I’m working on a course that uses almost all video. The content’s good, but the client is asking for ideas for making it more interactive. Someone sent me the 21 Jump Street movie site as an example. I know, right? I like how the trailer layered movie trivia questions over the video. I thought this would make a good example so I tried building it in SL. This is what I put together: Elearning Quiz Demo I’d also be interested in what you think the right number of questions per video might be. Most videos will be 1-2 minutes. Thank you!

We need a "Like" button! Thank you everyone for the great feedback! I updated slide properties to pause base layer so now it plays properly. The airport clip is silent but it's just a placeholder clip for the "real" project, which is confidential (you know how that goes). The pop up video idea is another one. This project is a little formal but I'll give it a go and share how it turns out. Thank you everyone!

Hi Gonzalo, The video pausing is really simple, actually. You just click the gear icon and check the pause timeline option. You have to do that for each slide layer. To create the quiz questions on slide layers, I cheated a little by creating one large image for the slide layer, image and questions. I then added four radio buttons and a submit button. The submit button reveals a feedback graphic with the correct and incorrect icons. This solution was super fast for creating the prototype, but not desirable for production work because nothing on the slide is editable in Storyline.

I really like the presentation! I experienced the same as Bruce - the video kept playing in the background while I was working on the question. This will be an issue since you won't be able to control how long a person takes on each question (unless you can pause the video as Bruce suggests). Taking a slightly different tact, are you familiar with the VH1 "Pop-up video" shows? It's basically music videos with pop-up facts either directly or even indirectly related to the video, artist, or something mentioned in the song. So perhaps you could do something similar with your facts and then just include the quiz at the end? (Or is that what your clients were trying to "solve"?) Perhaps breaking up the videos into smaller chunks would work, with the question at the end of each chunk. Using your sample video, you could first stop it at the same point (where the first gentleman puts his bag on the belt) and then phrase the question in a scenario, perhaps like "The screener identifies the following items. Which one is a violation?" And then you would move on to the next section of video, which is an issue with next traveler's items. And, if you have the liberty to inject some fun, you could play a record-scratching or brake-squealing sound with a big WAIT! or HOLD ON! graphic when you stop the video to ask the quesiton. Again, a great start!

Nice work. Agree, getting the vid to pause would help learners understand what you are trying to do. And maybe it's just me, but it seems a light soundtrack is called for. Seems a bit odd to have a normally relatively loud scene (airport) be silent. Thanks for sharing.

Very cool concept. Well done. Adding the scoring wouldn't be difficult either. Great example. Great movie too - I laughed so hard when I watched it. Cheers!

Sharing and seeking: ideas for making videos more interactive

Jerson-Campos
Community Member
13 years ago
I was able to finally see the 21 JumpStreet video and it was very fun. ( I was at work before). I think what will be real hard is to entice the viewers to actually press the information buttons to execute the questions on a subject matter they are not engaged in. I think the option of having a pop-up like in VH1 Pop up video might make a good choice if your clients wants to make sure the viewer get the info.
DavidAnderson
Staff
13 years ago

NYTimes just published a really great example of interactive video:

What Romney and Obama’s Body Language Says to Voters

While the hand tracking isn't something most of us can do, the illustrated gesture navigation sure is a creative way to jump to specific clips in the video.
Jerson-Campos
Community Member
13 years ago

That is pretty cool. This wouldn't be a hard effect to replicate. It will take some creativity though. I was able to do something like this with flash. You can import the video into flash and then animate the hand tracking gesture in sync with the hand movement. It could be a simple static image (the only movement would be from it moving around) with a blur effect. Of course if you wanted the illustrated gesture to be animated as well, such as a silhouette over somebody walking, then it would take a lot more effort on part of the artist.

Since we are using an airport as an example, this could probably be used to identify suspicious behavior among the travelers or items in the area.
MelitaFarley
Community Member
13 years ago

Jerson campos said:

Jeanette - I think the problem is when the pop up comes up and the video keeps playing. If you have an unattentative viewer, the pop-up will show up and disappear before they can click on it. I think the video should stop until you click on the pop up which will provide the viewer an incentive to actually click on it.

As an alternative interactive video. Have you thought about making it like the old "Choose your Own Adventure" stories. Where the outcome of the next video depends on your choice, and the conclusion (score) of the course depends on your choices?

Very cool Montse! Thank you for sharing!!!

I agree with Jerson's point - it was exactly what I was thinking of when I was watching it!

If the questions are more important than the video you perhaps need to put something at the front that encourages learners to keep an eye out for the question marks - perhaps make it into a game - you could put a points tally in the corner and/or a countdown etc. This will keep learners 'looking' for the questions, but may take some of their attention away from the video, so figuring out the relative importance would be useful I think :)

I also agree with Daniel who noted the need for a soundtrack of some kind - there are quite good ambient soundtracks of airports and customs checks available and it would make it feel a little more real.
Montsea
Super Hero
13 years ago

Natalia Mueller-Spurgin said:

Montse-

I LOVE it! Really nicely done. Any chance you could make us a quick screenr to show us some of the main functionality?

https://player.vimeo.com/video/204931039

Here you go!
TomKuhlmann
Staff
13 years ago

Very elegant demo.

Two interesting discussions for a workshop:

Obviously the video is just a placeholder so there's no audio. But assuming that this was the real video, it's a good discussion to have about ambient audio and where it fits and where it doesn't.

Another idea is the option to close the screen when done. I think I'd either close it on submit (provide some feedback that the answer was received first) or I'd have a continue button appear by the submit button. The cursor's there. Having to move up to the top to close it out, seems like extra movement.

Great job on the demo, though. We'll use it as an example in our workshops.
ShowemimoAdebar
Community Member
13 years ago

Montse Posner Anderson said:

Natalia Mueller-Spurgin said:

Montse-

I LOVE it! Really nicely done. Any chance you could make us a quick screenr to show us some of the main functionality?

https://player.vimeo.com/video/204931039

Here you go!

Thanks for the screenr
Montsea
Super Hero
13 years ago
I found another fun example of interactive video. Seems like it would be simple enough in Storyline.
Montsea
Super Hero
13 years ago
@Tom - great feedback on how to handle the content layer and the close button!
GonzaloRosetti
Community Member
13 years ago

Congrats on your great job.

I really like what you have created in these forums: a real community of practice.

#Articulate staff: will you make your forums mobile-friendly? It is hard to read the posts on the phone (let alone the links to samples)

Thank you!