Everything we know about Cornerstone on Demand and Storyline!
Sep 04, 2013
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
Sorry it took so long ( you've probably resolved this by now), but I tested this in our pilot CSOD environment and it displayed correctly in Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer 9, e.g. showing the close button and not taking up the entire space. It looked identical to your post I am responding to. Have you tried reuploading it as a completely new publication? I have seen publishing issues when I try to replace files in CSOD instead of creating a new publication.
Just a comment... One thing to point out that bodes well for the future of Storyline content in Cornerstone... Cornerstone uses Storyline for their courses on how to use their LMS now. :-)
Ha! That's great new Will - thanks for sharing that here. I know this thread is a popular one that our team points people to for Cornerstone assistance, so I'll share this update with them as well.
That is fantastic! I thought I recognized those player skins and features. :)
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Hi Julie,
You mentioned COSD mobile, and I just wanted to clarify that this is their custom mobile app - not the Articulate Mobile Player or viewing the HTML5 output in Safari? If so, I'll defer to the community for additional support as it's not something we can assist with.
Hello Ashley, thanks for your answer..
We are actually testing all solutions...You raise one question where we are actually not clear on!..
Would you indicate me the differences between going for one or another? what difference would it make for my client if I advise one solution or another?
What are the solutions you have decided you guys in this forum and why? Was this decision based on technical limitations ..?
I know and understand the differences for the production or technical parts, on the publishing and output files for example,....but am asking about impacts for the company? technical organisation? does the company would have to apply different IT settings within the group? Would it make any other differences? for the learner?..
Sorry if this question is really newbie...
thanks!
Did I miss a part of this thread..? or another one?
In each case: AMP or Mobile COSD+Safari...Where can I find a sum up about the adequate :
>List of the Storyline activities (from the usual templates) and features (ie: Resource tab...) that won't work in IPad?
>Best Storyline 2 Player options (ie: resize broswer....+ scale player....)
>Adequate Publications settings (ie: HTML5 + allow mobile....+...allow downloading...)
>Best Course tracking and status (Complete/Incomplete seems to be the best options? vs Failed/Passed...)
Thanks a lot!
Hi Julie,
Choosing which option to utilize is entirely up to the individual and the needs of your clients. You may want to review the information here in terms of different features and how they'll work in Flash, HTML5 and AMP. I can't speak to or offer support for the CSOD app as it's a custom set up outside of our realm of purview.
As far as technical requirements the output that you utilize and the users system set up need to match the viewing requirements here.
Hope that helps clarify and perhaps others who have more experience with the CSOD app will be able to weigh in here as well.
Yes, Thanks Ashey, I am trying to receive some feedback from Storyline Heroes based on their experience and best practices with CSOD....:)
Could any Heroe direct me to a good site or forum on the COSD mobile use/best practices/experience sharing..? thanks
just as a follow up - there is (now?) a CSOD preference that allows you to launch content in an 800x600 window OR fullscreen. So you can set CSOD to launch courses full screen by default, eliminating the need for a launch page.
Does anyone have experience with reversioning courses in Cornerstone? We are changing just one word, and would like to have all users who haven't completed the training to receive the new version, and keep the same version for those who have already completed it..
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Our experience has been, when reversioning as opposed to performing a file update, has been that users who have completed and those that were already registered and/or in progress retained their original versions. Newly registered users and those that we "kicked out" of the original version and then reenrolled received the new version. The result being some individuals did lose progress.
My question would be if you are only changing one word, does this warrant a reversion or is a file update all that is required. (i.e does that one word change the meaning of the training so fundamentally that it is important that those that already took the training have access to the old word?) Are there any regulatory concerns? In one of our cases, some bit of code was corrupted and caused the course to lock up and a reversion was absolutely necessary. In most other cases it was sufficient to update, document and retain the source file when the change was made should a regulatory agency need to see what version or revision our learner saw (1.0, 2.0, 2.1 etc.)
Thank you for the detailed response, Matthew!
We have not considered updating, and that's something that we haven't done before.. How would you perform an update?
Go to CSOD Online Help and Search the contents for "Modify Published Course". Directions for file replacement are there. As always, test and validate your changes in a testing environment before launching to your end users!
Thank you so much, Matthew! You saved us a lot of time and stress by suggesting the update rather than reversion. Best wishes!
thanks for this great info!
I'm curious about which edition of SCORM 2004 people use in Cornerstone and if it makes a difference. Cornerstone says they support the 2nd or 3rd edition. I'm thinking, "go with the newest one" but with SCORM that hasn't always been the best idea in my experience, so does one work better than the other?
Hi Claudine,
I spoke too soon on saying we didn't have this issue. In a certain configuration of Internet Explorer 9 we are running into something similar where the video is not embedding correctly on the slide. So I'm curious now to hear if you found another resolution.
Here is what we are seeing... The video should be within the template frame but as you can see it is extending over the top of the template
Thanks Will,
I have been said it is a preference for LMS / Computer view though, just to precise it is not changing any view on the mobile/IPad.
Thanks
New problem: I decided to set up a bunch of Storyline courses in Cornerstone to have completion based on number of slides viewed. So for a course with 25 slides, I set it to 24 (giving the user a slide they can miss). However, I am getting numerous reports now that these courses are not completing for people even though they say they are viewing all the slides before exiting the course.
So now I want to modify these courses so they complete based on a one question quiz at the end and ditch the "number of slides" criteria (because 1. it doesn't seem reliable and 2. it is the learner's word vs the LMS since I can't really argue when they say they viewed all the slides)
The Question: Since I am changing the way a course is completed, can I just modify it without creating a new version of the course? Or is this a significant enough change that I need to create a new version.
Hi Will,
You'll need to modify the original .story file and republish, but I don't think you'd need to create a whole new file - you may want to follow the steps here in regards to adding the question slide and track based on that one slide with the modifications you'll make to the publish settings.
Hope that helps - and I'll defer to the community in regards to how to upload or modify within Cornerstone.
Hi Will,
You'll have to create a new version. I've been told by Cornerstone support that just replacing the file will only work for a very minor change like fixing a spelling error. When I tried to do this before and just replaced the file, no one was getting the newer version if they already had it on their transcript. Creating a new version fixed that issue.