The Course File (*.crs)

The Course file uses the Windows INI file structure and contains information that relates to the content as a whole. Some of the data contained in the file is used in the processing of other files in the interchange file set and some of it describes the content and its behavior. A full description of the groups and keywords in the Course file is provided in the AICC CMI specification.

File elements include:

Course_Creator: Place your organization's name here, for example:
Course_Creator = SkillSoft
Course_ID: This is an alphanumeric identification number used to uniquely identify the learning path containing your learning object. It is used by Publisher as the course code and becomes part of the Skillport assigned ID for the course. Only the following characters are allowed: A to Z, a to z, 0 to 9, and the "_" character. For example:
Course_ID = XYZ_123
Course_System: This field names the authoring system used to create your content. For example, content authored using Macromedia CourseBuilder for Dreamweaver 4 would appear like this:
Course_System = CourseBuilder for Dreamweaver 4
Course_Title: This keyword is used to define the title of the content. For example, if you create a learning path entitled “Basic Internet Skills,” create an entry like this:
Course_Title = Basic Internet Skills
Level: This keyword is used to specify which level of AICC compliance the interchange file set adheres to. Skillsoft is supporting level 1 compliance, so an entry should look like this:
Level = 1
Max_Fields_CST, Total_AUs, and Total_Blocks: These keywords are used to specify the maximum number of fields there are in the Course Structure file (*.cst) and how many elements of different types there are in the learning path. “Assignable unit” is an AICC term synonymous with Skillsoft's term “learning object,” while a “block” is described as a grouping of learning objects and other blocks. If you are uploading a single learning object, these three fields should be filled out as follows:
Max_Fields_CST = 2
Total_AUs = 1
Total_Blocks = 1
Version: This keyword is used to list the version of the AICC Guidelines document that the Course Structure (*.cst) file has been designed to comply with. Skillsoft has based its compliance on revision 3.0.1 of the AICC guidelines (even though the actual version supported is 2.2), so your entry should look like this:
Version = 3.0.1
Max_Normal: This keyword specifies how many learning objects may be launched by the student and left incomplete. It does not affect the Skillport implementation of AICC, as the value does not restrict user activity, but you must include it for the AICC file to work. You should assign a conformant value of between 1 and 99 to this keyword, as follows:
Max_Normal = 1
Course_Description: This field may contain a text description of the learning path and cannot exceed 4 KB in size.