FEATURES

Hierarchical Design View
		Nsite Studio's hierarchical design view draws on ideas from Shareable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) activity trees, traditional flowcharts, and hierarchical design methodologies from the electronic computer-aided design (CAD) industry.  At a glance, the instructional designer can get a top-level view of their entire learning module and its sequencing flow.  Topic nodes provide a mechanism to manage the hierarchy; each topic node represents a level in the hierarchy and contains a child sequence or learning module.  The user can push down into the design by opening, or double-clicking, a topic node; the design view would then show the contents of that topic node.  Not only does the hierarchy provide a mechanism for managing the complexity of a learning module design, it also provides a natural mechanism for sharing learning modules and sub-modules in a collaborative design environment.

TOC-Style Outline View
Nsite Studio's outline view provides a table-of-contents style view of the learning module.  The hierarchy of the design is captured by indented topics; each indentation in the outline represents a deeper level of the hierarchy.  This view provides the user a more traditional view of the learning module; it also provides an easy method for viewing multiple levels of the module hierarchy simultaneously. Outline view and diagram view work together to provide a complete visual picture of the learning design. Diagram view provides sequence information for each topic through process flow diagrams while the outline view provides a topical map of the entire learning design. Learning objects can be added, moved, or deleted from with the diagram or outline views. Changes in one view is automatically reflected in the other.

Assessment Builder
		The assessment builder provides the instructional designer with a simple interface for building learner assessments.  The results of these assessments can be mapped to user-defined objectives that can be used to provide adaptability throughout the course.  Currently, the assessment builder supports the most common forms of user assessment, including true/false, multiple choice, and fill-in-the-blank.  Assessments, tied to learning objectives, provide the instructional designer a powerful mechanism for developing learning modules that respond directly to the student's needs throughout the online learning experience.

Instructional Synthesis
Instructional synthesis is an automated process that applies a pre-defined presentation layer, or skin, to the learning module.  This process gives the module a look and feel; it also adds common module components such as navigation, table of contents, and learner resources (i.e. - glossary, thesaurus, context-sensitive help).  Using instructional synthesis to generate the final product from an Nsite design allows the learning module to be reused in the future.  The ability to separate the learning content from the presentation of that content allows instructional designers to focus directly on the content of their learning modules while skin designers and graphics artists can focus on the creation of a suitable look and feel for the content.  With the click of a button, instructional designers can quickly change the entire look and feel of their course or learning module.

Adaptive Delivery
		Athena is Nsite Studio's SCORM 2004 sequencer for delivering SCORM 2004 content.  Athena provides the backend for processing SCORM 2004 sequencing rules, allowing for the creation of extremely robust and adaptable learning modules.  The sequencing rules allow the designer to branch, skip, and repeat within their learning module.  The adaptive delivery environment can support modules with real-time remediation and enrichment components.  Athena, coupled with Nsite Studio, provides a robust mechanism for designing and delivering adaptable, user-focused training; Athena can deliver Nsite-generated solutions in a stand-alone mode or within existing Learning Management System (LMS) environments (i.e. - Blackboard).