About Lessons

The Author > Lessonsmenu allows users with the Author permission for an organization level preview, print, create, copy and edit lessons for the company, division, or account that access had been granted. Authors can create lesson content from scratch or by converting existing PowerPoint presentations.

A lesson must be attached to a WBT training item before it can be previewed or assigned to a learner. The training item provides the curriculum and launching functionality and the lesson contains the content. While creating lessons, authors can also simultaneously create new WBT training items that will be attached to the new lesson preventing them from having to create the training item separately.

Note: A WBT course always has both a training item and a lesson. The Author menu is the only location in the LMS module where the content for WBT training items can be created or edited.

Lesson Design Recommendations

Best practices for lesson design are:

No more than five to seven topics for a lesson.
A lesson should not contain more than sixty cells total.
Prepare an outline of the content for the lesson.
Organize the cells into topics and prepare one to three key questions for each topic.

Lesson Design Options

The authoring tool gives authors the following design options:

Navigation bar style - Assortment of different backgrounds, buttons and placement locations (left, right, top or bottom). The navigation bar contains the following buttons:

Next, Previous - Allows learners to page through course.

Map - Shows all topics and pages in the course. When visible, learners can navigate to any page within the lesson.

Audio - Allows learner to turn audio on or off. When turned off, a red X is displayed on the audio icon.

Help - Displays the contact information, if any, for the lesson and provides instructions on how to navigate the lesson.

Exit - Allows learner to exit the lesson while automatically placing a bookmark where they stopped in the lesson.

Navigation bar functionality - Linear navigation or Free navigation. The course map button is hidden when Linear navigation has been selected but visible when Free navigation has been selected.

Page design theme - Provide design elements such as background, font style and layout for content.

Exhibits - Ability to attach one or more documents for learners to review, if desired.

Copyright information - Displayed copyright information, or other information entered in by the author on the bottom of each page.

Lesson Information Form View

When an author selects a lesson available through the Author > Lesson list, the Lesson Information form view will display the key fields, the toolbar, and tabs containing the configuration information for the lesson.

The Lesson Information form contains key fields that were used by the author to help configure the lesson. The key fields on the Lesson Information are described below.

Field	Description
Title	Descriptive name for the lesson that should be easily recognizable to the learner.
Lesson Code	A unique identifier for the lesson created by the author. Typically a combination of letters and numbers unique to the division lesson is created for.
Copyright/Footer	Displayed at the bottom of each cell in the lesson.
Navigation Style	Provides the author with various display options with different backgrounds, colors, buttons, and location for the navigation bar (left, right, top, bottom).
Linear Navigation	Default navigation for any new lesson. Requires the learner to play or view each page (cell) of the lesson from start to finish. Note: If a test is not attached to the training item for the lesson, a completion record is kept only upon exiting from the last page of the lesson.
Free Navigation	Displays lesson map for learners to navigate to any page (cell) in any topic of the lesson. Note: If selected, it is recommended to have a test attached to the training item for the lesson to discourage learners from jumping to the last page of the lesson and receiving credit without viewing all pages. Note: If using pre-test option, topics with one or more missed questions will be highlighted for review.
Question Feedback Audio	Allow author to select an audio feedback for the correct and incorrect answers in the question cells. The sound icon plays the selected audio.
Share Lesson	Allows authors in other divisions to view and copy the lesson, however, they cannot make any changes to the original lesson. Note: All lesson that have Share Lesson checked are displayed in the Author > Lesson menu, along with the lessons created by the division itself.
Audio Narration	Displays the audio button on the navigation bar when selected. This option should only be selected if lesson has audio.
Allow Learner to Print Lesson	Displays a Print Lesson link on the training launcher for learners to print the lesson. The learner can print the entire lesson without the question and remediation cells.
Import PowerPoint Slides as Images	Allows author to import a PowerPoint slides as image to republish a lesson in case of any changes to content. Note: This option is to be used if the PowerPoint file exceeds the 16 MB size limit for upload.
Upload a PowerPoint File	Allows author to upload a PowerPoint presentation to republish a lesson in case of any changes to content. Note: PowerPoint files cannot be larger than 16 MB for upload.

The Lesson Information form view displays three key tabs for authors to utilize when configuring the lesson. The tabs available through the lesson form view are described below.

Tab	Description
Details	Displays the Lesson Information form with key fields (described in table above).
Training Items	Displays the training items the lesson has been attached.
Exhibits	Allows author to attach one or more documents to provide additional information about the less content to learners. Note: An exhibit link will not be displayed for any lesson without an exhibit. Exhibit documents can reside on the company's local network or on the Internet.

The Lesson Information form view displays three unique buttons on the toolbar for authors to utilize when configuring the lesson. The buttons available on the toolbar through the lesson form view are described below.

Button	Description
Preview	Allows author to play the lesson as it will be displayed to learners. Note: Preview will not work for a lesson that is not attached to a training item.
Layout	Opens the layout editor and displays all topics, cells and content for the lesson. Note: An Author can only edit their own lessons, the options to edit a lesson will not appear if trying to edit someone else's lesson.
Copy	Allows authors to copy the selected lesson, including its complete layout. The user making the copy of the original lesson becomes the author of the copy and can edit the copy.

Lesson Layout

The lesson layout editor displays all topics, cells and content that comprise of the lesson. Lessons contain one or more topics and topics contain one or more cells. Each cell is one page of the lesson, therefore, when a leaner launches a lesson the first cell of the first topic is displayed. The learner will navigate through the lesson by selecting the buttons on the navigation bar. The topics and cell within them are displayed to learners when they select the Map button, if Free Navigation has been enabled by the author. A lesson can contain an unlimited number of topics and an unlimited number of cells of any type.

The layout editor is divided into three sections described below.

Tab	Description
Action Toolbar	Located at the top of the screen and contains the Topic, Cell and General editing options. Topic: Add - Allows author to add a new topic. The new topic is added after the selected topic. Delete - Deletes the selected topic and all cells associate to it. Rename - Displays a Dialog box to rename the topic. Cell: Add - Launches the Create Cell wizard to create a new cell. Cut - Deletes the selected cell but saves a copy in memory. Copy - Copies the selected cell. Paste - Pastes a copied cell below the selected cell. Delete - Deletes the cell. General: Fined and Replace - Allows author to search and replace a word or a phrase with another in the selected cell, topic, or entire lesson. Change Edit Number - Tracks minor revisions made to the selected lesson. Create Test - Extracts question cells, if any, to create a test using the same title as the lesson. Questions are listed under the same topics and attached to the same training item as the lesson. Print Lesson - Opens the entire lesson a new browser window to be printed.
Lesson Structure	Located on the left side of the screen displaying the structure list of topics and cells in the lesson. Cells and the icon representing the cell type within a topic are displayed when a topic is expanded. There are three different cell types: Display, Question, and Remediation. Cell Type: Display Cell- Present learning content such as text, graphics, audio, video, flash or any combination thereof. Question Cell - Used to confirm the learner's understanding after topic has been presented. Authors can choose from a variety of different question types and can use some or all of the question cells as part of a final test for the lesson. Question types can be one of the following: Multiple Choice - Only one of up to eight possible answers is correct. True or False - Either true or false is correct. All that Apply - One or more answer choices is correct. Square boxes allow selecting more than one answer choices. Fill in the Blank - The learner types in the answer in the blank space. It is compared against all possible entries that are acceptable as a correct answer. Answers are not case sensitive. Multiple Choice with Essay - Only one answer choice is correct. Learner can be required to explain answer choice in the space provided. Yes or No - Either yes or no is correct. Matching - For each item on the left side of the answer table, the learner is asked to pick the matching answer from the right side of the table. The answer is correct if all of the items are correctly matched. Remediation Cell - Are displayed if the learner answers a question cell incorrectly and can be used to present the misunderstood topic in a different way. The learner is asked to answer the question again after seeing the remediation cell. The next button in the remediation cell points to the question cell. It the author does not want to create remediation cells, they can provide the correct answer on the question cell itself using the wrong cell message.
Cell Details	Located on the right side of the screen displaying the Properties, Content and Preview tabs. Properties - Contains the following fields: Cell Type - Select from the three cell types (display, question or remediation). Cell Title - Automatically generated when a new cell is inserted. The cell title is displayed when learners click on the Map. It is recommended that the cell title be edited to match the content of the cell if Free navigation is selected. Order - Automatically generated and is the order the cell will be displayed when Linear navigation is selected. Audio URL, Browser Audio URL - Allows author to add an audio file from the local network to be played automatically when a learner arrives at the cell. Content - Allows author to add or edit cell content. Toolbar at the top of the content panel allows formatting of the cell content. Preview - Allows author to preview the cell content as it will appear in the lesson.