Uploading lesson files

[mlapl1]

One of the great features of Forma (for me) is its SCORM engine - which seems very fast and unproblematic.

Most/all of my learning materials will be created using Lectora and will not rely on any forma authoring facilities. Not all materials need to be formatted/saved in SCORM format. Sometimes it is ok just to produce a bunch of html files and connected folders. There may also be some 3rd party materials over which I have no control.

Is it possible to upload non-SCORM prepared lesson materials to Forma? If so, how? Ideally, they would be zipped so as to reduce everything to a single compact file rather than countless individual files and folders.

Any information would be appreciated.

Andrew

[max]

Hi Andrew,

under Learning Object Management you can create tests, faqs, html pages etc with Forma's native tools. Or you can upload Scorm files.
But if you want to upload files, users will only be able to download them.
Therefore, you cannot "upload" a bunch of files and connected folders and expect them to work as a "mini-site". I think you could not do it with Moodle neither, nor with any CMS.
You can upload single files or a .zip file, of course. Users will download them on their local drive.

Or, you can copy-paste your html code into an html page created with Forma, that way at least users would be able to see the page directly inside the LMS.

[mlapl1]

Thanks, Max. That's useful. Actually, you *can* do it under moodle and in chamilo - in both cases you have to designate a "principal" file and in moodle at least the files remain protected and bound to a course. I agree that in most CMS all you can do is download.

I may try to trick forma - though not quite sure how yet...

[canelli]

Interesting feature
it sound as to upload a SCORM package without any tracking feature nor a "manifest" compliant fle, and then navigate the resources previously uploaded.

as a workaround you can try to pack your bounce file in a SCORM with lectora .

[mlapl1]

Hello Claudio - yes pretty much as you describe it. I think it would not be a bad idea (or difficult) to add this to forma. Actually for most of my personally developed stuff I could pack it all in SCORM and never use anything else (for some reason SCORM works really well on forma much faster/better than others I have tried). I have not yet tested all of SCORM's forma features yet - so will see... but I am very enthusiastic about it so far. I hope that forma 2 does not break any of these good things.

Also, thanks for the suggestion. Not sure if I can pack third-party files with Lectora as Lectora is driven by a .awt file generated in XML. Without it, it does not work.

Thank you!
Andrew

[canelli]

Andrew

for some reason SCORM works really well on forma much faster/better than others I have tried

In forma 2 we didn't modify anything around SCORM and tracking . just modified the scorm player to be able to run it with newer version of InternetExplorer and Microsoft Edge browser

Not sure if I can pack third-party files with Lectora as Lectora is driven by a .awt file generated in XML

as you need only basic scorm feature running your bounce files, you can try to pack them with an opensource authoring or you can build the imsmanifest.xml by hand.

[mlapl1]

Here is what I have been able to discover.

1. I can upload a zip file of all the Lectora files.
2. It is stored in public_html/xyz.com/forma/files/appLms/item
3. I can make a directory, say html1 and go into it at public_html/xyz.com/forma/files/appLms/item/html1

I can then translate this into a URLe.g. http://xyz.com/forma/files/appLms/item/html1 and it gets a Forbidden response.
This is because the item directory is protected by a .htaccess file (deny from all).
Comment out the deny from all and everything works perfectly EXCEPT that the content is NOT protected when you are logged out.
I could not find any relevant .htaccess files in the scorm area so could not see exactly how the scorm (and other) files were protected - presumably with sessions but I really would not know.

So... how can I protect my files? This installation procedure is much less complicated than having to package the files as a pseudo-SCORM package.

Now... If I go to the real URL of the scorm lesson e.g. http://xyz.com/forma/files/appLms/scorm ... index.html

I get a message that it cannot find a SCORM adapter BUT in reality it provides access to the files (which do not seem protected). If I log out of the system, the system shows me the beginning of the lesson but hangs (I think because it cannot find the adapter and I had told it to stop giving me the error message). So... if someone happens to know or guess the real URL of a lesson, there seems to be a real risk that they can gain unauthorized access to lesson materials.

I must be missing something...

Cheers and thanks for any feedback

[mlapl1]

I forgot to say that you would unzip the zipped file into the new directory (html1).

[mlapl1]

I also forgot to say that lesson names are heavily obfuscated which increases security significantly.

[mlapl1]

Just as a followup...

Most CMS systems I know have a way of enabling pages NOT created by the CMS to be accessed only after a legal login has occurred. This is usually achieved by including a (short) piece of code in the files that require authentication. Can anyone point me to the piece of code that can achieve this for forma?

Thanks a lot
Andrew