Welcome to the Winter edition of the Pathlore Mainframe e-News.

This edition of the Pathlore Mainframe e-News simultaneously announces the release of PHOENIX and PREFERENCE version 7.9.1, and provides a sneak peek at the future release of PHOENIX and PREFERENCE version 8.0.

In this issue:

Customer Survey + Drawing for $50 Amazon.com

Coming in March: Release 7.9.1

Blended Learning with Release 8.0

Website Gets New Facelift

Tech Tip: PHOENIX GD001 Error when unlocking a student
 

Customer Survey & Drawing for $50 AMAZON.COM Gift Certificate

We need your feedback! Help us better plan for your future needs by completing a quick customer survey. The survey will take just a few minutes and in return we will enter your name to win one of four (4) $50 gift certificates for Amazon.com. This survey is brief, but broad in scope and will help us in servicing you, our valued customer.

Each PHOENIX and PREFERENCE customer that completes the survey will be automatically entered to win a $50 Amazon.com gift certificate.  A total of 4 entries will be selected (limit of one (1) drawing entry per person).

Deadline for the drawing is May 1, 2005. Winners will be notified in May and announced in the Spring Edition of the Mainframe e-News.

What are you waiting for?

To complete the survey and get entered for the prize drawing, simply follow this link to the Pathlore mainframe site:  http://www.pathlore-mainframe.com/survey

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Coming in March: Release 7.9.1

The 7.9.1 version of PHOENIX/PREFERENCE will be released for general availability in March 2005. The release of version 7.9.1 has been coordinated with the availability of the Pathlore LMS 6.5 (released December 2004). The primary new enhancement of PHOENIX 7.9.1 is the PHOENIX Connector, which integrates PHOENIX student access and scoring with Pathlore LMS 6.5.

In addition to 7.9.1, Pathlore continues to fully support release 7.8 and 7.9.0. Please see Pathlore Product Support Policy.

We understand that many of our customers have only recently completed the upgrade to 7.9.0, while others have yet to upgrade. If you have upgrade questions, or would like more information about PHOENIX Connector and/or version 7.9.1, please contact Christie Durham at cdurham@pathlore.com.

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BLENDED LEARNING with Release 8.0

As PHOENIX/PREFERENCE version 7.9.1 is being wrapped up, R&D attention is turning to release 8.0. One of the enhancements under consideration for 8.0 is a blended learning component within PHOENIX. Here blended learning simply means the combining of online and instructor-led training within a single learning strategy.  Many find this approach to be both effective and one of common sense, and reflective of what happens in ‘real-world’ training situations. 

As currently envisioned, PHOENIX is adding the capability of entering student scores for an instructor-led course component.  Specifically,

• Authors will be able to define the mode of a unit as “instructor-led” (as opposed to guided, solo, or first). 

• Instructors will then have the option to include the instructor-led unit in the class plan and use a new facility to enter maximum points and student scores for students registered to the class.

• Students will be able to view scores for the instructor-led unit in the same manner as they would for any other unit (through options from the student units list).

More Details Coming Soon

Stay tuned to future issues of your quarterly e-News for ongoing updates and information about release 8.0. As always, we welcome your ideas and thoughts regarding the upcoming release of PHOENIX and PREFERENCE. Please submit your product suggestions using the online form located at http://www.pathlore-mainframe.com/tellted.

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Website Gets a New Facelift

Have you seen the new look? The Pathlore website (http://www.pathlore-mainframe.com) for PHOENIX and PREFERENCE has recently undergone a “facelift” to improve presentation and navigation by adopting a similar look and feel as the Pathlore corporate website, http://www.pathlore.com. The new site was unveiled in November '04 and offers our PHOENIX and PREFERENCE users a convenient resource for updates and support.

Check it out today

If you haven’t been out to the updated site recently we encourage you to visit soon – checking back frequently for new information, product updates and technical tips. We invite you to send us your ideas and feedback to: webmaster@pathlore.com.

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TECH TIP:  PHOENIX GD001 Error when unlocking students

A new technical tip is being added to the Pathlore mainframe website addressing a problem pertaining to student lock-outs.

While trying to unlock a student from the PHOENIX instructor menu option 5 (Access class lock-out facility), users may receive a GD001 error message.  This situation can occur when a class file containing lockout information contains too much data. To resolve this issue, perform the following steps.

For release 7.9.0 and earlier:

1. Sign-on to PHOENIX as a supervisor.

2. From the "TYPE COMMAND LINE," go into author mode on the course involved with this unlock student problem by typing "a (coursename)", where (coursename) is the name of your course, and pressing ENTER.

3. Type "ss s(student ID)", where (student ID) is the student ID of the user you are attempting to unlock, and press ENTER.

4. From this student status report, find the class number associated with this student by looking under column header "AREA".

5. Next we want to determine if the "free" file exists for the specific class.  The "free" filename format is "free##" where "##" is the associated class number.  Thus, if the class number is "01", then the filename would be "free01". 

To determine if the "free” file for class "01" exists, type "t free01" and press ENTER. If the file exists, the first line typed out should be similar to

free01 **FILE**/ 10/Class 01 Unlocked Students:

6. If your problem “free” file is present, we want to delete it by typing "d free##" (where ## is the class number involved with your student lockout problem) and pressing ENTER.

7. The above command will cause you to be prompted with "AD-FILES TO BE DELETED. TYPE 'ok'." Type "ok" and press ENTER.

8. You will receive a confirmation message of "DELETED." You should now be able to go through the process of unlocking the student.

For release 7.9.1 and subsequent releases:

1. At the "TYPE COMMAND LINE", determine the class number associated with the problem (see 1 – 4 above)

2. While in supervisor-as-author mode on the same course, type “ease” and press ENTER.

3. At the author menu, select “8 display class menu” and enter the class number at the prompt “Which class do you want (00 – 99)?”

4. At the instructor menu, choose option 5, “Access class lock-out facility.”

5. Within the class lock-out facility, choose option 6, “Restore lock-outs.”  You should get an “All lock-outs restored” confirmation message. You should now be able to go through the process of unlocking the student.

Pathlore Support

Stay tuned for additional technical tips coming your way in future issues. Drop by the Mainframe Website for online support, latest Zaps and Patches, product suggestion submissions and order forms, and more – located at http://www.pathlore-mainframe.com.

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