How to tell if your course was published using Flash
Sep 25, 2020
Hi there,
I'm new to the e-learning industry and am looking for some help. Due to the flash changes at the end of this year, we are looking to ensure all of our courses are being switched to HTML5.
I'm wondering how to tell if the course was published using Flash (the quickest and easiest way please). Also, if the course was published using flash, how do I go about upgrading it to HTML5?
I'm currently using Storyline 360 for any new courses, but since I'm new, I'm unsure what software was used in the past to create our courses.
We have the original storyline file for some courses, and others only the SCORMS. Some courses have been uploaded to our LMS system and I have no back up.
The LMS system shows the IMS Manifest openly, like in a notepad format. Is there a line in there that can show whether it is flash or not?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Megan
3 Replies
Hi, Megan,
The easiest way to check for Flash is to look for .swf files in the published course. If you see files with that extension in the story_content folder, the course uses Flash.
More recent Storyline courses with Flash would also include an "index_lms_flash.html" file and "story_flash.html" files. (Older courses, from when Flash was standard, are more likely to include files specifically for HTML5.)
If the courses are in your company's LMS, then ask the LMS folks to extract and give you the SCORM package (i.e., a zip file that contains the course as published for the LMS).
To follow from the above post, if we have certain courses that are only in the published format (not the editable file) how do we get the courses out of the Flash format. We had a major IT breach at my university and lost all the original files, so only have what is uploaded on our website. Thank you!
Hi, Laura,
Check out this post from Sandy Rushton. Her company has put together extensive info about what to do with Flash courses when you don't have source files.