eFront

eFront™ Quick Guide

eFront | Quick Guide 2

EPIGNOSIS LTD

44, Katehaki, Athens, Greece, 11525 & Patras Science Park, Stadiou Str, Platani, Patras, Greece, 265 04

email: info@epignosis.com.gr, info@efront.gr phone: (+30) 210 6756008, (+30) 210 6756112

Fax: (+30) 210 6756527

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CONTENTS

CONTENTS ............................................................................. 3 

1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................. 4 

2. E-FRONT QUICK GUIDE ........................................................ 5 

2.1 INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS ........................................................ 5 

2.2 STEP-BY-STEP TUTORIAL .............................................................. 7 

2.2.1 Overview ................................................................................... 7 

2.2.2 Create a new lesson .................................................................... 7 

2.2.3 Enroll Users ................................................................................ 8 

2.2.4 Describe the lesson ..................................................................... 8 

2.2.5 Create the lesson’s structure ......................................................... 9 

2.2.6 Create tests .............................................................................. 10 

2.2.7 Activate Components ................................................................. 11 

2.2.8 Create rules .............................................................................. 12 

2.2.9 Track user’s progress ................................................................. 13 

2.2.10 Register As a Student ............................................................... 17 

2.2.11 Complete chapters ................................................................... 19 

2.2.12 Communicate .......................................................................... 21 

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1. INTRODUCTION eFront™ is an easy to use, visually attractive, SCORM compatible, eLearning and

Human Capital Management platform.

• Easy to use: eFront™ was build from the scratch with the end user in

mind. You will find it rather natural to get used to its interface where most

options are self-explanatory.

• Visually attractive: We didn't want to build another eLearning tool. We aim

at building the most beautiful eLearning tool.

• Technologically advanced: eFront™ is an Ajax enabled, Unicode, LDAP and

SCORM supporting, multilingual eLearning platform.

• Pedagogical concepts: Integrated to eFront™ are sound pedagogical

concepts that guide users and keep them motivated.

• Complete: eFront™ includes a wide variety of components that help you

create your lesson structure and add content, build online-tests,

communicate with others, track users history and progress, conduct

surveys, assign projects, and create certifications.

Image 1: How it looks like? Here is the main administrator page

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2. E-FRONT QUICK GUIDE

2.1 INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS

Windows installation

1. Decompress eFront™ files to a system folder, for example

C:\eFront.

This way, the structure below should be created:

C:\eFront\www

C:\eFront\libraries

C:\eFront\backups

C:\eFront\upload

C:\eFront\modules

2. Download XAMPP software from the internet :

(latest URL at this moment

http://www.apachefriends.org/download.php?xampp-win32-1.6.2-

installer.exe)

3. Run the downloaded XAMPP file, to install it:

a. At the introductory screen, press "Next" b. Select the installation folder (you may leave the default proposed) c. At the third step, "XAMPP Options", at the "SERVICE SECTION" we select "Install Apache as service" and "Install MySQL as service" d. Click on "Install" and then "Finish" to complete XAMPP installation e. If a firewall is installed to the system, it may ask whether to allow Apache to access the internet. It must be permitted to access the Internet and accept connections through it. f. Finally, we start the XAMPP control panel

4. Using a text editor, open the file c:\xampp\apache\conf\httpd.conf for

editing

5. Change the line where it says

DocumentRoot "C:/xampp/htdocs"

to

DocumentRoot "C:/eFront/www" (since we placed eFront folder at C:\)

and the line

<Directory "C:/xampp/htdocs">

to

<Directory "C:/eFront/www">

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6. From the XAMPP control panel, we restart Apache (pressing "Stop" and

then "Start". If this doesn't work, try restarting the computer

7. Access the location http://localhost/install/install.php, preferably using

Internet Explorer 7 or Mozilla Firefox

8. Click the «Install» button

9. The first step lists the prerequisites and settings required in order for the

system to work correctly. If there aren't any prohibitive situation (marked

with the "forbidden" sign), we may move on.

10. At the second step, user must insert the database settings. Database type

is always "MySQL". Database host is usually "localhost" (or may be a

single dot "."). Database user is root and password may be left blank

(unless after installing XAMPP we set one). Database name may be

anything, preferably "eFront".

11. Clicking on "Next" will create the database and the corresponding

database tables.

12. The next step has to do with system settings. You may use default values

provided. Most of these settings may be later changed through the

administrator menu.

13. At the next step we must create an administrator account and optionally a

sample professor and student account.

14. Finally, we may optionally insert a sample lesson, either the default

provided, or one that we upload.

15. After finishing installation, we may use the system by accessing its home

page, usually http://localhost.

16. Important note: You *must* delete the installation directory, in order for

the system to function.

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2.2 STEP-BY-STEP TUTORIAL

2.2.1 Overview

We assume that by now you have installed eFront™ and you have in your

disposal three user roles (Administrator, Professor, Student) together with their

needed credintentials.

In this tutorial you will learn:

• How to create new directions and new lessons (Administrator role)

• How to enroll users to lessons (Administrator role)

• How to describe your lesson (Professor role)

• How to create the basic structure of your lesson (Professor role)

• How to create tests for your lesson (Professor role)

• How to decide what components to activate for your lesson (Professor

role)

• How to create rules to restrict and guide the users (Professor role)

• How to track users progress and give grades (Professor role)

• How to register to the system (Student role)

• How to follow the lesson's material and track your progress (Student role)

• How to communicate with your fellow lesson students or with the

professor (Student role)

2.2.2 Create a new lesson

Assume that we want to build a lesson about ancient Maya civilizations. We will

call it "Maya history".

We first need to login as administrator and create the lesson. If we want we can

create a new category first that provides a logical organization of lessons.

• From the administrator panel select "Categories" and then "Add category"

• We use "Ancient Civilizations" as the name of our new category. Our new

category is a main category (it has no father). By using father categories

we could build an arbitrarily big list of nested categories but it is not

needed for our example.

• We return to the main administration panel and select "Lessons"

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• We use "Maya Civilization" as the name of our new lesson. We put it under

"Ancient Civilizations" category and save the new lesson.

Image 2: Creating a new lesson

2.2.3 Enroll Users

The second thing we have to do is to assign users and professors to our new

lesson. This is accomplished from the administrator as well. Additional users can

be assigned to the lesson from the professor interface later.

When we create a new lesson we can assign new users to it immediately. For our

example, immediately after saving the lesson we see the tab with the "Lesson

users". We select the users we want to enroll to the lesson..

Image 3: Adding users to lesson

2.2.4 Describe the lesson

We login as a professor. We need to describe the lesson and create the content. From the catalog list we select the "Maya Civilization" and we enter the main professor screen. We select "Lesson information" and we add a description and a lesson target.

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Image 4: How to describe the lesson

2.2.5 Create the lesson’s structure

We return to the main lesson page and select "Content". Adding new content or modifying content is accomplished using the tools on the top.

Image 5: Updating Content

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Each unit can have a father unit allowing us to build a tree structure for the content. A flexible visual editor helps speedup the process of adding new content.

Image 6: Lesson’s structure

2.2.6 Create tests

For this lesson we will create one generic test to ensure that users have

understood the basic concepts of "Maya History".

• From the main control panel of professor we select "Tests"

• We move to "Questions" tab and create a number of questions. There exist

several types of questions, raw text, multiple choices-single correct

answer, multiple choices-many correct answers, match, true/false, empty

spaces. We choose the type and add the question.

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Image 7: Creating questions

• From "Tests" tab we create a new test and we include several of the created questions.

Image 8: Creating a test

2.2.7 Activate Components

• Go to "Administration" tab

• Decide what components should be included to the lesson

• As you activate/deactivate components the options on the left menu and

on the main lesson menu change accordingly.

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Image 9: Activating components

2.2.8 Create rules

Rules ensure that the user sees the content in a certain manner. For example we

can enforce a linear way of seeing content.

• Go to "Access rules" on the main menu

• There exist two categories of rules, the "Lesson rules" that define the way

of studying the lesson, and the "Lesson completion conditions" that define

when the lesson can be considered as completed.

• In order to add a rule or a lesson completion condition, define the

properties needed.

Image 10: Add lesson rule

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Image 11: Add lesson completion condition

2.2.9 Track user’s progress

From the main lesson page we select "Reports". From there we can track the user

progress, his info, his total time in system (user level), lessons details, users,

tests and projects (lesson level).

• User reports: We select the user and his statistic information is revealed.

Image 12: Select user

There are two tabs, the "Lessons" tab where we can find information about the student's progress, and the "More info" tab where we can track general info concerning his communication through the system, the system usage etc.

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Image 13: Lessons tab

Image 14: More info tab

• Lessons reports: We select the lesson.

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Image 15: Select lesson

Its report is consisted of six categories (tabs).

"Users": info on the users' statistics concerning this lesson

Image 16: User’s statistics

"Tests": we can track info on the lesson's tests results (which users

have taken the tests, what is their score)

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Image 17: Tests’ statistics

"Questions": we can track info on the results of every single question.

Image 18: Questions’ statistics

"More info":it provides some general info on the lesson

Image 19: More info

"Traffic": we can define a specific period of time to watch the lesson

statistic information (traffic).

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Image 20: Lesson’s traffic • Test reports: We select the test that interests us and we can find info

about the number of the correct and false answers given in each question.

Image 21: Test report

2.2.10 Register as a Student

Registering can be accomplished either through the Administrator intervention or

one can self-registered (assuming that the Admin permits auto-registration)

• Through the Administrator intervention: Admin goes to "Users" tab on his main menu, and clicks on "New user" button. He sets the user's settings and activates him.

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Image 22: New user

• Self registration: From eFront's main page, the student clicks on "New

user account" and he sets his personal settings.

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Image 23: New user account

2.2.11 Complete chapters

The main lesson page includes buttons to start or continue lesson as well as review its information. The first time the student access the lesson, the "Start lesson" button appears.

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Image 24: Start lesson

By clicking it, the student is guided to the first unit of the lesson .Every time the student completes a unit he should click on the bottom button ("set the unit as completed") so that his progress can be measured.

Image 25: Set the unit as complete

The next time that he accesses the same lesson, the Start button will be replaced by the Resume button. By clicking on it, he is guided to the first unit he has not yet completed.

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Image 26: Resume lesson

2.2.12 Communicate

There are three main communication tools provided by the platform: forum, chat

and personal messages.

• Forum: Each lesson has its own forum, in order to allow users to discuss

topics concerning the lesson. Entering the forum page, users can either

create a new topic or reply to an existing one. To create a new topic, the

user clicks on "New topic" and then he sets its title and subject (message).

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Image 27: Submitting a new topic

• Chat: Using this tool, users are able to exchange instant messages, in real

time, provided that they are connected to the system at the same time.

Image 28: Chat

• Personal messages: With this tool, users can send personal messages one

to another or to a group, something like an internal email. To send a

message, go to "Messages", "New message", type % to select the user(s)

who will be the recipient, then type the subject and the message (body).

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Image 29: New message

By clicking on the blue arrow, next to the recipient’s field, someone can easily find a user, according to specific criteria.

Image 30: Recipients selection

Every time the user receives a new incoming message, a notification appears on his page. By clicking on it, he enters automatically the messages page to read it and reply if he needs to.

Image 31: New message notification

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