Documentation

Sometimes the project's existing table of contents is not structured in a way that is convenient for LMS import. mAuthor makes it possible to modify the project structure or even build it from scratch in order to import the project to any LMS using a new table of contents tailored to your needs.

This can be done by selecting the Manage Courses option available in the top-right toolbar. In the Manage Courses section, it is possible to create a new course, and then clicking on the relevant link on the right side of the course allows editing its table of contents.

On the left, there is a list of lessons available in the project, whereas the right side is for customizing the new table of contents to be later exported from mAuthor in the form of an xml file.

To create a new structure, perform the following steps:

1. Expand the list of courses in the "Available lessons" section,
2. Select the relevant lesson or lessons (you can select more than one lesson by holding the ctrl button),
3. Drag the chosen items and drop them in the Table of Contents space.

You can also use the "Add" and "Remove" buttons instead of the drag-and-drop operations.

As you can see, it is possible to build an entirely new structure and when the process is finished, simply click "Save".

The "Edit Table of Contents" section also enables managing mAuthor eBooks by mapping their content to relevant mAuthor lessons. To work with the eBook, simply click on it in the "Available Lessons" section, select the eBooks section on the right and click "Add". You can also drag the relevant items from the Available Lessons section and drop them in the eBooks area. To be able to map selected mAuthor lessons to the eBook, it is necessary to move them first to the Table of Contents section on the right. The eBook can be modified by using the "Edit resources" link. Then simply go to a page where you would like to add the mAuthor resources, click on the "Manage Resources" link on the right, and tick the relevant lesson / lessons. The link to the selected lesson(s) will automatically appear in the "Current resources" section.

When the structure is ready, then it can be exported from mAuthor by clicking on the "Export" link available in the "Manage Courses" section. There you need to choose the version of the SCORM package you would like to use – SCORM 1.2 or 2004. You may also decide whether to include the Player in the lesson packages. The Player is not required if you import lessons into mCourser or other system that includes the Player by itself. If you need to import lessons in SCORM format, you should include the Player.

The whole process is being done in background, and you will receive a notification email when it is completed. By clicking on the link provided in an email, you will save the zipped XML file to a convenient place on your computer. The xml file structure description is available here.

After downloading the packages, you can manually assemble a SCORM package for the whole course. The email notification contains information about the target folders inside the course package where you should copy particular lessons. Having done that, you can import the whole course as one package into any SCORM compliant LMS.