How to generate an email or a text message in the background

Aug 06, 2014

Grayley McWatters
By Grayley McWatters

Hi

I am trying to program a slide to generate an email without trying to launch an email program like Outlook on the learners comp.

Scenario: Learner fails an assessment twice in a row. A 'secret' email or message is sent to the instructor to advise him/her that the learner is struggling. (btw. Learner is also branched out to a remedial loop...got that working)

I have tried some javascript attempts/ jump to url file / send email approaches, but the system (I believe) is looking for a mail server to distribute the message and it also wants to launch Outlook. I need the process to happen invisibly to the learner.

Does anyone have a workaround for Storyline?

Also, what mode do I need to publish in to achieve what I want. I am thinking if it is at all doable, it would probably be an .exe file (CD version?)

thanks a bunch!

2 Replies
Sam Lincoln
over 9 years ago08/07/14 at 1:03 am (UTC)

Grayley,

Why do you want this to be hidden? I can understand why the instructor would appreciate an alert that a student is struggling but don't you think that the student would appreciate knowing this? I would suspect that a student will not like to discover that his failed attempts are recorded/reported - it may dissuade them from continuing/reduce trust.

In my view it's always best to be open. Let them know at the beginning that you are able to monitor progress and the reason for an automatic notificaton. Or at least give them an option to opt out.

We can do lots of clever things digitally that are not possible in the 'analogue' world. But just because we can does not mean that we should. This is not about privacy but we should learn from that debate and consider whether our actions are ethical and most importantly to the benefit if the student.

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