Adobe Presenter 6

Use presentations with a learning management system

Presentations created with Presenter integrate especially well with the Connect Enterprise Server learning management system (LMS), but you can use Presenter presentations with any LMS. If you are going use a presentation with a third-party LMS, the following sections explain how to create a manifest file and how to customize LMS settings.

Note: If you select the Connect Enterprise Server or AICC option when setting reporting options, four AICC course structure files are created: presenter.au, presenter.crs, presenter.cst, and presenter.des. The files are created with default values, but the values can be edited manually. For more information, see the AICC website at www.aicc.org.

Creating a SCORM manifest file

If you want to package a Presenter presentation as an e‑learning course that can be administered and launched from a SCORM 1.2 or 2004 conformant learning management system, you may need a manifest file.

Note: If you are publishing to Connect Enterprise Server, a manifest file is automatically created named breeze-manifest.xml. This XML file is used to upload the presentation into the Connect Enterprise Server. You do not need to follow the procedure below to create a SCORM manifest file.

The manifest file that Presenter creates is named imsmanifest.xml and contains references to all content resources. The XML file uses predefined XML tags to describe the package components, structure, and special behaviors. The file works behind the scenes to properly integrate presentations with your learning management system and track quiz data.

  1. In PowerPoint, open a presentation (PPT file).
  2. From the Adobe Presenter menu, select Quiz Manager.
  3. Click the Reporting tab.
  4. Select Enable Reporting for This Presentation.
  5. Under Learning Management System (LMS), select SCORM.
  6. Click Manifest.
  7. Set the SCORM Version by selecting 1.2 or 2004 from the pop‑up menu.
  8. Set the following manifest options:
    Identifier
    (Required) The identifier is used by the LMS to identify different manifests. A default identifier based on the name of your Presenter presentation is automatically added to this text box. You can change the identifier at any time by selecting the text and typing in new text.

    Title
    (Required) The title can be viewed by students using the LMS. A default title based on the name of your Presenter presentation is automatically added to this text box. You can change the title at any time by selecting the text and typing in new text.

    Description
    (Required) Text used by the LMS to describe different courses to users. A default description based on the name of your Presenter presentation is automatically added to this text box. You can edit the description at any time.

    Version
    (Optional) The version specifies a number that can be used to differentiate manifests with the same identifier.

    Duration
    (Optional) Select this option to specify the approximate time it takes to work with this particular Presenter presentation. Set the time in the following format: hh:mm:ss.

    Subject
    (Optional) Select this option to write a short description of the Presenter presentation using keywords or phrases.

    SCO Identifier
    (Required) The identifier is used by the LMS to identify different Shareable Content Objects (SCO). A default identifier based on the name of your Presenter presentation is automatically added to this text box. You can change the identifier at any time by selecting the text and typing in new text. (If you type the name of a new identifier, do not use any spaces in the name.)

    Title
    (Required) A default title based on the name of your Presenter presentation is automatically added to this text box. You can change the title at any time by selecting the text and typing in new text.

    Mastery Score
    (Optional) Select this option to specify a passing score for the Presenter presentation. The score should be a number between 0 and 100. Only Presenter presentations containing score-reporting objects such as quiz slides, text entry boxes, click boxes, or buttons, need to include a mastery score.

    Time Allowed
    (Optional) Select this option to specify the maximum amount of time allowed to complete the Presenter presentation.

    Time Limit Action
    (Optional) Select this option to specify the action that should be taken when the maximum time allowed to complete the presentation has been exceeded. From the pop‑up menu, select one of the four options: Exit with Message, Exit Without Message, Continue with Message, or Continue Without Message.

    Launch Data
    (Optional) Select this option to specify initialization data expected by the resource.

  9. Click OK.

    To see the manifest file, you should publish your Presenter presentation locally to create a Flash SWF file and a manifest file. If you used the default save location, you can use Windows Explorer to navigate to the SWF file and imsmanifest.xml file in My Documents\My Presentations\Name of Presentation folder. If you published the presentation to a different folder, navigate to that location to see the manifest file.

Set advanced learning management system settings

Presenter offers several advanced settings for how presentations integrate with learning management systems (LMS). The settings let you specify what data is sent to the LMS and how the data is formatted. Typically, these settings are used by advanced LMS users or requested by LMS administrators.

Note: The settings are used by third-party learning management systems; they do not affect the data sent from Presenter to Connect Enterprise Server.
  1. In PowerPoint, open a presentation (PPT file).
  2. From the Adobe Presenter menu, select Quiz Manager.
  3. Click the Reporting tab.
  4. Click Settings.
  5. In the LMS Customization Settings area, set the following options:
    Never Send Resume Data
    Select this option if you do not want resume data to be sent to your LMS. This might be useful if your LMS does not support resume data or another mechanism to prevent users from returning to a quiz they started, but did not finish, across multiple sessions. For example, a user completes 4 questions out of 8 and then closes the presentation. If you select this option, when the user opens the presentation again they must provide answers to all 8 questions—their answers from the first session are not remembered in the Presenter presentation. This option can be used when publishing and playing back content from any AICC or SCORM compliant learning management system.
    Note: Presentations that are part of a Connect Enterprise Server training course or curriculum are always automatically resumed. If the presentation is viewed using the Content tab, it is never resumed.

    Escape Version and Session ID
    This option is selected by default. Keep this option selected if you want Presenter to URL‑encode (escape) the version and session ID when sending data to an AICC compliant learning management system. This is useful if your learning management system does not accept URL‑encoded information for these fields. Deselect this option if you do not want to URL‑encode (escape) the version and session ID.

    Don’t Escape Characters
    This option lets you specify that Presenter should not URL‑encode (escape) the value fields in parameters when data is sent to an AICC compliant learning management system. In the text box, type in the characters (without any delimiters such as spaces or commas) that the learning management system does not want escaped. For example, if the LMS does not want any numbers escaped, type in 0123456789.

    Send Interval
    This option lets you specify how often slide data should be sent to the LMS. As a user views a presentation, information is sent to the LMS. For regular slides, the LMS is notified that the user viewed the slide and for question slides, information about the user response is sent to the LMS. Also, each time any kind of slide is viewed, the LMS records the slide number so that if a user quits and then opens the presentation later, they will return to the last slide they viewed. If you do not want information sent to the LMS for every slide in the presentation, you can change the Send Interval. For example, if you change the interval to 10, information will be sent to the LMS every 10 slides.
    Note: If you change the Send Interval to a number higher than one, users who quit before finishing the presentation may not be able to resume where they left off. For example, if the Send Interval is changed to 10 and a user quits after viewing 9 slides, when they open the presentation again, they start over at slide 1.

  6. Click OK to finish setting the custom LMS settings and close the Quiz Manager.