Quiz with timer

Feb 01, 2017

I have set up  quiz with the timer, In preview, when the time runs out, I get the pop up Link error message "The slide target of this link is not available in this preview"

And in fact it looks like I do not have a slide or feedback layer that provides the "time out"  message anywhere in the story!

Where should this appear? - I am guessing it should be a layer on the results slide? 

 I tried to add a time out layer, however I do not have a "Time out" layout option available

Help!

9 Replies
Wendy Farmer

Hi Patricia

I just did a quick test and it is displaying this message when the timer runs out. If required this popup can be customised in the Player > Colors and Effects - see the SL2 player colors pdf attached for how to change it.

If you could share your .story file might be easier for someone to help you.

Patricia de Souza

Hi Wendy

I too just did a quick test by creating a new story file with a timed quiz and it worked fine (though I cannot see the Time out layer anywhere!)

So it is obviously something I have done in the project I am working on!

I have attached it - note the issue is with the quiz in scene 5 - I want the learner to be able to go back and try the question again, but still have the timer running.... so I have 2 results slides - I am guessing this is what is causing the issue??

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Patricia,

The Time out layer isn't one that is accessible for editing, although you can modify the colors and the text labels using the steps that Wendy shared. 

If you have multiple results slide each with timers enabled, we have seen an issue in Storyline 2 where the Time Limit Exceeded message is not showing even if time limit has been reached, and it  does not go to the result slide. This issue it specific to having those multiple timers, so you could look at using one results slide with a timer for the entire course, or start it when the user lands on the first question. 

As for the original message "The slide target of this link is not available in this preview", you'll see that when previewing the course and you haven't included a particular slide in the preview or you're trying to access something outside of the course such as a URL/hyperlink as those items are disabled during preview. 

Patricia de Souza

Hi Ashley

Thanks for your response

Although I have 3 results slides in my project, only one has the timer enabled, which I have set to start on the first question in Scene 5 (and I have selected timer to apply to only the questions in scene 5) - would this still  cause the time limit exceeded message to not appear?

Also with regard to the "The slide target of this link is not available in this preview" , I get this message when I preview the whole project and only when the Timer times out -  it looks like it is trying to display the Time limit exceeded message but cannot find it!

 

Leslie McKerchie

Hi Patricia - I'm seeing your timer reset when clicking try again because you have the try again button resetting the result slide. This may be why you are not seeing it time out?

I would advise setting your attempts for the question, so that a Try Again layer is created and not having the button reset the results as your triggers indicate here.

You should not need two results slides for the same content if you are allowing the user to have multiple attempts.

Patricia de Souza

Hi Leslie

Hmm... I think I understand what you are suggesting.... though I thought that the Attempts setting applies to the whole quiz... eg. if there was a 5 question quiz, the learner has to complete all 5 questions and then if I allow another attempt, they then can do the whole 5 question quiz again

However I want the learner to retry a question if they get it wrong,  before moving on to the next one, and the timer is there to encourage them not to just sit on the same question trying to find the correct answer!

Unless I reset the question (by resetting the results slide)  they cannot do the question again... however that messes with the timer which I need to keep running!

Will your suggestion do what I am trying to do?... if not is it actually possible to do what I am trying to do?

I am thinking that maybe I need to add a custom timer rather than using the built in quiz timer - though I want to avoid this if possible (more work and not enough time!!)

 

Patricia de Souza

Hi Leslie

AHA! - I didnt know I could set the number of attempts per question... this is now working fabulously!

However when the timer times out, I still get the link missing message (even when I preview the whole project and when I publish the whole project) 

It looks like time limit exceeded message slide has disappeared from my project, for whatever reason

Anyway, I dont have any more time left to spend on this so I have regretably decided not to have the quiz timer :(

Thanks for all your  help

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