Busy as a bee (#390 and #347)

When I recently re-started blogging I thought I should also resume the eLearning Heroes Challenges. I’ve yet to actually submit an entry and I don’t plan on submitting this one either. However, it’s always fun to brush up on some skills and to play around with new ideas.

For this challenge, I combined two challenges:

  • Custom Bookmarking and Conditional Navigation in eLearning (390)
  • Using 3D Models in eLearning (347)

You might notice this demo is light on content. But that’s okay – this challenge has more to do with features than it does with content.

I started with the challenge #390, which was about locking down navigation. While I am typically not a fan of locked navigation, I used this as the basis for my demo.

I kept things simple with only 4 areas of content to be viewed in order. I locked the main table of contents page using simple Boolean variables. When learners visit one section, it unlocks the next section by triggering a switch from False to True in the appropriate variable. The hover effect works in the same way.

In the end, I decided not to lock the navigation in each section to prevent learners from going back to the table of contents without viewing the section content. This could have been achieved using a similar Boolean variable approach, but it seemed like overkill. There I would have triggered the change in variable following a final interaction (specifically: the end of the video, the end of the animation, the final click of the anatomy piece, and the selection of a choice for the ‘truth, truth, myth’ game.

After creating the table of contents, I needed some content. I recalled there was a 3D model challenge in 2021 so I decided that would be one of the content pieces. I used the same approach as described by Tom Kulmann in his blog to create the interactive 3D animation model.

Finally, I added continuous audio playback on the main screens by creating a single slide for the introduction and the table of contents by placing the table of contents on a slide layer. I then set it to resume previous state so that the music continues, and progress is kept each time the learner returns to the table of contents.

I hope you enjoy it!


References

Kuhlmann, T. (2018, Feb.) How to Create Interactive Videos with 3D Models in Storyline. Retrieved from https://blogs.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/how-to-create-interactive-videos-with-3d-models-in-storyline/