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Types of Learning Assets
A learning asset is a resource within a learning management system (LMS) used for training purposes. Your completion and mastery of many assets can be tracked though your learner transcripts.
The following table lists the learning assets that may be available to you and identifies their associated default icons.
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Content Type |
Learning Assets associated with the Content Type |
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Courses |
A course is web-based instructional content delivered to you on your computer. During a course, you practice and are assessed on your mastery of the skills and knowledge learned in the course. The following types of courses are examples of what may be available in your Library:
A SkillSim (Skillsoft simulation) is a technology-enabled simulation that puts you in an authentic business or professional situation. You play a major role in a variety of simulated interactions where your decisions have a direct impact on the course of events and result in realistic consequences. The SkillSim is designed to help you practice or assess your mastery of skills and knowledge learned in a series of Skillsoft courses. As you progress through a series of scenes, you will receive feedback on your performance. To assist you, the simulation incorporates links to context-sensitive Skillsoft course material. |
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Course Topics |
In certain courses, you can add individual course topics to your learning plan. When available, a list of course topics displays under each lesson title with an option to save the topic directly to your learning plan. |
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Series |
A series is a container of specifically-ordered assets used to group related assets together (for example, to obtain a certification). Series cannot have subsets.
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Instructor Led Training |
Instructor Led Training (ILT) courses are scheduled courses that you attend at a specific time. An ILT course can have one or more sessions, which are scheduled instances of the course. There are two types of ILT sessions:
You can enroll yourself in an ILT session, or your manager or training administrator can enroll you. Depending on the configuration of your site, your manager may need to approve the enrollment if you enroll yourself. If your manager enrolls you, you are notified by email of the location, duration, time, and date of the scheduled session. If sessions of a course are currently unavailable (that is, there are no scheduled sessions or all scheduled sessions are full), you can add an ILT course to your watchlist in order to be notified when a new session is scheduled. |
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Live Learning |
Live Learning courses are a derivative of traditional, instructor-led technical training. Instead of gathering students in a physical location, lectures are delivered to participants with streaming audio, video presentations, and application sharing over the Internet. Lectures are also available as recordings for on-demand viewing. Live Learning courses are hosted and delivered as a collection of launchables; once you enroll in a Live Learning course, all of its assets become available to you on the course summary page.
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Books |
Books, which include the following asset types:
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Audio |
Certain collections of books have audio editions available for download in MP3 format. |
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Resources |
Business Exploration Series courses (Business Impact Series and Challenges) provide learners with engaging, visually rich, scenario-based learning that enables them to experience real world situations in safe, exploratory environments. These learning assets use video and Flash to make the learning experience engaging and authentic.
Express guides are electronically-delivered equivalents of the student guides that IT professionals receive when they attend instructor-led training classes. They consist primarily of text and graphics and do not contain interactive practice questions or assessments. Job aids are standalone documents that support the transfer of knowledge and skills from courses to the workplace. They are performance-support tools designed to be used on an ongoing basis, or around a specific work-focused events, such as performance reviews, interviewing, or strategic planning. Job aids are not dependent on course content. If a job aid is available for a particular course, you can launch it from the course summary page. Learning Sparks are interactive assets designed primarily for information technology subjects such as Cisco and IT Security. Practice labs are designed to help you practice and assess your current skill levels and maintain ongoing expertise. An expert introduction provides you with insights and key pointers to the core skills practiced in the lab. After the introduction, you work in a learning environment that replicates a real-world job situation, and you complete hands-on exercises designed to build a rounded aggregation of competencies and skills. Projects give IT professionals the opportunity to test their skills in structured learning environments that reflect real-world situations. They consist of extensive programs of unified, integrated projects that challenge developers to solve practical business problems, and they foster the acquisition of core programming skills. Use a hosted IDE or Microsoft Visual Studio to build a robust business application by completing a series of coding projects. Skillsoft's innovative code judging application can evaluate your solutions, provide targeted feedback, and pinpoint helpful reference materials. SkillBriefs are single-page, condensed summaries of the instructional content of a course topic. Use SkillBriefs as an instant reference after you have completed a course. If a SkillBrief is available for a particular course, you can launch it from the course summary page. Mentoring provides a convenient way of accessing the Ask My Mentor feature for a particular course or certification path. Mentoring assets map to specific certification exams, and, therefore, they appear in the Library beneath applicable exams in a certification-related curricula folder. You can access mentoring support by clicking
The Ask My Mentor page allows you to take advantage of three types of mentoring: live chats, questions and answers by email, and daily messages.
Skillsoft Virtual Practice-Labs enable IT professionals to build critical technology skills in a safe, virtual environment. The Virtual Practice-Labs can mirror almost any hardware or software configuration. By experimenting with live applications, IT professionals can learn and retain valuable skills by interacting with the technology and solutions needed for their jobs. Learners can also get support by accessing expert always-available online content. The Virtual Practice-Labs give IT professionals access to popular certification topics, including Microsoft®, CompTIA®, Cisco®, and VMware®. |
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Learning Programs |
A Learning Program is a collection of learning assets that are grouped together based on subject matter, target audience, learning goal, or another organizing principle. Learning programs can include required and elective assets, have a defined structure that requires completion in a prescribed order, and a learner's progress can be tracked. |
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Videos |
Videos covers a variety of business- and leadership-related themes. Videos include:
Live Events are scheduled live and interactive forums during which recognized thought leaders offer cutting edge thinking on a leadership topic. Live Events are recorded for viewing at a later date. |
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Portal Learning |
Skillsoft Advantage (SA) is a series of targeted development programs comprised of a collection of learning assets that have been thoughtfully selected and organized by industry experts. Individual learning tracks offer a combination of new and existing assets that combine multiple modes of instruction, including text, video, and interactive practice activities that are intended to keep the learning quick and engaging. Each track is designed to take no more than two hours to complete, although you can complete as much or as little of any track at one time. A KnowledgeCenter™ is a pre-packaged, user-friendly learning portal that allows learners instant access to trusted, targeted content. Each KnowledgeCenter includes material selected by subject matter experts to help learners build knowledge around a topic quickly and efficiently. KnowledgeCenter materials can include featured topics refreshed on a monthly basis, online books and reference materials, Skillsoft courses, Live Learning courses and their related assets, SkillSims, practice labs, projects, and more. |
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Exams |
TestPrep Exams are practice tests that help you prepare for a certification exam by testing your knowledge in a simulated certification testing environment. You can take a TestPrep exam in Study Mode (where you receive feedback after each question) or in Certification Mode (designed to mimic a certification exam). Final Exams: These are final tests associated with a series of courses or learning path. Questions are drawn from all courses in the series to create an inclusive exam to test your knowledge of the subject matter. You demonstrate your competency with the associated courseware by successfully completing the final exam. In some cases, you must complete a final exam in order to earn college credits or to meet the requirements for professional-level certifications. |
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Evaluations |
Some learning assets, such as courses and learning programs, can have associated evaluation forms that allow you to provide feedback about your experience. In some cases, courses that you take as part of a credential require that you complete an evaluation in order to receive credit for the course. If you complete an asset that has an associated evaluation, an evaluation is automatically added to the Assigned Learning tab of your learning plan. (Evaluations for learning programs and Live Learning courses are only added after the entire program or course is completed.) After you complete the evaluation, it is then automatically removed from your learning plan. If the evaluation is optional, you do not have to complete it, and you can remove it from your learning plan at any time. If the evaluation is required, you can only remove it from your learning plan by completing it. Each time you sign in to Skillport, you are reminded to complete the required evaluation. |
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External Learning Objects |
An external learning object (ELO) is a reference to a learning activity or resource such as:
External learning objects can be displayed, and searched for, in the Library. However, Skillport cannot track their completion by learners. |
Courses
on the course icon. This is applicable only if Advanced Compliance is enabled for your site.
in one of the following locations:
