Alteon Computer Based Training (CBT)

Users Guide

Installation:

The CD-ROM is designed for auto-launch to this menu screen:

Click the “Install” button to start the installation process. Follow the on-screen instructions.
The default installation path may be changed when prompted. Also, the option exists to
place a Windows shortcut icon on the desktop. This process takes approximately 1 minute.

NOTE: Installation of the CBT requires Administrator privileges. Attempting installation

with lesser privileges may result in improper installation.

Restarting the machine is recommended after installation is completed.

If the auto-launch window does not appear, double-click the file “install.exe” (located at the
root level of the CD_ROM) to launch the installation menu window.
Starting the CBT:

To start the CBT, click the “Launch CBT” button if the menu window is open.

This feature will ONLY launch the latest installed version of Alteon CBT. For example, if
you already have 747 Flight CBT installed, and then install 737 Flight CBT, the “Launch
CBT” button will only be able to launch the 737 Flight CBT.

Alternatively, each CBT installation process installs a different Windows Program item in
the Start, Programs, pop-up menu. (See sample.)

Selecting one of the CBT menu items displays the following 4 choices:
747-400 Flight CBT is the shortcut that launches the CBT.

Installation Instructions – Please Read is the shortcut to the Readme file.

Lesson List is the shortcut to the lessons.lst file. (See below).

Router Configuration is the shortcut to the cmi.cfg file. (See below).

Finally, during installation if the option for a desktop shortcut icon was selected, double-
clicking that icon will launch the CBT.

The Router Program:

The Router Program controls the launching of individual CBT lessons. A sample is shown:

The Alteon CBT Router is a program designed specifically to launch Alteon CBT
lessons. It is a simple menu system --- NOT a CMI (Computer Managed Instruction) or
LMS (Learning Management System) program. It does NOT have student login, data
collection, or reporting. It will NOT remember student progress. The Alteon CBT lessons
were designed for use with a separate CMI program compatible with version 1.9 of the
AICC CMI Guidelines for Interoperability.
Running the Lessons:

If there are more than 14 lessons in your lesson list, they will be
broken into "pages" (14 lessons or fewer per page). Use the "paging
arrows" at the bottom of the screen to move between pages. The page
number is displayed at the bottom of the screen.

To run a lesson, click its name on the menu.

To quit the router, click the EXIT button.

CBT Introduction Lesson:

A CBT lesson describing the use and operation of the CBT is included on the CD-ROM or
available on request if required. Alteon contact information is provided at the end of this
document.

Lesson List (lessons.lst):

The file “lessons.lst” contains the information necessary for the CBT Router. The format of
each line of the lessons.lst file is:

Lesson_Title<TAB>[Volume ID|Volume_Title]DOS_Path\Lesson_Filename<CR>

where:
Lesson_Title = the name of the lesson as it will appear on the menu
Volume ID = the DOS volume label of the disk(for example,
"737FTSPCBT1")
Volume_Title = a title "meaningful" to the user if he/she is
prompted to insert a disk (for example, "737FTSPCBT1 CD 1 of 2")
DOS_Path = the drive and directory that store the lesson
Lesson_Filename = the name of the lesson file\

<TAB> = tab character

<CR> = enter key

For example:

APU Operation<TAB>[737SPCBT1_2|737SPCBT1_2 CD 1 of 2]C:\737_CBT\APU2\APU2.a5r<CR>

The [volume ID|volume_title] is required only if the lesson is on removable

Media and there is more than 1 CD-ROM.

NOTE: The lessons.lst file also contains all the information necessary (lesson title and file
name) to run the individual lessons from a CMI or LMS program. Further information
about using the CBT with a CMI or LMS program is discussed in another section of this
document.

Copying the lessons to a hard drive (or server):

The CBT can be copied and run from a local hard drive or a network server. There are a
number of ways to accomplish this depending on your environment and requirements.

The key issues to consider are:

1) Correct path information in the lessons.lst file (see Lesson List above),

The CBT Router requires a complete path to each lesson, i.e., network drives must
mapped with a Windows Drive Letter. See Windows Documentation or Help for
information on mapping network drives.

A fixed-disk version of the lessons.lst file is included on the CBT CD-ROM. Use
this version of the lessons.lst file to edit with the new path information. Any text
editor is sufficient to edit this file. Be sure to the save the resulting new file as “Text
Only”. It is located in the folder named “fixddisk”. Sample:

In general, replace the “C:” with the appropriate Windows Drive Letter and path
information corresponding to the location of the lessons.

2) CBT font installation on all machines accessing the CBT.

Alteon CBT uses some special fonts that must be installed on all machines running
the CBT. The installation program automatically installs these fonts, hence running
the installation program is the best way to guarantee all fonts have been correctly
installed.

After installation, the installation directory contains a folder called “fonts” with all
the required fonts. These fonts are also installed and registered in the Windows
Fonts folder. This folder may be copied and used to manually install the fonts on
any machine accessing the CBT. See Windows Documentation or Help for
information on manually installing fonts.
Failure to properly install all the fonts could result in incorrect CBT displays.

Here is the list of all required fonts:

Router Configuration (cmi.cfg):

The router configuration file, cmi.cfg, is used by the Router to determine individual
CBT lesson start-up and runtime characteristics. The user may obtain different CBT
start-up and runtime characteristics by editing this file. Any text editor is sufficient
to edit this file. Be sure to the save the resulting new file as “Text Only”. The
following lines are examples of two CMI.CFG files:

737 Flight CBT 737 Maintenance CBT

[CORE_VENDOR] [CORE_VENDOR]
showsubtopics = 1 showsubtopics = -1
alltopicsactive = 1 alltopicsactive = 1
testactive = 1 testactive = -1
practiceactive = 1 practiceactive = -1

[EVALUATION] [EVALUATION]
comments_file = c:\temp\comment.txt comments_file = c:\temp\comment.txt
course_id = 737f course_id = 737m
 [CORE] [CORE]
student_id = Student student_id = Student
Lesson_Status = N Lesson_Status = N

The first line is the course title. It appears on the menu displayed by the Router.
The subsequent variables in CMI.CFG serve as follows:

showsubtopics: Setting this switch to 1 turns on the subtopic option on the lesson
menu. This option uses .OBJ files that may or may not be
included with the CBT.

alltopicsactive: Setting this switch to 1 makes all topics active and selectable
from the beginning of the lesson.

testactive: If there is a test section in the lesson, setting this switch to 1 will
force the test section active from the start of the lesson.

practiceactive: If there is a practice section in the lesson, setting this switch to 1

will force the practice section active from the start of the lesson.

comments_file: The full path and filename of the file to which the student's
comments should be written.

course_id: Alphanumeric sequence that uniquely identifies the course.

student_id : Unique alphanumeric code/identifier that refers to a single user

of the CMI system.

lesson_Status: The status from the last time the lesson was run. Possible values
are PASSED, COMPLETED, FAILED, INCOMPLETE.

These variables may also be used in conjunction with an AICC compliant CMI or LMS
program. This is further discussed in another section of this document.

Uninstalling Alteon CBT:

Uninstall Alteon CBT by using the Windows Control Panel, "Add/Remove Programs".
After selecting “Add/Remove Programs” choose the item to be uninstalled from the
available list. Use caution to make certain the correct item is selected before choosing
“Change/Remove”.

Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the uninstallation process.

Alteon CBT and CMI or LMS programs:

All Alteon CBT is AICC compliant and therefore functions correctly with any AICC
compliant CMI or LMS. Alteon does not provide these programs. A list of AICC compliant
products available for purchase may be found on the AICC website at http://www.aicc.org.

Launching Alteon CBT in a CMI or LMS program:

In general, to launch a CBT lesson using a CMI or LMS program the complete path to
lesson is required. This path must also contain the path to the software required to run the
CBT. Currently, for Alteon CBT this software is Authorware Runtime version 5. This
software is free and available for download from the Macromedia website
(http://www.macromedia.com ).

Use the file “lessons.lst” to obtain individual lesson titles and filenames. For example:

Given the above portion of a lessons.lst file, Airplane Familiarization is the lesson title
and 4011sva.a5r is the filename. Please note your version of lessons.lst may or may NOT
contain the file extension “.a5r”. This extension is not required by the Alteon Router, but
most likely is required by any CMI or LMS program. For example:
Where “m:\apw50\runa5w32” is the path (and application filename) to the Authorware 5
Runtime software, and “n:\757g2g\5001a\g00100\00100.a5r” is the path (and lesson
filename) to the individual CBT lesson.

All variables discussed previously in the Router Configuration section may be used in
conjunction with a CMI or LMS program to define lesson start-up and runtime
characteristics. A complete list of CMI/LMS variables is below.

AICC CMI Interoperability and Alteon CBT

(for use with CMI or LMS programs)

The Alteon CBT supports the following AICC defined parameters. Each parameter is
described briefly in this document. Only information specific to use of these parameters in
the Alteon CBT is included. For a more general description of the AICC parameters and
the interface between AICC compliant CBT and an AICC compliant CMI system please see
the CMI Guidelines for Interoperability available at http://www.aicc.org.

CMI to CBT …………………………

In the [CORE] group

STUDENT_ID
STUDENT_NAME
OUTPUT_FILE
LESSON_LOCATION
CREDIT
LESSON_MODE
LESSON_STATUS
PATH
SCORE
TIME

In the [CORE_LESSON] group

RESTART_DATA

In the [CORE_VENDOR] group

SHOWSUBTOPICS
DEBUG
ALLTOPICSACTIVE
FORCETOPICSCHECKED
PRACTICEACTIVE
TESTACTIVE
TEST
TESTREPEAT
WRITECOMMENTS
WRITEDATA
MODULEPATH
GLOSSARYFILE
CONFIGSTRING
WINDOWHEIGHT
WINDOWWIDTH
WINDOWX
WINDOWY
ALLOWTESTOUT

In the [EVALUATION] group

COURSE_ID
COMMENTS_FILE
INTERACTIONS_FILE

In the [STUDENT_PREFERENCES] group

AUDIO
TEXT
CBT to CMI …………………………

In the [CORE] group

LESSON_STATUS
LESSON_LOCATION
SCORE
TIME

In the [CORE_LESSON] group

RESTART_DATA

In the [STUDENT_PREFERENCES] group

AUDIO
TEXT

In the [COMMENTS] group

{See AICC CMI Guidelines for Interoperability for a description of the format of student
comments.}

In the [STUDENT_DATA] group

TRIES_DURING_LESSON
TRY_SCORE.X

Parameter Descriptions:
(In Alphabetical Order)

For each of the descriptions below the name of the Authorware variable that receives the
value of the parameter is listed in parenthesis and the group is listed in brackets.
ALLTOPICSACTIVE (CMI_AllTopicsActive) [CORE_VENDOR]
Setting this parameter to 1 forces all topics on the menu to be active at the start of the
lesson.

AUDIO (CMI_Audio) [STUDENT_PREFERENCES]

A value of –1 turns audio off. For any other value audio is on. If the student selects a
preference, using the options menu, the lesson returns that value to the CMI.

COMMENTS_FILE (CMI_CommentsFile) [EVALUATION]

When set to a device/path/filename the lesson will write student comments to the specified
file as well as in the outparam.cmi file.

CONFIGSTRING (CMI_ConfigString) [CORE_VENDOR]

The value of this parameter is passed to the modules as is. Use this parameter to pass any
module specific data, such as airplane configuration information, needed by the module to
run properly.

COURSE_ID (CMI_CourseID) [EVALUATION]

The value of this parameter is written as part of the data generated by the lesson to identify
which course the lesson was in when the data was generated.

CREDIT (CMI_CREDIT) [CORE]

Not used in the current version (4.6.0).

DEBUG (Debug) [CORE_VENDOR]

When this parameter is set to 1 the lesson displays the param.cmi data received from the
CMI system, the restart data, and the outparam.cmi data written to the CMI system.

FORCETOPICSCHECKED (CMI_ForceTopicsChecked) [CORE_VENDOR]

When this parameter is set to 1, all topics on the menu will be checked. The jump directly
to subtopics feature is also activated for all topics.

GLOSSARYFILE (CMI_GlossaryFile) [CORE_VENDOR]

Use this parameter to specify the complete device/path/filename of the glossary file to be
used by all modules in the lesson. If this parameter is not specified, each module expects to
find a glossary file in the same directory as the module file with the same filename but a
.GLO extension.

INTERACTIONS_FILE (CMI_InteractionsFile) [EVALUATION]

Set this parameter to the complete device/path/filename of the file to which the lesson
should write detailed student performance data. (Note: Not all CBT lessons generate
detailed student performance data.)

LESSON_LOCATION (CMI_Lesson_Location) [CORE]

This is the location in the lesson from which the student exited. The lesson passes this to
the CMI as N_CTopic^":"^N_LeafPath. N_Ctopic is the identifier of the module for the
topic and N_LeafPath is the number of the leaf in that module. If this value is passed to the
lesson by the CMI, the lesson will jump directly to this location.
LESSON_MODE (CMI_Lesson_Mode) [CORE]
This parameter can have the following values. More than one value may be specified,
separated by commas.
C – Choice mode (N_AllTopicsActive is set to TRUE.) All topics are active at the start.
S – Sequential mode (N_AllTopicsActive is set to FALSE.) Only the first topic is
active at the start.
F – Fast mode (N_ReviewMode is set to TRUE.) The gray “skip forward” arrow is
active.
X – No Test mode (N_Test is set to FALSE.) The lesson runs without the test.

LESSON_STATUS (CMI_Lesson_Status) [CORE]

CMI to Lesson
Lesson will attempt to restart anytime a lesson status of I(ncomplete) or F(ailed) is received
(see RESTART_DATA).
A lesson status of P(assed) or a lesson status of C(omplete) and no test will cause the lesson
to be viewed in “review” mode with the following settings:
N_AllTopicsActive = TRUE -- All topics are active at the start.
N_ReviewMode = TRUE – The gray “skip forward” arrow is active.
N_ForceTopicsChecked = TRUE – Checkmarks appear next to each topic at the start.
N_PracticeActive = TRUE – The practice section is active at the start.
N_TestActive = FALSE – The test section is inactive at the start and remains inactive.
Lesson to CMI
The lesson passes the following values for Lesson_Status for the conditions listed.
P(assed) If the student has attempted and passed the lesson test.
F(ailed) If the student has attempted and not passed the lesson test.
I(ncomplete) If the student has completed the instruction section but not yet attempted the
test.
I(ncomplete) If the student has not completed the instruction section.
C(omplete) If the student has completed the instruction section and there is no lesson
test.
When the lesson is run in review mode, the lesson returns as Lesson_Status whatever value
it received from the CMI.

MODULEPATH (CMI_ModulePath) [CORE_VENDOR]

This parameter is used in conjunction with the .MNU file. Set this to a device/path name
that should take the place of the * in the file specification for the modules in the .MNU file.

OUTPUT_FILE (CMI_Output_File) [CORE]

The complete device/path/file name for the parameter file (OUTPARAM.CMI) in which
the lesson should write the return data for the CMI. If no value is specified for this
parameter, the lesson will normally not write an OUTPARAM.CMI file (see WRITECMI).

PATH (CMI_Path) [CORE]

This location is used as the default location for writing the outparam.cmi, comments, and
performance data files when no filename is specified via OUTPUT_FILE,
COMMENTS_FILE, and INTERACTIONS_FILE respectively. If this value is not
specified, FileLocation is used as the default.

PRACTICEACTIVE (CMI_PracticeActive) [CORE_VENDOR]

Setting this parameter to 1 forces the practice section of the lesson to be active from the
start of the lesson. Setting it to –1 makes the practice section inactive. With
PRACTICEACTIVE equal to –1 the practice section will still become active when the
instruction section is completed.

RESTART_DATA (CMI_Restart_Data) [CORE_LESSON]

The fields in the restart data are delimited by “~” and are described below.
Field 1 N_LeafMaps {RETURN is replaced with /}
Field 2 N_TestActive
Field 3 N_TQVersion
Field 4 X_TestStatus
Field 5 X_TestTries
Field 6 X_TestRight
Field 7 X_RevTopics
Field 8 X_TestResults {RETURN is replaced with /}
Field 9 X_PctRight
Field 10 X_TestOrder {RETURN is replaced with /}
Field 11 N_PleafMaps {RETURN is replaced with /}

SCORE (CMI_Score) [CORE]

The lesson returns the test score of the student’s last attempt during the current session.
Scores for any other attempts during the session are passed as TRY_SCORE.X. If this
value is passed by the CMI to the lesson it is ignored.

SHOWSUBTOPICS (CMI_ShowSubTopics) [CORE_VENDOR]

Used to control the display of subtopics on the menu. Set SHOWSUBTOPICS to 1 to turn
subtopics on. Set SHOWSUBTOPICS to –1 to turn subtopics off.

STUDENT_ID (CMI_Student_ID) [CORE]

Written with student comments and performance data. Assigned to X_StudentID and
passed to modules.

STUDENT_NAME (CMI_Student_NAME) [CORE]

Currently not used.

TEST (CMI_Test) [CORE_VENDOR]

Use this parameter to run a lesson minus the test. Setting TEST to –1 causes the lesson to
run without the test even though a test section exists and is specified in the .MNU file.

TESTACTIVE (CMI_TestActive) [CORE_VENDOR]

This parameter is used to make the test active from the start of the lesson. Set it to 1 for
test active, -1 for test inactive. A value of –1 does not prevent the test section from being
activated when the instruction section is completed. To completely remove the test from a
lesson, see TEST or LESSONMODE. Note: Setting TESTACTIVE to 1 will not prevent
the test from being disabled after it is passed by the student. To prevent the test from being
disabled after it is passed, see TESTREPEAT.
TESTREPEAT (CMI_TestRepeat) [CORE_VENDOR]
Set TESTREPEAT to 1 to prevent the lesson from disabling the test after the student has
passed it.

TEXT (CMI_Text) [STUDENT_PREFERENCES]

A value of –1 turns text off. For any other value text is on. If the student selects a
preference, using the options menu, the lesson returns that value to the CMI.

TIME (CMI_Time) [CORE]

The lesson returns the total time spent by the student in the current session. The format is
HH:MM:SS. If a value for this parameter is passed by the CMI to the lesson it is ignored.

TRIES_DURING_LESSON (X_Attempts) [STUDENT_DATA]

This parameter is written by the lesson to the CMI. It is the number of times the student attempted the test
section of the lesson during the current session.

TRY_SCORE.X (X_Score) [STUDENT_DATA]

This parameter is used by the lesson to return the test score for each attempt during the
current session. The score for the student’s first attempt is returned via TRY_SCORE.1.
The score for the second attempt is returned via TRY_SCORE.2, the third via
TRY_SCORE.3 and so on.

WINDOWHEIGHT (CMI_WindowHeight)
This parameter is used to force the height of the presentation window to some value other
than the default of 768. Note that changing the size of the presentation window will not
cause the lesson display to be scaled to fit the new window.
ResizeWindow(CMI_WindowWidth,CMI_WindowHeight)

WINDOWWIDTH (CMI_WindowWidth)
This parameter is used to force the width of the presentation window to some value other
than the default of 1024. Note that changing the size of the presentation window will not
cause the lesson display to be scaled to fit the new window.
ResizeWindow(CMI_WindowWidth,CMI_WindowHeight)

WINDOWX (CMI_WindowX)
Use this parameter to reposition the presentation window on the screen. Specify the x
(horizontal) value (in pixels) of the upper left hand corner of the presentation window.
MoveWindow(CMI_WindowY,CMI_WindowX)

WINDOWY (CMI_WindowY)
Use this parameter to reposition the presentation window on the screen. Specify the y
(vertical) value (in pixels) of the upper left hand corner of the presentation window.
MoveWindow(CMI_WindowY,CMI_WindowX)

ALLOWTESTOUT (CMI_AllowTestOut)
Use this parameter to allow completion of the lesson based on passing the test only.

WRITECMI (CMI_WriteCMI)
WRITECMI = 1 will cause the lesson to write outparam.cmi data even if OUTPUT_FILE
is not specified. If OUTPUT_FILE is not specified and this parameter is set to 1 the lesson
generates a default path/filename as follows. If PATH is specified the outparam.cmi file is
written to PATH\OUTPARAM.CMI. If PATH is not specified, then comments are written
to FileLocation\OUTPARAM.CMI where FileLocation is the location of the Authorware
lesson file. By setting WRITECMI to –1 you can prevent the lesson from writing
performance data even if OUTPUT_FILE is specified.

WRITECOMMENTS (CMI_WriteComments)
Set this parameter to 1 to force the lesson to write comments to a separate comment file
even when COMMENTS_FILE is not specified. If COMMENTS_FILE is not specified
and this parameter is set to 1 the lesson generates a default path/filename as follows. If
PATH is specified student comments are written to PATH\COMMENT.TXT. If PATH is
not specified, then comments are written to FileLocation\COMMENT.TXT where
FileLocation is the location of the Authorware lesson file. By setting WRITECOMMENTS
to –1 you can prevent the lesson from writing comments to a separate file even if
COMMENTS_FILE is specified.

WRITEDATA (CMI_WriteData)
WRITEDATA = 1 will cause the lesson to write student performance data even if
INTERACTIONS_FILE is not specified. If INTERACTIONS_FILE is not specified and
this parameter is set to 1 the lesson generates a default path/filename as follows. If PATH
is specified student performance data is written to PATH\INTERACT.EVL. If PATH is not
specified, then comments are written to FileLocation\INTERACT.EVL where FileLocation
is the location of the Authorware lesson file. By setting WRITEDATA to –1 you can
prevent the lesson from writing performance data even if INTERACTIONS_FILE is
specified.

Alteon Contact Information:

Technical Support:

If you encounter difficulties installing or using this courseware,

please contact us:

Phone: 877-327-7275
FAX: 206-662-7586
SITA: SEABO7X STA 627
Telex: 32-9430 STA 627
Answer Back BOEINGREN RNTN
Email: CBTTechnicalSupport@boeing.com
Mail: Alteon CBT Customer Support
P.O. Box 34787 MC 20-79
Seattle, WA 98124-1787
USA