Custom Course Timer in SL 360

Hi Godwin,

Great tip, thanks for sharing. I've added the functionality to pause the timer if the learner remains on any given slide for longer than x minutes (depends on the nature of the course)...if time data is being used for analytics then it is important it is an accurate representation of how long learners are actually engaged. If a learner gets up to make a cup of coffee then their data (and aggregated data) will be skewed unless it is paused after an extended period of inactivity.

Here are the steps I took in case anyone else wants to implement this solution:

1. On the Slide Master, create two new slide layers, one called 'Timeout' and another called 'Timeout Notification'. The 'Timeout' layer should be blank (same as the 'Timer' layer) and the 'Timeout Notification' layer should have some text letting the learner know the timer has been paused (e.g., "You've been inactive for X minutes, please click the button to continue").

2. Create a trigger on the base layer that shows 'Timeout' when the timeline starts. To make sure that more than one layer can be active at once, all three slide layers ('Timer', 'Timeout', and 'Timeout Notification') must be set to not hide other slide layers.

3. Set the timeline length of 'Timeout' as the desired time before the timer is paused. 

4. Create a trigger on 'Timeout' that pauses the timeline on 'Timer' when the timeline completes.

5. Create a trigger on 'Timeout' that shows the layer 'Timeout Notification' when the timeline completes.

6. Add a button on 'Timeout Notification' that allows the learner to acknowledge that they are engaged in the course (e.g., ...please click the button to continue).

7. Create a trigger on 'Timeout Notification' that resumes the timeline on 'Timer' when the learner clicks the button.

8. Create a trigger on 'Timeout Notification' that hides layer 'Timeout' when the learner clicks the button.

9. Create a trigger on 'Timeout Notification' that hides layer 'Timeout Notification' when the learner clicks the button.