LMS Getting Started Guide
Administrate’s Learning Management System (LMS) allows you to create a professional online training portal to deliver e-learning your way. From setting up a virtual classroom, to delivering videos and assessing student pass rates, Administrate’s LMS does it all. Administrate provides the LMS platform: you’ll provide your own eLearning content in SCORM . If you don’t have your own content authoring provider or tools there are some links in the Resources section of this page to help you get started.
To access your LMS, please go to:
https://[your_Administrate_domain].administratelms.com
For example, if you usually access Administrate through e1training.administrateapp.com , then your students will be able to access the student portal through e1training.administratelms.com .
If you need to see how your LMS will look to your students, please go to the Event in Administrate, and click 
.
This will open a preview of your LMS Event as it would appear to the student. A bright warning bar at the top of the page will advise you that you’re in preview mode.
You can preview how your LMS will look by clicking Preview LMS in the Event’s screen.
There are five sections to this guide:
- Basic Setup is an end-to-end tutorial of how to setup an LMS event and add students - the basic minimum for getting your LMS up and running.
- Configuration and Tweaks illustrates how you can present your LMS in your company or brand image, informing students of company-related or LMS-related information, etc.
- Monitoring Student Progress allows you to view students’ status on the LMS - from whether they have logged in yet, have they started any materials, how much they have completed, and their scores so far.
- Resources is a library of resources that will help you create your LMS outside of this guide.
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) is a selection of frequent queries from our support desk and how to solve them.
Basic Setup
This tutorial will walk you through the steps of setting up your LMS with Administrate and enrol students on to them. This is the bare minimum function, however you will be able to customise everything later.
Before creating an LMS Event, there are some prerequisite criteria to be met:
- You have setup a Course Template
- You have some Contacts to add to the LMS Event
- Be familiar with creating an Event
- As Locations is a mandatory field for setting up any Event, you may wish to add a Location called ‘Online’
- Have a SCORM -compliant file ready. SCORM content is typically wrapped in a .ZIP file (however, just because it’s a .ZIP file doesn’t automatically mean it’s a SCORM file). If you don’t have one, check out Resources
There are 4 steps to get started on your LMS setup:
1. Create LMS Event
First, we must create an Event .
When we create a new Event, or edit one, for LMS, the following differences should be noted:
-
The Learning Mode should be Blended (if wish to combine your LMS with traditional classroom or use Sessions ) or Self-Paced(LMS) (exclusively LMS).
-
Set the LMS Start Date and LMS End Date (LMS End Date is optional for Self-Paced(LMS) events.)
-
For Self-Paced(LMS) events, you can set the Access Duration, which is the default number of days new students will have access to this LMS Event (default is 0, which is unlimited access).
Set your Learning Mode and default Access Duration for student’s LMS access.
Click 
to save your LMS Event.
2. Upload Course Content
Your Course Content is uploaded through the Outline tab of your Event.
In addition to SCORM-compliant files, you may upload non-SCORM files, such as PDFs or DOCs. These will appear in the LMS as downloadable content. Administrate’s LMS also allows you to upload video files that can be played in your browser. You’ll need to specify how Administrate interprets your Course Content for it to work properly.
Please note how you upload your Course Content will look in the LMS. During any edits, click to get an idea how your Course Content will be displayed to your students.
How Course Content looks from Administrate
How Course Content looks from the LMS
The following are direct links to the sequences described:
- Add LMS Content from your computer , or from your DMS (Document Management System).
- Edit the Content to interpret the kind of Content uploaded (e.g. if you uploaded a SCORM file, then you need to specify that it is a SCORM file).
- Add Separators (headers that help separate your Course Content).
- Rearrange your Course Content and Separators by dragging and dropping (see animation below).
You can reorder your LMS Content as you’d like them to appear to your students.
Please see LMS Content for full documentation.
3. Set up Communication Triggers
Note
The Communication Triggers are set up through the Control Panel, which is Super User access only. Please make sure you have the correct User Role before continuing.
Communication Triggers should be set up so that when you add students to your LMS Event they’ll’ be automatically emailed with a link to complete their registration. This is essentially for them to confirm their email address through the link, and to set up their password.
You can create your own Email Template .
Setting up the LMS Communication Trigger is very simple:
- Create an Email Sending Address (if you’ve never used the Communication Triggers before).
- Create/Edit an LMS access Email Template
- Create an LMS trigger using the LMS access Email Template
Create/Edit an LMS access email template
To access the Email Templates, navigate: 
→ Templates (in the Communications section).
You’ll be provided with some commonly used Templates, which you’ll be free to edit.
Let’s use the LMS Login Template, click on it to open for viewing/editing. If you don’t have this Template, click 
and select Support Desk to let us know.
Edit the content of this email to suit your needs, e.g. the salutation, the email signature, etc.
You can select Merge Fields , using the 
. The most important Merge Field to have for your LMS access template is the setup link, which is:
{{ delegate.lms_setup_link }}
If you delete it, you can recover it from accessing then selecting LMS Setup Link:
Select LMS Setup Link from the Merge Field Picker
This dynamically creates a unique link for your students to verify their email address and set up a new password for them to start using the LMS link.
Once you are happy with your LMS access Email Template, click 
.
Now you can use this Email Template to create the Trigger.
Create an LMS Trigger using the LMS access Email Template
The Trigger is the situation and criteria to be fulfilled for a communication to be sent. In this case, we want to send the Email Template created/edited above for every time a student is registered onto the LMS Event, as soon as possible so they can start their eLearning.
To access the Triggers, navigate: → Triggers (in the Communications section).
-
Click
. -
- Follow the on-screen instructions, paying particular attention to:
-
-
- Target: you can select a single Event or multiple Courses for this Trigger to be sent for
-
- LMS Enabled: select LMS Only if you use the Course Template for non-LMS Events too.
-
-
Automatic: No - this way you can check your communications before they go out: you can set this to Yes once you’re satisfied with how they are sending to your students.
-
Click
once you’re satisfied with your Trigger settings.
For full documentation, see the Triggers Documentation .
Now that the Communication Trigger has been created, it’s time to add some students to your LMS Events.
4. Add Students
Note
Every LMS student must have a unique email address . They cannot share email addresses (e.g. a company’s general enquiry email address). To resolve duplicate email addresses, please edit the Contact’s email1 field or use the Potential Duplicates Tool to merge Contact’s information together.
Please follow the instructions for adding a student from the Event’s screen .
In the Event’s screen, Students tab, you can click on any student’s row to reset their password.
Click on any student to see options and reset their password.
Once you have added a student, click on the Communications tab to see their communication triggers status. For students who have just been registered, you’ll have to wait until the Next Priority Run has completed (they run every 5 minutes) before the Communication Trigger we set up earlier gets picked up.
Click on the colour Trigger Status to open an Email Preview window to check your communications before they go out. Click 
if everything is good. You can go back to your Communication Trigger and set it to Automatic if you’re 100% positive these communications are what you require.
Click on the colour Trigger Status to see the Email Preview to send communications.
See also different Email Trigger Status .
Congratulations, you have now completed the basics of creating an LMS Event and adding students. Please continue reading to learn how to customise and tweak your LMS Event.
Configuration and Tweaks
Configure the look and feel of your LMS to promote your company’s brand, display logos, link to your products and provide real-time news using web feeds.
From here you can configure your:
- LMS Settings : your overall LMS look and function;
- Course Settings : your course-specific settings, that will be used for all Events created with it;
- Event Settings : your LMS Event-specific settings.
LMS Settings
Note
The LMS customisation tools are set up through the Control Panel, which is Super User access only. Please make sure you have the correct User Role before continuing.
Administrate’s LMS Login Screen
For configuring the LMS Login page, LMS homepage, use CSS (for advanced design), and other settings, you’ll need to go to LMS configuration options:
Navigate: → LMS
All the options are explained on this page, and there is further documentation available for our LMS setting on the Control Panel . Some of these options are for the LMS Student Portal . Here are the direct links for the Control Panel Settings:
Course Settings
This section lets you configure your LMS Event information. These will apply to all the Events created from the Course Template .
Below is an example of how your LMS Event will appear in the LMS.
You can set your LMS Event’s text for your LMS.
In this example, you’d be able to setup a picture in the Event Settings . The text can be edited through the LMS Course Summary .
Other settings for the Course include:
- LMS Course Resources : useful and relevant links
LMS Course Summary
The LMS Summary can be edited through the Course Template . This text will be displayed on the LMS Homepage under the relevant Event. It can be used to introduce the LMS Event and provide Event-specific information to the student. Text can be entered as either plain text or HTML.
You can edit the LMS Summary (near the end of the page) from the Course Template:
Navigate: Events → Course Templates → <your_course_name>
Editing the LMS Course Summary
LMS Course Resources
These are links to external websites that are relevant to this specific course. They can be additional study resources for the subscribed course, rather than the ‘Useful Links’ on the LMS homepage. Links added will appear in the Resources section of the LMS homepage.
How Course Resources would appear on the LMS
You can edit the LMS Course resources (near the end of the page) from the Course Template:
Navigate: Events → Course Templates → <your_course_name>
Links should be entered with the name of the link, then a | (pipe) symbol on a UK keyboard, then the address. Here are a couple of examples:
Administrate | http://www.getadministrate.com
Email Support | mailto: support@getadministrate.com
LMS Event Settings
These are settings which are specific to each individual LMS Event. These can only be accessed once an LMS Event has been created. Changes made to these will not affect any other LMS Event, or creation of other LMS Events.
You can edit your LMS options in the Event’s Setup tab.
From here you can set a:
You can set your LMS Event’s image for your LMS.
LMS Event Image
You can store an image for each LMS Event. In our example, it’s a picture of the pencil, graph, and calculator. This will be displayed next to the listed Event on the LMS homepage and also next to the Title when it is launched. Images of 300x185 dimensions, in JPG or PNG are recommended.
- In your Event, in the Setup tab, click
. - In the Learning Management System section, click
. - Select Existing from DMS if you already have an image uploaded previously, or Upload New File to select a new image from your computer.
- Click
to upload. - Click to save the Event.
LMS Pass Mark
You can set the pass mark for any quizzes in your SCORM. This is a percentage of the correct questions answered, so if 70% is the pass mark, type ‘70’. Remember to save your Event settings by clicking .
Monitoring Student Progress
See at a glance your students’ progress in the Event’s screen.
Within Administrate there are various ways you can check your students’ progress:
- LMS Overall Progress
- LMS Student’s Activity Log
- Student History Report : a detailed breakdown of your students’ interaction with the Course Content
Click tools to access the Student History Report.
LMS Overall Progress
You can view whether a student has used the LMS and how far they have completed the Course Content through the Event’s screen.
- Go to the Event’s screen, Students tab.
- Click on LMS.
See at a glance your students’ progress in the Event’s screen.
LMS Student’s Activity Log
In the Contact record of the student, there’s a Student tab which shows you their LMS activity, such as when they started a Course Content, when they downloaded a document, when they logged in, etc.
- Go to the Contact’s screen of the student
- Click on Student
See what a particular student has been doing on the LMS in their Contact’s screen.
Student History Report
The Student History Report provides a breakdown per student of the Course Content they’re accessing, when they last accessed it, how long they have spent on it, and whether they were completed. In addition, if the student accessed a quiz, you’ll see whether the student has passed the quiz and the score they achieved.
To access this:
- In the Event’s screen, Student tab, click
in the Students’ section. - Select Student History Report.
Click tools to access the Student History Report.
An example of the Student History Report:
An example Student History Report detailing use of Course Content.
A Note on Videos
In order for a video to be marked as complete, the student must have met the following criteria:
- The video will be marked as complete even if the user has missed 1% of the video rounding down to the nearest second.
- This is capped to a maximum of 30 seconds missed.
For example:
- One minute video - The student can miss 0 seconds
- Two minute video - 1 seconds
- 30 minute video - 18 seconds
- One hour video - 30 seconds
- Five hour video - 30 seconds
The score reflects the portion of the video that was watched - a few examples follow below:
ResourcesThis section will provide you with helpful resources for creating your LMS. Administrate is not affiliated with any of the external links provided and not responsible for the content they provide.
Colours
Adobe Color CC - Adobe’s colour wheel is a highly customisable web app to create colour schemes and themes according to your specifications. Remember to use HEX values.
Paletton - Another colour scheme designer for creating colour combinations that work well together.
CSS
Bootswatch - CSS examples
w3schools - Reference guide to write your own CSS.
CSS Zen Garden - A demonstration of what can be accomplished visually through CSS-based design.
LESS Style Editor - this will allow your web designers to create custom themes using LESS .
Default CSS file - download this to overwrite any installed CSS themes.
SCORM
Elucidat - Professional and easy to use eLearning authoring.
SCORM Cloud - Checks your files for SCORM-compatibility, as well as comprehensive information on SCORM. A free account supports up to 100mb of content and a certain amount of users.
Creating SCORM Content - Comprehensive guide to creating SCORM content, including suggestions on packages (provided by Moodle).
How to Convert PowerPoint to SCORM Compliant Course - Resources for converting commonly used PowerPoint to SCORM-compliant material.
29 Free eLearning Tools - Summary of free content authoring solutions.
Focus Educational Software Ltd - Some free samples of SCORM files.
Comments
0 comments
Article is closed for comments.