Converting a Course from Classroom to Online

I'm working with a client who is converting a classroom-based course to an online course in Moodle. I'd like to share a question that I received from the client, and my response. I've edited our exchange to make the client anonymous:

Question

I hoping you can help me clarify a few issues before [our e-learning team meets].

The plan now is to take the existing ... Curriculum and "translate" it to Moodle. I am finding this to be a very difficult and awkward process. I'm thinking that this is a bit backwards, and that developing an online course requires building from the ground up. Its not that all of the content must be rebuilt from scratch, but that the order of material, the grouping of concepts, and flow of the online course is going to be different than a traditional class room experience.

In your experience, do you think that my instincts are correct here?

My Response

Yes, I think you are realizing one of the key facts about porting a course from classroom to online. Bringing a course on-line often demands that you change the organization and timing of the course.

Breaking down the classroom course into its smallest logical chunks is a good start. It's easier to rearrange small chunks than large chunks. If you find yourself rewriting most of the material, then you've broken it down too far into chunks that are too small. The idea is the break it down without needing to rewrite.

You will also need to allow more time for online learning. In a classroom, because of the force of the instructor's personality and the quick, live interaction with the instructor, a student can usually cover material faster than in an online course. The only time I have found that to be untrue is when the classroom presentation must be slowed down to accommodate slower students. But in a small class like you are accustomed to teaching, when you have everyone "in sync" and focusing hard, students can assimilate an amazing amount of material in a short time. Students won't have that experience on line. So when you bring the course on line, you must allow more time for each topic.

On line, you need to make everything the student learns relevant and useful, as quickly as possible. Again, you don't have the force of the instructor's personality helping the student to wade through preliminary material. There's no one there to say, "Stay with me, pay attention to this next part, because in an hour you're going to need to know how to do this." So to keep the student motivated, before you make the student learn something, show how that piece of knowledge will help the student to perform the task you're teaching. If each topic in the course is a separate competency, for each activity that you make the student perform or each resource that you make the student view, state how it will help the student to develop that competency.

On line, you need to test and apply the student's knowledge as soon as the student gets it. Moodle's quiz feedback is a great tool to combine testing and learning. You can give feedback for each individual answer that a student selects, telling the students why it's correct or incorrect. You can also give feedback for each question, regardless of which answer the student selected. Use this to explain the relevance of the question, or to give hints that will help the student to remember. For more about using Moodle quizzes as a teaching tool instead of a testing tool, see my blog post here: http://williamriceinc.blogspot.com/2008/03/using-different-kinds-of-feedback-in.html.

And after you've confirmed that the student knows the material, you need to have them apply it as soon as possible. Having the student create something and upload it to a Moodle assignment or forum are the standard choices.

As for rearranging concepts, you will often need to do this. If several parts of a course, or if several courses, depend upon a student understanding a concept, you can always link back to where that concept was introduced. When the student needs to remember a concept before learning a topic, at the beginning of that topic, give the student the chance to review the concept. If the student is comfortable that (s)he learned it well enough the first time, the student can skip the review. If not, the review is there.

Also, while teaching conceptual (theoretical) information, relate the concept back to the competency. The student might think, "I just want to learn how [perform this task]. Why am I learning about [this conceptual information]?" If you can't state how a concept relates to the competency, then try this: break the concept down further, into smaller pieces. Can any of those pieces relate back to the competency? If so, teach just that part of the theory and leave the rest out.

So on line: your presentations will be shorter, you will insert more teaching quizzes and short assignments, at the beginning of each presentation you will motivate the student by showing how the material helps build the competency the student desires, and before teaching anything theoretical or conceptual you will state how it helps the student perform the competency they are developing. These are all things that you do naturally in front of a classroom, but now you need to do them explicitly on line. So it's not just a matter of taking the written course material and popping it into an online course. You must also take the pieces of yourself that you give a classroom full of students, and put them on line for your remote students.

Client's Response

Perfect. You confirmed all of my suspicions. We met today, talked about all of these issues, and now finally have a plan for moving forward that makes sense. We have some cool ideas to add our own flavor to all of this. We'll be sure to show you what we have once we have some of our first beta topic together.

Example of Using the Same Product Characteristic for a Category and an Attribute in Magento

This question came from someone in Iceland. It is a good example of how to use a category and an attribute, for the same product characteristic.

The administrator wants to enable customers to sort shoes by style, and then drill down into the size. He also wants his customers to be able to start with size, and then see the styles available. I have edited the original question and my answer for clarity, but the content is the same.

Question

Hello.

I have been reading your book - the first chapters. It has FAR better descriptions then the magento user manual...

Here is the setup I will be using:

I will have 2 stores (to begin with).

Store1 will sell clothes and Store2 will sell shoes.

What I am trying to figure out is what to do with attributes for shoes - I would add color to them and some other attributes.. But should i add Size to them as an attribute? Almost all our shoes come in the same sizes. So if a user clicks the size in Layered navigation the will show the customer all shoes we have anyway. What i need is for the customer to be able to click a size and then magento will show them all shoes that we have size and are also in stock. Say a user selects size 39 - the website should only show shoes that we still have in stock in that specific size... is that possible ?

I know i must add each shoe as a configurable product and then simple products for each size of that shoe (because i want to count stock on each and every size)

Regards, Hedinn

Answer

To enable customers to sort shoes by style, and then drill down into the size:

1. Ceate a category for each style, such as high heels, pumps, sandals.
2. Then, create an attribute for the size of the shoe. Make that attribute filterable in the navigation menu.
3. For Position, enter 0 (zero). This will place Size at the top of the layered navigation menu, on the left side of the page.

Your customers will select a category to see the style of shoe they want. After they select the category, the layered navigation menu will display on the left side of the page. They will see Size at the top of that menu. Now, they can filter that shoe style by size, and see only their sizes.

To enable customers to see all shoes in their size:

1. Create a category called Find Your Size.
2. Put every pair of shoes that you have into that category.

Then when the customer clicks the Find Your Size category, she sees the layered navigation menu on the left. Remember, Size will be a filter at the top of that menu.

By the way, you're the first person who has written me from Iceland. Cool!

Regards,
William

Magento Question About Applying Sales Tax Based on Amount of Purchase

I received a question about how to configure Magento to apply sales tax to only purchases that are above a speficied amount. The question and my answer are below.

Question

Hello William Rice,

Ref Article: http://www.packtpub.com/article/creating-tax-rules-in-magento

First of all your article is really cool and help full. I gone through all the steps, but i'm unable to figure out how to set TAX based on Product cost?

I'm interested to learn how can we define TAX based on 'The amount' of the purchase. For example, some places tax clothing purchases only above a specific amount.

Criteria is like this:

• TAX should be calculated if Product cost is higher than 150$.


• if Product cost is less than or equal to 150$, TAX will be ZERO.


• TAX Rate is 5.50%.

Could you please guide me how can i implement above criteria in Magento?

Thank You,

-Shahil

Answer

Shahil,

The most expedient way to apply a tax rate based upon a product's price, is
to create a product class for the products in that price range. In your
example, you would need to create a tax class for those items, such as
"Clothing items costing$150 and above." Then, you would apply that tax
class to all of the clothing items costing $150 and above.

This means you would need to search through your catalog, find every
clothing item that costs $150 or more, and apply the product class to that
item. To find all these items:

1. Go to Catalog > Manage Products.


2. The top row of the catalog listing, the one that is shaded in blue,
   is for your search criteria.


3. For Price, enter From 150 To a very large number.


4. You might also use the Attrib. Set Name field to find your
   clothing. It depends on how you have your catalog set up.


5. Click Search and you will see the results.


6. Using the check boxes to select all of the relevant clothing
   products.


7. From the Actions drop-down menu select Update Attributes. Then
   click Submit.


8. This brings you to an Attributes page. Whatever you change and save
   on this page, happens to all of your selected products.


9. Select the tax class "Clothing items costing$150 and above."


10. Save.

Note that when you change a clothing item's price, you'll need to also check
its tax class. This will just need to be part of the store admin's job. We
all would like to see functions like this automated, but until Magento lets
you include the price in a tax rule, this will require intervention by the
store administrator.

Hope this helps. Good luck in your e-commerce endeavors.

Regards,
William Rice

Magento 1.3 Sales Tactics is Published

My new book, Magento 1.3 Sales Tactics, has just been published by Packt Publishing. My goal for this book is to help you solve real-world Magento sales problems with some simple, effective recipes. You can read a sample chapter on the publisher's website. It's too new for any reviews yet, but the CEO of Magento recently received a copy, and I'm eager to know what he thinks of it.

Review of Magento Beginner's Guide

MilkYourMoney.com is "a daily blog dedicated to helping its readers reach their financial goals." They just reviewed the Magento Beginner's Guide. I thought the review is thorough and fair. Check out the review and my comments here.

Magento Beginner's Guide versus Magento User's Guide

The company behind Magento, Varien, recently published their own Magento User Guide. This is a few months after Packt Publishing released my Magento Beginner's Guide. If you're looking for a book to help you use Magento, you might want to know how Varien's book and mine compare. I'll try to answer that question for you in a way that enables you to decide which book is better for your needs.

Is there really a difference between a Beginner's Guide and a User Guide?

After 20 years as a technical writer and trainer, I have come to the conclusion that yes, you will notice a difference between a Beginner's Guide and a User Guide. The differences are in the scope and flow of the book. And I think you will see those differences between Magento User Guide and Magento Beginner's Guide.

Scope: Reference Librarian versus Coach

If you read the User Guide table of contents, and the Beginner's Guide table of contents, you can see that the User Guide covers more of Magento's functions. Yet, it has fewer pages. It covers more features than the Beginner's Guide, but usually with less detail.

In the Beginner's Guide, the step-by-step directions are usually more detailed than those in the User Guide. And, the Beginner's Guide includes some business intelligence. That is, not just how to use a feature, but also when and why.

If the books were people, the User Guide would be a reference librarian and the Beginner's Guide would be a coach.

Flow: Jump In and Out, or Go For a Ride

Both books work as reference material. The User Guide usually gives you just enough information to make a function or feature work. It answers the question, "How do I do this?" and then returns you to your work.

The Beginner's Guide tells you how to use Magento's basic functions while building an example store. The example runs through the book. So you will see not only how each function is used, but also when and why it is used, and what effect it has on your customer's experience. You can work through the book from front to back if you want to follow the example. Or, you can use it as a reference guide.

So which do I recommend?

Neither. I recommend that you consider your own situation. Do you prefer a reference guide, like the one supplied by the official Magento Online User Guide or Knowledge Base? Or do you prefer a step-by-step Beginner's Guide to coach you through building your store? You might find them both useful: the Beginner's Guide to show you how to create and run the store, and the User Guide to provide a quick reference for many of Magento's features.

You can read sample chapters for the books at magentocommerce.com and packtpub.com.

You can read reviews of the Beginner's Guide at Andi J's blog and the Milk Your Money site. It's available for sale at Amazon.

Do your research, dive in, and let me know how it goes!

Sample Chapter and Extract from Magento Beginner's Guide

Packt has published my latest book, Magento Beginner's Guide. They offer a sample chapter on their website, "Categories and Attributes." They also took a section out of a chapter and published it as an article on their website, "Creating Tax Rules in Magento."

The sample chapter, article, and chapter descriptions on their website should give you an accurate and thorough impression of the book's style and content. If you're a Magento user, check it out. And if you've bought the book, as always, I like to hear from my readers. Send me compliments and complaints by clicking on the email link in my profile.