Time Released Content/Lessons

[jaymorris]

I have a client that is going to create training articles and have a subscription to them. He wants to have the articles/lessons automatically published or released once every seven days based on the user’s sign-up date. So when a user signs up they will have access to week 1 lesson/article then after a week they will have access to lesson/article 2 and so on.

So this would be time released articles based on the user’s registration date.

Can I do this with JoomlaLMS? If not, would it be possible to modify JoomlaLMS to do this?

[rfrazee]

Interesting, I hadn't thought about this idea, but based on the business model, this could be a great idea. I am curious to see what JoomlaLMS has to say.

[den]

I have a client that is going to create training articles and have a subscription to them. He wants to have the articles/lessons automatically published or released once every seven days based on the user’s sign-up date. So when a user signs up they will have access to week 1 lesson/article then after a week they will have access to lesson/article 2 and so on.
So this would be time released articles based on the user’s registration date.

Currently it is not possible. All courses and resources are published from date to date independently of the user registration date.

Can I do this with JoomlaLMS? If not, would it be possible to modify JoomlaLMS to do this?
Check this page: http://www.joomlalms.com/custom-elearning-development.html
We can do everything based on our sustem ;)
Currently, i can say that we can customize system in the way that each course resource would be published by time periods from the user enrollment.

[andreas]

I still remember that in the early days of JoomlaLMS we discussed the option of sequential learning paths (i.e. Lesson 2 has to follow Lesson 1). Basically what you suggest would follow that idea, with an additional "time line" aspect.

While this can make a lot of sense for many setups, it also follows a "philosophy" of learning that is somewhat different from the JoomlaLMS approach. In JoomlaLMS the idea is providing learning tools for mature learners that they can use as they see fit to gain the best education possible. This approach would not want to limit access to materials all that much....

Yet in some cases your request makes a lot of sense. I believe, there are some ways to achieve - at least to some extent a sequential feature already, but not as complex as you suggested. I am curious about the discussion - which now will be guided more from practical experience and needs.... :-)

[rfrazee]

Interesting choice of words when discussing the the JoomlaLMS philosophy. It seems to me in any educational development process, you have 2 types of resources:

1) A structured curriculum
2) Reference Material

While this can make a lot of sense for many setups, it also follows a "philosophy" of learning that is somewhat different from the JoomlaLMS approach. In JoomlaLMS the idea is providing learning tools for mature learners that they can use as they see fit to gain the best education possible. This approach would not want to limit access to materials all that much....


When I read the above comment, it makes me think of Reference Material which is more of a Buffet style learning method.

This seems to be contrary to the concept of the learning path design within JoomlaLMS, where, if I am not mistaken, you can force a learner to complete one step before going on to the next step. The only difference I see with the existing learning path style is to create a publish date (that is based on a specific calendar date, or time delay from date of subscription) for all content that is developed within the learning path. By having the publish date, then a new user who comes to the site, perceives that the learning path is getting constantly updated.

Since JoomlaLMS, if I am not mistaken, allows for a course to be purchased as a subscription for a finite or an infinite period of time, there is value in having the person feel like their learning resource is constantly being updated.

In our current business model, we have a pay per use model. So this isn´t as necessary, but we have considered a subscription option as another way to monetize our learning materials. However, if they have access to all the materials right away, the site doesn´t feel fresh, and they may not want to renew their subscription afterwards.

This is an interesting discussion, but from a more practical level, if I was part of the JoomlaLMS team, I would be asking 1 simple question:

If we build this functionality, will it increase the amount of licenses of JoomlaLMS we can sell.

I wish I had a crystal ball to answer the question definitively, but I look at the industry of Internet Information Marketers, and the fact that it seems like the majority of them are still using auto-responder e-mails to deliver time-delayed content. It seems like this would be a good market.

From the user perspective, having the Learning Path have its own RSS for that user, might be useful. That way, the user can follow up via their RSS reader.

[andreas]

Interesting choice of words when discussing the the JoomlaLMS philosophy. It seems to me in any educational development process, you have 2 types of resources:

1) A structured curriculum
2) Reference Material



You are absolutely right. JoomlaLMS started out more in the direction of "Buffet style" learning method.... Then some discussion started....


if I am not mistaken, you can force a learner to complete one step before going on to the next step.

This is the result of some early discussions and customer needs!
In other words: lots of functionality was added to JoomlaLMS through customer discussions. This is why I like this forum.

All I would like to suggest is that discussion comes before implementation, as
- not everything the market is doing may be the future way to go
- we want a lot of functionality - but also ease of handling. This is the balance we need...
- well, I admit, I do not come to JoomlaLMS from the monetary/economic side, but from the educational side - so please bear with me ;-)

As to some possible workarounds for the time being....

I believe there are time released newsletter components for Joomla that might do the trick. Furthermore - I still do not quite understand why there needs to be time gap between completion of one step and starting the next. If you are forced to complete A before starting B you have a sequential approach! As to marketing and looking fresh... well that probably depends more on the content (fresh documents etc.) But overall it probably is easier and more inviting selling fairly small courses, joining several courses to one subscription (or - as I would prefer: 1 subscription = 1 course). No idea if this makes sense.

In any case I am sure, Bjarne or Den or some other staff will have a look at your suggestion...

[academyofsocialarts]

Hi guys,

I asked JoomlaLMS and they told us, it costs arround $4600 do add this function:

You can set what time it needs between doing the next learn path step.

Hmm this is much money for such simple function?

We need that function, because the guys here should do every week just ONE learn path part and not all at the same time. So everyone can decide if he is faster or slower as the other ones. Some need for one learn path part 2 months, others just 1 week.

So what should I do? Are there any possibles to add this without paying $4600???

Thx

[andreas]

One option seems to me to build smaller courses! The more complex a course becomes, the more difficult and frustrating it will be in the end - both, on the programmer's and administrator's side as well as the teacher's and students' side.

Why not build smaller courses altogether and regulating timing this way (a complete course can be time limited). The individual course becomes cheaper or you offer "subscription packages" (to save even more money), the success experience and motivation comes faster....

As you probably know, the most tricky part in e-learning is keeping students motivated....

[Mikel1]

I could use a time release feature. I would like to set up a course that "meets" using the conference feature Monday evenings with some of the weeks topics available on the system. Then on Wednesday they are released more materials and quizzes then friday they get materials to preview for the following monday. Sounds confusing but seems to work when done in real life so why not on the web..
I feel a time release feature would be a great addition.

[jerome]

It is very common to see nowadays online training courses based on "gradual content delivery" or "content dripping". The time released content is usually triggered by some autoresponder email.

However a much more professional approach would be to have the time released content triggered by the elearning solution itself.

JoomlaLMS is a very comprehensive elearning solution and could very easily include a time-based condition to the learning path. This needs to be x-days from registration.

Please JoomlaLMS consider adding this functionality.
I am sure you would increase your sales significantly

Rgds, jerome jonson

[andreas]

To start the time release issue, an easy workaround could be a Newsletter like Acajoom. Here you can define the time release of each "lesson" (Newsletter). For instance sending an automated letter once every week or sending the second letter 5 days after the first, the third one 10 days after the second - whatever you like.

As you can send html mails with Acajoom, you could link back to some Learningpath. And - you could integrate the Newsletter into a course, by only registering students of your course to the particular letter.

[dhauptman]

Currently it is not possible. All courses and resources are published from date to date independently of the user registration date.

Check this page: http://www.joomlalms.com/custom-elearning-development.html
We can do everything based on our sustem ;)
Currently, i can say that we can customize system in the way that each course resource would be published by time periods from the user enrollment.

Den,

We need this because the US Federal SCORM/LMS requirements state that the mortgage learning course must have time limits. I saw a post that you guys quoted $4600.00. If this is true it will cause us to have to buy the open source "pro" version and do it ourselves. I have a number of Joomla developers who can do this function for considerably less. I have submitted a support request to joomplace.com ticket EIPM-8764.

Please look it up and give me a competitive quote for this as soon as possible and thanks!

~doug hauptman

p.s. All the "philosophy" bs aside, this REALLY SHOULD be a standard feature, shouldn't it...

[Su_]

Doug,

I've replied in the helpdesk yesterday, but if anyone else is interested - if you wish to limit the time period when a student can access a course - there is such feature: make 'X days' subscriptions for your courses.