Course Design Best Practices

There's no one "best" practice. It really depends on your audience's level of comfort with computers.

If your audience rarely uses computers, then it makes sense to start with instructions, lightboxed or not.

If most of them work on computers, it could feel insulting and a waste of time to be shown how to navigate a course or told that "1/100" shows the current and total pages for the course.

Since your company has been using the Player in Storyline 2, folks will probably be fine with the Player in Storyline 360 (even with the extra controls). In those situations, if you think some folks might still want help, consider putting a custom HELP tab in the Player that lightboxes a slide with navigation info. That lets them open it at any time, but doesn't require it. 

• Here's more info: 

  TIP: Create Custom Player Tabs for Your Resources, Glossary, and More | Articulate - Community 

Rise 360 is trickier. With restricted navigation, there's no way to include an optional Help lesson that can be accessed at any time. But, again, given how much people get content on their phones, consider whether help is really needed or not. Perhaps do some other communication about the upcoming new look for courses, and provide a job aid with instructions. 

I think it is good to say up front what the estimated seat time is and whether or not a course includes audio. I like the simplicity of this example you provided:

That provides helpful info without being obtrusive.