Hey fellow Storyline experts. I'm looking for a really good course/instructor that teaches Advanced Storyline topics (triggers, variables, conditional statements). I would like to take my skills to the next level on this product.
Any recommendations or suggestions? I've checked out the standard "Advanced" Storyline offerings but want to take it further than that.
Phil Mayer, Steve Flowers... any suggestions/advice?
I would prefer something online/self-paced.
Thank you all in advance for taking time to comment!
I have a couple workshops I've done around variables. I could rework those into a series of screencasts.
Can you share a little more about what you want to do that involves variables?
Are you trying to personalize courses (avatars, names, colors, etc)? Conditional navigation? The more you can say about what you want to do, the easier it is to pull examples or lessons together.
Sorry never noticed this, I would enrol in code academy and learn javascript, to ideal thing here is you will also learn abut variables and conditions, IF, AND, OR statements that will help you in Storyline.
I know that Omniplex in the UK and Yukon in the US do an advanced course, I have seen the outline for this and it does cover what you want.
That sounds like a good idea. I'll check out the site tomorow.
David,
Can you point me to any screencasts that you currently have available? I'm interested in learning ALL of it. personalizing and conditional navigation would be a great place to start.
Following as well - I feel I have mastered the basics but really want to get into what I can do more with variables and conditions as my brain doesn't really think that way, not having a coding background!
I'd love to see a series of screencasts on advanced topics.
I've been to the Yukon Advanced Class and did find it helpful! The instructor even provided some basic javascript for those of us who don't code. And we got lots of practice with conditions, variables, and branching.
Since it is difficult for most of us to define exactly what we'd like to learn at a level beyond the current advanced training we've had - my suggestion would be to find Storyline examples that make you say "How did they do that?!" - then deconstruct them.
In fact, that would be kind of a cool group to start. We could:
Round up examples to pick from (we could set standards for the types of things we'd like them to include, too - specific types of variables, conditions, javascript - whatever we want to be sure it's "advanced" enough), then
Each person could pick one that gets them excited, then add each of those to the group's starting list/agenda of samples to work on. (Everyone could just work on their own favorite sample instead of working on a whole pool of them, but that would make my next suggestions tougher, plus it would really stretch everyone's wings if we did them all.)
Ideally it would be great to use models/samples from the community and have the designer explain how s/he did it and give some tips before sending group members off to construct their own version of it. Or if the designer isn't known to us or available, someone who has an idea of how it was done could offer some tips about how to approach it.
Group members could confer with each other during whatever the construction period is (a week? two weeks? a month?) which would keep the learning/peer teaching/discovery process going.
We get back together and share our results.
I guess it could be run much like the weekly challenges:
There could be a new thread for each sample we'd want to deconstruct.
Whoever is giving guidance about how to make it happen could record a tutorial and/or write up a post to kick it off.
We could discuss our progress/discoveries/ideas/questions right in the thread during the challenge period, and
We could each do a little "Here's what I learned" wrap-up (recorded tutorials and/or blog posts would be great) to help reinforce all that lovely advanced knowledge we just gained AND be able to share it with the group AND anyone/everyone else watching.
And of course we'd share our final demos. I'd be especially excited to see those since - knowing people around here - they wouldn't just reconstruct the original - they'd want to show off how they put their own spin on it!
Personally, I could see an approach like this bring my Storyline skills to the next level. I'd get to discover and apply new knowledge in a way that's meaningful to me, I'd be motivated to do it because I'd want to achieve the cool end result and because we'd be in it together and could help each other, and I'd get to reinforce what I learned by explaining it to others.
For me this would be more effective than spending time in a classroom walking through examples in a book. That approach worked well in the basic through advanced courses, but I think it's time for grad school. :)
I'm in agreement with Jackie. Although I'd make it a bit simpler and work from the weekly challenges and put less friction in the process. The weekly challenges keep the demos simple and small enough to have others give you productions tips/tricks. It's a challenge to decipher a large file and provide good feedback.
We usually do some deconstructions in our Storyline workshops. First we'll look at some demos and then talk about what's going on so that they can start to see how they can be (or are) built in Storyline. Then they break into groups and try to build a prototype. What I like about this is that there are always a bunch of different ways to do things and it makes for great discussion on why someone chose the way they did it over a different one.
I like Phil's idea too about learning javascript.
It would be nice to see a list of what you all consider advanced. We can curate a list of advanced techniques and then I'm sure David can work them into the challenges.
I agree that learning javascript would be an advantage, but I have yet to see an example created in storyline that takes full advantage of it other then a random number generator or changing some text on screen. There is no way (that I can think of) to target an object in a slide through javascript to create additional animations or effects.
If you are looking to learn more advanced stuff, focus on learning how to really take advantage of variables and conditional statements and how to change those. You really don't need to be an expert or event intermediate coder in javascript to make dynamic changes to SL variables.
I agree with that Jerson said. I am a programmer and have pretty extensive Javascript & Storyline experience and the upper limits that I've found when combining the two are relegated to changing variables in Javascript, which, in turn, change variables in Storyline.
Unfortunately, Articulate hasn't provided the SDK/API access to "behind the scenes" data (Flash version aside as I have interest in HTML5) that would allow more advanced changes--things like, global slide counts & info and internal variables. Any advanced animation using jQuery, cross-domain functionality, custom LMS traffic, access to local files, etc are things that Javascript allow for but Storyline can't because a Storyline course is designed as a "closed system" and the Javascript implemented support is not very robust. My wish is that they would open things up, however. I would love to be able to have things become more "advanced".
20 Replies
Hi Richard -
I have a couple workshops I've done around variables. I could rework those into a series of screencasts.
Can you share a little more about what you want to do that involves variables?
Are you trying to personalize courses (avatars, names, colors, etc)? Conditional navigation? The more you can say about what you want to do, the easier it is to pull examples or lessons together.
Sorry never noticed this, I would enrol in code academy and learn javascript, to ideal thing here is you will also learn abut variables and conditions, IF, AND, OR statements that will help you in Storyline.
I know that Omniplex in the UK and Yukon in the US do an advanced course, I have seen the outline for this and it does cover what you want.
Hope this helps
Phil,
That sounds like a good idea. I'll check out the site tomorow.
David,
Can you point me to any screencasts that you currently have available? I'm interested in learning ALL of it. personalizing and conditional navigation would be a great place to start.
Richard
I'm eavesdropping on this one... Took this course at lynda.com - but I'm also interested in even more advanced usage..
http://www.lynda.com/Storyline-tutorials/Articulate-Storyline-Advanced-Techniques/145209-2.html
I'm open for that screencast series David!
Following as well - I feel I have mastered the basics but really want to get into what I can do more with variables and conditions as my brain doesn't really think that way, not having a coding background!
I'd love to see a series of screencasts on advanced topics.
I've been to the Yukon Advanced Class and did find it helpful! The instructor even provided some basic javascript for those of us who don't code. And we got lots of practice with conditions, variables, and branching.
Yes, agree with Phil -- JAVASCRIPT JQUERY AJAX academy. A must have, please, please, please! I'll help in any way.
Since it is difficult for most of us to define exactly what we'd like to learn at a level beyond the current advanced training we've had - my suggestion would be to find Storyline examples that make you say "How did they do that?!" - then deconstruct them.
In fact, that would be kind of a cool group to start. We could:
I guess it could be run much like the weekly challenges:
Personally, I could see an approach like this bring my Storyline skills to the next level. I'd get to discover and apply new knowledge in a way that's meaningful to me, I'd be motivated to do it because I'd want to achieve the cool end result and because we'd be in it together and could help each other, and I'd get to reinforce what I learned by explaining it to others.
For me this would be more effective than spending time in a classroom walking through examples in a book. That approach worked well in the basic through advanced courses, but I think it's time for grad school. :)
Love that idea, Jackie!!
Thank you, Ashley! I'm kind of in love with it myself. :)
I'm in agreement with Jackie. Although I'd make it a bit simpler and work from the weekly challenges and put less friction in the process. The weekly challenges keep the demos simple and small enough to have others give you productions tips/tricks. It's a challenge to decipher a large file and provide good feedback.
We usually do some deconstructions in our Storyline workshops. First we'll look at some demos and then talk about what's going on so that they can start to see how they can be (or are) built in Storyline. Then they break into groups and try to build a prototype. What I like about this is that there are always a bunch of different ways to do things and it makes for great discussion on why someone chose the way they did it over a different one.
I like Phil's idea too about learning javascript.
It would be nice to see a list of what you all consider advanced. We can curate a list of advanced techniques and then I'm sure David can work them into the challenges.
I would love to participate. I do not consider myself an expert, I am advanced. I think Jackie's suggestion would take me to the expert level!
Thanks Gail! I think it'll get me there too. I'm glad you're in. :)
I agree that learning javascript would be an advantage, but I have yet to see an example created in storyline that takes full advantage of it other then a random number generator or changing some text on screen. There is no way (that I can think of) to target an object in a slide through javascript to create additional animations or effects.
If you are looking to learn more advanced stuff, focus on learning how to really take advantage of variables and conditional statements and how to change those. You really don't need to be an expert or event intermediate coder in javascript to make dynamic changes to SL variables.
I agree with that Jerson said. I am a programmer and have pretty extensive Javascript & Storyline experience and the upper limits that I've found when combining the two are relegated to changing variables in Javascript, which, in turn, change variables in Storyline.
Unfortunately, Articulate hasn't provided the SDK/API access to "behind the scenes" data (Flash version aside as I have interest in HTML5) that would allow more advanced changes--things like, global slide counts & info and internal variables. Any advanced animation using jQuery, cross-domain functionality, custom LMS traffic, access to local files, etc are things that Javascript allow for but Storyline can't because a Storyline course is designed as a "closed system" and the Javascript implemented support is not very robust. My wish is that they would open things up, however. I would love to be able to have things become more "advanced".
Hello! Just found this thread and wondering IF this ever got off the ground?
Hi Gayle! I don't believe any activities been organized to address this topic yet.
Thank you Jackie! Appreciate the reply. :)
My pleasure, Gayle! Glad to hear you'd be interested too. I'll keep staying tuned to see if something gets organized. :)
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