Save Time with this E-Learning Project Troubleshooting Checklist
E-Learning Heroes is handy for getting quick tech support for your Articulate 360 projects when you need it. But what if I told you there’s an even faster way to troubleshoot the most common technical problems, a checklist that takes just a few moments and doesn’t require you to be super-techie, open a support ticket, or even draft a forum post? Next time your project hits a snag, save yourself some time and frustration by checking off these three items: Item #1: Your Project File’s Location If you’re working in an office or corporate setting, odds are your computer is part of a group of computers all sharing access to the same computer or server on a network. If this arrangement sounds familiar to you, you likely have access to a network drive—that is, a drive where files are stored and shared with your coworkers. A local drive, on the other hand, is a disk drive that physically resides on your computer and isn’t part of another computer on your network. For example, most computers running Microsoft Windows have a local drive known as the C: drive. Creating new projects or editing existing projects from a network drive rather than a local drive, or publishing your projects to a network drive rather than a local drive, can lead to troublesome technical glitches like file corruption, crashes, or an inability to save changes. Why can working from a network drive cause these troubles? The short answer is that it introduces more complexity. Here’s how I like to think of it: Imagine you’re storing a file folder in a file cabinet beneath your desk. Pretty quick and easy to access, isn’t it? And if something changes about the contents of the file, or the file folder goes missing, you’re the one in control—not many people have access to your file and there aren’t many places it could be. Now imagine that you’re storing a file folder in a colleague’s file cabinet across the country. While storing it elsewhere saves you some precious drawer space, sending the file folder back and forth introduces more variables into the mix. For instance: what’s going on with the file when you’re not using it? Where is it being stored, and under what conditions? How long will it take your colleague to send it to you? What if some of the file’s contents are missing when you get it? Or what if it’s lost along the way? What this means for you and your projects is: When trouble strikes, make sure you’re reducing the complexity by saving and accessing project files from a local drive and not a network drive. If you need to place a copy of your project on a network drive or on a USB drive for backup, versioning control, or collaboration with coworkers, do that only after you’ve closed Storyline or Studio. Try to avoid reopening the project again until you’ve copied it back to your local hard drive. For more tips on creating, editing, and publishing Articulate projects to your local hard drive, check out this support article. Item #2: Your Software’s Update Status We’re constantly working hard to improve our products, so updates are released pretty regularly. Keeping your software updated ensures that you have all the latest and greatest performance improvements and bug fixes. If you have Articulate 360, you’ll be notified of updates via the desktop app. If you’re using a perpetual version of our software and you have the“Check for Updates” option enabled, your Articulate software will automatically notify you when a new version of the software is available. However, if you’re not sure if this option is enabled, it’s super-easy to manually check for updates. First, go to the help ribbon in Storyline, Studio, or Replay and select Check for Updates. Once you’ve clicked Check for Updates you’ll be prompted to either download new updates or we’ll confirm that you’re running the latest version of our software. You can also use the help ribbon to quickly access the software-specific forum hub. Notices about newly released updates are typically “pinned” or anchored to the top of the discussion list. Pro Tip: Each time you install a free update, you’ll be prompted to reactivate your software. This may seem like a headache, but all you really have to do is click Activate to complete the process because the software remembers your serial number. Item #3: Your Published Project’s Location Just as the location of your working project files can impact how it behaves when you’re creating and editing a project, the location of your published content can also influence how it behaves. If your published content isn’t working the way you anticipated, take a second look at where and how you’re accessing it. Published content should always be accessed and tested from the intended environment, as described in this support article. For example, if you published your project for the web, you should upload it to a web server for testing; and if you published it for an LMS, upload your content to an LMS or to a free service such as SCORM Cloud for testing. Also, check to ensure that you’re loading all of the published project output files to your web server or LMS, and not just the story.html or presenter.html files. Pro Tip: If your intent is for content to be viewed locally, try publishing for CD and then double-click the launch_story.exe file from the resulting output files. Often local security restrictions on your computer, web browser, and Flash player can cause certain features to fail. Next Steps What happens if you’ve checked all of these items off of your troubleshooting list and things still aren’t working? That’s where the appropriate product-specific forum can help you crowdsource your sleuthing efforts. Before you draft a new forum post, it’s a good idea to start with a quick search to see if anyone else has had the same problem you’re experiencing. For tips on power-searching, check out this handy how-to article. And if a search doesn’t turn up what you need, it’s time to draft a new forum post describing the problem in detail. In the body of your post, it’s helpful to verify that you’ve completed this checklist—just so we don’t ask you to start over at Item #1. It’s also a good idea to have any of the following attached to your post: The problem slides from your project file (.story file or a Presenter package) A video capture of the unwanted/unexpected behaviors you’re experiencing Static screenshot(s) of the unwanted/unexpected behaviors For more pointers on writing discussion posts that get quick answers, check out this helpful article. Summary Technology can be a little confounding at times, but with these basic troubleshooting tips, you can save yourself some time by diagnosing many of the most common technical issues on your own. Even better: when you can help us understand what’s not contributing to the problem, the ELH communitycan help you identify the real culprit a whole lot faster! Looking for even more troubleshooting tips? Check out these recent articles: The Secret to LMS Debugging How to Troubleshoot Your LMS with SCORM Cloud. What does your troubleshooting checklist look like? Share your tips and feedback in the comments below. Want to try something you learned here, but don’t have Articulate 360? Start a free 30-day trial. And subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest product updates, e-learning examples, and expert advice sent directly to your inbox. If you have questions, please share them in the comments.Comfortable with Studio 360 but Curious About Storyline 360? This Article Is for You
When I talk to Studio 360 users, they often tell me that they’ve been wanting to give Storyline 360 a try, but feel too intimidated. Sound familiar? I get it. Change can be scary. But thanks to the PowerPoint-like interface and the easy-import feature, the transition from Studio 360 to Storyline 360 is super-smooth. And since Storyline 360 is included in your Articulate 360 subscription, you can start using it right away—at no additional cost. Still on the fence? Take a peek at some of the things Studio 360 users appreciate most when they start using Storyline 360. 1. Creating Interactions That Reduce Cognitive Load When you’re building a course in PowerPoint, it can be hard to find ways to cut down on the amount of on-screen text—and reduce the cognitive load—so learners can focus. In Storyline 360, slide layers make it easy to create click-and-reveal interactions that let learners view content in smaller, more digestible, chunks. For example, instead of a slide like this: You can create an interaction like this: Click here to compare the two versions Not only does this second version feel less overwhelming, but presenting each point one at a time invites learners to interact, increasing the likelihood that they’ll remember the content. 2. Converting Static Slides into Engaging Interactions With PowerPoint, it can be hard to find ways to get learners to interact with your course beyond clicking the Next button. With Storyline 360, you can put learners in the driver’s seat by converting static slides into engaging interactions in just a few clicks, thanks to the Convert to Freeform feature. For example, let’s say you’re creating a course on sun safety. You might have a slide that looks something like this: It’s informative, but not interactive. Now let’s see how you could use that same content to create a lean-forward interaction that’s sure to captivate your audience: Click here to compare the two versions Put yourself in your learner’s shoes. Which version would you find more interesting and engaging? My money’s on the drag-and-drop interaction. 3. Designing Nonlinear Courses Building a single course for a target audience with varying knowledge and skill levels can be a real challenge. One way to ensure you meet everyone’s needs is by building a nonlinear, or branched, course. You can do this by creating a menu that allows learners to navigate the course content freely or by designing a choose-your-own-adventure-style course where the learner’s path through the course changes depending on their actions. Building nonlinear courses in PowerPoint can be extremely challenging. But with Storyline 360, it’s a snap. You can easily see and make changes to the flow of your courses by simply dragging your slides in Story View, as shown in the GIF below. The ability to create nonlinear courses is just one example of how building your courses in Storyline 360 allows you to quickly and easily deliver a more personalized experience to your learners. And the more personalized the experience, the more relevant the course will feel to your learners—making them more likely to remember and apply the concepts to their jobs. Want more tips on personalizing your courses? Check out this article: 3 Ways to Personalize Your E-Learning Courses. 4. Building Custom Navigation That’s Intuitive With Storyline 360, you have total control over the learner experience. You can turn virtually any object into a custom button that behaves the way learners expect it to—making navigation intuitive. Let me explain. When you’re navigating the web, how do you know that an object is clickable? If you pay close attention, you’ll notice a couple of visual cues. For example, when you hover your mouse over a clickable object, the cursor changes from an arrow to a hand. There’s also usually a slight change to the formatting of the object itself—the fill color might change to a slightly lighter or darker hue. These visual cues help you navigate the website and find what you’re looking for. You can do the same thing in your e-learning courses to ensure your learners never feel lost. Check out the GIF below to get a better idea of what that experience can feel like: Click here to explore the interactive version With easy-to-use features like states and triggers in Storyline 360, you can make any object clickable in just a few seconds. And because these objects will behave just like learners expect them to, they’ll be able to focus on the course content—instead of trying to figure out where to click. The Bottom Line Importing your Studio 360 courses into Storyline 360 is fast and easy. And with Storyline 360’s PowerPoint-like interface, the learning curve is almost nonexistent. What do you have to lose? Give it a try today! Here are some resources to help get you up and running: Tips for Importing Microsoft PowerPoint and Articulate Presenter Content into Storyline 360 Storyline 360 tutorial videos Storyline 360 training webinars Storyline 360 user guide Want to try Storyline 360, but don’t have Articulate 360? Start a free 30-day trial, and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning. If you have any questions, please share them in the comments.New in Content Library 360: 3 New Casual Illustrated Characters
When you want a scenario to ring true to your learners, every detail counts—including what your characters are wearing. That’s why we’ve added these new illustrated characters to Content Library 360—Mike, Camila, and Eduardo. With all three in casual outfits, you have even more options for scenarios set in less formal environments, like retail, start-up offices, warehouses, or even home offices. If you’re an Articulate 360 subscriber, you can include these new characters in your Storyline 360 courses right now by selecting Characters in the Insert tab. And if you don’t have Articulate 360 but want to try out this feature, you can start a free 30-day trial. Once you’ve given them a try we’d love to hear what you think! Please share any feedback or suggestions in the comments below. The Content Library 360 Team
