Blank screen after update

Feb 27, 2018

Sure I have seen this mentioned in the forum before but I cannot locate it now (the search function is awful).

If I update my content and re-export it to SCORM, after updating the content on my LMS people who have previously launched the content (and not completed the module) are presented with a blank screen when they re-launch (the updated content). This is an issue unique to Rise courses. Please advise if this is a known / replicatable issue. And if there is something that can be done to resolve.

106 Replies
Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Stuart,

Have the learners tried to refresh the browser page? It sounds like it may be stuck on the relaunch as it's a new version of the course. 

When you update (overwrite) existing course files in your LMS or web server, learners who previously started the course won't be able to resume where they left off. They should start over at the first slide in the updated course. You'll want to keep this in mind when updating courses that have already been delivered to learners.

Stuart Marshall

Hi - if they have it wouldn't work (as that doesn't work). They are just left staring at a blank screen.

This really isn't good. No other updated learning content from any other authoring tool that I use does this. There must be a way that Articulate can fix this so that this is prevented? At least a way that the learner is taken to the home page instead of being left in limbo.

There is no way for the user to reset the course to go back to the homepage. They would have to contact admin to have the course manually reset. This is absolutely unacceptable as there could be hundreds of people mid-course when we apply an update.

E-Learning Rosenbauer

I had the very same issue until I found the cause by accident today.

Only user which have already opened the Rise content before ran into this issue of the blank screen after I have updated the content. Today I have deleted the suspend data (SCORM) in my LMS of those lessons and now everything works fine again.

Hopefully this will help you as well, if your issue still persists.

Stuart Marshall

Hi - yes that is a solution though deleting that also wipes out your learners progress which isn't ideal. 

For me, the issue now seems to only affect people if i have edited / deleted the page that they were on when they left the course. Not sure if there was a change made by the Rise people as it previously did affect all learners who had started the course.

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Stuart and Christoph,

I checked in with a few colleagues on this, and I believe my colleague Mike reached out to you directly, Stuart? Last we heard it was resolved in your LMS, but if you need us to take a look at your LMS and how it's behaving the offer still stands! You can respond to Mike's previous email or connect with our Support Engineers here. 

Our team would love to take a look at your example too, Christoph. The black screen is not what anyone would expect, but the course would restart as mentioned here. Talking with a few folks this AM, it seems like an LMS setting as it's not consistent for all users or all LMSs but we'd love to take a look at one of these courses in an LMS to confirm. Let me know if you're able to share that with us either here in ELH or directly to our Support team. 

E-Learning Rosenbauer

Hi Ashley.

I have tried to reproduce the issue with a completely new created Rise course but I could not. Everything works fine after updating the Rise content on my LMS.

But the Rise content I created in earlier versions are all making problems even if the content was not changed within Rise -  only exported it again. It only happens to user who has already opened the content once before an updated version was released. User who never opened the course before do not have any issues.

I also have tried that I just create a new lesson in my LMS and upload the newest version of an "older" Rise content. Opened it as a user. Updated the course. Opened it again and: Blank Page.

I also have tried to duplicate the Rise content and tried it again. Also with same result: Blank Page.

For me it seems that is not LMS related, as completely new Rise courses ALL work fine.

 

One of more affected Rise content you can find here:

https://rise.articulate.com/share/85acobTWQ1Inun5vmhqLxfapAyEcxj_W

Thats a really simple one as there is just a single video in it. 

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Christoph,

We'll need to see a copy of your Rise courses inside your LMS vs. the Share link, as it's in the LMS where they're not playing back after you overwrite them.

A new course won't demonstrate this same behavior, as it's the overwriting of the previous version that's causing loading issues within the LMS.

If you're able to share some credentials to your LMS so that we can take a look at this courses, I'll start a Support case for you to share. Keep your eyes out for an email from Support@articulate.com! 

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

A quick update for the folks who are subscribed to this conversation:

  • A few months ago, we introduced a change to Rise that could cause content to lock up and display a blank page if two things were true:
  1. You had replaced a Rise course inside your LMS with a different Rise course (or even a duplicated copy of your original Rise course), and...
  2. A learner attempted to resume a course that had been suspended before replacing the course content.

We won't go into too much detail, but the crux of the problem was a suspend_data incompatibility between the two courses, and the result was a lock-up upon resume.

  • We’ve fixed this problem, and today one of two things will happen:
  1. If you replace a Rise course inside your LMS with a revised version of the same Rise course, bookmarking will work as expected.  Learners can suspend the course before the course is revised, and those same learners can resume the course after the revision.
  2. If you replace a Rise course inside your LMS with a different Rise course (or even a duplicated copy of your original Rise course), learners will not be able to resume the course where they suspended it before the revision.  In this scenario, learners will return to the beginning of the course, but the content should never lock up.

Please let us know if you have any other trouble with this, and have a great day!

 

Nicole Brady

Hi Ashley, 

I am experiencing the issue that you mentioned was fixed. My user who try to access a Rise file on our LMS that was updated get a blank screen. It seems the fix that was in place a year ago does not work any longer. Are you able to provide support on this issue? 

Adam Yerger

Hi everyone,

My team is suddenly experiencing this issue as well, and from what I gather in this thread there is never an instance where end users should experience a blank page as a result.  We went through the checklist:

  • Are you using a supported browser?  - Yes
  • Does the SCORM package work on SCORM Cloud? - Yes
  • Does the same SCORM package work when you upload as a new course in your own LMS? - Yes
  • Does the same SCORM package work when you swap it in replacement of the older RISE course files in your LMS? - NO

We have opened a ticket, but still do not have any resolution.  Is anyone else experiencing this issue right now?