To access an OpenSesame course:

1. Purchase a license.
2. Deliver the licensed course.
3. Launch the course. (Content loads on demand.)

In this overview:

• Purchase a license
• Deliver a course
• Launch a course
• Technical details

Purchase a license

Most courses are available through OpenSesame Plus, a subscription license. You can also license courses individually.

• If you have many learners, please request a quote.
• If you have modest training needs, you can purchase licenses through the OpenSesame marketplace.
• For more information, see How to purchase OpenSesame courses.

You need a seat for each learner who will launch the course. Unique seats are how learner access is validated and how course completions are tracked.

• If all seats are taken, the next new learner gets an error on launch.
• If a license expires, access to its courses ends. If a learner tries to launch an expired course, they get an error.

After you purchase a license, you can start using it. (Licenses purchased through a sales representative become active after the contract start date.)

Deliver a course

Note: If you are an independent learner and purchased a license for yourself, see How do I access my purchased course? instead.

When licenses are active, administrators can deliver courses to a learning platform—such as a learning management system (LMS)—and then distribute the courses to learners. OpenSesame course packages work in any of the hundreds of learning platforms that support either the AICC or SCORM 1.2 format, two widely used elearning standards.

To deliver courses to a learning platform, first determine whether you can use one of OpenSesame's integrations or if you will instead download course packages and then upload them to your platform.

• For integration eligibility, check with your OpenSesame sales representative.
• For your learning platform’s upload steps, see your platform’s documentation.

After you deliver courses to your learning platform, depending on the platform, additional steps may be needed before learners can launch the courses.

• Distribution to learners often happens through course assignment. Some platforms let learners enroll without being assigned, and some platforms allow access through a launch link.
• For your learning platform’s assignment or sharing steps, see your platform’s documentation.

Launch a course

When a learner launches a course, OpenSesame checks the license. If the license is active and a seat is available, the content loads on demand from OpenSesame (and, if applicable, from the publisher).

To load course content, each learner needs:

1. An internet connection. OpenSesame courses can’t be accessed offline.
2. A network that allows the content. If a firewall is used, the content sources must be allowed.
3. For more information, see the OpenSesame system requirements.

There are significant benefits to loading on demand.

• When course content is updated, course packages do not change or need to be replaced.
• Course packages remain very small, which makes them faster for an administrator to download, upload, or sync.
• Publishers’ copyrighted content is protected, which brings more publishers and courses to the OpenSesame marketplace.

After a launch, activity reporting appears in the Activity Report or in the OpenSesame Plus Insights Dashboard.

Technical details

When OpenSesame courses are delivered as packages, each course comes as a zip file in either the AICC or SCORM 1.2 format. Course packages must remain individually zipped to work.

• All packages act as redirect files and do not contain course assets (such as text, audio, video, or subtitle files). This is why course content must load on demand.
• Each package is unique to the course, license, and account.
• You need to replace packages only if you change licenses or file formats.
• Each package uses the communication standard for its format.

There are some OpenSesame integrations that do not use packages.

• Some integrations use AICC launch URLs. These URLs use the same communication standard as AICC packages.
• Some integrations use Single Sign-On (SSO) launch links. These links track completions through xAPI statement forwarding.

Regardless of the launch method or package type, all course content loads on demand.

For additional technical information:

• See the OpenSesame system requirements.
• Contact support@opensesame.com for assistance.
• See OpenSesame’s patent (highly technical, from 2011).

If you have further questions, our Support team is here to help at support@opensesame.com or via live chat and phone. Reach us at (503) 808-1268, ext. 2 (U.S.) or +44 203 744 5541 (Europe).