Whilst the world of Articulate may initially seem like a daunting cauldron of complexity, you’ll soon figure out that it’s actually quite simple. Sure, as with most pieces of software, there are areas that require a bit more training and thought but as a whole, Articulate Storyline is quite a basic tool.
As an instructional designer, understanding how authoring tools work is a priceless piece of knowledge to have. If you can appreciate how your content is going to be built then it makes the whole process of storyboarding – designing – building so much easier.
In this article I’m going to go through some helpful tips and advice on how to approach learning Articulate Storyline, from both a business and freelance point of view.
Transfer your PowerPoint skills!
You may have heard that Storyline is basically a juiced-up PowerPoint or ‘PowerPoint on speed’ and for the most, it is true!
PowerPoint gets a bad rap, mainly because any man and his dog can gain access to it and create slides. Often the slides will be a white page, some dull text and maybe a ‘cool’ animation… But hidden behind these awful presentations is a tool that has many similarities with Storyline.
Setting up your Storyline course is an important, often ignored, part of creating an effective piece of training. Do you know what the optimum size of your slides needs to be? Changing this midway through can drastically alter the way your content and imagery looks. Get used to using features such as ‘Slide Size’ to set up the dimensions of your course and ‘Slide Master’ to implement your templates onto each slide. These features are very similar in both pieces of software yet carry huge importance into the first steps of creating a course.
Animations are also an underappreciated aspect of PowerPoint that carries many of the same principles as Storyline. Whilst Storyline gives you more power and permutations to control when an animation happens, if you understand how it works in PowerPoint, you’re half way there to using complex triggers in Storyline!
Whilst it’s unlikely you will be able to immediately create animations like in the video above, it does show how powerful a tool PowerPoint can actually be, so if you do fancy yourself as a bit of a PowerPoint buff, transfer those skills over onto Articulate and you’ll be able to build on them even further.
Familiarise yourself with EVERY feature
Usually, businesses need an authoring tool like Articulate Storyline to be able to create SCORM content for their LMS. Those of us that have worked with Articulate for a long time will know that problems can occur, putting it politely, Storyline can be a moody cow from time to time.
The best thing you can do, if you want to create content for an inhouse LMS or for a clients is to test key features you think you’ll want to use. For example, within storyline you can embed videos, upload audio, create quizzes and run JavaScript, all of these can cause the course to behave differently.
My advice for anyone new to Storyline is to go through every feature and try to test how that works. This can be as simple as uploading audio and understanding how you need it to work; for example, do you want the learner to be able to pause it? Does the learner need to listen to all of the audio? Does the audio need to be played at a specific time? The more permutations you have, the more things can go wrong so it’s good to understand exactly what you need to happen before trying to make it happen.
Some useful features I think are essential in learning Articulate Storyline initially are the Player, states of objects/buttons/images and layers. Your Player is effectively what your learning sits in, this is a built in Storyline requisite that you can tailor to suit your needs. Play around by using some of the inbuilt features initially (such as navigational buttons, menu, resources etc) the more confident you get try to create your own buttons that work similarly to those of the Player.
Make sure you go through every option in the task bar, especially those under ‘Insert’ as these are often the features you’ll use to populate your course. Some are self-explanatory, others, such as ‘hotspot’ ‘Convert to Freeform’ and ‘Marker’ may not be, but by gaining a basic understanding of what they do, the more confident you become the more knowledge you’ll have of how each feature can be effectively utilised.
Replicate builds
I effectively taught myself how to use Articulate Storyline from scratch. But certain help and advice I had along the way has stuck with me, especially when trying build bespoke learning, diagnosing a problem or fixing a difficult problem.
One of the best ways to learn Articulate Storyline is to strip down a complex build and try to copy it. By this I mean taking a Storyline source file, looking at a slide you like and try build it yourself. More often than not, you’ll have to test your trigger skills and look at implementing variables which can seem overwhelming for a rookie but once you see how something is built, more often than not, it will make more sense to you than just seeing the final product.
You can often download other peoples builds online and as well as serving for great inspiration, they can be used as great self-tutorials to enhance your building skills. See what triggers they used, if they had to implement any variables, and if so, what kind? Make sure you download or used multiple examples as one thing you will see with Storyline is every kind of designer has their own unique way of building. Find a style that suits you but my best advice would be to keep it as simple as possible.
Test yourself
As well as there been lots of good examples of work done within Storyline, there is also a lot of dross… It can be easy to fall into the trap of creating a very basic, outdated Storyline course which is unlikely to be any better than your current training.
If you work in the field of learning and development, I’m sure you know what good training looks like, you may just not have the initial skills needed to create it. However, unlike some designers, you may have the advantage of understanding how a learner absorbs information, different methodologies around learning as well as a better understanding of the target audience. This means you can effectively give yourself the perfect brief to go and get creative with Storyline!
If you think a gamified piece of learning may work, think of your concept and see if you can adapt that into Storyline. Use placeholder graphics initially and try create a working prototype. Interactive videos are another great feature that you can tailor into Storyline modules; play with cuts, text, markers and even questions that appear throughout a video to try and engage the learner.
Once you’ve grasped the basics, the best way to keep advancing within Storyline is try challenge yourself. I created this Super Mario Bro’s demo for a client a few years ago as an example of the kind of games that can be created within Storyline, using only placeholder graphics and basic shapes.
Ask questions
We are in the field of creating learning materials for others after all! It would be foolish to not tap into a huge network of other professionals, many who have used Articulate Storyline for years themselves!
There will be areas where you will get stuck or need help. Forums are a great place to post your problem and let other users try and help you, you’d be surprised at how many others may experience similar difficulties.
Alternatively, ask members of your team or in your community for help. Some Storyline problems can be quite challenge to fix, others for those experienced enough, can be solved in a matter of minutes. If you are working with someone who has experience with Storyline, tap into their vault of knowledge and get them to explain aspects of Storyline that aren’t clear to you.
Like any aspect of learning a new topic or skill, those who are inquisitive and ask the right questions, are likely to get a better grasp of things.
If you want any help or advice on all things Articulate Storyline, feel free to get in touch, I’d be happy to go through anything with you!
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