Here's the deal. We've got a bunch of test questions that have been exported from another system ... and they aren't in a SCORM compliant format.
Even if they were, we really need to get all of this data into a real learning content authoring tool.
The incumbent tool is Articulate, and as any search of the Articulate support site shows, there's no way to actually import a test question into Articulate.
Since we've got a lot of data that we'd prefer not to re-key, my question is, what's a good course authoring tool that can generate a SCORM 2004 assessment, and has a good import from flat file function for its question data?
Googling isn't really getting me too far.
Thanks!
SCORM is used to create SCOs (shareable content objects, aka 'lessons' or 'courses') which may optionally contain questions, but SCORM isn't a quiz/assessment framework. Because it isn't an assessment framework, there is no importer for turning an XML file into a SCORM assessment.
If you can't get Articulate to work for you, then you'll probably need to roll your own SCORM SCO and build a quiz system for it (with the ability to import your custom XML files). Ideally, each quiz question would be set up as an interaction (using cmi.interactions) in SCORM.
You may want to look at some open-source SCORM SCO building tools, such as eXe and Reload, though I'm not sure how helpful they'll be for you.
Sorry I don't know of any easier solutions.
EDIT:
BTW there's a workaround for importing XML into in Articulate: import the XML containing the questions into Quizmaker 2, then import your Quizmaker 2 presentation into Quizmaker '09. Not the easiest, but still easier than building your own SCO. See http://www.articulate.com/forums/articulate-quizmaker/3239-securing-quizmaker-xml-file.html
Disclaimer - I haven't worked with IMS-QTI personally, I just know of it.
You may want to take a look at IMS-QTI, and see if that format would work for you. IMS-QTI stands for IMS Question and Test Interoperability. There may be other formats, but IMS-QTI is the only one I'm aware of, and I'm sure there would be tools out there which support it.
That would change your search to finding a tool which supports IMS-QTI, and you may have better luck with that. :-)
There are some general examples of what kinds of questions it supports in the implementation guide.
Hope that helps!
I don't think Captivate or Articulate supports question import in any easy workflow. Your honest fastest route might be to author your own SCORM package format that will import questions from XML or JSON. Then write a converter to put your CSV content into XML or JSON. There are lots of SCORM API wrappers out there to use, and you'll have more control over any issues you find with LMS vs authorware interpretations of SCORM if you just build your own player.
This feature is now available in Claro:
http://feedback.dominknow.com/knowledgebase/articles/312552-how-do-i-import-test-questions-from-excel
Related
Can someone supply an example or a link to an example that signs an existing pdf using itextsharp 5.4.4? Ideally keeping pdf/a conformity of the pdf? Thank you.
Edit: I understand the question looks as if I did not use google etc. BUT, new versions of itextsharp contain completely rewritten code for signing as well as other functions, making the existing examples non-functional. Also, itextsharp started using different names for methods eg. instead of createSignature one has CreateSignature, instead of getSignatureAppearance one seems to have SignatureAppearance etc. making the port from java examples a real nightmare. Also the samples in the source code itself are in java not c#. There is really nowhere else I can go.
Please read http://itextpdf.com/book/digitalsignatures
The examples are in Java, but they were also ported to C#. You can find the C# examples here. I didn't vote your question down, but... the first place to go when you have a question about iText should probably be http://itextpdf.com
The book I refer to (I'm the author) as well as the new examples are on the learn page.
I'm writing an importer for a CMS to import tags from various platforms/sources. I want to be able to import tags from WordPress, Moveable Type, Blogger; basically all of the big boys.
Are there any generic, standard tag export formats?
Based on your question, I'd assume you're looking for a common format that all of the big boys export to, which can then be consumed by your application. From what I can see, WordPress eXtended RSS appears to be pseudo-supported amongst WordPress, Movable Type, and Blogger. You might want to consider reading here for more information:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Importing_Content
This link does double duty for your question, since it also provides a comprehensive list of common blog engines, their export assumptions, and what formats you should consider supporting.
As for the WXR file format itself, it seems to be quite difficult to find a specification for in both Google and WordPress' own search database. Here's the most relevant result I could find:
http://olalindberg.com/blog/2008/12/13/write-your-own-wxr-file-to-migrate-custom-cms-to-wordpress
Good luck!
I need advice/suggestions.
At my place of work - we have a large data set.
We would like to server the data up as editable html pages.
(Its mostly lists of simple text)
We would like to add data, change it's order, update text etc...from the editable pages.
It has to have a pretty low bar for usability and WYSIWYG is a must.
The folks who will edit are not programmers by a long shot.
We are not sure Wiki will work.
It might have to do - but not sure.
Changes have to be tracked and written back into the DB
I am thinking some kind of open source CMS might work?
Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal - something that can get us up and running pretty quickly.
I really am open to suggestions - not sure where to begin on this one.
Thanks all
If you don't have someone available right now with expertise with a specific CMS, it will not be quick to set up at all. One good reason is that you'd have to import all of your existing data into whatever form the CMS supports: this is a task for someone who has done it before. On the other hand, if you can pull that off, some of the built in WYSIWYG editors are quite easy to use, with some systems you get versioning and author information for free etc. I'm speaking mostly with the eZ Publish CMS in mind, although it's probably true for other systems.
I would make a simple CMS site that uses the Ajax control toolkit HTML Editor and perform updates to the database on postback.
Here is the link to the Editor example
http://www.asp.net/ajax/ajaxcontroltoolkit/Samples/HTMLEditor/HTMLEditor.aspx
CMS Made Simple (http://www.cmsmadesimple.org) is very easy to set up and use. You do need to understand xhtml and javascript for the theme whacking, but once it's set up it has been trouble free. See my http://www.ConvinceProject.com as an example. It is MUCH easier to use than Drupal and appears to be more stable. I've had Drupal crash when installing security updates to modules, for example. It gives you full access to the header metatags, has fully integrated php and smarty tags, seems quite complete.
AFA importing, this is all mysql-based, although it can use others. If you have a web-whacking coder, pages can be 'scraped' and stuffed if it's more than cut and paste will do.
Lots of us can do it, it's not hard.
If I understand you correctly, it seems like you just need a web-based GUI for editing your DB. Honestly it would probably be faster to just roll your own in the language most familiar to you. There are many fine WYSIWYG editors out there that you can wrap around a text field, such as http://ckeditor.com/.
On the the other hand if you're hoping to solve this problem with DB skills and not do any web dev it may indeed be easier to find a simple CMS. ModX and SimpleCMS comes to mind. Joomla, Drupal and WP all come with so many out of the box features you'd have to strip out - look for something that starts fairly simple. Drupal in the right hands could do this, it has tools for importing/exporting to external DBs but the learning curve is pretty steep. Be aware that some CMSes do strange things with entry data...you may have to look for a text field inside a stored array (Drupal) instead of stored as a straight text field.
I have several copies of the same PDF file. These copies have annotations in it (Rect type with pop-up comments).
I want to know if I can get all these annotations from these copies and aggregate them into a single master copy using CAM::PDF (or another free tool).
an example to illustrate:
I have file1_userA.pdf and file1_userB.pdf. They are both annotated.
I want to generate file1_allusers.pdf aggregating annotations from both files file1_userA.pdf and file1_userB.pdf.
ps: I have the original un-annotated copy.
-- EDIT (Aug, 4):
I have developed an extension for CAM::PDF, namely CAM::PDF::Annot. It 'use base's CAM::PDF and adds extra functionality regarding Drawing Markup Annotations.
I am in the process of tidying up the code so I can post it to CPAN.
-- EDIT (Aug, 19)
I have finally submitted it to PAUSE, but I am running into some world writable related problems...
In any case, if anyone is interested in taking a look at the code, I will try and make it available somewhere... until then, just PM me and I will mail it to you.
geez, i'm getting such a thrill posting a module to cpan... i found the joy of working in working with Perl...
best regards,
Donato Azevedo
I'm the author of CAM::PDF. I have built only very limited support for annotations to date, specifically just for form field filling. So, no, that's not a supported feature today. The feature you describe is very interesting, though, and I can imagine that others would use it too, so I'd be interested in discussing it further with you offline.
I am not quite sure how to implement my the code after generating the skeleton. I didnt use const only, i do have main files and i tried several c(++) versions along with c# and still i dont understand. I dont think any of them can load a file and parse test files (i know gold builder can parse my test files).
The Kessels C skeleton looks complete. Buts not, it uses a struct and members (Token->Reduction->TokenStack) yet when i search TokenStack i cant find a place where it is defined, only used. I feel like i am missing something. I cant find Kessels other code anywhere.
My question is how do i implement my body? (is there another skeleton you prefer), are there any other downloads i overlooked? i tried looking at these downloads but i didnt understand what to do with them. It also looked more like example source code then a template http://www.devincook.com/goldparser/engine/c/index.htm
PS: I wouldnt mind doing a C# implementation, i am better with c(++).
I've used the Calitha C# Engine. Let me know (by posting a comment to this answer) if you still want an answer, which I can answer using my knowledge of this C# engine.
My question is how do i implement my body? (is there another skeleton you prefer), are there any other downloads i overlooked?
The Calitha Engine download includes source for the Engine, and a sample program (named "TextCalc") which illustrates using it.