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What makes mGen Enterprise
different from all of the other e-Learning systems on
the market?
mGen Enterprise is the only self-contained knowledge
management and e-Learning system available today that
provides large organizations with the ability to develop,
deploy, and maintain multimedia training and communication
assets in an automated process.
The basis of mGen Enterprise - the reason
why it is so unique and powerful - resides in its database-driven
underlying architecture. Having all applicable information
(including user profiles, course elements, multimedia
assets, knowledge assets, etc.) registered to the database
server allows mGen Enterprise to be an automated, self-contained
end-to-end knowledge management system.
The benefits of this architecture design
are many. Firstly, the mGen Network tool allows an administrator
to upload courseware to the network in a fully automated
process. Media elements are distributed across multiple
servers, where they can be instantly retrieved upon
a user's request. Network executes each user request
through its built-in "intelligence", which automatically
analyzes the user's network, then dynamically rewrites
the information to match the deployment. Thus, users
logging in from high bandwidth locations will automatically
receive high bit-rate video, and users with low bandwidth
will receive low bit-rate video. This automated mapping
and writing of content locations on the servers allows
IT departments to effectively manage their costs and
resources.
When one or more students are assigned
to a course (using the powerful mGen Admin tool), mGen
Enterprise dynamically creates a collaborative environment
for that class, complete with chat, threaded discussion,
document sharing, a Gradebook, shared notes, a course
calendar, and e-mail. Only the students (and the Instructor)
enrolled in that particular class will have access to
those tools. When the course has been completed and
closed, its collaborative environment is automatically
destroyed. mGen Enterprise allows the administrator
to upload as many courses to the network as needed,
each with its own collaborative environment. All of
this is made possible - without the need for third party
software or consulting - due to the fact that everything
is governed by the database.
In addition, users have the ability
to access the Reports tool and the Gradebook tool from
any login location. The Reports tool allows the user
to produce up-to-date reports (either preformatted or
customized) with historic and current enrollment information.
The contents and layout of a report can be customized
and then displayed in a matter of seconds. Similarly,
Gradebook is a automated grading tool that can be customized
by an Instructor. Each student has access to a personalized
Gradebook that displays their current grades. It is
the use of the database server that allows mGen Enterprise
to include these valuable tools without the need for
additional software or consulting fees.
Finally, mGen Enterprise includes video
streaming capabilities in both its courseware and tests.
In addition to receiving the appropriate types of videos
(depending upon bandwidth), users do not have to worry
about downloading video files or going to remote links.
Videos are streamed directly to the user's desktop,
allowing courseware delivered through the mGen architecture
to be truly media-rich.
These are the main factors that set
mGen Enterprise apart from all other knowledge management
systems. The underlying distributive architecture allows
large amounts of multimedia to be delivered in a highly
scalable format, without overwhelming an organization's
network. The database server enables courseware and
media assets to be distributed and organized in an automated
process, allows collaborative environments to be automatically
created for each course, and permits users immediate
access to up-to-date course information. mGen Enterprise
offers all of these tools and functions in a single,
off-the-shelf suite of tools, with no third party software
or consulting fees required.
Is mGen Enterprise
best suited for corporations, educational institutions,
or government organizations?
We at mGen, Inc. have found that all types of large
organizations - including corporate, educational, and
government - face the same basic challenges when it
comes to the delivery of training: ensuring high-quality
up-to-date content; reaching a globally dispersed audience;
minimizing costs; and maximizing effectiveness. mGen
Enterprise is a complete end-to-end training solution
that can help to resolve all of these concerns. mGen
Enterprise is currently being used in a variety of corporate,
educational, and government organizations with an equal
level of success.
What is the "News &
Information" portal?
The News and Information module allows for an organization
to author, collect and distribute internal corporate
news as well as news received from external Internet
feeds that follow the RSS standard (i.e.:www.cnn.com).
Through the Master Administration module, “Information
Managers” are assigned, who have the ability to set
up categories and workflow in order to publish information
to the system. Users are able to customize their personal
homepage in the same manner as major personalized portal
providers such as My Yahoo.
How can I distribute
knowledge assets to users?
Knowledge Communities are collaborative environments
for specific topics. Users may interact with a Subject
Matter Expert through Threaded Discussion, FAQ’s and
Shared Files. News and Information categories may also
be linked to Knowledge Communities in order for documents
to become a permanent part of an organization’s knowledge
archive, which can be searched months or even years
into the future.
How are knowledge assets
managed?
mGen Admin, our powerful data management tool, allows
for extreme flexibility in the creation of administrative
roles based on demographic information that is drawn
from the user base. When training events and assignments
are made, the Master Administration module allows for
the inclusion of a number of different options, such
as Collaborative Environments, Instructors and Assistants,
Open Enrollment, Wait Lists and Cost Centers.
Additionally Administrators are handed rights to create
and manage News & Information portals and Knowledge
communities.
The Master Administration module makes extensive use
of XML technologies, which enables an organization to
easily build and manage a learning environment specific
to their business rules, without the need for consultants
or custom programming.
What types of media
elements can I include in my courses?
Courses may be created using mGen Producer, our easy-to-use
content creation tool. Producer supports virtually any
standards-based media elements, including graphics,
animation, text documents, audio, and video. This intuitive
authoring tool allows the Subject Matter Expert to create
dynamic training materials through "drag and drop" of
existing multimedia assets. No programming skills are
required! In addition, courses created in other authoring
tools may be opened and modified using Producer.
How is the content
of each course organized?
Courses are laid out in a hierarchical outline form
with chapters and sections. The Subject Matter Expert
can create as many chapters and sections as are needed.
Each chapter or section can include any combination
of text and media assets.
When a student enters a course, the
course outline is displayed along the left side of the
screen, allowing the student to jump to any location
within the course. Left and right arrow buttons, located
at the top of the screen, enable the student to navigate
through the course, step by step.
I have no programming
skills - can I still create courses?
Yes. No programming or HTML language is required in
order to use mGen Producer. The Subject Matter Expert
adds media elements through a simple "drag and drop"
process. The necessary HTML is automatically created
for you.
How can I manage my
existing media assets?
mGen Producer includes a reports function that allows
the Subject Matter Expert to track and organize all
media elements associated with a particular course.
Each incomplete element can be assigned to a specific
worker and be given a due date. Producer can generate
several different reports (all of which are completely
customizable) for your media assets, listing the element
name, location, worker, contact information, due date,
status, etc. These reports can be exported to an Excel
spreadsheet.
What sort of assessments
or tests can be created using mGen Enterprise? In
addition to quizzes added to Producer courses, media-rich
tests can be created using mGen Test. This tool was
designed so that a Subject Matter Expert (SME) would
be able to create and wrap a test around any standards-based
multimedia content, including animation, video, and
audio. Using Test, the SME can build pools of template-driven
questions, which can be inserted into tests using criteria
like auto randomization, randomization by question weighting,
direct re-testing from question pools, and SME-directed
questioning.
Can I use my existing
online courseware with mGen Enterprise?
Yes. By using mGen Network, our automated
content management and delivery tool, the administrator
may upload courses that were created in non-mGen authoring
tools. These courses may be modified in mGen Producer,
assigned to users on your network, and/or be published
to a CD.
How would I manage my users and courseware?
The user and courseware databases are managed by the
administrator using mGen Admin, a highly intuitive administration
tool. By utilizing this application, the administrator
may input, import, and edit user profiles; group users
into an organizational hierarchy; group course elements
into meta-courses; and assign one or more courses to
one or more individuals or groups of individuals. In
addition, Admin allows the administrator to determine
access privileges by assigning one or more user roles
to each user, and an instructor eligibility list can
be used to ensure that each course is being taught by
the appropriate instructor.
Can I assign a specific
training path to one or more users?
Yes. By grouping course elements into meta-courses,
you can create customized training paths. A meta-course
may include any combination of courses and tests, and
the administrator can choose to require the students
to complete the course elements in a certain order.
Students who have not completed the first course element
will not be able to access subsequent sections.
How do I add courseware
to my network?
Any number of courses - regardless of which authoring
tool has been used to create them - may be uploaded
to your network through the use of the mGen Network
tool. Through this upload process, which is totally
automated, courseware assets are organized on a networked
architecture, then distributed across multiple servers
where they can be instantly retrieved upon a user's
request. Video files are assigned to the appropriate
video server in order to ensure that every user receives
streaming video, regardless of bandwidth.
Each course can be designated as being
"public" or "assignment only." Public courses will
be listed in the Course and Media Library, a searchable
courseware and video archive, accessible to all users
at any time.
Are classmates able
to collaborate with each other?
Yes. We believe that successful learning can best be
achieved when students have the ability to seek information
from and share knowledge with each other. Taking an
online course without the benefit of such a collaborative
environment is only a limited learning experience. Thus,
the mGen Enterprise system includes a suite of collaboration
tools, creating a dynamic interactive learning environment
for each course. These tools enhance the learning experience
by giving students the ability to communicate with their
instructors as well as share information with their
classmates.
As soon as one or more students have
been assigned to a given course, a collaborative environment
is automatically generated around that course. The collaboration
tools - accessible from any login location - include
threaded discussion, document sharing, chat, Gradebook,
notes, course calendar, and e-mail. These tools are
available to the student even while navigating through
the course. Thus, mGen Enterprise makes collaboration
between classmates and instructors quite easy.
In what ways can an
instructor interact with the students in his/her class?
There are several collaboration tools available to enable
an instructor to interact with the students in a given
course. The chat tool, for instance, allows for real-time
interaction among any number of individuals. The instructor
could use this function in order to conduct online office
hours. In addition, the discussion area allows the instructor
to engage with students in threaded discussions. The
instructor could use this tool in order to answer questions
and post information, knowing that all students in the
course will be able to check this message board at any
time.
The shared notes function allows an
instructor to post any important course-related text
for easy access by all students. The shared documents
function allows an instructor to post files of any type,
available for viewing by all students in the course.
In addition, each student may use this tool in order
to submit files directly to the instructor.
Important dates and assignments may
be posted on the course calendar; any changes made by
the instructor are immediately viewable by the students
in the course. Lastly, an email list is automatically
generated for each course, giving the instructor and
students direct access to each other. An instructor
has many options available in order to facilitate various
types of interaction with students.
How does a student
access mGen Enterprise?
The mGen Enterprise online environment is accessible
from any LAN or WAN location, using only a Web browser.
Each user has a unique username and password for secure
login. Upon successful login, the system generates a
unique personalized mGen home page, a set of personal
tools, and a collaborative environment for each currently
assigned course. A user is not restricted to always
using the same login location.
How are reports produced?
In the mGen online environment, all users have access
to the Reports tool, which provides up-to-date current
and historic enrollment information. Because this information
has been stored in the database server, users can access
it at any time, with no need for additional software
or consulting fees. Users may select from a list of
six preformatted reports or use a series of filters
in order to generate a customized report. A report may
include such information as course status, current or
final grades, and start and end dates. While students
can only view their own enrollment information, instructors
may generate reports on one, some, or all of their students.
Report information can be exported to an Excel spreadsheet.
How are grades reported?
All users enrolled in a course have access to Gradebook,
a customizable online grading tool. At any time, a student
may view up-to-date grading information, including grades
and percentage weights for each grading category. The
instructor can customize the course Gradebook as much
or as little as is desired by adding new grading categories,
applying grading scales, inputting override grades,
changing category weights, and inputting notes for each
grade. Any quizzes embedded within a course can be automatically
graded and included in Gradebook. All changes made by
the instructor are immediately and automatically reflected
in the student Gradebooks.
How is video content
delivered? All video content on the network, whether
part of a course or not, is streamed directly to the
user's desktop. Thus, the user does not have to waste
time downloading files or navigating to remote links
in order to view a video. When a user requests a video,
mGen Enterprise dynamically resolves the user's IP address
and delivers the appropriate type of video file, based
upon bandwidth capabilities. This approach to video
delivery allows mGen Enterprise to support media-rich
courseware that is easily accessible from any login
location, regardless of bandwidth.
Can I multicast video
over my network?
The mCast tool enables the transmission of real-time
streaming video from one point of origination to any
number of end users. This is achieved through the combination
of IGMP technology and a dynamic interface that allows
an administrator to schedule video broadcasts, manage
the IP multicast hardware, and monitor broadcast activity.
More than 20 simultaneous channels of live or prerecorded
video can be scheduled at any time - 24 hours a day,
7 days a week, 365 days a year - directly to the user's
desktop, creating a private cable TV type system over
your network.
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