I have the same course in 7 languages, ergo, 7 courses. The clients wants them to be in a single sco. Is it possible to create a launch page for the learner to choose his language and them run the appropriate course? each course LMS settings is a evaluation quizz that must send the score to the LMS.
I don't see a reason why you can't do this. However you may have to resort to using an abundance of variables and/or states. If you choose to use states to display the different languages you may have to get rid of any hover/visited/down states to keep things simple.
The same - albeit with a little more effort - applies to the quiz (since all you want to report is the score).
Yes, you can create a seperate initial slide, but doing it like this still means there are 7 different SCO's and they will (most probably) be treated like 7 different courses on the LMS. So that doesn't really help you much I don't think.
You will have to rebuild a lot of it to make it work, no one said it is going to be easy. Hopefully your client realizes the significant scope change and provides additional budget for the rebuild.
If the course is light on variables and state changes the task shouldn't be huge. However if those do exist you may also have to change a lot regarding the actual "mechanics" of your slides. Especially where there is audio narration involved - I wouldn't want to be in your shoes if the latter is true.
I'm not familiar with how Storyline launches from a new window, so everything below might be bunk.
But in Presenter, your can configure the course to launch in a new window, which creates an index_lms.html file, and a launcher.html file that opens that index_lms.html file in a new window. If SL uses the same javascript in a launcher.html file, this could work.
Start by publishing each module for LMS, set to open in a new window. Don't zip archive them.
Let's assume one of them is going to be a default module (e.g. english). Copy and paste the other languge root folders into the english course's root folder.
Concept: Edit the launcher.html file in a text or HTML Editor to present choices in which course to launch via javascript, which then opens the appropriate course's index_lms.html file.
When you open the launcher.html file, you'll see that there is code that auto-launches the course SetTimeOut...comment that out as you don't want it to auto-launch.
You'll notice that the launch function is already hard coded to open 'index_lms.html'. Replace that with a variable. Then add code and html script that changes that variable based on what a user selects.
The LMS reads one SCO, the default one, but the course launches the SCO of the users's choosing.
Sure thing: these code snippets are in the launcher.html file in the previous zip archive. There are three changes I made:
'
1. I created a few images that users would be able to select. I inserted them into the launcher.html file and made them hyperlinks. When a user clicks on the image, it runs a courseSelect function with the color selected:
2. Then I wrote the courseSelect function. Note that I defined the userURL variable outside the function so I could call it later in a different function. courseSelect changes the value of userURL based on what color it receives, then runs the LaunchPresentation function.
3. Then I changed LaunchPresentation to launch with userURL and comment out the auto-launch code at the end.
And I just noticed a mistake in the first image. purple is assigned to green by accident. I think I fixed it in the zip archive but not in my original folder where I took these screen grabs.
Again, I'm not familiar with Storyline output, but I'm guessing the imsmanifest.xml file lists a different file as the launch URL. If you open that XML file in a text editor, look for a line that looks like this:
"The same - albeit with a little more effort - applies to the quiz (since all you want to report is the score)."
To Alexandros point, you can import all of the courses into one single course. Once there, creating a launch page that directs participants to a different "language scene" should be easy. It will be a large file, but that shouldn't present any problems for the participants based on the way storyline loads when being viewed. The real trick is in the assessment. For this to be a true "single course", you would need to be able to present one assessment in multiple languages. This can also be done, but as Alexandro pointed out, you would need to manage a potentially large number of variables and triggers. But it can be done. Just be sure to charge your client appropriately for the amount of work it will take.
I put together a short screenr to demonstrate. Link to demo
I took Owen's story and changed the logic of it a little bit to save up on some variables.
My version includes a little more work on the regular slides (using states and triggers instead of multiple scenes) and a little less work on creating maintaining and editing variables and their values (basically saves the hassle of creating 3 variables for each answer - you are changing the value directly on the triggers instead), so at least from an assessment point view, it makes things a little more efficient.
Both approaches have their advantages depending on certain conditions, though...
"The same - albeit with a little more effort - applies to the quiz (since all you want to report is the score)."
To Alexandros point, you can import all of the courses into one single course. Once there, creating a launch page that directs participants to a different "language scene" should be easy. It will be a large file, but that shouldn't present any problems for the participants based on the way storyline loads when being viewed. The real trick is in the assessment. For this to be a true "single course", you would need to be able to present one assessment in multiple languages. This can also be done, but as Alexandro pointed out, you would need to manage a potentially large number of variables and triggers. But it can be done. Just be sure to charge your client appropriately for the amount of work it will take.
I put together a short screenr to demonstrate. Link to demo
And here is the file shown in the demo.
One problem I see with having several languages of the same course in one huge file is how one handles labels in the player. I don't think you can have multiple languages in the single template that would encompass the entirety of the course. This is shown in the example at the quiz, where the buttons are labeled in English regardless of which language is chosen.
Dave's point is a valid one, however you don't necessarily have to use/display the stock articulate player buttons - "stripping" the player of any elements is the first thing I end up doing whenever I have that choice.
Likewise, as shown in my example where there are not any player elements. Using your own custom buttons also means that you can take advantage of the button states and thus display the button with the correct language for the course path they have chosen.
Good points from Alexandros and Owen. To put my comment in better perspective, I'm not working in Storyline, but in Presenter, so there may options in Storyline that I don't have with which to work.
I am working the same single-SCO issue for a client (in Presenter), so I'm very interested in this discussion.
17 Replies
Hi Ana,
I don't see a reason why you can't do this. However you may have to resort to using an abundance of variables and/or states. If you choose to use states to display the different languages you may have to get rid of any hover/visited/down states to keep things simple.
The same - albeit with a little more effort - applies to the quiz (since all you want to report is the score).
Hope this helps,
Alex
Thanks Alexandros.
The thing is, I already have the 7 courses done! But know the client wants to have a single sco course.
Is there a way os creating a initial page were the learner can choose his languages an them load the corresponding course?
Other wise I will have to join all 7 courses in a single storyline file that will be huge :(
Yes, you can create a seperate initial slide, but doing it like this still means there are 7 different SCO's and they will (most probably) be treated like 7 different courses on the LMS. So that doesn't really help you much I don't think.
You will have to rebuild a lot of it to make it work, no one said it is going to be easy. Hopefully your client realizes the significant scope change and provides additional budget for the rebuild.
If the course is light on variables and state changes the task shouldn't be huge. However if those do exist you may also have to change a lot regarding the actual "mechanics" of your slides. Especially where there is audio narration involved - I wouldn't want to be in your shoes if the latter is true.
Let us know how it goes.
Alex
I'm not familiar with how Storyline launches from a new window, so everything below might be bunk.
But in Presenter, your can configure the course to launch in a new window, which creates an index_lms.html file, and a launcher.html file that opens that index_lms.html file in a new window. If SL uses the same javascript in a launcher.html file, this could work.
Start by publishing each module for LMS, set to open in a new window. Don't zip archive them.
Let's assume one of them is going to be a default module (e.g. english). Copy and paste the other languge root folders into the english course's root folder.
Concept: Edit the launcher.html file in a text or HTML Editor to present choices in which course to launch via javascript, which then opens the appropriate course's index_lms.html file.
When you open the launcher.html file, you'll see that there is code that auto-launches the course SetTimeOut...comment that out as you don't want it to auto-launch.
You'll notice that the launch function is already hard coded to open 'index_lms.html'. Replace that with a variable. Then add code and html script that changes that variable based on what a user selects.
The LMS reads one SCO, the default one, but the course launches the SCO of the users's choosing.
Attached is a SCORM package to see it in action.
Thanks Minh-Triet!
It was something like that I had in mind.
I will have to do some tests to see if it works on storyline
Ana
Hello,
Any help on creating a a variable that changes based on what a user selects. ??!!! Please
Sure thing: these code snippets are in the launcher.html file in the previous zip archive. There are three changes I made:
'
1. I created a few images that users would be able to select. I inserted them into the launcher.html file and made them hyperlinks. When a user clicks on the image, it runs a courseSelect function with the color selected:
2. Then I wrote the courseSelect function. Note that I defined the userURL variable outside the function so I could call it later in a different function. courseSelect changes the value of userURL based on what color it receives, then runs the LaunchPresentation function.
3. Then I changed LaunchPresentation to launch with userURL and comment out the auto-launch code at the end.
And I just noticed a mistake in the first image. purple is assigned to green by accident. I think I fixed it in the zip archive but not in my original folder where I took these screen grabs.
Thanks Minh-Triet!
I manage to make it work offline. But when I upload ir to the LMS (and I tried 2) the LMS doesn't stat with the launcher file...
Why? Should I rename it to index?
Again, I'm not familiar with Storyline output, but I'm guessing the imsmanifest.xml file lists a different file as the launch URL. If you open that XML file in a text editor, look for a line that looks like this:
resource identifier="Articulate_Presenter_RES" type="webcontent" href="index_lms.html" adlcp:scormtype="sco"
Then change the href to the launcher file.
To Alexandros point, you can import all of the courses into one single course. Once there, creating a launch page that directs participants to a different "language scene" should be easy. It will be a large file, but that shouldn't present any problems for the participants based on the way storyline loads when being viewed. The real trick is in the assessment. For this to be a true "single course", you would need to be able to present one assessment in multiple languages. This can also be done, but as Alexandro pointed out, you would need to manage a potentially large number of variables and triggers. But it can be done. Just be sure to charge your client appropriately for the amount of work it will take.
I put together a short screenr to demonstrate. Link to demo
And here is the file shown in the demo.
I took Owen's story and changed the logic of it a little bit to save up on some variables.
My version includes a little more work on the regular slides (using states and triggers instead of multiple scenes) and a little less work on creating maintaining and editing variables and their values (basically saves the hassle of creating 3 variables for each answer - you are changing the value directly on the triggers instead), so at least from an assessment point view, it makes things a little more efficient.
Both approaches have their advantages depending on certain conditions, though...
Hope this helps,
Alex
One problem I see with having several languages of the same course in one huge file is how one handles labels in the player. I don't think you can have multiple languages in the single template that would encompass the entirety of the course. This is shown in the example at the quiz, where the buttons are labeled in English regardless of which language is chosen.
Dave's point is a valid one, however you don't necessarily have to use/display the stock articulate player buttons - "stripping" the player of any elements is the first thing I end up doing whenever I have that choice.
Likewise, as shown in my example where there are not any player elements. Using your own custom buttons also means that you can take advantage of the button states and thus display the button with the correct language for the course path they have chosen.
Good points from Alexandros and Owen. To put my comment in better perspective, I'm not working in Storyline, but in Presenter, so there may options in Storyline that I don't have with which to work.
I am working the same single-SCO issue for a client (in Presenter), so I'm very interested in this discussion.
Thanks!
Thanks guys!
I did a launch page like Minh-Triet suggested. for several reasons:
- The players language would be the must important one. makes no sense having the course translated an then having the player in English.
- The size of the source file (around 1 gb) . The course has lost of videos and putting all 7 languages together would be a headache.
- I already have have 5 languages done. redo all in order to put it in a single file would be a tremendous headache .
The client loved the launch page and is very happy. Thanks for all your help. Having 7 languages in a single sco was a chalange :)
Ana
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