Building branching Storyline simulations that let learners go down the wrong path
We'd like to move beyond "click the correct hotspot" simulations. Ideally, learners could make a realistic mistake, experience the resulting screen/consequence, and then determine how to recover, essentially a choose-your-own-adventure system simulation. For anyone doing this: How do you manage branching without making the Storyline file unmanageable? How do you track decisions, mistakes, and recovery? Slides vs. layers/states/variables? Are there practical ways AI can make these simulations more adaptive, such as generating contextual feedback or supporting multiple paths?Managing sensitive data in Storyline simulations, including AI-assisted workflows
Our source systems may contain confidential information that can't appear in simulations. How are others handling this? Synthetic/test data before recording? Redaction or replacement after capture? Edited screenshots instead of recordings? AI-assisted redaction, data replacement, or generation of realistic synthetic data? We're looking for a workflow that balances security, realism, efficiency, and maintainability.Best practices for 1-hour course file sizes? (Source vs. SCORM Output)
Hi everyone, I am planning a 1-hour eLearning course that will include a variety of media (audio, video, and graphics). Before I dive deep into development, I want to make sure I structure my project correctly to avoid any technical glitches or performance issues down the road. I would love to get the community's insight on a few specific questions: What are the ideal target sizes for the working source file (.story) and the published SCORM package (.zip) for a 1-hour course to ensure everything runs smoothly? What specific disadvantages or issues will occur if my files and output exceed those safe sizes? (Both on the developer side and the learner side). What are the best ways to fix or prevent these issues if the project naturally becomes very large? I want to ensure a seamless experience for both my LMS and my learners. Any advice, benchmarks, or tips you can share from your own projects would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!Best practices for maintaining a large library of Storyline system simulations
We’re exploring Storyline for building a library of software simulations, including processes that move between multiple systems that share data. For teams doing this at scale: How do you structure simulations for easier maintenance when applications change? Do you use screen recordings, screenshots, custom-built interactions, or a hybrid? What reusable templates/components have worked well? Are you using AI to identify UI changes, update simulations, or reduce maintenance effort? We’re particularly interested in approaches that remain manageable as the simulation library grows.Interactive phishing awareness activities
I recently prepared a cybersecurity awareness session for a small organization and used realistic examples of phishing emails, scam text messages, and fraudulent phone calls. I found that working with concrete examples was much more effective than simply explaining a list of warning signs. For future training, I would like to make this part more interactive. Do you know any tools, activities, or freely available resources that allow learners to safely practice recognizing and responding to phishing attempts? Ideally, I am looking for something suitable for non-technical learners and a bit more interactive than a standard multiple-choice quiz. I would be interested to hear what has worked well in your training or e-learning projects.AI Tool for creating conversations
Hi everyone, I'm exploring the possibility of using text between 2 (or more) people to create an AI-generated audio conversation, in most cases between a CSR and customer. From my web search I see there's a utility called Musely that might work but my company's internet policies block me from seeing the page. So, I figured I'd poll this wonderful group of creators to see what they may know or could recommend. Thanks!Social interactions for a remote, digital audience?
I'm curious how others have used Storyline or have thought about using Storyline to promote social learning and social situations between remote learners? At least with the audiences I've largely helped in my time as an instructional designer, remote workers have been an outstanding majority. I was part of a team that developed a "two-player" eLearning, each person played the role of either a caller or a customer service representative, and the course was structured to guide them through the call in discrete steps. It was one eLearning with two pathways--cooperative Battleship in some ways. Learners would call each other over the phone and navigate the scenarios together. The Storyline course was essential to the entire thing working so well and really enabled the social interaction in the first place. I currently have in development a three-player resource management game, each player shipwrecked on a distinct island in an archipelago. All three need to work together to build a new ship and continue their voyage. Winning requires the players exchange resources between their games/eLearnings/islands. So how to exchange resources without paying for and configuring a server? A "courier" system--a popup form in the game into which the player says what they want to send, how much, and to which island to send it. That generates an encrypted short-code for the sender to give to the recipient. When the intended recipient enters that code into their receive-courier popup, the "sent" resources are added to the inventory. Some additional JavaScript maintenance adds the code to a list blocking any duplicates, and additional encryption when codes are generated ensures they can only be used by their intended recipients. It's shaping up to be a very effective team-building exercise (the principal design goal) made possible through the text input objects and a little JavaScript, and so (to restate) I'm curious how others have used Storyline or have thought about using Storyline to promote social learning and social situations between remote learners?Are We Designing for Learning or Just Adding More Clicks? 🤔
I've been thinking a lot lately about how we approach interactivity in e-learning, especially with all the amazing tools and features available to us in Rise and Storyline. As instructional designers, we have so many creative ways to engage learners, but I sometimes wonder if we're making things interactive because they genuinely support learning or simply because we can. For me, the goal has always been to move beyond presenting information and create experiences that help learners actually apply what they've learned. Sometimes that means a scenario, a decision-making activity, or an opportunity to practice (I would love to hear ideas about how you do this one). I'd love to hear how others approach this. What's your personal rule of thumb for deciding whether an interaction truly adds value to a learning experience? And even better, have you ever removed or simplified an interaction and found that the learning experience actually improved? I'd love to hear your experiences, examples, and lessons learned. One of my favorite things about this community is how much we can learn from each other's approaches!Nova Expedition Extended to November 6
If you missed it, there were recent updates to AI Avatars. We’ve extended the Nova Expedition through November 6, so you have time to try it out and earn your Nova Expedition badge and 30 bonus ELH Rewards points. Not sure where to start? A few ideas: A friendly welcome message for the start of a course A quick policy or process reminder A knock-knock joke, just to see how the avatar handles timing and delivery Share what happened in a new post on the Nova Expedition board. Then, share your feedback in the pinned Shape What’s Next thread. We’re gathering all of your notes to help make Nova better, so tell us what’s working, what’s not, and what you’d like to see next. Check out what members have already shared: Thomas_Shayon used Nova’s translation to turn around a quick course update, and says he was “wholly unprepared” for how well it worked. BryanPechtl used two AI Avatars to stage a conversation between a frustrated patron and a court clerk, giving a feel for a real interaction. AndrewBlemings- tested a Training Deck prompt with brand requirements. SMcNicol gave Articulate’s AI Avatar an annual performance review Explore the experiments and share your own →Worksheet Style Interactivity Within a Course?
I am working on a course and want to try a slightly different approach, but I'm not quite sure how to go about it. Normally, we would have a video in a module, and after the video is complete, we would ask the learner to download a PDF "worksheet" and complete the exercise before moving to the next module. 80% of our user base accesses courses from a mobile device, so the chances of them downloading a PDF and completing it between modules are slim to none. Do any of you have ideas on how I could add boxes for learners to type in answers to reflection questions within the course itself? If so, is there a way they could do that AND have all of their responses at the end of the course emailed to them, so they have a complete notes packet after they complete all the modules? I'm happy to hear any and all ideas of how to make this happen (from personal experience or just "in theory this should work" thoughts)!
