Are you planning to produce and Publish labs using Skillable Lab on Demand? Let’s look at the big picture of the process from start to finish; this is an overview of the steps taken from creating a lab to placing that lab in the hands of your learner.
Diagram shows the full process from creating a lab to publishing it in Skillable TMS or your own LMS
Skillable Lab on Demand
The Skillable Lab on Demand platform features flexible lab authoring and configuration tools. This is our lab development platform where you can design and build your lab using the Lab Fabric of your choice. You have many options for the labs you want for your learners. You can put dynamic instructions in your lab that directly interact with the learning environment. You can create Scored labs with knowledge checks, scripted Activity-based Assessment (ABA), and Performance-Based Testing. You can add lab components that automatically perform tasks, such as invoking a web API, sending notifications to students, and executing scripts against Virtual Machines or a cloud environment.
You can also set up cloud or shared labs. A {Glossary.Shared lab}} has shared resources that enable multiple Users to work cooperatively, competitively, individually or in teams. Create cloud labs and use our Cloud Slice; a technology that allows you to slice a cloud vendor’s environment and supply access per user in a highly managed, highly secure way, driving lower costs, better scale and faster setup while preventing fraud and abuse.
Create your lab
The first step is to create your lab profile. Labs in Skillable Lab on Demand are housed in a Lab Profile; a lab profile is where lab settings are configured. Settings may include resource configuration, virtual machines, network configuration, cloud configuration, Life Cycle Actions and much more. Lab profiles can exist on their own or they can be part of a Lab Series that has multiple lab profiles.
Build your Lab Profiles
Use the Skillable Studio Template Gallery’s pre-created labs to use for a new base lab. Or create a Lab Profile from scratch.
• Add Hyper-V or ESX lab virtual machines. View Best Practices.
• Add Containers hosted in Docker Hub or another Container Registry you manage or have access to.
• Set up a cloud lab using Azure or AWS and you can use Cloud Slice to manage it.
Finish your lab
Add instructions, include quizzes, Assessments, or performance-based testing. Then create a lab series to publish your lab profile(s).
Write Instructions
Use our Integrated Lab eXperience (IDLx) platform to integrate your Lab Instructions into your lab environment. With IDLx, instructions are formatted in Markdown, and you can add tasks, links, Activity Based Assessments screen shots, or video. View Best Practices.
Add Quizzes, Exams, Activity Based Assessments, and/or Performance Based Testing
Include multiple choice or short answer questions through quizzes or exams. You may also validate or teach skills with Activity Based Assessments in which the learner completes a challenge or answers a question, then manually triggers an automated Evaluation of the item for immediate feedback. Or use Performance Based Testing allowing the learner to develop and show their skills by completing a series of tasks and submitting everything at the end for a score.
Create a Lab Series
Lab Profiles must be contained within a Lab Series to publish; the Lab Series holds the Lab Profile(s) and allows you to configure and publish them as a lab to an API to be launched in your LMS or our Skillable TMS.
Publish your lab
To publish your lab, the lab profile(s) must be added to a Lab Series, launched, and have the Development Status set to Complete. Then you can choose if you will publish your lab in the Skillable TMS or to your API.
Save the Lab Series
Your Lab Series needs to be saved in your production Organization. When doing this you will choose the lab profiles you want to publish from your development organization. Once your lab profiles are in the production organization, you will need to launch each lab profile and set the development status to complete. This ensures that the lab does not have any issues launching, and allows you to make sure the lab looks and performs like you expect.
Publish Lab Series
You can proceed to choose which API to publish your lab to, this can be published to our Training Management System (TMS) or to an API to launch labs in your platform.
Skillable Training Management System (TMS)
Skillable TMS is our integrated LMS platform to deliver labs to your learners. You can manage learners and instructors, schedule classes and assign Self-Paced training. You can check Lab instances to see your learners’ progress, instructors can virtually view and interact with learners by monitoring their labs as they work on them. Have learners and instructors launch all the Course content, labs, courseware, and your virtual meeting from a single web page. You can add multiple choice assessments, Surveys for students, instructors or Organizations and you have many options for automatically triggered notifications. You can also validate and recognize your learners’ Achievements with Completion Certificates and Badges.
Publish to our TMS
After your lab is published to the Skillable TMS, you must add it into a course to be delivered to your learners. A course is then added to a class for instructor led delivery or to a Course Assignment, Training Key Pools or Subscription for self-paced delivery. Once a Class is set up, students are enrolled manually or through Training Keys. When self-paced training is set up, a Course Assignment or subscription can be manually assigned or given access through a training key.
Create a Course
Courses are the delivery container for labs in the TMS, labs must be added into courses, courses are added to a delivery method, and the delivery mechanism is assigned to a learner. A course holds the content to deliver to your learner; it is a container with many settings which holds labs and other Activities. After creating a course, you must add a publishing group to make it available to add to a class, course assignment or subscription. Once the course and publishing group are set up, you can choose delivery methods.
Determine Delivery Mechanism
Labs are contained within a course then courses are added to delivery mechanism to place the labs into your learner’s hands. Delivery can be instructor-led training through a class or self-paced training through a course assignment.
A class is a set date and time when the instructor and students meet. When scheduling a class, a course is added to give access to the content and labs. Instructors have access to the course and labs when they are assigned to teach a class. Learners can access labs once class starts.
Self-paced learners can be assigned a single course through a course assignment or a set of courses through a subscription; a subscription gives a learner access to multiple courses which can be taken and retaken for a limited amount of time. Each course launched within a subscription is opened as a course assignment.
Deliver your Training
You can choose to assign training manually, use the Skillable Connect TMS API, or use training keys for learners to self-register and access their training.
Instructor-led learners can be enrolled manually one at a time or in groups. You can also use training keys to allow students to self-register and access their class. Learners have access to class labs from the start of the class through any post-class lab access set for the course, normally 180 days. Students and instructors can connect directly to your virtual meeting host through the class. Instructors can monitor all student labs virtually during classes.
Self-paced learner’s access to a course assignment is normally 180 days from the time it is created but may be set to less. You can manually create a single course assignment, multiple course assignments or use a training key pool to allow students to self-register and open a course assignment.
Subscriptions can be assigned manually to a single learner, multiple learners or through training keys which allows students to self-register and open their subscription. A learner views all the available courses in a subscription catalog, showing each course as a tile with the course name and information; then when a course is selected it opens as a course assignment to the learner. Learning Paths can also be set up to direct learners through a set of courses.
Skillable Connect
Skillable Connect provides API and LTI capabilities to integrate into your existing LMS, CRM, BI and/or learning system.
Publish to your Platform
Use Skillable Connect to have either API or LTI capabilities integrated into your existing platform.
Implement API in your Platform’s Code
Use Skillable Connect LOD API to deliver your labs directly from your platform. Skillable Connect is your door into SkillStack, our full-stack Lab Platform, providing OpenAPI compliance, with clear, searchable documentation on how to consume APIs. We provide sample responses and examples along with self-serve testing tools. For LTI activities, you will publish in LOD to your LTI’s API Consumer with an assigned API key that is used as authentication for every API call from your platform.
Create an LTI Activity to Deliver your Training
LTI (Learning Tools Interoperability) allows you to integrate your labs from Skillable SkillStack directly into your learning management system (LMS). This gives your learners a seamless experience, opening a lab directly from an activity in your LMS.
View LTI 1.3, LTI 1.1, EdX, Blackboard and other options under the Other Integration heading.
Trigger the Launch
Once your set up is complete, learners can launch your labs with the selection of a button.
Publishing a lab is the process of making a Lab Profile available to the customer’s Learning Management System (LMS). The LMS can then be configured to enable the end Learner to have access to the new Lab(s).
Skillable's Training Management System. A learning management system designed to streamline the delivery, tracking, and reporting of your training programs.
Lab Fabrics are the various platforms we offer for the delivery of labs. Fabrics can either be different virtualization technologies and containers hosted in a Skillable datacenters or be public cloud.
Scoring allows the student to be given a score for each Activity they complete correctly, and those scores contribute to the student's overall score in the lab. As the lab author, you set the passing score for the lab after you enable scoring in the lab.
Activity-based Assessments are labs that contain activities that validate a if a given task was completed succesfully or not and provide real-time feedback directly to the learner as they are progressing through the lab.
Performance-based testing is a challenge-centric, scored lab used for skills validation. It uses activities, such as Activity Based Assessments (ABA), that have scoring turned on. Questions and Automated Activities are used to validate a Learners' practical skills through the completion of technical tasks, and the results are generated at the end of a lab.
An API, also known as an Application Programming interface, consists of a defined set of rules and protocols that enable seamless communication between different software applications. A common language for software systems to collaborate effectively.
A virtual machine is the virtualization or emulation of a computer system. Virtual machines are based on computer architectures and provide the functionality of a physical computer.
A glossary is a collection of words pertaining to a specific topic. In your articles or dissertation, it’s a list of all terms you used that may not immediately be obvious to your reader. Your glossary only needs to include terms that your reader may not be familiar with, and it’s intended to enhance their understanding of your work. Glossaries are not mandatory, but if you use a lot of technical or field-specific terms, it may improve readability to add one.
A Shared Lab is a tool used at Skillable to create environments which share their networks with each other to allow machines to communicate between a Shared Lab Environment and a Participant (or Participants).
People who interact with the platform. Typically, we can break down users into three categories: Operations Managers, Instructors and Basic Users..
Cloud Slice is Skillable's proprietary technology that enables you to take a single cloud subscription and provide isolated access to a high volume of users at a single time.
Labs in Skillable Studio are housed in a Lab Profile. The Lab Profile contains the information about the configurable settings and the virtual machines that make up a lab. For a Lab Profile to be published it must be part of a Lab Series.
With Life Cycle Actions, Skillable Studio is able to execute actions when specific events occur during the lab instance life cycle.
A Lab Series is a container that holds one or more Lab Profiles. The Lab Series contains Lab Profiles and settings for the Lab Series. It is like the cover of a book, while the Lab Profiles are like the chapters within the book.
Skillable's lab building & authoring platform.
The template gallery allows lab authors to easily search for and select pre-created lab profile templates to use as the base for a new lab.
Microsoft hardware virtualization platform that enables the use of virtual machines.
ESX hardware virtualization platform that enables the use of virtual machines.
Skillable Studio supports containers via Docker. Containers are a lightweight option compared to full Virtual Machines. Container images use virtualization that focuses on a specific application or software, rather than a full operating system.
Skillable Studio supports containers via Docker. Docker containers are a lightweight option compared to full Virtual Machines. Docker container images use virtualization that focuses on a specific application or software, rather than a full operating system.
Custom registries can be created in Skillable Studio, that are linked to an external registry. This is useful to use containers that are maintained in your own external repository.
Azure represents Microsoft Azure - Microsoft's public cloud computing platform.
AWS is the acronym for Amazon Web Services - Amazon's public cloud computing platform.
Assessments are used to determine the user's comprehension of materials. Assessments can be created in the TMS as a multiple choice test and then added to courses.
Integrated Digital Lab Experience. The IDLx platform integrates the lab instructions with the Skillable Studio Lab Client in the lab environment. The content written within the IDLx interface is normally written in Markdown, an easy to use markup language for formatting text.
The lab content and instructions written in the Instructions Editor and displayed in the lab user interface.
Markdown is an easy-to-use set of markup language to format text. Markdown also supports the use of embedded HTML syntax to format the contents.
Evaluations are presented to lab user after the lab is ended, to provide feedback about the lab profile to the instructor or learning organization.
A Learning Management System (LMS) is a software application that manages learning processes. It handles administrative tasks, class and course management, tracks learner progress, delivers educational content, and automates processes like enrollment and reporting and more.
The status of a lab profile's development. Options include: In Development, Awaiting Verification, In Verification, Verification failed, Complete.
An organization is assigned to each entity in the TMS, such as, users, classes, subscriptions, and courses. The organization is a basis to determine access given based on roles within the organization and management over the organization.
Self-Paced or On-demand training is associated with course assignments or subscriptions. Users are assigned training which can be accessed at any time by the learner at their leisure. Outside guidance or mentorship is often not provided with this type of training.
A lab instance is the individual occurrence of a lab profile launch. Each lab instance is unique for each lab launch, and all details related to the lab launch are displayed on the lab instance.
Bundles together content to then be set up for training through classes, subscriptions, and course assignments. Courses can include labs, videos, SCORM, LTI, external links, assessments, and documents. Courses must be assigned to a Content Provider and a Publishing Group to be available to set up for training.
TMS entity that can be applied the organization, course, or class to gather feedback from their learners to create even better experiences.
Organizations are the containers in which all objects in Skillable Studio reside. Each organization has two child orgs, Development and Production. Development is used for content creation and testing. Production is used only for content that is ready for consumption. Organizations also provide one of the security boundaries within the Skillable Studio platform.
Achievements are a feature to recognize an accomplishment with the TMS. An achievement is automatically triggered by an action being completed in the platform, such as, a user launched a lab, completed a lab, completed a course or a set of courses. An achievement can be associated with a badge so that the badge is automatically assigned when the task is completed.
Completion certificates are uploaded by an organization to be distributed after a class is completed by the instructor, or can be downloaded by a student from their transcript when they have completed a course assignment or have a completion status of complete from a class.
Badges are digital credential for completing a class or a course which can be assigned manually on the class roster or course assignment. When paired with an Achievement the badge can be automatically triggered by a set of actions such as completing a course or launching a lab. Badges are provided through Credly/Acclaim and can be shared on social media or as email signatures.
A course assignment delivers self-paced access to a course. A course is assigned to a student giving immediate access to the student. It can be accessed at any time for the duration of the assignment. The assignment duration begins and is billed when it is created.
Training keys pools are associated with course assignments in the TMS. A key pool is set up for a specific course to generate a group of keys, or pool, and then can be distributed to individuals to redeem the key for access to the course. If a Training Key Pool is unavailable, a Course Assignment Training Key should be used.
A subscription is an assignment to an individual for access to a set of courses for a set amount of time for self-paced access. Students can choose which courses to access from the subscription, which then open as a course assignment, and they can access the courses at any time for the duration of the subscription.
A class is a scheduled instructor-led event with a start and end time/date. Typically, these include lectures and hands on activities such as labs.
A training key is a code given to students to be admitted to training and can also be used for them to create their own user accounts. Training keys can be used to create class enrollments, course assignments or subscription assignments.
A course assignment delivers self-paced access to a course. A course is assigned to a student giving immediate access to the student. It can be accessed at any time for the duration of the assignment. The assignment duration begins and is billed when it is created.
Activities are configured in the instructions editor and represented in the lab instructions by a replacement token. Activities fall into two broad categories: Questions and Automated.
- Questions are multiple choice or short answer questions.
- Automated Activities interact with the lab environment (Virtual Machine/Container/Cloud Platform).
A learning path is curated set of courses belonging to a Subscription Profile to lead the learner through a guided journey to help them learn a specfic topic.
A lab platform is the underlying technology used to create a lab environment, for example, a Hyper-V or ESX virtual machine, or the Azure or AWS cloud platforms. Platform and fabric are often used interchangeably.
Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) is an education technology specification developed by the IMS Global Learning Consortium. It specifies a method for a learning system to invoke and to communicate with external systems.
API Consumers store unique settings for each API call and use an API key for secure connections that enable the launch of labs and the retrieval of reporting analytics. Configured for Labs by admins, they serve as the bridge between your applications and Skillable Labs to enable a wide array of data integration and automation possibilities.
Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) is a technical standard which allows courseware and learning tools from different vendors to be launched securely within a learning platform without logging into each tool. LTI activities can be added to courses allowing a student to launch into content from another platform.
