Enter “54321” as the Payroll number and it should bring up “John Doe”. There should be a drop-down field that shows all the test areas to which you copied down the test. Click Exit and close the window.

• When you return to the PowerPoint, press the Esc button to exit the display mode.
• Save the presentation (PPT file) on your hard drive. Save it again on your hard drive as a PPS (Power Point Show) file using File > Save As and select Power Point Show from the drop down.
• Close the PowerPoint presentation.
5. Move the PowerPoint to the Training server.
   • Many corporate environments have a separate server for their training that is setup for streaming media and video.
   • If you do not have a specific Training server, move it to your main web server.
   • The training materials do not need to be on the same server as the one on which RoboTutor is installed. But it must be a server to which we can create a DNS link.
6. Create a link to the presentation in the Training Menu
   • The link needs to be accessible by all employees.

                                                              i.      The Training Menu can be located in the RoboTutor application itself by setting up a Training Menu.

·        In this case, employees go to the RoboTutor application to do their training.

·        No web pages need to be created or edited.

                                                            ii.      The Training Menu can be one or more web pages external to the RoboTutor application.

·        In this case, you need to put links into those HTML files using an editor such as Microsoft FrontPage.

·        Employees go to those external pages to see and link to training materials.

                                                          iii.      Note, you don’t need a separate link to the RoboTutor quiz if you created one at the end of your presentation.

8. Test the presentation and quiz:
   • Go to the Training Menu and click the link to the presentation.
   • Check to make sure it comes up correctly, displays properly, and the link to the Quiz works.
9. Email the persons who sent you the presentation and let them know it is finished and up on the training server.
   • Ask them to also test it to see if there is anything that needs to be change.
   • Add history to the Service Desk ticket and set the ticket to Completed: Pending Confirmation.
   • Close the service desk ticket after the client notifies you that the module is acceptable and works as expected.

May 16, 2008