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Defining a Lesson

You can define the properties for the lesson you create in the Course Editor.

Name

The Lesson name entered in the Lesson table is displayed. You can revise the name. This field is required.

Hidden Lesson

Select the checkbox to make the lesson hidden. A Hidden Lesson contains Practice and Learn (PAL) sequences that can be referenced by other lessons through the use of a Reference Sequence. When you return to the Lessons and Assessments tab in the Course editor, the lesson appears as hidden.

Additional Information

This is an optional field for the content developer to enter high level pedagogical guidelines about developing the Assessment.

Type

Display the Lesson type, for example, Core or Custom.

Description

Enter the Lesson description.

Objectives

Enter the purpose and goals of the Lesson.

Recommended Duration

This property lets you enter the recommended time for completing the Lesson.

Keywords

Enter labels for tagging content that are used for the content search in the Time To Know Teach ( DTP) application.  

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Working with a Lesson

You can define the lesson by providing the lesson name, lesson type, and standards.

Create the lesson in the Lesson table and the click the new entry to add properties and lesson objects. 

The Lesson and Assessment screen appears.

A Lesson is a complete entity of content material, based on a structure of Learning Objects (optional) and Sequences.

A Learning Object (LO) is an optional object used to group Sequences, and create a Lesson structure with defined instructional phases. For example: Warm Up, Engage, Explore, Practice, and so on. This setting is set by default.  To disable Learning Objects, clear the checkbox in the Course Settings tab.

A Sequence is an element used to build the pedagogical flow, which contains Informational Elements and Tasks. Sequences are activities that the student completes. They can be differentiated to support student performance levels.

Here is an example of a lesson with Learning Objects and Sequences:

Remainder in Division – Lesson

Warm Up – Division – Learning Object

Andy Learns to Divide – Sequence

Simple Division Practice – Sequence

Engage – Division – Learning Object

What's a Remainder? – Sequence

Andy Learns Division with Remainders - Sequence

Explore – Division – Learning Object

Division with Remainders Worksheet 1 –- Sequence

Division with Remainders Worksheet 2 – Sequence

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Customizing Players and Tasks

The publisher can now create a distinct look and feel by customizing tasks in the Interactive Sequence. On the Design Players page, a table is displayed, where the designer can customize or reset the task display to its default values. Values are saved in the Course Language Package file.

When the designer clicks Edit, the Edit Player page appears.

The Section dropdown menu displays the tasks and task elements that can be configured. When selecting a Section option, the related configuration properties are shown.

After selecting the property options, click the Apply button to display the change on the main screen. Note that to display the changes, you have to enable the objects by clicking them. To revert to the original property option, click the Reset button.

When done, click Save and then Close. The players table displays that last modified date. You can click the Reset button on the table to revert all changes made to the default values.

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Customizing Publisher Styles and Effects

Styles are categorized into system and publisher styles. Publisher styles can be edited and applied to different text editor components in the system.

On the Design Properties pane, Styles and Effects links are available to display the predefined default paragraph and character styles for the embedded font.

When the content developer clicks Styles, the styles for the embedded font are displayed.

Styles

When clicking the Edit button, the Style Editor appears and provides complete CSS-editing capability, such as font, weight, and size selection, superscript and subscript, background and text color, text alignment, writing direction, line spacing, indentation, and so on.

The Reference dropdown menu provides a list of style formats that you can use as a reference for modifying paragraph text.

You can view the details by clicking the Details arrow.

On the Properties pane, you can click the Details arrow to view the font details for the selected style. When you make a change, the style details are automatically updated.

Effects

When clicking Effects, The Publisher's Effect page appears and provides the default character style name and preview of defined effects that can be applied to selected text. The publisher can add, and edit styles.

Click the Add button to enter the new effects name, select the style the new effect is based on, and apply changes through the use of the toolbar icons.

Click Edit to modify existing effects in the Effects Editor.

You can select a style to preview. Click the Details arrow to display the font characteristics.

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Embedding Non-Browser Fonts

The publisher can embed non-browser fonts or fonts to use with agnostic devices. The designer creates the font files, which includes font metadata, the font family, the subtype, font styles, and so on.

Font files must be defined as a web font to run properly on a browser. For content to run on different browsers, the designer must embed the following font types:

Embedded Open Type (eot)

Scalable Vector Graphics (svg)

True Type Font (ttf)

Web Open Font Format (woff)

To embed a font:

Click the Design tab, the Embedded Content Fonts table shows the browser default fonts. If the Fonts section is not displayed, click Fonts.

Click the Add button to upload and embed a font family or individual font.

In the Embed Fonts dialog box, click the Upload Fonts button to upload a group of fonts in a Zip or RAR file or a single font file.

Select the Legal Disclaimer checkbox and then click Embed.

Click Close.

The uploaded font family or individual font appears in the Embedded Content Fonts table.

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Displaying Applets Inserted in the Course

This tab displays applets inserted into a Sequence task, which is a mini-application used to present pedagogical concepts.

This screen shows the following information:

Thumbnail image of the attached applet

Applet name

Applet version

The Update button appears when there is a newer version of the applet. Updating the applet is optional. When you update the applet, all lessons in the course are locked until the process is complete.

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Importing a Lesson

Learn how to import lessons from another course.

To import a lesson from the CGS database or from the same course:

Select the Content Level or Lessons tab. On the Course toolbar, click the Import button.

All courses are displayed in the list. Click the course to show all related lessons. Select a lesson and then click Import.

The imported lesson appears in the Lesson table in either the selected Content Level or Lessons tab.

Lesson with Applets

Here are the following behavior rules when importing a lesson with applets:

If the imported lesson has an applet that doesn't exist in the course, the lesson is imported and the applet is added to the course with the latest applet version.

If there is an applet version mismatch between the imported lesson and the course, where the applet version in the course is more recent, the system automatically updates the applet version for the imported lesson. 

Lesson with Differentiated Sequence Levels

Here are the following behavior rules when importing a lesson with differentiated sequence levels:

When importing a lesson that does not have differentiated sequence levels to a course that does, the system allows you to import the lesson.

When importing a lesson with differentiated sequence definitions to a course that does not, the system prompts the your to select a single differentiated level to import and then changes all differentiated sequences to interactive, based on the selected differentiated level.

When importing a lesson with the same differentiated sequence levels as the course, where the only difference is the default level, the system ignores the lesson's default level and applies the course's default level.

When importing a lesson with a different differentiated sequence levels than the course, the system prompts you to match the lesson's differentiated sequence levels with those of the course. If the lesson has more levels than the course, the levels that have no corresponding match are deleted.

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Moving or Deleting a Lesson

These actions are for lessons and assessments.

Deleting a Lesson

To delete a lesson:

Select a lesson.

Click  the Delete button.

Copying or Cutting a Lesson on the Same Content Level

To copy and paste a Lesson in the Lesson table:

Select a lesson.

Click the Copy or Cut button on the toolbar.

Move to the Lesson row where you want to paste the lesson. The lesson is added after this row.

Click the Paste button.

Moving a Lesson on the Same Content Level

To move a Lesson in the Lesson table:

Select the lesson that you want to move.

Drag and drop the lesson where you want it to appear in the table.

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Creating Lessons and Assessments

A Lesson is an instructional segment of content, based on optional Learning Objects and Sequences.

An Assessment is an instructional content, based on Sequences, that is either manually or automatically checked. Some examples are tests, practice tests, activities with self-evaluation, and so on.

You can create all Lessons for the Course. If there is no Content Level hierarchy, you can go to the Lessons tab.

Click the new entries to display the lesson or assessment properties. 

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Assigning Standards to the Content Level

Click the Standards tab to assign standards to the Table of Contents level.

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Adding Content Level Description and Lessons

This section describes the properties that are available for the content level.

Name

Enter the content level name. An ellipsis appears in the Time To Know Teacher (DTP) application, when the name exceeds 30 characters.

Description

Enter keywords for tagging content that are used for a content search.

Keywords

Enter keywords for tagging content that is used for a content search.

Lessons

Enter lesson information, if appropriate. You should define lessons only for the lowest content level. Higher content levels, such as a unit, won't have lessons.

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Adding or Deleting Content Levels

You can add, delete, copy, cut, reorder, and rename content levels.

Creating a New Content Level

To create a new content level:

On the Course toolbar, click the Add Level  button.

The Content Level entry appears.

To create additional content levels of the same hierarchy, select the content level above and click Add Level.

You can create lower content levels by selecting a Content Level entry and click Add Level.

Note that the maximum number of content levels you can create depends on the number defined in the Content Hierarchy field.

Deleting a Content Level

To delete a content level:

On the Content Level pane, select a Course level.

On the Course toolbar, click Delete Level or press the Delete key on your keyboard.

Cut and Paste Content Level

To cut and paste a content level:

Select a content level.

On the Course toolbar, click the Cut button.

Select the parent level and click Paste .

Copy and Paste Content Level

To copy and paste content level:

Select a content level.

On the Course toolbar, click the Copy button.

Select the parent level and click Paste.

Reorder Content Levels

To reorder content level:

Select and drag the content level that you want to reorder to the correct location.

Renaming a Content Level

To rename a content level:

Click on a content level and change the name in the designated field on the Content Level pane.

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Creating a Table of Contents

The Table of Contents is composed of flexible hierarchy levels that can be customized for each Course.

The Table of Contents can contain up to six levels, with the root level as the Course. The levels only represent the hierarchy and don’t provide additional functionality. You can enter the maximum number of hierarchy levels in the Settings tab.

The name of each content element should only include a name without any additional identifiers such as level type (for example unit or chapter) or a serial number. The number of characters for a hierarchy level is not limited. However, it is recommended to keep the names short, so as to be displayed in the player. Labels in Time To Know Teach are limited to 30 characters. Any label that exceeds this value displays an ellipsis.

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Publishing a Lesson to SCORM

Time to Know Create lets you publish an individual lesson in SCORM format to run on Learning Management System applications that support SCORM.

In the Publish wizard, click the Selected Lesson publishing method.

When this option is clicked, SCORM 2004 is automatically selected.

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Publishing a Course

This action releases the Course to market. When you click Publish , a dialog box appears where you can enter a description and release notes for the published version. When the publish process is done, the Published Version number changes and the New Version number reverts to zero. The published Course is stored in the Global Content Repository (GCR) and is available to use with Time To Know Teach. Note that not all Create features are available when working with the Published Version.

To publish a course:

On the Course Editor toolbar, click the Publish icon.

You can publish the Entire Course to the Catalog (Global Content Repository). For an independent player, publish the entire course or lesson as a SCORM (2004) zip file.

Select a Purpose option and enter the description and release note information. When done, click Publish. The Publish Indicator message appears.

The following publishing options are:

Publish to Quality Assurance - This option is used to send the Course to Quality Assurance. This is not considered an official publishing. The version number does not change to indicate a new version.

Publish to the Cloud, Production, or DTP - This option is an official publishing. The version number does change to indicate a published version.

After publishing the Course to production, you can no longer change the element structure. You cannot add or delete elements like Sequences and Tasks, or change the Lesson order in the Table of Contents. However, you can add new Content Levels, Lessons, and Tasks.

Publishing Notifications

When the content generator publishes a course, the Publish Notification icon displays the number of published courses. The icon changes to reflect whether the course was published successfully or not.

When clicking the icon, the following publishing details appear:

Course name

Publish status – such as Publish succeeded, Publish failed, and Waiting in queue

Actions – such as Cancel and Clear

Publishing to SCORM Download

When the publish process has been completed, the user receives a notification that the publish process was successful and the SCORM file is available for downloading.

When the content developer clicks on the Download button, a zip file is created and stored in the Download directory of the client device.

Publishing Failed

When the publish process is not successful, the system displays a Published Failed message on the Publishing Status message box with a link to display Details. When this link is selected, the Publish Details box appears to provide information about the missing assets, and course or lesson field options that are required for the course to be successfully published.

Revising a Published Course

After a course had been published to production, you can freely make changes for a course that has been published.

All Time To Know Create functionality is available except for the following:

Content language cannot be changed.

Table of Content levels cannot be deleted unless the level was added after the last publishing.

Lessons that appear in the Lesson and Assessment table cannot be deleted, unless the lesson was added after the last publishing.

Publishing Locked Lessons

When publishing a course, a new pop-up appears to notify you about lessons that are locked for editing and cannot be published. You can click Yes for the system to publish the course by using the last saved version of these lessons stored on the server.

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Generating a New Edition and Course Version

All versioning actions refer to the Course development life-cycle. The course version displays the New Edition, Published Version, and New Version.

New Edition

This action is for major Course upgrades. When you click New Edition , a new Course with the same name is created to let you maintain the previous edition, while you work on the new one. The new Course version automatically changes to the next edition version. The published and working version numbers revert back to zero. For example: 1.7.12 to 2.0.0. Note that you can only publish a new edition. You cannot publish the same edition twice.

When you click the New Edition button, the following message appears.

Click Create to generate a New Edition.

Here is an example, where you can see the Published Version and New Edition.

New Version

A new version is created only upon publishing the Course to Quality Assurance. After publishing the Course, the New Version is promoted by 1. After publishing, it is no longer possible to access the previous work version.

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Selecting the Standards Package for the Course

The Standards tab lets you select the standards package and to assign specific standards to the overall course.

Selecting Standards and Skills Packages

The Standards Package field lets you define the standards and skills you can tag for Lessons, Sequences, and Tasks.

Click the Add button to select one or more pedagogical standards and proprietary skill sets for the content, for example Common Core State Standards, New York State Standards, Texas State Standards, or Skills for English (ESL/EFL).

You can click the Delete button to remove a standard that you had previously added.

When you delete a standards package, the system warns you that selected standards are also removed.

If you have previously selected a standards package that has been updated, the system prompts you to update the package by displaying the Update button. You are not required to update the standard package.

Selecting Specific Course Standards

After you have selected your standards packages, you can assign specific standards to the overall course. Click the Add Standards button to select standards. On the Select Standards dialog box, select the standards to assign to the course and then click OK.