The NEW Testing Platform and Process – Coming Early July!

Danielle Filippone July 1, 2024 No Comments

After much anticipation….

The New Testing Platform and Process (TPP) is all new and shares nothing with its predecessor. It is built on the same platform as the quiz engine that has been used by the PTSI Learning Management System courses since the debut of the OLS almost a decade ago.

Overview

Test delivery will be through a lockdown browser called Respondus (full details at web.respondus.com). Respondus Lockdown Browser disables keyboard shortcuts, right-click menus, and more. It also makes opening new windows and applications impossible during a test. It forces students to focus on the test simplifying proctoring. Proctors are not tied to their computer, but free to walk around and monitor progress or answer questions.

Note: A link to download Respondus will be provided on the LMS under the EXAMS section

TPP only allows online tests. No paper tests will be available using the new system. TPP will scramble the question order, but students in a group will all see the same questions.

Use of either local program computers or student personal computers is at the discretion of the local program.

      • TPP exams are supported on Mac, Windows, Chromebook, and iPad operating Systems – Phones are not supported.
      • Keeping up to date machines and browsers is always important.


Test Availability Timeline

The New Testing Platform and Process and existing testing platform will coexist, and individuals who prepare and/or administer tests will need to be fluent in both. Here is a breakdown:

    • All new CML courses released in 2024 and after will only have tests available on The New Testing Platform and Process
    • CML courses are delineated with “ – CML” in their course title
    • Existing CML courses will be available on both platforms
    • All Outside Program tests will be available on both platforms
    • All other courses are only available on the existing Assessments system but will be added to the New Testing Platform and Process in the following order:
        • Inside, Installer/Tech, Residential Core
        • Inside, Installer/Tech, Residential Advanced
        • Substation, Underground Cable Splicing and Underground Distribution
        • All remaining courses

Still Have Questions?

Details about preparing and administering tests using the new system will be covered in a webinar scheduled for July 2nd, at 3:00 PM Eastern.

SMS Option Added to LMS and TMS for MFA

Greg Greiner June 20, 2024 No Comments

Can there ever be enough acronyms and abbreviations?  My take, yes, but the addition of the SMS option to the TMS and LMS is needed and has been at long last added to the ProTech Skills Institute Online Learning System. Please see important details below.

Multi-factor Authentication (MFA)

The two existing MFA methods for receiving the authentication code, E-mail and Authenticator Application, have been joined by a third, SMS text message. Existing LMS users can access this new MFA option by clicking on their name in the upper right corner and selecting Login Preferences. When Text Message is selected, the user will be asked to input the cell number where they want the authentication code delivered and hit save. All MFA codes from that point forward will be delivered to the number provided.

New LMS users still, and always, need to initially authenticate using E-mail, but after that they can choose to select from Authenticator Application or Text Message if preferred.

E-mail remains the default MFA method unless changed by the user. Users can change their MFA method at any time.

TMS users will also see this as an option.  Once logged into the TMS, click on your name in the upper right corner to choose SMS Verification if desired.

 

Last Thing:

There are online resources that do not require MFA to be used each time you log in and then some that allow you to select how secure you prefer to be by allowing you to choose how often you must verify.  In our cases as ERISA governed organizations, we are held to a very high security compliance level.  It’s also something to note that using systems that send automatic messages charge by the quantity of messages.  With email or with SMS, the number of messages the system sends equates to a charge.  We monitor these charges to watch for concerns and will communicate those if they arise.  While we, and you, are required to have these measures in place we try very hard to make them as user-friendly as we can, meet the required security benchmarks, and keep the costs down.

 

Thanks for reading!

LMS Quiz Error Issue – June 12, 2024 (8:50 am – 10:57 am Eastern)

Danielle Filippone June 12, 2024 No Comments

At 8:50 am Eastern on 6/12/2024 we were alerted about an issue with the Learning Management System affecting quizzes in the Tech Math – CML and Construction Drawings – CML courses. The development teams were able to pinpoint the cause and resolved the issue at 10:57 am. 

So… what happened?

Tech Math – CML and Construction Drawings – CML both use questions that generate random variables that make each quiz and quiz attempt unique. When a student (or instructor) attempts a quiz, the system pulls the random variables needed for those question types. This morning, the number of concurrent random variable requests hit the limit that prevents overloading servers.

So… what did we do?

Because our LMS servers can automatically scale up and down as needed, the team was able to disable this parameter and the random variable function for these quizzes was restored.

We apologize for any interruptions and frustration caused by this incident. We will continue to monitor the LMS for issues, learn from incidents like this, and strive to deliver an online learning environment that performs flawlessly for your students and programs.

LMS – System Error – 10.25.2022 – Detail

Greg Greiner October 25, 2022 No Comments
At 7:45 AM Eastern on 10/25/2022 the Learning Management System experienced issues causing users to sporadically see an error message. The development teams were able to find the cause of the issue and have it rectified at 8:24 AM.


So what happened?
The system has multiple components that help it run effectively.. well.. most of the time. One of those components is a dedicated system to handle cache. (You may be familiar with browser cache.. same type of thing.) Think of cache basically like our LMS short-term memory. Users, throughout the day, make very similar requests to the system. Instead of having to calculate those similar requests each time a user asks for them, we store them in our short-term memory, our cache.
 
Unfortunately, the LMS has been telling our short-term memory space in our LMS brain, ‘hold on to this one. Don’t get rid of it. And this one too, and this one..’ They started piling up. We started to get short of space in our short-term memory.
 
The issue was experienced sporadically in various areas of the LMS as a memory error that read “Exception – OOM command not allowed when used memory > ‘maxmemory’.”
 
What did we do?
The team was able to do two things straight away:
1. Make the space in our LMS brain for short-term memory larger
2. Go through and clear out requests no longer needed.
 
We have also added more intelligence in the systems conversation about what should be held onto in the cache and for how long as well as better alerts when our short-term memory space begins to look like it might be getting full.
We apologize for any interruptions you may have experienced during this incident. We strive to be sure the system is available and performant for you and the training you deliver, and we will learn from this incident to improve on that commitment.

July 3, 2021 – System Maintenance Reminder

Greg Greiner July 1, 2021 No Comments

LMS & TMS System Maintenance Notice

Summary

The Online Learning System has a scheduled maintenance outage.

Date: July 3rd, 2021 from 9am – 9pm Eastern.

Affected Systems: The Learning Management System (LMS) and Training Management System (TMS) will be offline during this time.

Detail: This outage is to apply updates and improvements to our enterprise system.  As the system has evolved, and continues to do so, this and other proactive procedures are applied to ensure that the foundation that our system relies on remains powerful, scalable, and secure.

Extra Important Details:

(more…)

Test Generator Exams – 2011 NEC and 2012 70E – related Courses

Tonya Strickland December 8, 2020 No Comments

The Legacy Test Generator has been undergoing a phase-out over the last few years. The legacy system was built on Flash. Flash has had a long and prosperous life for use in delivering online resources; however, that will end on December 31, 2020. As a result, this system will no longer function beyond 2020, and access to exams for all courses will only be through the LMS Assessments tool.

We have completed migrating exams from the Legacy Test Generator to the new Online Assessments system; however, Legacy Test Generator exams for 2011 Code-related and 2012 Electrical Safety-Related Work Practices (ESRWP) courses will not be converted. To support those program still using some of those older courses, we have created multiple exam versions in PDF format that you can request. For each exam version, we have three variances with the same set of questions shuffled across the three.

The following is the list of courses for which we have PDF exams available. To request exams and answer keys for these courses, please reach out to Steve Strickland by phone at 888.652.4007 or by email at sstrickland@electricaltrainingalliance.org, and let him know if you want different exams (different questions on each) or variations of the same exam (same questions shuffled).

For more information on the decommissioning of the Legacy Test Generator, please see those posts.

Legacy Test Generator Conversions Are Complete!

The Legacy Test Generator Decommissioned as of 12/31/2020

 

 

PDFs not displaying all pages in Chrome browser

Greg Greiner September 30, 2020 No Comments

The Chrome browser has made a recent change affecting how PDFs are displayed.  This is true when accessing some of our linked PDFs from our site just like it is from other internet sites.

The issue is that users are unable to view the entire document when opening that document in a Chrome browser.  The user may be limited to seeing the first page of the PDF and not being able to scroll to other pages.  The entire PDF may be viewed by downloading it to the user’s local device and opening from there.  Currently, this issue is specific to Chrome browsers.  We have found a solution to the problem and are addressing the issue as we find PDF documents showing the described symptoms.  If you or your students encounter this issue of not being able to view all pages of a PDF, please submit an errata ticket from within that particular lesson and then download the PDF for viewing or view it from within a different browser.

Thanks For Reading!