Everything we know about Cornerstone on Demand and Storyline!

Sep 04, 2013

Jason Chan
By Jason Chan

I thought I would start a thread about Cornerstone on Demand so there's a central place for people to read and add to. There seems to be a dearth of information about how CSOD and Storyline interact with each other as well as the unresolved issues surrounding it. I've spent many hours scouring the web and speaking with Cornerstone trying to find a solution. Hopefully this thread will serve as a resource for others going forward.

On a side note, I love Articulate Storyline. I started with Adobe Captivate with limited success. It was a very steep learning curve, but I was able to get some basic functionality out of it. I tested out Storyline with it's 30 day trial, and I will say that time-to-effectiveness was drastically reduced. It really IS like using powerpoint. Granted there is less complex functionality and interactions available than Captivate, but so far it's given me everything I've needed to use. The benefit is that the learning curve is much less steep too. Think of it as the difference between iMovie and Final Cut Pro. The latter can do some crazy effects, but the former gives you 90% of what you need and can get you comfortable in 1/4 of the time.

It's nice to have a properly-working content creation tool when you're in an LMS like Cornerstone. I have enough trouble in CSOD as it is.

So some of the nuggets of wisdom that I've found are :

  • Cornerstone does not track SCORM 1.2 content properly. You cannot pull a lot of the reports if they are not in SCORM 2004 format. You don't have the option to select that course in the reports.
  • If you export into SCORM 2004, there will be an extra section on the left with text links to the module. This takes up 30% of the screen, and on smaller laptop screens may crowd out the module window. Cornerstone says this is a Storyline exporting settings issue. I couldn't find any settings that shows/hides that section. The workaround is to resize the module to the screen, which doesn't get rid of the section, but at least fits the module.
  • When reporting, you can get the completion status for a course based on quiz result or last slide viewed. You can also get a final grade for course. Storyline passes the results information for each question (including short answer) but you cannot pull a list of the answers for an individual. Therefore, it may not be advisable to administer any testing where you'll need to review individual answers
  • You can get a list of aggregate answers for a module. e.g. I can see how 100 employees answered this multiple choice question. This is helpful to determine if learners are absorbing the course information correctly.
  • Web objects (such as websites, or links to sharepoint documents) work in modules if your IT has added csod.com to the trusted sites
  • Popup windows that open up the articulate module in CSOD will work if you add csod.com to the allowed list for popup blockers. Your IT dept can also add this to everyone's computer. Otherwise when learners click the "launch" button, the module does not show up.

I'll post more as I think or find them, but feel free to add to this list!

906 Replies
Rachel Craig
over 8 years ago11/02/15 at 5:38 pm (UTC)

Hello, everyone! I am reposting my question from a month ago, in the hopes of getting an answer before I update my Storyline 2 course. Thanks!

Good morning! I asked this question on the Announcing Storyline 2 Update 7 discussion, and was directed to ask people who use Cornerstone OnDemand a question, and lo and behold, I found this thread! Here's the question I asked in the other forum. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Has anyone experienced issues with the Storyline 2 Update 7, and just regular HTML5 output with iOS9, using the Cornerstone OnDemand Mobile app? I haven't updated my software yet, because I have read about issues with the update crashing courses on iPads, but also realized most of these posts mention the Articulate player. I publish our courses for Cornerstone OnDemand, and we don't use the Articulate mobile app. I'm wary of updating until I hear back, because our company is republishing and redesigning all of our desktop courses for iPads. I was able to view one of the courses created pre Update 7 on an iPad with iOS 9, and it worked fine.

Thank you!

-Rachel

Rachel Craig
over 8 years ago11/02/15 at 10:49 pm (UTC)

Hi, all!

I have been having this issue with Cornerstone for about a week. I try to launch my courses on the Cornerstone app on my iPhone and my iPad, and I get the message attached below. I have not been able to test any of my courses on a mobile device. I have been able to go on Cornerstone's desktop site, and launch courses from there. I submitted a case to Cornerstone and they were unable to replicate the issue. Has anyone else had come across the same issue, and been able to solve it?

Thank you!

-Rachel

Rachel Craig
over 8 years ago11/02/15 at 11:03 pm (UTC)

Hi, Steve!
That was what I was thinking, but CSOD swears they are unable to replicate the issue. Could it be an issue with the Wifi in my office, possibly?
It’s been rather frustrating dealing with Cornerstone issues, sadly, as I have not had a ton of issues with their LMS before last week. One of the support team people who got back to me informed me their app is "a bit behind" the website. Hopefully, a solution will pop up soon!
-Rachel

Jeff Compton
over 8 years ago11/10/15 at 2:42 pm (UTC)

Cornerstone Mobile App Playback of Storyline 2 Courses

We've been using Articulate Storyline courses in Cornerstone On Demand for a couple years now to deliver browser-based learning to PCs/Laptops.  We want to start using iPads that our learners use in their job to take some of these courses, which has led us to try using the Cornerstone Mobile app.

However, we've had many problems with the playback that makes it impossible to use.  We're wondering if others are likewise unable to use the Cornerstone mobile app but have no problems Cornerstone otherwise.

What we find are the following: 

  • Display of the content is cut off on many slides and the timing was off on some slides
  • Long delays (estimate 4-20 seconds) on the end of many slides where the narrative of the slide has completed, but the screen was behind and took more time to get to the next slide.
  • Occasionally the narrative gets choppy and seemed to skip around which made the slide hard to follow. There was a long pause in audio and then it jumped around.
  • On many slides the audio froze and then skipped around making it impossible to take the course

When publishing our courses, we select 'Include HTML5 output' and do not select 'Use Articulate Mobile Player for iOS or Andoid'.  We also do not allow downloading for offline viewing.  

We use iPad Minis and MobileIron to manage and secure the device.  Company policy prohibits the use of the Articulate Mobile Player on these devices.

Courses are launched using Safari.

Thanks!

Will Findlay
over 8 years ago11/18/15 at 5:10 pm (UTC)

We are transitioning from an LMS that was on a standard http:// server to Cornerstone which is on an https:// server (secure site).

The videos we have embedded as web objects in Storyline will no longer display in Chrome, without the user clicking a hard-to-see shield icon and agreeing to load "unsafe scripts." The page where the video is supposed to display just loads as blank until they do this.

I think the reason is that the web object is http:// while the Cornerstone page is https:// so it isn't trusting the embedded web object.

Has anyone else encountered this and found a solution? For example, can Cornerstone be configured to display a course on an http:// page instead of https://?

Will Findlay
over 8 years ago11/18/15 at 6:48 pm (UTC)

Good suggestion. We are using Brightcove hosted videos. With Brightcove they give you a URL (HTTP rather than HTTPS)  where the video displays in the upper left corner of the page. We generally just embed that page as a web object.

I did find these helpful instructions that indicate how to make a Brightcove link HTTPS:

https://support.brightcove.com/en/video-cloud/docs/using-https-url-players-hosted-linkbrightcovecom

However, this only is working for me in Internet Explorer and Firefox. Chrome won't display the video as HTTPS. 

So, unless Chrome loosens up a bit, it seems like my only current solution is to see if Cornerstone has the ability to launch online course content as HTTP.

Laura Gourley
over 8 years ago11/18/15 at 10:21 pm (UTC)

Hello All--I am publishing a Storyline course that includes a quiz with a graded results slide to CSOD. I have set the passing score to 80%. All of the trainees that score below 80% on the quiz show that the training is in "In Progress" status. I have also tried the "Thank You" survey results slide and when I purposely answered all of the questions incorrectly the training also goes to "In Progress". Is there a way to track the quiz score within CSOD while allowing the training status to move to "Completed" regardless of score? Thank you!

Anna Gorshkova
over 8 years ago11/18/15 at 10:27 pm (UTC)

Hi Laura,

This is the workaround we found:

When publishing in SCORM 2004, it is possible to fail a course and still have it show up as completed on the transcript.  However, there’s a funky little window that pops up when launching the module.   This is considered a table of contents by Cornerstone and you need to open a case in order to get it disabled.

The score will be visible if you click on "view training details."

Hope this helps!

 

Karoline Keyworth
over 8 years ago11/18/15 at 10:28 pm (UTC)

Hi Laura,

The way I have done this in the past is to set the passing score to 0% so it still pulls in the test score to Cornerstone and changes the status from In Progress to Completed. Then I set up my own results page in Storyline to show that the passing score is 80% (although not in the backend) and also display the score they received. Hopefully this makes sense. When you upload the course to Cornerstone, you will need to change the Max Score to 100 in the course settings so the score is pulled in (when publishing with SCORM 1.2) Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thank you!

Karoline

Karoline Keyworth
over 8 years ago11/18/15 at 10:41 pm (UTC)

In my experience, Passed/Incomplete has been the only LMS Reporting that has worked for me. That being said, I haven't branched out for a few months to test it again so maybe any option works now. :)

Another option would be to set the course to track on slides viewed rather than the Results slide. You could still include a results slide for the end user, but the reporting would only be if they went through any number of slides you decide they need to view. 

Chloe Lynn
over 8 years ago12/08/15 at 4:35 pm (UTC)

Hi Jason!

Thanks so much for starting this thread! I'm looking for advice on playing Articulate content using the Mobile App, but through Cornerstone. I started a thread https://community.articulate.com/discussions/articulate-storyline/mobile-player-app-on-ipad and Ashley was really helpful, but I've come to a dead end. I need to know once you've published the content on an LMS, how you get the story.html URL to pass on to tablet users. If anyone has advice on this, I'd be glad to find out more.

Rachel Craig
over 8 years ago12/08/15 at 5:07 pm (UTC)

Hi, Chloe!

I went ahead and read your old thread, and was wondering-have you tried using Cornerstone's app? If you already using Cornerstone as your LMS, you may have better luck viewing the courses with Cornerstone's app instead of Articulate's.

Also, what kind of tablet are you using? For iPads and any tablet that doesn't have flash, you will have to publish the course in HTML5 to get the course to work. If you want to use the Articulate Mobile Player, be sure to also select "Use Articulate Mobile Player for iOS and Android." You will still need the Cornerstone app to record your users' results in the LMS.

Finally, in Cornerstone, after you have published the course with the Course Publisher, you need to

1. Go to the "Admin" page in the top menu and select catalog.

2. Select "Course Catalog"

3. Search for the course you most recently published,

4. Click "Edit," then scroll down until you get to the "Mobile" field.

5. Check off both options in the Mobile field.

6. Click "Save."

7. Scroll back up and click on "Availability."

8. You can choose how many or how few people can find your course from here.

9. Click Save.

Hopefully, you should then be able to view the courses on your mobile device! If not, I would contact Cornerstone's customer support. I included some pictures. I hope this helps!

-Rachel

 

Claudine Caro
over 8 years ago12/19/15 at 12:38 am (UTC)

I have a strange problem with lightbox slides when played through my client's LMS, Cornerstone on Demand. 

Here is the lightbox slide when launched from ScormCloud. Notice the red close button.

Lightbox slide on ScormCloud LMS

However the same lightbox slide on Cornerstone on Demand does not have the lightbox close button and the lightbox launches full screen. Users can't access the custom navigation buttons on the base screen.

Course played on CSOD

The problem is that when users load the lightbox slide on CMOD the users are stuck. They can't close the lightbox slide.

Anyone know what would cause this? Or a workaround for CMOD?

thanks-

Claudine

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard
over 8 years ago12/21/15 at 2:23 pm (UTC)

Hi Claudine,

Thanks for sharing those images here -have you tried it to see if it's just how the lightbox is interacting with videos on CSOD? If it's working normally on SCORM Cloud, there isn't much else I can offer - but I'd look into ensuring that CSOD isn't just launching the video full screen and if it is, reach out to them directly for ways in which that can be changed. Perhaps adding other information to the lightbox slide would allow it to launch in the lightbox window vs. the way you're seeing it now? 

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