There are many different types of online courses. For example, we deliver Online Video Tutorials that can be viewed as a single video, alternatively, a number of videos can be grouped together in a SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) file.
Those created as SCORM files will be hosted by your Learning Management System (LMS). Knowing where your staff are within a SCORM based course will be dependent on that particular LMS. In most, if a person pauses or stops part way through a course they are able to return to that point at a later date.
Where the course is simply a video it very much depends on how the host Portal has been programmed, some register the ‘view’ from the start and others when the video is finished. In either case, knowing if your staff have completed the video course can be difficult.
How can Mi Crow help?
Our Online Video Tutorials have an average duration of 3 minutes and our Portal is set to register a view when the video is played. This means that our Management Reports will show that the course has been viewed, but of course we have no way of knowing if that particular video has in fact been truly watched.
We’re asked this question all of the time and our answer is always the same. Due to the nature of what we produce i.e. Online Video Tutorials, our users/learners have a tendency to search for the topic they want to learn or refresh their memory on, watch it and then apply it directly to their job. In this respect we believe that if a user has got the answer they sought, applied it and moved on, then the video tutorial has done its job. The Reporting System can then just register the view and support engagement and usage stats.
We are unable to say 100% that a person has completed a course. It’s always possible for a person to play a video and not actually watch it. Thankfully, that sort of thing tends to be in the minority. However, we find that the real measure of success is whether or not someone can better do their job after viewing our content. It’s easy to get fixated on completion and reporting, when often it’s the cultural change you crave and the adoption of new skills, behaviours and attitudes.
