would love to hear community feedback

Jan 26, 2021

I am using StoryLine to create onboarding courses for our job. (self-taught). The boss and I were discussing the best way to handle making a course that is multi-branching and somewhat leading. So here I am reaching out to you guys. I want to know from both instructional designers and course builders alike. Are triggers the way to go for something like this? Or lots of slides that are clones of the main a better way? We see the merit in both ways. What do you all think? Which way will prevent us from banging our heads against the wall more? Please let me know. Any and all feedback welcome! (this is just a dummy course BTW)

https://360.articulate.com/review/content/425a2301-99b2-4e29-b128-27db968ff6f2/review

Thanks in advance

ROB

Test_Story_1.story

3 Replies

Chris Foster

3 years ago01/27/21 at 12:19 pm (UTC)

Depending on the subect matter and any requirements for the order of delivery for each section, I would have quite liked to be given choices as to which section I clicked on and in which order.

Once in a section, I would have liked to be able to control the flow/delivery of the info within it, as well as an option to backout back to the main menu.

Clones of the the main are good IMO as it lends consistency to the design and controls/UI.

Triggers? Yeah, to control the way the branching paths unfold, if you want or need to retain a level of direction the learner takes. Not sure If I have misunderstood the question on that though..

Nice dad jokes by the way :-)

ROB Roberts
Author

3 years ago01/27/21 at 2:12 pm (UTC)

Thanks for the advice, I did set it up so that if you clicked on the octagonal section choice again once you were in that section it would replay the info as sort of a way to control the flow of the info (I know I didn't make it obvious.) do you think it would be too much clicking on the users part if each part of info was only reviled by selecting or clicking a button or icon? I wanted the whole thing to be intuitive and not feel like you were given instructions for each part before you could get any of the subject. I did not think about giving people the option to go back to the main part if let's say they were only halfway done with a section. Since there were only 3 sections I wanted to make it in a way that you could do the blue or the orange in any order but then would not show the 3rd section until after you were done with the first two. My boss is a fan of making a whole new starting page that's slightly modified that you would end up going to depending on what section you clicked on instead of using triggers to change the look of the starting page. I feel like that's messy and unnecessary but I understand her logic too as one mistake on a trigger and you could break the automation of it and get stuck in a section. W both agree it could be done either way. From an instructional design perspective which way would you say is the more common practice? I am trying to form good habits for design and not have others in the industry look cross-eyed at one of our layouts if we show a course and ask for help with an aspect of it. what are your thoughts?

3 years ago01/28/21 at 12:16 pm (UTC)

ROB Roberts

Thanks for the advice, I did set it up so that if you clicked on the octagonal section choice again once you were in that section it would replay the info as sort of a way to control the flow of the info (I know I didn't make it obvious.) do you think it would be too much clicking on the users part if each part of info was only reviled by selecting or clicking a button or icon? I wanted the whole thing to be intuitive and not feel like you were given instructions for each part before you could get any of the subject.

No I don't think it would necessarily be too much clicking, I'd aim for a balance between too clicky and too powerpointy. Perhaps mechanisms to have the leaner find or retrieve the information, how about having each of the items in the list be revealed by clicking on an octagon, set all but the first to be visible but disabled (grey for example) and set them to change state with a visual and/or audible cue for the learner when they become unlocked.

I did not think about giving people the option to go back to the main part if let's say they were only halfway done with a section.

I think it's always useful to allow the learner to return to the dash or homescreen. They might want to dip back in to a certain item in a section but not go through the whole thing or maybe they went in by mistake etc.

Since there were only 3 sections I wanted to make it in a way that you could do the blue or the orange in any order but then would not show the 3rd section until after you were done with the first two.

I like that you built in free-roam like this whilst controlling access to the end content.

My boss is a fan of making a whole new starting page that's slightly modified that you would end up going to depending on what section you clicked on instead of using triggers to change the look of the starting page. I feel like that's messy and unnecessary but I understand her logic too as one mistake on a trigger and you could break the automation of it and get stuck in a section.

Unless there is a tangible benefit to your bosses way, I would go with your preference for sure. I have found that due to complex variables/states etc. I have needed to clone a section so that it works the way I needed it to. The learner would never know this, as far as they are aware they are still on the exact same slide.

W both agree it could be done either way. From an instructional design perspective which way would you say is the more common practice?

For me, it comes down to whichever way works for the project needs, whether that need is aesthetics or functional.

I am trying to form good habits for design and not have others in the industry look cross-eyed at one of our layouts if we show a course and ask for help with an aspect of it. what are your thoughts?

To keep it simple - my thoughts are in bold :-)