Object states are a super-powerful Storyline 360 feature. They allow you to change the way objects appear based on the learner’s actions. One of my favorite ways to use object states is to help learners track their progress. For example, when you create a click-and-reveal, you can use states to show which objects the learner has already interacted with. This helps learners keep track of where they left off—which can be especially helpful if they’re interrupted mid-course. But you might be wondering: how does Storyline keep track of object states and share them with my LMS?
I’ve got answers to that question and more! In this article, we’ll take a closer look at object states with a focus on how Storyline 360 sends object state information to your LMS, and I’ll share a cool trick to help ensure object states are always saved when learners resume your course.
How Storyline 360 Saves Slide Information
Storyline 360 automatically saves slide information when a learner advances to another slide. This means Storyline won’t save any states on the slide that the learner is currently viewing when they exit the course.
Let’s look at an example that illustrates how this works. Say the learner is viewing the slide below:
Before moving onto the next slide, learners need to complete all four tasks. Now let’s say you’ve set up visited states on each button so learners can easily see which tasks they’ve completed. Here’s what it looks like when learners have completed two out of four tasks:
But what happens if they exit the course before finishing all four tasks?
Since Storyline 360 only sends information about object states to your LMS when the learner advances to another slide, the visited states on the first two objects (Tasks 1 and 2) won’t be saved if they don’t switch slides before exiting the course. This means that when your learner reopens the course, they’ll have to complete those tasks again for them to appear complete.
The good news is there’s an easy way to prevent this from happening! Keep reading to find out how to set it up.
How to Ensure States Are Saved
To ensure learners never have to redo parts of an interaction they’ve already completed, we’ll need to get a little creative in Storyline by inserting a new slide, called Save.
On this slide, add two buttons, each with an accompanying trigger:
- Resume: Jump to the previous slide when the user clicks. Note that the previous slide trigger brings learners back to the previously viewed slide—not the slide that comes before the current slide in the project.
- Exit: Exit the course when the user clicks.
It could look something like this, for example:
Then, on the slides with states you want saved, add a Save button that brings learners to the Save slide.
Click here to see the interactive version.
Since the act of switching slides is what triggers Storyline 360 to send the object state information to the LMS, this will allow learners to resume the course as expected.
And if they change their mind and want to go back to the slide without exiting, they can simply click the Resume button.
Pro tip: By default, Storyline 360 courses prompt learners to resume upon reopening. Since you’ve essentially created your own resume screen, you might want to switch this setting to Always Resume so learners don’t have to click Resume twice. To do that, simply open up the Player Properties, click on Other, and select Always Resume from the drop-down menu:
And that’s all there is to it! It’s a smooth and seamless way to ensure the learner can always pick up where they left off.
More Resources
Like the way I’ve set up the example used in this article? Download the Storyline 360 file here.
Looking for more Storyline 360 tips and tricks? Check out these articles:
- Everything You Need to Know About States in Storyline 360
- Top 5 Storyline Tips You Might Have Missed
- Quick Answers to Six Frequently Asked Storyline 360 Questions
- Five Overlooked Timesavers for Working with the Timeline in Storyline 360
- 3 Things to Do Before Building Your Storyline 360 Course
- How I Made This Custom Locked Menu in Storyline 360
And remember to follow us on Twitter and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning. If you have any questions, please share them in the comments.
Published 5 years ago
Version 1.0
