Tips for Using Sound Effects in E-Learning
As e-learning developers, we’re always looking for new ways to liven up our content and engage learners. Sound effects can be a great way to do this: they bring content to life and make learners feel like they are part of an experience. Not to mention, it’s never been easier to find free, high-quality sound effects that you can use in your projects. Let’s talk about a few tips to make sure you’re using sound effects wisely and effectively. Proper Rights and Attribution First of all, it’s important to make sure you have the proper rights for the audio clips you’re using. You also need to check that you’re using proper attribution, if required. When you download an audio clip from the Internet, look for the associated Terms of Use (usually there’s a link) and read them carefully. The Terms of Use will indicate if and how you can use the audio clip in question. Consider the Learner Experience You may want to let the learner know on the starting slide that audio is included in the course in case they have their volume turned off. After all, you don’t want them to miss important info and have to restart the course! You may also want to give learners the ability to control the volume of the sound effects and to mute them if they choose. Know Your Audience Should you include funny, whimsical sound effects in a serious e-learning module for accounting professionals? Probably not. That would work better in a gamified course you’re building for new employees that is more playful in nature and casual in tone. Know your audience and topic, and make sure you select sound effects that work well with both. Use Sound Effects Sparingly Once you find sound effects that work well with your material, you might be tempted to add a sound effect to each slide and for each mouse click. That can get annoying really fast…so use them sparingly to make sure they remain effective for the learner. Be Consistent This applies to the type of sound effects you’re using, and also to the quality. Certain sounds work well together, and you should consider the quality and volume of sound effects to ensure they’re all consistent with each other. Keep these tips in mind when you’re adding sound effects to your next course and it’s sure to add that extra oomph your learners will love. If you're looking for sources for free audio, try this roundupby Tom Kuhlmann. Got any tips of your own for using sound effects? Let me know in the comments below. You can always sign up for a fully functional, free 30-day trial of Articulate 360. And don’t forget to post your questions and comments in the forums! We’re here to help. For more e-learning tips, examples, and downloads, follow us on Twitter.Time-Saving Tips for Formatting Tables in Rise 360
Do you love the table block in Rise 360 as much as I do? It’s a great way to organize content so it’s easy for learners to digest. And there are so many different ways to use it! Whether you want to display product specs, outline your weekly schedule, or compare and contrast concepts, tables are an excellent option. Depending on how you’re using tables, you might want to customize their look and feel by adding a background color to certain cells, for example, or by changing the font size. Luckily, personalizing table formatting is super quick and easy in Rise 360! Read on to find out how to efficiently format multiple cells at once. Formatting Multiple Cells If you want to change the way your cells look—say, change the background color from white to green or gray—there’s an easy way to apply that formatting to multiple cells at once. Simply click inside a cell, press and hold Shift, use the arrows on your keyboard to select the other cells you want to apply the formatting to, and select the format you want to apply in the toolbar. It’s super easy! Check out the GIF below to see how it works. Formatting Text Across Cells Once you’re happy with the formatting of the cells themselves, you might want to change the formatting of the text within those cells. For example, let’s say you want all your text to be a little smaller. No problem! There are a couple of different ways to quickly format your text across cells, depending on what you want to do. To apply the same text formatting to all the cells in your table, simply highlight the text in one cell, press and hold Control+A (or Command+A on a Mac), and select the format you want to apply in the toolbar. Take a look at the GIF below for a quick preview of how this works. If you want to reformat the text across some cells, but not all, highlight the text in one cell, press and hold Shift, and use the down arrow to select the cells with text you want to format. Every time you press on the down arrow, it’ll automatically select the entire text in the next cell. Once you’ve selected all the cells with text you want to format, choose the formatting options you want to apply in the toolbar. Get a clearer picture of how this works by checking out the GIF below. You can also select text that you want to format letter by letter. To do this, highlight the text in one cell, press and hold the Shift key, use the right arrow to select the cells with the text you want to format, and select the format you want to apply in the toolbar. See how this works in the GIF below. More Resources As you can see, formatting tables in Rise 360 is super fast and easy. To find out more about inserting table blocks into your Rise 360 courses, check out this helpful article. And if you’re looking for some creative ideas on how to use the table block in your next course, be sure to check out the following resources: Displaying Your Data with Rise 360 Tables Rise 360 Example Featuring Table Blocks If you’re dying to try out Rise 360 but don’t have Articulate 360, be sure to grab a free 30-day trial. And subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest e-learning inspiration and insights directly in your inbox. You can also find us on LinkedIn and X (Formerly Twitter).Getting Started with Articulate AI in Storyline
Introduction We’re proud to announce that Articulate AI features are now available in Storyline! These new tools make it easier than ever to create and perfect your courses. Not sure where to start? We’ve put together a Storyline practice file you can use to get to know the AI Assistant. Whether you’re an experienced AI user or totally new to it, you can use these resources to improve your skills. Ready to jump in? Download the storyline file and follow the directions below. You can also follow along with a webinar on the Articulate Training site. Create AI Voiceovers AI Assistant can help you create lifelike voiceovers in a snap. You can also generate automatic captions to improve accessibility. Follow these steps to learn how: In Slide View, go to the Home or Insert tab on the ribbon. From there, there are three ways to access the feature: Click Insert Audio to open the Generate AI Audio window with the Text-to-Speech tab selected. Click the Insert Audio dropdown menu and select Text-to-Speech. Open the AI Assistant tab on the side panel and click Generate text-to-speech. In the Generate AI Audio window, select a voice from the voice dropdown menu. To preview a voice, click the play button. Insert text. You can also adjust Stability, Similarity, Style exaggeration, and Speaker boost under Advanced settings. Click Generate speech. Click Insert to add your narration to a slide. Write and Edit Inline Generating and refining content has never been easier. AI Assistant can help you update tone, check grammar, improve readability, reformat copy, expand ideas, and more. Practice in your file with these instructions: In Slide View, go to the Home or Insert tab on the ribbon and click Insert Text. Type a prompt in the text-entry field or let your AI Assistant help you generate content in various formats. When you’re done, click the paper plane icon to start the text-generation process. You also have multiple ways to start editing with AI: In Slide View, go to the Home or Insert tab on the ribbon, select the text object, then click Edit Text. Click a prompt that suits your needs. Highlight the text and click the sparkle icon in the floating toolbar that appears. Generate Images AI Assistant can create high-quality images in various prebuilt styles–or, enter your own style preferences and create endless imagery for your courses. Get started by following these steps: In Slide View, go to the Home or Insert tab on the ribbon and click Insert Image. Or, go to the AI Assistant side panel and click Generate image. You can also right-click on an existing image and select Replace Picture, then select Generate Image with AI. In the Generate AI Image window, type a prompt in the description field. Select an image style from the Style drop-down list and choose the aspect ratio: landscape (16:9), square (1:1), or portrait mode (9:16). Click Generate Image to start the image-generation process. To add an image to your media library, hover over an image and select the media library icon. Or, select Add all to media library in the bottom right corner of the generation panel. To view enlarged versions of each image, hover over an image, click the view button, then use the navigation buttons to view each result. If you don’t like any of the results, click Generate Again. Try adjusting your prompt for different results. Click Insert Image to add an image to your slide. If you’re replacing an existing image, click Replace. You can select multiple images by pressing Ctrl+Click or Shift+Click, then insert them all simultaneously. Generate Knowledge Checks Want to find out what your learners retained? AI Assistant can help you quickly create questions, answers, and feedback. Try it for yourself using these instructions: In Slide View or Story View, go to the Home or Insert tab on the ribbon and click Question. Or, go to the AI Assistant side panel and click Generate question. In the Generate Question window, select the content you’d like the AI to incorporate into the knowledge check. Click Continue. Type a topic in the prompt field. Use AI Assistant to modify the draft. When your draft is ready, click Insert to insert the knowledge check as a new slide. Additional Features AI Assistant offers even more ways to help optimize your Storyline workflow! Open up one of your courses and try these other features: Quiz generation. AI Assistant can incorporate content across different slides to create a comprehensive quiz. Summary Generation. Use AI Assistant to create a snappy wrap-up of your course based on multiple slides. Wrap-up These practice materials will guide you through the fundamentals of using AI Assistant in Storyline. Did you know you can also use AI Assistant in Rise? Go to your Rise dashboard and download “Getting Started With AI Assistant in Rise 360” to learn and practice more. This template will work for folks using Storyline 360, the continuously updated version of Storyline included in Articulate 360. Want to try it out? Get a free trial of Articulate 360 right here. And subscribe to our newsletter to find out about other helpful downloads.5 Ways You Can Advocate for Your Value to the Business as a Course Creator
In an ideal world, leadership would always have a clear view of the impact of your e-learning projects and your unique value to the organization. But that view can be much foggier in real life than we’d like it to be. When our company or leadership doesn’t get what course creators like us do or how it benefits them, we can end up on shaky ground. That lack of understanding makes it hard for us to push back against training cuts. It makes it tricky to get budget increases for tech investments or team expansion. And it can even lead to the mistaken belief that we can easily be replaced by new technology or people without e-learning expertise. Thankfully, many of these issues stem from an easy-to-address source—a lack of awareness. Tipping the balance back in your favor is often as easy as advocating for your work and yourself. Not sure how to do that? Here are a few good places to start. 1. Find your champions It’s possible to do this self-advocacy work on your own. But you’ll probably reach more ears and shift perceptions faster if other people are talking up your work too. Think of it like how you might decide where to eat when traveling to a new city. Intriguing social media posts from a restaurant might get your attention. But chances are a trusted friend telling you about their favorite dining spot in town is more likely to influence your decision. Who might step up to champion your work or team? Consider tapping into people like: Subject matter experts (SMEs) that you have a strong working relationship with. Learners who’ve given your e-learning glowing reviews. Stakeholders who’ve seen the impact your past projects made on the business. Trusted coworkers who know how great your work is—and why it should matter to others. If you’re feeling awkward about asking people to praise your work, just keep your requests small at first. For instance, if an SME emails you a compliment about how easy you’ve been to work with, ask them to forward it to your manager as well. 2. Be loud and proud about your successes We sometimes get siloed off in learning and development. As a result, other teams may have no idea what we’re working on and why it’s so important to the company. If you’re feeling a bit invisible, a good solution is to put on your marketing hat and pursue opportunities to share what you’re doing. This is a great time to tap into your manager and champions to help you find ways to share your work. Large-scale efforts—like presenting at a department meeting, sharing an eye-catching infographic about the impact of a course, or making a year-in-review video highlighting your team’s biggest wins—can all help. But even smaller actions—like asking someone who gave a glowing review of your course to tell their team why they should take it too—can get the word out there. While you’re doing this promo work, don’t just focus on the final project. Also talk up the unique skills and ideas you and your team contributed to make it succeed. That way people don’t just get excited about the finished content—they’ll also get excited about what you and your team bring to the table. 3. Share how what you do connects to broader business goals The people we work with may have a vague sense that e-learning benefits the company in some way. But they may not know precisely how. Or sometimes they understand the surface benefits of our e-learning—like how compliance training checks off a legal requirement—but may not see the deeper, more meaningful impacts it makes in the long run. The best way to turn this situation around is to help these colleagues make those connections. Look for opportunities to call out the specific ways your projects contribute to key company goals. For instance, maybe that compliance course also helped reduce workplace injuries or prevented costly fines. And be sure to be direct about these links so there’s no ambiguity about the impact of your work. 4. Talk to your audience in terms they care about While you’re talking up what you do, also think about how you’re framing that information. When you’re chatting with other learning professionals, eyes will often light up when you share how a project met your learning objectives, used a development tool in a creative way, or tied into learning research. But that likely won’t mean as much—or sometimes anything—to people outside our field. Instead, promote your work in ways that will speak to your audience. For instance, if they’ve complained to you about the boring and useless e-learning at their last job, tell them about all the ways you're making your courses interesting and practical. If your project can help with their team’s goals, tell them how it does that. Or, if you know they’re constantly feeling crunched for time, play up the key ways you’re streamlining your projects. That way, they’ll know you’re making a difference on things that matter to them personally. 5. Do the math to connect your successes to the bottom line Want a measure of success that’s easy to get people excited about? Focus on money. In some cases, financial numbers are easy to uncover—for instance, if you launched training on upselling a new product and the sales numbers immediately went up. Other times, though, you might need to break out your calculator to convert one kind of win into a financial one. For example, if you shaved ten minutes off of your company’s annual compliance training, that may not initially sound like a big deal. But if you have 60,000 employees that have to take it, that’s 10,000 hours of saved work time. If your company’s average hourly salary is $25, that ten-minute trim saved the company $250,000. And those are numbers that can impress! Have a situation where your training wasn’t the only factor at play? You can still frame the final savings or profits as something your work contributed to. That way, you’re acknowledging the other factors but not downplaying that your work had an important part to play in the mix. Wrap-Up Advocating for yourself and your work may not solve all the challenges you face in your professional life. But it’s a good first step toward boosting your visibility and ensuring your organization knows just how much you have to offer. Not only that, but it can even open doors for your career that you didn’t know were possible. Want more ideas on building buy-in for you and your work? Check out these articles: 2 Ways To Show the Value of Online Training Here’s How To Prove the Value of Training to Your Organization Use KPIs To Demonstrate the Value of E-Learning Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest e-learning inspiration and insights directly in your inbox. You can also find us on LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter). And if you have questions, please share them in the comments.4 Easy Tips for Writing Great Training Video Scripts
When you think about your favorite movies or TV shows, they likely have one thing in common: a great script. A solid script sets up the story and characters, clarifies the setting and tone, and contains all the character dialogue. Moreover, it’s the blueprint for all the creative work that goes into every form of filmmaking, from the budget, location, and visual design to the costumes, makeup, and special effects. But don’t take my word for it … “To make a great film you need three things – the script, the script and the script.” – Alfred Hitchcock But what does filmmaking have to do with training? Most training teams don’t have access to a multimillion-dollar budget, nor to a multiyear production timeline, but that shouldn’t lead to scrimping on the quality of the training video script. In fact, you should take a cue from filmmaking pros and focus on nailing down a good script first and foremost, since a good script is absolutely essential for creating an effective training video. After all, a training video needs to do more than just entertain people; it actually needs to influence their behavior. So, how can you add “Hollywood-Level Screenwriting Pro” to your training skill set? I’ve pulled together the following four tips to get you started. 1. Identify the type of training video you need Training videos come in many different flavors, from purely demonstrative with short screencasts walking users through an app or highlighting product features to sweeping cinematic experiences with storylines and richly drawn characters. Sometimes training videos feature a narrator who tells learners what’s most important, while other times they follow characters as they navigate situations similar to what learners face on the job, allowing learners to draw their own conclusions about the key messages. There are almost endless ways to mix and match all the different flavors of training videos. But before you sit down to write anything, think about the best way to use video to achieve the outcomes you’re looking for. I find that searching YouTube for examples of different types of training videos can be a helpful way to get inspired if I’m feeling overwhelmed or just unsure where to start. 2. Draft a video treatment before the script Just as you would write a quick design brief for an e-learning course to flesh out ideas with stakeholders, writing a video treatment is a great way to present your ideas to the team before you start writing a full-blown script. A video treatment can be a simple one-page document that provides a high-level summary of the characters and key events in the story. An effective video treatment should be high-level enough for stakeholders to quickly read and comprehend, but detailed enough to paint a picture of the story and setting of the video. To break it down further, an effective video treatment should: Clarify the desired learning outcomes of the training video Provide the structure and key plot points of the story Highlight the characters and their roles in the story Help you pinpoint potential plot holes or areas of confusion before you start writing the script For these reasons and more, taking a few minutes to sit with the objectives of the training video and pull together a short treatment is not only a valuable creative exercise but also a smart strategy for avoiding time-consuming rework. If you’re not quite sure how to structure a video treatment or what to include, download this free templateto get started. 3. Keep your videos short and sweet Whether you’re writing an e-learning course or a training video (or both!), it’s always best to keep content succinct. Just as lengthy courses can wear down your learner’s attention, lengthy videos—no matter how well written—can do the same. I like to aim for videos that range from 3 to 8 minutes. Sometimes, however, a longer video is needed to support the learning objectives for the project; in those cases, try writing short scenes and transitions into the script. Doing so will make it easier to edit down a big video into smaller videos in post-production—and ensures your story doesn’t feel too choppy. 4.Keep it real One easy way to spot a poorly written video script is by dialogue that sounds robotic and forced. That’s not what you want! (Side note: there’s a terrible/delightful example of stilted dialogue in this classic example of a cheesy training video.) Avoid this error by writing content that’s meant to be heard and seen. Not sure what I mean? Here are some more scripting tips that can help: Write in a conversational tone. Read your dialogue aloud as you write it. As you hear the words, try swapping out formal language for informal language and phrasing (e.g., use “can’t” instead of “cannot”). Speak to the viewer. When your audience is watching your video, ready to learn, they expect to be spoken to rather than spoken at. That means writing in ways that are engaging and personal. For instance, avoid wordy third-person phrasing like, “Before we get started, viewers should note that the audio volume can be adjusted by clicking on the + or - icons” and try something more personal and direct, such as “You can adjust the volume of this video by clicking the + or - icons.” Use the active voice. Passive voice, particularly when spoken, sounds incredibly awkward. For instance, try reading the following sentence aloud: “The car was started by Tom.” Painful, right? Now read this rewrite aloud: “Tom started the car.” Aah! That’s so much better, isn’t it? Not only is the active voice version much clearer and easier to understand—it’s also shorter! Don’t use dialogue to describe things viewers can see for themselves. For example, avoid having the protagonist say things like, “The customer walked in looking angry” just as the actor playing the role of the customer walks in glaring. Not only is that painfully obvious and far-from-compelling dialogue, but it’s also an acting direction for theperson playing the role of the customer! Burying that direction in another character’s dialogue is confusing and may cause cast members to struggle to decipher their character’s moods and motivations. Summing It Up It can be challenging to write a video script that’s engaging and effective for learners and easy to follow for the video’s cast and crew—but it’s a challenge you’re sure to embrace with a little practice. By using the tips I’ve shared here, you’ll be cranking out a training blockbuster in no time! Liked these writing tips? You’ll find loads more on E-Learning Heroes. Here are a few of my favorites: More Than a Dozen Tips for Writing Awesome Audio Narration Scripts Top Writing Tips for E-Learning 4 Impactful Ways to Boost Your E-Learning Writing Skills What are your top writing tips and tricks? How do you keep things conversational when you’re writing dialogue? Share your ideas and experiences with me and the rest of the E-Learning Heroes community by leaving a comment below. 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.How I Built This Recycling Parallax Interaction in Storyline 360
If you’ve ever been on a road trip and gazed out the side window (hopefully only as a passenger 😉), you’ve probably noticed that objects close to you—like trees—appear to zip by really fast, while objects further in the distance—such as mountains—seem to barely move. This phenomenon is known as motion parallax. In the digital world, the parallax effect gives the illusion of depth and movement. Combine that with a realistic learning scenario—like in this Recycling Guide example—and you’ve got yourself a truly engaging interaction. View | Download Let’s take a look at how to create this interactive parallax example in Storyline 360! Create layered components To create a parallax effect you need several layered components that move at different speeds. So, the first thing I did was create all my slide elements with the different layers in mind. Using a combination of shapes in Storyline 360 and Content Library 360 assets, I ended up with six layered components. Component 1: Recycling bin For this example, I wanted the recycling bin to be the main focus—after all, that’s what the course is all about. Since I planned to tilt the bin and make the wheels spin, having it front and center would give the optical illusion that the bin was rolling as the background moved. Component 2: Park Next, I needed to create the main interactive piece—the park. This is the only component that learners engage with to reveal additional content, so I was very intentional about how I designed the space. Since the graphics were going to move horizontally, I made sure to extend those designs past the slide size. I carefully placed each object—such as buttons and litter—in different parts of the park and in a specific order to help guide the experience. And because I used only Content Library 360 icons/illustrations and simple shapes, it was easy to move things around and reposition them as needed. Pro tip: Before duplicating a button, create all the states beforehand so they copy over. Big time-saver! Component 3: Mountains (light) To add a sense of depth and movement, I included mountains in the background. I combined several different mountain-shaped icons to create the extra-wide graphic. I made the first mountain layer a light tan color since objects up close are generally lighter in color. Component 4: Mountains (dark) Behind the lightly colored mountains, I added a darker version for contrast. To save time, I copied and pasted some of the shapes from the lighter mountain. Since not all mountains look alike, I flipped and resized some of the shapes so that when they moved, they didn’t line up exactly the same. Component 5: Sky The scene wouldn’t be complete without a sky! I added a sun for reference. I mostly kept this component simple to save time and to keep the main focus on content. Component 6: Frame (optional) Okay, so this is where it gets a little tricky. I could’ve made things easier by extending the sky and ground to fill the slide. That way, I wouldn’t need a frame and objects could freely animate on and off the rectangular slide. But I really wanted to create a unique learning experience. To give this course a custom look and feel I designed a frame to show content within a unique shape. The frame is comprised of the title, a white border, arrow buttons, a background, and two side shapes to match so that the other components only show inside the unique shape. Pro tip: To make the slide look seamless with the player background, go to your Player settings and change the background color to match. And here’s how it all looks together. Save static objects Once I created all the components, I realized there were a lot of objects on my slide. So, I decided to make my file easier to manage by saving some of the layered components that had a lot of objects—such as the Park, Mountains (Light), and Mountains (Dark)—as their own image and then replacing them with a scalable vector graphic (SVG) to keep image quality. For example, I selected all the objects in the Mountains (Dark) component, right-clicked, and selected Export Shape as Picture. I saved the shapes as a PNG. For the best image quality, I simply opened that PNG file in Adobe Illustrator and saved it as an SVG. I went back to my Storyline 360 project, inserted and resized my SVG to match the objects on the slide, and then deleted all of the Mountains (Dark) objects. I repeated this process with the Mountains (Light) component. For the Park component, I took a few extra steps before exporting it as a picture since it had a lot of interactive elements and I only wanted to save the static parts of the image. On the timeline, I clicked the eye icon to hide objects with states, animations, and text so I could still edit them or assign triggers at any time. Here are all of the static components I exported as a shape to save as an SVG. And for context, here are all the elements I did not include in the export. After inserting and resizing the Park SVG, I moved it beneath the hidden park objects on the timeline. I selected the eye icons to make all the Park components visible again where they remained in the same location as designed. Then, I grouped them and renamed the group “Park.” Saving some of the components as an SVG really sped up my workflow. With fewer objects on my timeline, it was easier to select the ones I wanted to edit or add triggers to. It also reduced the file size so content could load faster. To learn more about scalable vector graphics (SVG), check out this article: Storyline 360: SVG Support. Get things moving With all the graphics on the base layer in place, I created several additional layers to reveal content and help tell the story. Now it was time to connect everything with movement. To explain how to create the parallax effect, let’s roll through the example.😊 Background When you move right, the background moves left, making it look like the recycling bin is rolling forward. If you move left, those same background components move right, making it look like the recycling bin is rolling backward. To create this parallax effect, I added motion path animations to move some of the background components—Park, Mountains (Light), and Mountains (Dark). And in case you didn’t already know, you can add more than one motion path to the same object. That feature really came in handy here. For each component, I added a Left and Right line motion path. Since I wanted the components to all move at the same pace, I edited the easing direction to None for each motion path. I also selected Relative Start Point to ensure each component always moved from its current position. Next, I changed the duration of the paths to one second. I chose this duration because I planned to have the recycling bin roll left or right for one second as well. That way, all the animations would stop and start at the same time. To make it easier to manage triggers later on, I also renamed the motion paths to include the component name and the direction of the path. For example, I named the motion path that moves the park group right “Park Right.” Next, I changed the length of the paths. This is where it differs for each component. Since I wanted the background objects to move at a slower speed than the foreground objects, I edited the left and right motion path lengths for each component to the following. Park: 180 px Mountains (Light): 90 px Mountains (Dark): 40 px Using these settings, the furthest-away component, Mountains (Dark), would only move left and right 40 px during the one-second duration. Whereas, Mountains (Light) would move about twice the distance, at 90 px, during that same time. And that was it for the motion path settings! Now it was time to add triggers to make these components move in the right direction. By default, when you add a motion path animation to an object, a trigger is automatically created. Since I wanted the components to move based on the user selecting Right or Left, I deleted those triggers from the base layer and instead added them to the Bin Right and Bin Left layers. On the Bin Left layer, I added triggers to move the components right when the timeline starts. And on the Bin Right layer, I added triggers to move the components left when the timeline starts. Now, when the learner selects Left or Right, they’ll see the background move accordingly. Recycling bin Now for the recycling bin. I put it front and center to make it appear like it was rolling when the background moved. When you go right, the bin tilts and rolls forward. When you move left, it tilts and moves backward. After one second, the animations stop and the recycling bin returns to its upright position. To create this optical illusion, on the Bin Right and Bin Left layers I hid the recycling bin that was on the base layer so it was no longer visible. In its place, I added a tilted bin with dirt paths depending on the direction it was going to move. Bin left layer Bin right layer Next, I added a Spin entrance animation to the wheels. Just like a regular wheel, if you go left, the wheel’s direction moves counterclockwise. If you go right, the wheel’s direction moves clockwise. As for the amount it spins in each direction, I landed on a quarter spin since that looked the most accurate. To emphasize the direction the recycling bin was moving, I included dirt paths and added Wipe and Fade animations. And because both the duration of the background components and the timeline on these layers are set to only one second, all the animations come to a stop at the same time. To ensure the recycling bin returned to its original upright position, I added a trigger to hide whichever layer you’re on—Bin Left or Bin Right—when the timeline ends. The learner automatically returns to the base layer, where they can continue the learning journey. Set boundaries With the freedom to move the recycling bin left and right as you please, you may be wondering how I stopped the background components from moving too far. If you go left at the very beginning, you’ll see a little tortoise and a deactivated Left button so you can’t move any further. To keep learners from navigating outside of the main area, I needed to set some boundaries. To achieve this, I added a Deactivated button over the Left button that only shows when you navigate to that side of the screen. To make the button visible, I added a transparent shape and pasted it inside the existing group, “Park.” When you navigate left, the Park group moves right, causing the bin and the transparent shape to intersect, which changes the Deactivated button to Normal (visible). When you navigate away, it stops intersecting and returns to its original hidden state. I used this same technique at the end of the learning experience. When the recycling bin intersects with the transparent shape next to the house, it shows the final layer. This allowed me to end the parallax learning experience at the end of the graphic. Wrap-Up And that’s all there is to it! Using the parallax effect can create an engaging learning experience that truly brings your content to life. If you haven’t already, download this Recycling Guide project to take a closer look at how I built it. For more advice on working with motion paths, head on over to this article: 7 Pro Tips for Working With Motion Path Animations in Storyline 360. If you want to see more ways to create a motion effect, check out this webinar: Create Parallax Effects With Sliders in Storyline 360. Want to try to create your own parallax example, 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.How I Built This Dial-Driven Map Activity in Storyline 360 (With Help from ChatGPT)
Despite our increasingly ‘touchscreen’ and ‘hands-free’ world, dials are still a big part of everyday life. If you need to emulate a dial in your e-learning experience, this feature can make your interaction more realistic, tactile, and relevant for the learner. For the Using Interactive Dials E-Learning Challenge, I created a Storyline 360 example that used dials as a sort of drag-and-drop. Along the way, I tried out some creative techniques that helped this project work in unexpected ways—including using the dial feature to animate an object and an unconventional approach to enable the dial to spin in both directions. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at how this project works. Project Overview This demo project teaches people some simple map navigation techniques. You can try it out for yourself here and download the Storyline 360 project file here. To complete the activity, you end up interacting with three ‘picture as dial’ controls: To start the course, you need to turn the compass so its edge connects Point A and Point B Then, you have to turn the compass housing to the correct orientation to get your bearing While you’re doing this, the compass needle—which is also a dial locked in a disabled state—will oscillate slightly Creating my dial graphics I created the compass in PowerPoint and exported it as a large, hi-res PNG image. I doubled its height using Pixlr and used Storyline’s Convert to Dial feature to create a custom dial. Using the dial as a drag-and-drop This dial has four states, which are triggered by changes to the associated Compass_Base variable: Changes to the same variable also trigger events within the demo, effectively making this a drag-and-drop activity, but with a fixed axis. Unlike most drag-and-drops, though, it is accessible via the keyboard. Allowing the dial to turn in both directions In its default setting, a dial can only make one complete turn, which is limiting when you are trying to mimic a real-life object that can turn in both directions. To overcome this, the second dial in my demo has a 1440° rotation and its starting position is 687°—about halfway, just left of center—to match the appearance of the compass base. This dial can turn clockwise or counterclockwise for two rotations in each direction before coming to a stop. But that does make it quite tricky to use its position to calculate a bearing, as positions 0, 360, 720, 1080, and 1440 all point north. To compensate for this, I asked ChatGPT to write some custom JavaScript for me: // Function to calculate the heading function calculateHeading(compass) { // Calculate the heading with special handling for multiples of 360 var heading = 360 - (compass % 360); // Adjust heading for cases where it's 360 but should be 0 if (heading === 360) { heading = 0; } return heading; } // Function to adjust heading to 0 whenever it becomes 360 function adjustHeading(heading) { if (heading === 360) { heading = 0; } return heading; } // Get the value of the Storyline variable Compass and calculate Heading var Compass = player.GetVar("Compass"); // Assuming "Compass" is the name of your Storyline variable var Heading = calculateHeading(Compass); // Adjust Heading to 0 whenever it becomes 360 Heading = adjustHeading(Heading); // Set the Storyline variable "Heading" to the adjusted value player.SetVar("Heading", Heading); // Assuming "Heading" is the name of your Storyline variable And this is the result: With this code, I can tell if the compass housing is upside down even if it has been turned more than once. Pointing the compass housing south is a common mistake for novice navigators, but my demo will spot this and provide correction. Using animation to enhance the dial experience The third dial is purely for decoration. During the second part of the activity, I wanted the compass needle to move gently as you were turning the compass housing—just as it does in real life. This dial has a more limited rotation and range: I used ChatGPT again to create some custom JavaScript that makes the compass needle oscillate each time the compass housing is turned: // Function to randomly adjust Compass_Needle between 8 and 15, returning to 11 within 0.50 seconds function adjustCompassNeedle() { var randomValue = Math.floor(Math.random() * 8) + 8; // Generates a random number between 8 and 15 player.SetVar("Compass_Needle", randomValue); setTimeout(function() { player.SetVar("Compass_Needle", 11); // Return Compass_Needle to 11 after 0.50 seconds }, 500); } // Variable to store the previous value of Compass var previousCompassValue; // Function to handle changes in the Compass variable function handleCompassChange() { var currentCompassValue = player.GetVar("Compass"); // Get the current value of the Compass variable // Check if the Compass value has changed if (currentCompassValue !== previousCompassValue) { // Call the function to adjust Compass_Needle adjustCompassNeedle(); // Update the previous value of Compass previousCompassValue = currentCompassValue; } } And here’s a close-up of the result: Wrap-Up As you can see, there are lots of creative ways to use dials to produce all sorts of fascinating interactions! And I hope these insights about my project creation process give you ideas to try in your own work. As you might imagine, there’s quite a bit more going on in this demo beyond just dials—notably some Jump to Time–powered animations and an approach for controlling a Zoom panel with pause/play timeline triggers. So be sure to check out the project Storyline 360 file to see how the whole experience comes together. And please dial me up if you have any more questions! 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 directly in your inbox. If you have questions, please share them in the comments.How to Improve Your Courses by Properly Testing and Vetting Them
Sometimes when e-learning professionals are developing courses up against a deadline, the Testing and Quality Assurance phase can take a backseat or, worse, be ignored altogether. This is a bad idea! Properly testing your course will help you spot issues and problems ahead of time. It will not only help ensure a smooth experience for all your learners, but will also ensure that the content is on target and well-understood. Here are three tips to help you thoroughly review and test your course for the best learning experience: Tip 1: Incorporate Testing Time in the Project Plan One reason testing is often neglected is that it’s not included in the preliminary planning of the course design and development. Make sure to incorporate plenty of time not only for the testing but also the follow-up edits and changes that may be required as a result of that testing. Tip 2: Use a Diverse Group of Testers Try to use as diverse a group as possible to test your course. Include people with different levels of technical experience and background knowledge to get a good idea of how your real-life audience will interact with the course. Your tech-savvy 20-year-old might breeze through the course, but is your less technically proficient worker struggling to identify a “next” button? This is why you want a diverse group of testers. Tip 3: Test for Various Things Your various testers should be on the lookout for different things in your course. Content accuracy: Your subject matter expert should take a final spin through your course before it goes public to ensure that all the information, facts, and processes within the course are accurate. Spelling and grammar: Even if you don’t have a professional editor to work with, it’s always great to get a second set of eyes on your textual content, to weed out any obvious typos and mistakes. Try to involve someone who’s a good writer! Navigation: Ask your testers to take note of any time they become stuck or unsure of where to click or where to go. You can edit to make the navigation path clearer based on their feedback. System issues: Try to have testers who use different software and hardware applications on their systems. You might see an issue in the course for someone viewing it on a Mac system versus a PC. Or there might be a piece of the course that isn’t viewable without the learner installing another application, etc. These are just a few helpful tips you should follow to make sure your courses are properly tested before they go live to your audience. Here are a couple of related articles: The Top 4 Reasons to Test Your E-Learning Course Top 3 Tips for E-Learning QA Testing Follow us on Twitter and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning. If you have any comments, please share them below.How to Easily Create Branching Scenarios in Rise 360
Scenarios are one of my favorite ways to immerse learners and give them a safe space to practice applying a new process, or to explore the nuances of performing their jobs. You’ll see two types of scenarios: linear or branched. I use linear scenarios when I need to help learners explore a series of sequential steps or practice applying a simple process. But when I really want my learners to practice decision-making and fine-tune their performance, I lean on branching scenarios. Creating scenarios, particularly branching scenarios, used to require a lot of time. But now, whether I need a linear or a branched scenario, creating one is quicker and easier than ever with the new scenario block in Rise 360. Using the scenario block, I was able to create the following interactive branching scenario in just a few minutes’ time! In this scenario, I give restaurant servers an engrossing way to practice upselling their customers to more expensive menu items. Check it out! View my scenario block in action Want to see how easy it is to create a branched scenario like mine with the scenario block? Keep reading. I’ll give you a quick walk-through of the process I followed. Spoiler alert: it’s super-simple—and fun! Overview of the Process Creating a branched scenario boils down to just four steps: Add a scenario block to your lesson. Add a scene or scenes to your scenario block (I’ll explain more about those below). Customize your scenes with Content Library 360 characters and background images. Add content text and branching. Let’s do a quick walk-through of each step. Add a Scenario Block to Your Lesson Scenario block is an interactive block type, so you’ll find it under the interactive blocks menu. Here’s how to navigate to it. Select All Blocks from the blocks shortcut bar. Or, click the insert block icon (+) that appears when you mouse-over a boundary between blocks. Scroll down and choose the interactive category in the block library, and select Scenario. This animated .GIF should point you in the right direction: Add a Scene or Scenes to Your Scenario Block Scenarios are made up of scenes that are, in turn, made up of content. If you’re planning to build a linear scenario, you might find you only need one scene for your project. But if you want to build a branching scenario, you’ll want to add more scenes to your project so you can change characters and backgrounds and branch to other content based on the learner’s choices. For example, in my project, I used three scenes to align with the three skills I needed my learners to practice. To add a scene, just mouse-over your scenario block and click the Edit button that appears. Here’s an animated .GIF to demonstrate how to add a scene to your scenario block: Customize Your Scene(s) Now you’re ready to customize your scenes with Content Library 360 characters and a background image. To customize your scene, click either Edit Background or Edit Character. I found the perfect backdrop for my scene right in Content Library 360, but you can upload an image of your own if you’d like. I also found the perfect character for my scene, Ammon, right in Content Library 360. Here are two more animated .GIFs of these steps. Add Content, Text, and Branching With your scenario block inserted and your scenes customized with the perfect characters and background, you’re ready to add content, pop in text, and add some branching. 1. Start by clicking the Add Content button. From there, you can choose between dialogues and informative text content. Whichever option you choose, you can still offer learners multiple paths to take through the scenario. In my example I used a mix of both types; dialogues to simulate a conversation and informative text content to reinforce feedback. To add dialogue to a scene, just choose dialogue from the content type drop-down menu in the upper right of the title bar. Here’s a .GIF showing you where to find that drop-down menu: 2. Now you can type or copy in text content for your dialogues or informative text. You can also type or copy in text for answer options and feedback. 3. With all of your content in place, you’re ready to add branching by using the Go to menu to specify where you’d like the learner to go next. By default, learners are taken to the next piece of content in the scene. To change that, just link to a different piece of content or to another scene. This gives you loads of flexibility, so you can do things like loop learners through a scene until they select the correct answer option, as I did. Or, you could gradually lead them down a path until they reach the end of the scenario. The choice is yours and the creative options are endless. Pro Tip: I like to preview my scenario from the beginning just to make sure everything is flowing the way I want it to. Here’s how you can do that, right in the scenario block: And when my scenario block is perfect, I like to save it as a block template so I can quickly reuse it in my current course or in future courses. I feel like I’m doing my future self a big favor and saving even more design time! I’m convinced that creating branched scenarios just doesn’t get much faster or easier than with scenario block. Ready to learn more about scenario block? Don’t miss Tom Kuhlmann’s awesome, step-by-step video tutorial on working with scenario blocks in Rise 360. Want to see more scenario blocks in action? Check out my full course example, 3 Techniques for Successful Upselling. And if you haven’t already, jump on over to Rise 360 and take a few minutes to play around and explore all the exciting new possibilities with scenario block. Then swing back by and let me know: what will you create with the new scenario block? Share your ideas in the comments, below. Want to try something you learned here, 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.4 Pro Tips for Working with Sliders
When you’re looking to up your e-learning game and give learners more control over how they interact with information, sliders are a fantastic option. Sliders are an interactive element you can add to your Articulate Storyline projects, and you’ll find that e-learning pros use them for all sorts of things, including: Illustrating cause-and-effect relationships, like in this safe lifting example Controlling objects on the screen like images or characters, as in this space-themed download Capturing and manipulating data and numeric values, like in this self-assessment for paramedics If it seems like you can use sliders for a lot of different things, you’re right! So let’s plant some seeds of creativity by walking through a few slider basics. Along the way I’ll share some handy pro tips to make working with sliders even easier. Adding Sliders First things first! Adding a slider to your project is easy. You’ll find sliders on the Insert tab in Storyline 3/360, grouped with dials and buttons and other interactive objects. Once you’ve selected Slider, you’ll see three slider styles to choose from: Regardless of the style you pick, the process of customizing and working with sliders is all the same. With your slider inserted and selected, you’ll find that a Slider Tools menu becomes available with two tabs: Design and Format. The Design tab contains options for customizing the function of your slider. The Format tab has options for customizing the look and feel of your slider. Let’s focus on some of the options under the Format tab first. Later we’ll dive into the options on the Design tab. Customizing the Look and Feel of Sliders One of my favorite things about sliders is how flexible they are. You can easily blend them into your project by changing the appearance of your slider using the options under Slider Tools > Format tab. Sliders are composed of two basic parts: the track and the thumb. To interact with the slider, learners drag the thumb along the track. As I mentioned, you can integrate sliders into the look and feel of your project (or make them stand out from the background if you prefer) by customizing the size, color, and effects of both the track and thumb. You can even swap out the built-in thumb and track for images of your own—opening up a load of creative possibilities! Let’s walk through some of the ways you can format and customize your sliders. Resizing & Rotating The track and thumb can be resized individually or together. To resize the whole slider (both the track and thumb), drag a corner sizing handle. To change the length of the track, drag the left or right sizing handle. To change the thickness of the track, drag the left yellow handle up or down. To resize only the slider thumb, drag the top yellow handle up or down. Wishing your slider could be vertical? No problem! Although sliders are added to your Storyline project in a horizontal orientation, you can easily change that to any orientation you’d like by grabbing the rotation handle on the top of the slider, or by accessing the Rotate drop-down on the ribbon. Recoloring Changing the color fill for the track and thumb is also easy. Just select the slider and go to the Format tab, located under Slider Tools. Change the color of the track fill by selecting Track Fill. Pro tip: Coordinate your slider colors with the objects or images on your slide by using the eyedropper tool to select specific colors. This is a super-simple way to make your slider look and feel customized and fully integrated with the other objects on your slide! Changing the Thumb A lot of folks like to use their own images in place of the default thumb and track options available in Storyline. This can come in handy when you’re trying to give your project a cohesive look and feel that really blends the slider into your slide. You can see an example of how cool an integrated slider can be in this recent e-learning challenge on drug safety and awareness. To change a thumb to an image, simply select the slider, go to the Format tab under Slider Tools and select Thumb Fill and then Picture. Similarly, to change a track to an image, simply select the slider, go to the Format tab under Slider Tools and select Track Fill and then Picture. Pro tip: If you’re trying to use a picture for the track fill and struggling to get the right look, you might find it’s easier to make the track translucent or transparent and then just place it over the image on your slide. You can control the transparency of the color fill by selecting Gradient from the Track Fill options and then selecting More Gradients. From there, just drag the transparency slider (or enter a value) to adjust transparency from 0 (no transparency) to 100 (totally transparent). Setting Up Slider Properties Now that you’ve seen how to add a slider and a few ways to customize the look and feel of sliders, let’s get into the nitty-gritty of how to work with them. That means we’re going to dig into the options available under Slider Tools > Design tab. Controlling Slider Behavior When you add a slider to a project, Storyline automatically creates a variable associated with that slider and labels it Slider1. You’ll find this slider variable under the Slider Properties group on the Design tab. This slider variable is a number variable that Storyline automatically creates. Storyline creates a new number variable for each slider in your course. If you want to change the number variable that’s controlled by the slider, simply use the Variable drop-down to select another number variable in your course. If you want to change the name assigned to your slider (e.g., Slider1, Slider2, etc.) to something more intuitive or easily recognizable, just right-click on the slider and select Rename. Enter a new name and click OK. You can also change the name of your slider on the timeline. To do that, just double-click on the slider in the timeline to open it for editing. Enter the new name for your slider and press Enter. I find that taking the time to rename my sliders makes it a whole lot quicker and easier to select the correct slider when I’m assigning triggers—especially when I’m working with multiple sliders in my project. When a slider is added to your project, by default, it’s inserted as an object with a starting value of 0 and an ending value of 10. This means there are 11 “steps” as you drag the slider from left to right. Let’s take a closer look at how you can control the number of steps and the value for each step, as well as other slider properties on the Design tab. Update Storyline gives you the ability to control when the slider variable is updated. You can update the variable as the learner is dragging the slider (which is the default setting) or only after the learner releases it. Start This is the starting value for your slider. In other words, this is the value assigned to the step where the thumb initially appears on the track (also see initial, below). By default this value is set to 0, but the starting value can be any value up to two decimal places. The minimum value is -9999 and the maximum value is 9999. For most projects this value can be left at 0, but for some projects it makes more sense for this value to match what your learners are seeing on the screen. For instance, if you’re using a slider to create an interactive thermometer that scales from 32°F to 100°F, you’d probably want that starting value to be 32 to avoid confusion. Initial This is the initial position for the slider thumb on the track. Again, Storyline defaults to 0 (left), but you can designate any value of up to two decimal places. For instance, if you wanted the thumb to initially appear in the middle of the slider, assuming a total slider value of 10, you’d set the initial value to 5. End This is the ending value for your slider. It defaults to 10, but again you can make it any value of up to two decimal places. The minimum value is -9999 and the maximum value is 9999. Much like the starting value, for certain interactions it might make sense to change this value to reflect what your learners are seeing on the screen. Step This is the incremental value for the slider thumb as it moves to each step along the track. By default, Storyline sets this to 1, but it can be given any value of up to two decimal places. Folks often add more steps to their slider when they’re trying to use it to fluidly change the state of an object, like in this example. Triggering Actions So you’ve got your slider looking good and set up the way you want—now what? Well, sliders are a tool for interaction, so you'll probably want your slider to do something when the learner uses it! That’s where triggers come into the picture. You’ll need to add triggers that execute when the slider moves or the variable changes. Let’s say you want to show a series of layers to progressively reveal an image as the learner drags the slider, like in this water treatment process example. Here’s what the layer trigger on the triggers panel looks like for this project: Of course, this is just an example of one type of action you can trigger with sliders. There are tons more! To learn more about triggers, check out this handy user guide. Pro tip: One common use of sliders is to capture the slider value and display it in a textbox or a shape. This can be a really cool way for learners to rate themselves. For instance, you could ask them to drag the slider to reflect their comfort level in performing a new task they've just learned, like in this example below. Building something like the above interaction is easily done by adding a variable reference to a textbox or shape. A variable reference is simply text that reflects the variable name surrounded by the % sign. So typing %slider1% into any textbox or shape will display the value of slider1 when previewed/published. Likewise, typing %slider2% will display the value of slider2 … and so on. The really cool thing is that this reference can be automatically updatedto show the value as your learner moves the thumb along the track (assuming you've lefttheupdate setting in itsdefault). You can see an example of this idea in the gif below. More Tips and Resources By now you’re probably seeing all the interactive potential of adding sliders to your projects. This article touched on a lot of information and tips, but there’s much more to learn. Here are a few more bonus tips and resources to check out. Not quite sure how you’d use a slider in your course? No worries! Our community is super-generous about showing their work. Check out some of their creative ideas for using sliders in this recent e-learning challenge and in this round-up of slider interactions. Love the idea of capturing slider value to display to learners, but want to limit their input or prevent them from changing their selection? Check out this discussion for a brilliant tip from our very own Superhero Wendy Farmer. So clever! One cool idea for using sliders is to create an interactive bar graph that changes as the learner drags the slider. Here’s a gif to illustrate the idea: This effect is super-cool, right? The trick to making this work is to add lots of states to your bars and lots of steps to your slider. These incremental changes give the slider and the bars that nice, fluid movement. To see what’s under the hood of this slider interaction, grab this free bar chart download. As I mentioned above, inserting a slider automatically adds a slider number variable to your project. Obviously, renaming the slider variable to something more relevant is a big win for a lot of reasons, but particularly when you’re troubleshooting your project. There are even more helpful troubleshooting tips for all sorts of Storyline interactions in this must-read article, Troubleshooting Advanced Interactions by Nicole Legault. Are you just looking for a general guide on sliders? We’ve got you covered there too. Check out our Storyline 360 User Guide. What are your tricks for working with sliders? Share your tips, ideas, and questions below or strike up a conversation with your fellow e-learning pros in our Building Better Courses forum. Did you find this article helpful? If so, don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning.
