I have been asked to pull together a training session for a group of colleagues that are new to Storyline 2. What did you discover through use that you found really useful, that you wish you'd known earlier? What would you absolutely include in a session and what would you not, if time was limited? Has anyone delivered something similar and have any notes they would be prepared to share? Thanks in advance Storyliners!
Great question, Liz! I'm also super curious to hear what other community members have to say here. I also wanted to give you the link to the Storyline 2 tutorials, in case that is helpful to you!
I suppose there are loads of productivity tips, here are some of my favourites:
In preview you can jump between slides on the toolbar
States can be edited by double clicking the state
Pausing layers and unpausing is a really great way to control animations and give a professional look and feel.
Depends on the length of the session, I would get them to play around with Storyline. I definitely would look at things like alignment and distribution as this is important for professional look and feel.
I agree with Phil on the alignment & distribution options as I still see lots of people where I work trying to align and distribute by eye (in Word & PowerPoint) - it takes ages and never quite works.
Some other simple but big impact ones:
An understanding of the different auto fit options for text
The 'change picture' / 'change shape' function. I watched someone changing pictures on a fully developed screen where they deleted and then added in anew picture. It then took them ages to get it back to the right point in the timeline with the right animation etc. They were very happy when I showed them 'change picture'
Use of master and layout slides for common elements to speed up production
Off on a slight tangent but a favourite topic of mine. Do you have access to any corporate social tools (eg. Yammer / Private Facebook group) where you could create an online community of practice for you and them to share hints and tips and support each other. I created one where I work and it has worked really well (joining this community and our internal Yammer group elements of our internal Storyline upskilling programme - for L&OD people interested in developing in this area). The Yammer group actually started when we got in Storyline and a small core of 3 people needed to upskill - Most of it was done by all 3 of us completing challenges (based around the formal tutorials Allison mentioned) and then physically meeting to share and learn.
I use 'us' above as I was learning the software at the same time - I learnt it entirely using the formal tutorials, our challenges and community of practice and this community.
Ar the colleagues new to elearning design (instructional and visual) or just new to the software. If the prior then its as easy to create rubbish in Storyline as it is in PowerPoint - understanding the software is only a small (but very necessary) part of creating effective learning.
We are doing the same training for one of our clients. I am starting with an existing course that someone has completed and using that as the base throughout the training.EX - show the class how to lock a Menu and unlock as the learner progresses. (Lesson x) Have a side session on thinking logically - keep it simple - making a cake, building a small garage, etc. Help people to think in process learning - what are the steps, what must happen first, what is the sequence. This will help when you introduce a simple lesson on variables. (lesson y). Basically I am relating every lesson to a practical application within the base course as a pre and post. Have a list of simple tricks, e.g., showing how to use slide masters and how to change a slide via a master vs recreating every slide in SL. Spend some time on timeline use, manipulation, use of cue points. Bring a sample audio file to show simple ways of revising the audio within SL and/or Audacity inserting silence or audio space to illustrate how to use the timeline with media. Explain what are states, how are they used/revised/purpose etc and then do the same with layers - why use one or the other. Lastly, spend time on assessments, question banks and Result screens (issues with scores, previews and retry). I would spend time on the this forum archives and look at the recurring issues, the number of responses and especially those with limited responses - these are the tricky problems. Good luck.
5 Replies
Great question, Liz! I'm also super curious to hear what other community members have to say here. I also wanted to give you the link to the Storyline 2 tutorials, in case that is helpful to you!
I suppose there are loads of productivity tips, here are some of my favourites:
Depends on the length of the session, I would get them to play around with Storyline. I definitely would look at things like alignment and distribution as this is important for professional look and feel.
I agree with Phil on the alignment & distribution options as I still see lots of people where I work trying to align and distribute by eye (in Word & PowerPoint) - it takes ages and never quite works.
Some other simple but big impact ones:
Off on a slight tangent but a favourite topic of mine. Do you have access to any corporate social tools (eg. Yammer / Private Facebook group) where you could create an online community of practice for you and them to share hints and tips and support each other. I created one where I work and it has worked really well (joining this community and our internal Yammer group elements of our internal Storyline upskilling programme - for L&OD people interested in developing in this area). The Yammer group actually started when we got in Storyline and a small core of 3 people needed to upskill - Most of it was done by all 3 of us completing challenges (based around the formal tutorials Allison mentioned) and then physically meeting to share and learn.
I use 'us' above as I was learning the software at the same time - I learnt it entirely using the formal tutorials, our challenges and community of practice and this community.
Ar the colleagues new to elearning design (instructional and visual) or just new to the software. If the prior then its as easy to create rubbish in Storyline as it is in PowerPoint - understanding the software is only a small (but very necessary) part of creating effective learning.
We are doing the same training for one of our clients. I am starting with an existing course that someone has completed and using that as the base throughout the training.EX - show the class how to lock a Menu and unlock as the learner progresses. (Lesson x) Have a side session on thinking logically - keep it simple - making a cake, building a small garage, etc. Help people to think in process learning - what are the steps, what must happen first, what is the sequence. This will help when you introduce a simple lesson on variables. (lesson y). Basically I am relating every lesson to a practical application within the base course as a pre and post. Have a list of simple tricks, e.g., showing how to use slide masters and how to change a slide via a master vs recreating every slide in SL. Spend some time on timeline use, manipulation, use of cue points. Bring a sample audio file to show simple ways of revising the audio within SL and/or Audacity inserting silence or audio space to illustrate how to use the timeline with media. Explain what are states, how are they used/revised/purpose etc and then do the same with layers - why use one or the other. Lastly, spend time on assessments, question banks and Result screens (issues with scores, previews and retry). I would spend time on the this forum archives and look at the recurring issues, the number of responses and especially those with limited responses - these are the tricky problems. Good luck.
Hi Liz,
This is a link to an old thread but there are some helpful bits in there if you have the time to dig through: https://community.articulate.com/discussions/building-better-courses/how-did-you-learn-storyline-what-were-your-pain-points
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