Software Training
Hello! Our company is rolling out a new software to many many offices and we are tasked with creating the training for this software. We are looking for ideas that are new and innovative to help answer the question: "What is the best way to deliver software training in 2024 for online users?" Any suggestions, tools, softwares, etc. would be helpful and appreciated!16 Examples of Interactive 360° Images in E-Learning #467
Using 360° Images in E-Learning RECAP #467: Challenge | Recap This week’s challenge asked course designers to show how 360° images can transform static visuals into interactive, explore-type activities. Jonathan Hill Example | Download | Jonathan Hill | Website | @DevByPowerPoint Jayashree Ravi Example | Jayashree Ravi | LinkedIn Elizabeth Kuhlmann Example | Learn more | Elizabeth Kuhlmann Thierry EMMANUEL Example | Thierry EMMANUEL | Website Jodi M. Sansone Example | Jodi M. Sansone | Website | @jodimsansone Samuel Apata Example | Samuel Apata | Website | @afrostem eLearn Dev Example & learn more | eLearn Dev Mallory Frazier Example | Mallory Frazier Ron Katz Example | Ron Katz | Website Angela Thomas Example | Angela Thomas Trey McNabb Example | Trey McNabb bylittle learning Example | Download | bylittle learning | Website Sonya Crider Example | Sonya Crider Andreas Paul Example | Andreas Paul Kate Golomshtok Example | Kate Golomshtok | Website Sabrina Sgoda Example | Sabrina Sgoda Walkabout Learning Example | Walkabout Learning New to the E-Learning Challenges? The weekly challenges are ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of the previous challenges anytime you want. I'll update the recap posts to include your demos. If you have a blog, please write about your challenge example. I'll add links to your blog post so your examples get even more exposure. And for those who share your demos on Twitter or LinkedIn, please include #ELHChallenge so your network (and Articulate!) can track your e-learning coolness. Share Your 360° E-Learning Examples! The 360° image challenge is still open! If you have one or more ideas you'd like to share, please jump over to the original challenge and post your links in the comments section. I'll update this recap page to include your examples.Storyline: Dial-Driven Map Activity
Storyline 360’s dials feature makes it easy for learners to manipulate data, explore cause-and-effect relationships, and control other objects in the course. You’ll often see this e-learning feature used in settings and situations where you’d find a dial in real life, but there’s no reason that needs to limit how they can play a part in your courses. In this creative download, pictures are used as dials to simulate the different components of a compass. Those dials all come together to allow learners to try their orienteering skills in a guided map navigation experience. Explore this project Want to know more about how this project was created? Check out the related behind-the-scenes article: How I Built This Dial-Driven Map Activity in Storyline 360 (With Help From ChatGPT). 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.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.Storyline: “Learn Triggers” Software Simulation
It's a Storyline software simulation showing learners how to use Storyline! Thanks to the help of hotspots, layers, and triggers, this example walks learners through the process of creating a button trigger. After seeing how it's done, learners get to practice themselves in a risk-free environment. Explore the project here. Want to try building something similar in Storyline 360 but don’t have Articulate 360? Start a free 30-day trial.Storyline: Review 360 Software Simulation
Replicate the experience of using new software with Storyline 360's screen recording tool. Slides, captions, and hotspots are automatically generated for you to speed up your workflow. All you need to decide is whether you want to use the view, try, or test mode. Explore the project. Want to try building something similar in Storyline 360 but don’t have Articulate 360? Start a free 30-day trial.Storyline: Audio Editing Software Simulation
Software simulations offer learners a low-stakes environment where they can get comfortable using an app without downloading software or logging in to a production environment. In this Storyline 360 example, view mode allows learners to see audio editing in action. Once they’re familiar with the steps, they can practice what they learned in try mode. Explore this project. Want to try building something similar in Storyline 360 but don’t have Articulate 360? Start a free 30-day trial.Storyline Step-By-Step Slides: View, Try and Test Mode
As you’ve used Storyline 360, you may have noticed the Record Screen option. It’s perfect for putting together a software tutorial or explainer video quickly. But once you’ve created a recording, did you know that Storyline 360 also has three ways to automatically break that content into easily digestible steps? That’s right—Storyline 360 keeps track of all the different clicks and interactions in your recording. So if you want to transform that video into step-by-step slides, Storyline 360 can do the development work for you. You can then use the results as is or further customize the steps to fit your learners’ needs. In this article, we’ll look at how these different step-by-step modes work and when they’re most helpful for learning. Demonstrate a Process with View Mode If you need to introduce learners to a new tool or process, View Mode is the way to go! With View Mode, your video is split into multiple slides that show each step. The slides automatically animate through your tutorial, like a guided tour. And with the option to add text captions automatically, you can even include on-screen explanations of each step. Since learners are just watching the demonstration, it’s a perfect way to ease them into navigating brand new tools or techniques. Provide Hands-On Practice with Try Mode When you want learners to try out a process in a safe environment, select Try Mode. Storyline 360 automatically adds timed pauses, hotspots, and keyboard shortcuts to make your screen recording interactive. And for more guided help, Storyline 360 can also add small text captions on each screen to provide hints about what to do! Since Try Mode asks learners to do the process themselves, it’s a good fit for when they already have some baseline knowledge—either from past experience or an earlier lesson—and need hands-on practice. And since Try Mode interactions aren’t graded, they’re a stress-free way to learn from mistakes. Assess Learner Skills with Test Mode At first glance, Test Mode looks a lot like Try Mode. But where the latter is all about practice, the former focuses on assessment. In Test Mode, Storyline 360 converts each interactive video slide into a graded question. You can then use the Test Mode options and quiz settings to customize the experience further. For instance, you can set what feedback (if any) to show after a learner responds to the steps, how many attempts they have to get it right, and what counts as a passing score for the overall test. Test Mode is perfect for wrapping up a course and confirming learners can do a process independently. And since the quiz score can be reported to a learning management system (LMS), it’s also a way to mark course completion. Try Out These Modes for Yourself Those short explanations are a great introduction, but do you know the best way to understand these different modes? By getting hands-on experience with them! Want to see these modes in action? Check out this Storyline step-by-step example to see the same content shared in View, Try, and Test Modes. You can also watch the original screen recording they were all created from. Wrap-Up The screen recorder in Storyline 360 makes it easy to provide the help learners need to pick up new or improved software—whether with a video tutorial, a step-by-step breakdown, guided practice, or an interactive assessment. And since there’s no limit to how many times you can use your recording, you can even include more than one mode in your course with minimal additional effort! Interested in discovering more tips for recording your screen with the Articulate 360 apps? Then check out these helpful articles: Follow These 5 Steps to Record Your Screen in Storyline 360 How to Decide Which Articulate 360 App to Use for Screen Recording 5 Tips for Creating Effective Software Simulations with Storyline 360 Want to try something you learned here but don’t have Articulate 360? It takes no time at all to start a free 30-day trial. If you have any questions, share them in the comments below. And be sure to come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning.Storyline: Video Editing Software Simulation
Need inspiration for introducing learners to a complex piece of technology? In this guided simulation, you’ll see a creative way to give learners a step-by-step overview of the typical controls they’ll use in video editing software. Explore this project. Want to try building something similar in Storyline 360 but don’t have Articulate 360? Start a free 30-day trial.Storyline: E-Learning Heroes 101
Whether you're new to the E-Learning Heroes community and you want to learn the basics or you're looking for a software simulation example, this course is for you. Want to try building something similar in Storyline 360 but don’t have Articulate 360? Start a free 30-day trial.
