Training Content Hosting Help

Usage Ideas, How-Tos, and Integrations
1

Hello everyone. I am brand new to Fabman but we are excited to use it to manage our new Creative CoLab.
I am looking for some guidnece on setting up the training content. I understand that the content must be stored/hosted on a seperate Learning Managment System.
I have a lot of experience using Google Classroom on Google Apps for Education. I hope to create Classrooms for each of our stations (Resin Printing, FDM Printing, Laser Engraving, etc) and use those for delivery of content as well as testing for certification.

Does anyone have any experience with working with Google Classroom?
If it’s impossible or very difficult, I would be happy to listen to possible alternatives. I have not et developed any content so I am starting from the very beginning.

Thanks for your help and advice.

Derek

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2

Hey Derek!

If I understand correctly, you´re trying to automate the training process by having an external platform for learning and testing, which will then automatically assign the training to the user in FabMan?

If that is the case, both Happylab and our FabLab Brno built exactly that. We used a combination of Classmarker (really easy testing software), video tutorials (on Youtube), and bridge between FabMan and Classmarker.

The good news is that it´s open source, and you can find our bridge here:

For integration, you need someone who knows python, and also can do some frontend. We build our solution on the python backend (hosted on Railway), and a website which looks like this:
Trainings | FabLab Brno. It sounds like a lot of work, but it shouldn´t be a big issue since the guys at Happylab did all the hard work, and now you can just recycle our repo.

For the Google classroom, I have no experience with integrating that.

Hope it helps

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3

Thank you. I’ll look into this. I’m obviously unfamiliar with Fabman and I’m just starting the set up.

I’m looking to understand the system. What I want is to register users, then have them directed to a link to a Google Classroom. That is merely a publicity available link that will request their name and email. Once enrolled, they can interact with the content and complete the testing. I would like the results to return to Fabman for certification for that user.

Is this possible? Based on what I read, I understand it is, but I’m unsure where to set that up.

4

I´m sure using Google classroom is possible, but some thoughts on that solution:

  • What if the user writes their email/name wrong? How would you authenticate them?
  • What if a user tried to complete a training for somebody else?
  • How big of a “budget” do you have for the person integrating Google classroom into the system?

All of those is solved by using the system with Classmarker, as described above. For Google classroom, there will be more cost for the programmer tasked with learing the API, and all the needs of the system.

5

Hi @Jan_Vejtasa,

Thanks for the detailed explanation — it helped clarify how Fabman expects training to be handled on the API side.

I’m looking at using Google Workspace / Google Classroom as the LMS for my makerspace training, and I wanted to outline a potential manual workflow to see if it aligns with Fabman’s intended use and whether others here think it’s feasible.

Proposed Manual Workflow (Looking for Feedback)

Since Google Classroom doesn’t send automated completion events to Fabman, I’m considering the following process:

  1. Users complete a registration form (Google Form on my website)

I’d collect:
Name
Email
Emergency Contact

  1. I manually create the member inside Fabman

Name + email + custom fields (status, ID, etc.).

  1. Users complete onboarding training inside Google Classroom

This includes:
• Safety / policy modules
• Videos
• Quizzes

Classroom handles all the instructional and assessment components.

  1. I manually verify training completion in Classroom

I would check that the user has:
• Submitted required assignments
• Passed the quiz

  1. I manually mark the training as “completed” in Fabman

Once added under the member’s training records, Fabman would then:
• Grant access to any machines that require that training
• Allow the Bridge to activate equipment for that user

This keeps Fabman responsible for access control, while the training content stays entirely in Google Classroom.

Questions for the community

A) Does this manual process fit within the intended Fabman workflow?

I want to make sure manually marking training completion is the correct way to “link” external LMS training to Fabman equipment access.

B) Are there known limitations or pitfalls with this approach?

Anything I should consider before committing to this setup?

C) For those who use non-ClassMarker LMS platforms:

Have you successfully used a manual certification process like this before automating API calls?

D) If I eventually automate this:

I’m assuming the Google Sheets → Fabman API script would follow the same pattern as the ClassMarker
Does that seem correct?

Why I’m exploring this approach

I’m setting up a dedicated Google Workspace domain for my makerspace training, so all users (students, staff, public) will enroll the same way. Classroom handles multi-step training well, and Fabman would remain the source of truth for certifications and equipment access.

Before implementing it, I’d appreciate feedback from others who’ve worked with Classroom or similar LMS systems.

Thanks in advance for any insights!
— Derek

6

You could use the Fabman Self Sign-Up plugin for Google Forms / Google Sheets to automatically add people to Fabman when they submit the registration form.

Or you could take a look at its source code to build your own solution, if you want.

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