Types of Learning Content in the Catalog

The Catalog of learning content in the learning management system (LMS) is expanded to include not just the various types of active courses, but also Resources and Learning Paths that have been made available to the catalog by the portal administrator. 

If you’re new to LatitudeLearning’s LMS, here is a quick overview of these various types of content to help you determine the type of experience you want to provide to your learners.

Courses

The traditional content of any LMS, courses are the meat and potatoes of catalog content. There are several types of course delivery methods available. They all support prerequisites and equivalencies. They can also be set up in a series in which enrolling in one course automatically enrolls the student in all of the series courses.

• eLearning:  These courses are also known as SCORM courses and are self-directed learning based on content developed in special eLearning authoring tools, such as Adobe Captivate or Articulate Storyline. The conform to international SCORM standards for portability between all LMSs that support the same SCORM versions. Latitude supports SCORM versions 1.2 and 2004 (up to version 3). These courses allow developers to set the success requirements for passing, such as watching all the content and/or successfully passing a quiz.
• Self-Study: These are flexible, self-directed courses which don’t require SCORM content and can be used for anything from assigning Resource-based content to  creating on-the-job training lists that a student and manager can work through as part of onboarding t0 simple “read and sign” types of policy compliance activities. By default, students “pass” simply using a self-verification process to attest to their completion. For more important requirements, the course can be set to require manager- or administrator-approval. They also have the ability for managers and students to upload documents to the transcript for approval reviews or other purposes.
• Assessment: These courses allow a portal administrator to create standalone quizzes and tests using primarily short answer, multiple choice, multiple answer, and matrix types of questions. Long form answer questions are available but are not scored.
• Classroom: From traditional in-person instructor-led classes to online webinars, Classroom courses allow you to create scheduled offerings of a class using physical or web-based facilities – and manage the roster of students pre- and post-training. It includes robust waitlist and student substitution features. It also offers the opportunity to charge fees to students who cancel after a specified time or who do not show up for the sessions.
• Course Groups: These are courses that bring together a list of “component courses” in your catalog and bundle them as a single requirement. Students enroll in the group and can’t earn credit for completing it until all components are completed. 

Resources

Resources are curated educational materials that support the learning process for any course delivery method. They include documents, media files, URLs, and custom HTML pages. 

They can be used as standalone materials that are included in the catalog . They can also be used as the primary content in a Self-study course or as auxiliary “attached” content for courses in any delivery method.

Portal administrators can control which resources, if any, appear for search in the catalog.

Learning Paths

A Learning Path is a branded, dedicated display page of courses or other learning paths that the portal administrator has grouped in a manner that can be presented to relevant learners of the content– all of them or restricted to certain catalogs, organizations, or position groups.

They are a focused view into the Catalog from which learners can enroll in the courses, but at this time the learning path itself cannot be assigned as a goal or added to an accreditation.

Learning Paths for customized for organizations and position groups can be set up with unique styles, courses listings, and have their own URL for linking in other places within the LMS, set as landing pages, or linked externally.