December 28, 2020
What is the best practice for launching multilingual SCORM courses with Captivate while tracking the language used
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December 28, 2020
What is the best practice for launching multilingual SCORM courses with Captivate while tracking the language used
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I am rewriting an HTML based course that used a custom non-SCORM compliant LMS.  It allowed the users to choose one of four different languages.  We want the new course to be written with Captivate and be SCORM compliant.  The current challenge is that the client wants to know how many people are using each of the languages.

We plan to write one course in Captivate, and use a variable to decide the language presented.  We think this will minimize maintenance issues.  I can think of two ways to launch the course.

Method 1. Create a separate course in the LMS for each language.  We would have to package the course once for each language, changing the value that is accessed by cmi.launch_data in the manifest file. The language would be set by reading the cmi.launch_data value from the LMS and then use that variable to select the text and audio files to present. The pros for this is that the course shows up in the correct language when launched.  The cons for this is that the client has to set up four courses in the LMS.  Tracking the users in the four courses is not an issue. My problem is that I have been unable to find any documentation on reading the cmi.launch_data value with Captivate and getting the value returned to be used by the Captivate actions.

Method 2 would be to launch one course and have the users select their language when the course launches. How do I store their selection in the LMS and be able to retrieve the data? Alternatively, I can set up a web service that I could call from javascript in Captivate to store the user id and their language choice.

Which method is better, Method 1 or 2 or something else?

If method 1, can some one point me to some documentation on where to put the call to the LMS to get cmi.Launch_data and how can I get that value to be used by Captivate

Thanks in advance

Thanks

2 Comments
2020-12-31 18:51:46
2020-12-31 18:51:46

I’m from Canada so every time I designed a course with my former employer we were required by law to make the course available in both English and French (the two official languages). Instead of trying to manage a single course to include both languages we would File > Export Project Captions and Closed Captions and send the resulting file off for translations. While away for translations we made no modifications to the course.

Once the translation file was returned to us we would perform a Save As and then import the French version and save it once more to have two versions of the course. Our LMS would manage the login to already load the LMS in the primary language of all the users. When they would log into the LMS they would only see the version of the course in the language they were a native speaker of. Depending on your LMS custom reports could be generated that included both courses and certainly could report on which language learners were using.

We went back and forth on this issue for weeks but we decided that since the learners were already logging into the LMS and displaying their language of choice, it would be redundant to ask them about language a second time when launching the course.

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2020-12-31 08:43:53
2020-12-31 08:43:53

Although you gave a very long explanation, there are some details which may be also important:

  • How big is the course when you include all languages? It may be simply impossible because loading times become too long for the learners.
  • Does the LMS have an easy way to show user variables, because you will need the language choice to be stored in such a variable. Not all LMSs have such a way.
  • If you choose method 1, it is easier because the LMS will be used to manage the navigation to the proper language course. Again: you need to explore the functionality of the LMS. Personally I would prefer that method if possible.
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