Pascale Swanson

Tag: Articulate Storyline

  • 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/

  • How to be happy like a child (#248)

    How to be happy like a child (#248)

    This portfolio piece marks my return to completing the eLearning Heroes Challenges. It has been over a year since my last project and I wanted to return with a bang, so I chose this particularly unstructured – yet challenging – topic as my first project in 2019.

    This portfolio piece was created for the eLearning Heroes Challenge #248 (Choose your own eLearning challenge, extreme edition), which required the combination of three previous challenges into one entry. I chose #186 (Create an eLearning template using Pantone’s 2018 color of the year), #242 (Use audio, music, and sound effects in eLearning), and #247 (Using eLearning characters to engage and connect with learners).

    To add in an even bigger challenge, I also used this as an opportunity to practice some photoshopping skills. In this case I took 6 images and turned each individual image into a mini-movie. These mini-movies were made without the addition of any extra elements or backgrounds.

    For example, I took an image of a child playing soccer and animated the boy and the ball. To make this work, I had to fill in the background of where the boy and the ball originally were placed so that there wasn’t a hole in the background when they moved out of their original locations.

    I am really pleased with how this project turned out. I believe strongly in the project’s message and the experts’ words of wisdom. I hope you enjoy it!

  • Learning for Learning’s Sake

    Learning for Learning’s Sake

    Girl answering math problems on the chalkboard.

    I’m here… don’t send out a search party! I’m not dead, just haven’t had time to write any posts recently.

    Since I’ve been so busy, I’ve also noticed that I haven’t really had much time for my own learning. L&D professionals know better than anyone else how important learning is, so I’ve felt like I’ve been a bit short-sighted by getting involved in other projects at the expense of my own learning. So, I figured today I should carve out some time for myself, to learn something new.

    When I graduated from my Master’s program back in December, I had a whole plan laid out over two years into the future of what I planned to learn, week-by-week. All of that has fallen by the wayside. Today I picked up where I left off – with some fun Photoshop skills.

    These days when I use Photoshop, I tend to use the same skills over and over. I never really try out anything new. This means my courses might be missing out on great graphics that I simply don’t even know I can make. Everything I use in my courses work, but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t be even better.

    To ease back in to my own learning plan, I decided to play around with something simple (and fun) – Photoshop filters. Filters can dramatically change the look and feel of a photo. They can also draw attention to certain areas or aspects of the photo.

    Despite being something a beginner could use, in my odd, round-about way of learning Photoshop, I always skipped over them, because they seemed a bit too childish or cheesy. Well, as it turns out, some of the filters are neither childish nor cheesy. And you know what, some of the ones that are can still be useful when used in a fun, up-beat way.

    After spending some time playing around with the filters, I thought I should create something to remind myself of what I’d learned… enter Super Rodney!

    I wanted to create a comic (or at least a very small portion of one). Unfortunately, I didn’t have any story in mind. So, I just made up something silly. In the end, it’s the skills that I’m learning that matter, right?

    I hope you enjoy it! (because I have a feeling that you’ll be seeing more of Super Rodney in the future)

  • Prison break (#198)

    Prison break (#198)

    This portfolio piece was created for the eLearning Heroes Challenge #198 (designing escape the room puzzle games in eLearning). This was the first eLearning Heroes Challenge that I attempted; however, it took me a whole month to complete, so I worked on other challenges in the meantime. I wanted to really push my development skills with this challenge, so I included animations from Adobe Animator and Adobe Character Animator, I included a countdown timer across multiple slides, I included several GoAnimate/Vyond videos based on the prison break outcome, and I threw in more states, triggers, and conditions than I had ever used before.

  • Icelandic soccer team (#200)

    Icelandic soccer team (#200)

    This portfolio piece was created for the eLearning Heroes Challenge #200 (how are you using lightbox slides in eLearning?). With the World Cup coming up, I was caught up in the soccer fever and decided to design an interaction based on the Icelandic soccer team. Since Icelandic names are difficult to pronounce for those who do not speak the language, I thought it would be a nice touch to add in the audio (using Storyline’s text-to-speech) so that everyone can cheer for them this summer!

  • Introduction to French (#179, #195, #197)

    Introduction to French (#179, #195, #197)

    This portfolio piece was created as a combination of three eLearning Heroes Challenges (#179 using eLearning to teach foreign languages; #195 how can learners choose their own avatars in eLearning?; #197 using badges, awards, and achievements in eLearning courses). Instead of setting up the characters as different states, I created alternative pathways so that the avatars could have different voices when teaching the language. This seemed like a good topic for using badges, as each lesson is stand-alone.