Everyone has their methods for project or workflow management, and each method undoubtedly has their merits. Finding the best workflow for you can take a lot of trial or error, or you can stumble upon it within an existing corporate culture. This week I’m going to talk about one method for project management and how it can apply to learning design. Agile? Yes, I am. Why thank you! Wakka wakka! The general logic behind the concept of ‘agile’ is that your workflow or project is managed in such a way that it is organic and adaptive. But most importantly (from my perspective) is that the project management is efficient. While this approach may not work for all clients or projects (I’m shouting out those clients who like to change their minds 32489234932 times and scope creep like a boss…unintentionally of course), it can be a very effective approach for many industries. I was first introduced to agile project management from a software development and programming standpoint. At the time, it seemed like a very chaotic way of running a project, but if decisions are properly documented (or documented at all), it can prove incredibly efficient. What elements are considered agile? Speed - with an agile workflow, projects tend to move more quickly and efficiently as milestones are not as bogged down by lengthy approval processes as other workflow approaches. Reduce, reuse, recycle - This concept works extremely well at making large projects more efficient. Especially those projects where materials are often reused. For example, a 3D model of an aircraft can be repurposed for almost any component being discussed during aircraft (the specific aircraft of course) training as opposed to having to create a new 3D model for each component. Rapid prototyping - Developing as the project goes instead of waiting on storyboard approval.

It is no secret that I’ve been having a love affair with Articulate Storyline 2 for the past couple of years, so I thought I would share my top 5 reasons why I love this product! The only way I could love it any more than I already do is if it were to come to my house and make me coffee each morning. #1 - The Efficiency Storyline 2 allows me to enhance my overall workflow efficiency by making life easy. I can streamline my development using scenes and with all of the built-in functionality, I seldom need to go outside of Storyline to create additional assets (e.g. screen recordings, audio narration, etc.). #2 - The Customizable Interface Storyline 2 allows me to customize my development interface by providing the ability to dock/undock panel, save and use templates, and add commonly used functions to the quick access bar. Such functionality goes a long way in helping me streamline my development. #3 - The Options There are SO MANY options in Storyline 2, and these options really take away the need for using multiple products. With features such as motion path animations, scroll panels, and slider interactions, you can truly create almost anything you dream. Diving deeper into the advanced functionality of Storyline 2, you can leverage variables and conditions to help bend stories to your will, and sprinkling JavaScript throughout your stories can really help your stories stand out from the crowd! #4 - The Support Nothing, in my experience, has compared to the customer service and outstanding support of the Articulate team. Everyone I’ve interacted with has gone above and beyond to ensure that responses are dealt with expediently, support issues are resolved quickly, and that my overall product experience is beyond pleasant. The added support of the E-Learning Heroes Community, with Articulate staff and community members is amazing, and makes a huge difference when it comes to product support, sharing ideas, receiving/giving constructive criticism, and promotion (seriously - if you’re not part of the community, get on it!). #5 - The Learning Experience There is always something new to learn! With all of the functions built-in to Storyline 2, it seems as though there are endless possibilities when it comes to combining elements to create new types of interactions. This allows me to learn and share new information with community members and my blog audience! Storyline makes for a wonderful muse - I loved writing Articulate Storyline Essentials, and I’m just about finished with Mastering Articulate Storyline, so please stay tuned for that - I pull some amazing examples shared by community members and provide many pages of my own Storyline antidotes to help you harness the power of Storyline 2 and truly take your e-learning development to the next level!

This week’s Screencast Monday is a throwback from last year. It illustrates one way - some may say an unconventional way, but one that is still functional - of creating custom feedback layers in Articulate Storyline. This approach does not involve using Feedback Masters, and may be effective in situations where you want to use multiple styles for multiple questions without having to create multiple feedback masters.

There’s been a rumbling around the university for the past couple of years, but more so in recent months, about Open Educational Resources (OERs) and the place they may or may not have in our course offerings. With all of the buzz, it seemed like a good time to chat a bit about what OERs are. OERs OERs are not a new concept; in fact, UNESCO founded the term way back in 2002. However, they do seem to be more prominent in modern digital learning. The concept behind OERs is to have educational resources in the public domain, accessible to all, and OERs would remove limitations (typically in place via copyright) when it comes to use and redistribution of materials. The main benefits of OERs are: increased access and free, the latter of which is incredibly beneficial when it comes to required texts used in post-secondary education, which traditionally have been quite costly. Considering the financial obligations the students of the world are already taking on in order to receive high-quality educations, textbook costs are one element that OERs may provide financial relief. Resources OER Commons Open Educational Resources - UNESCO Find OER

The Concept The idea behind this challenge was to use a custom background, coupled with a visual design tip from Tom Kuhlmann, that illustrates how to use a visual echo technique in e-learning design. The Method Smashing Magazine recently posted a freebie download for some super cute barista and coffee lover icons. I downloaded them, but hadn’t found the opportunity to use them, so they were my muse. I selected one of the icons from the set (the coffee sign), applied some transparency, made it into a background image for the main slide, and then set about creating a tabbed-style interaction on the left-hand side, with the same coffee image (with no transparency) as a logo of sorts. Using several of the other barista icons, I created appropriately labeled tabs, and added layers for each of these items. Within the layers, I added a larger image of the tab icon and an explanation for how to make that type of beverage. Finally, I customized the player by removing the navigational elements and adjusting some of the base colours. The Result Click here to view the full interaction.

A reader recently emailed to ask me how I upload and share my Storyline interactions on my website, and then David Anderson came out with this week’s screencast challenge, so it seemed like a timely screencast to record. In this video, I explain how I upload and share Storyline output on my website, using FTP.

One of my favourite ways of uploading and sharing projects for Subject Matter Expert (SME) review is to use Articulate Tempshare. Once again, the lovely folks over at Articulate have come up with a fantastic (and generous) solution to temporarily storing our Articulate outputs, and it has come in handy for me on more than one occasion. What is Tempshare? Articulate Tempshare is a temporary store for your Articulate project outputs; it allows you to upload web-based project outputs and stores them for 10-days, providing you with a link to view your project. It is SO HELPFUL! Another great use for Tempshare would be to share files with other developers (or Articulate) for troubleshooting purposes.

(Complete discretion: Part of me has wanted to use this image in a post for many moons…so I loosely related it to PLAR, implying that the aliens previously filled that individual’s brain with knowledge…#sorrynotsorry.) Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR) PLAR involves acknowledging relevant life experiences as credit against a pre-determined set of standards. Think of PLAR as a way of becoming exempt from an exam in high school. You demonstrate your competencies, and if the demonstration is strong enough (usually graded), you are fast tracked to the next course. We often see PLAR in on-the-job roles, where someone may not have the perceived necessary academic qualifications for a certain position, but their previous work experience has been considered acceptable to warrant a career position for that individual.  Why is PLAR important? As an individual, it can help you identify skills and knowledge that may be relevant for application to future positions. It allows institutions and workplaces to set a benchmark for your knowledge and skills as they relate to their organization. Is efficient when it comes to identify training gaps and filling those gaps instead of delivering unnecessary training - this identification is often paired with training needs analysis.

I figured it was time to jump back on the E-Learning Challenge bandwagon, so I used some of the free time (or time I procrastinated with) I had this week and came up with a few slides to get folks started when it comes to e-learning development. The Concept The idea behind this week’s e-learning challenge was to share a course starter template that consists of at least six slides…so I had to go back to my project and add another slide (whoops!). The Method I first went to Unsplash, which is my goto resource when it comes to finding inspiration and/or background images for use in my projects. Once I found the image I was going to use, I applied it as a background to all of my slides, with a transparency. From this image, I pulled three main colours for use as a palette and went to work! Note: If you look at the source file, you’ll see the colour palette I chose off to the left-hand side of the slide. For the cover slide, I used a trapezoid rotated 90 degrees as the base for my course title. I also added some custom navigation, disabling the Prev and Next buttons on the course player. The objectives slide was reused from a demo I tossed together awhile back. I modified the slide to reflect the background and colour palette I chose. The full-text slide was easy - I added a rectangle, filled with a colour from my palette, and then a text box for the heading and one for the main paragraph. The container for popups slide was pulled from another project and repurposed with my colour palette, and some shapes and buttons were removed. The bulleted list slide was a more modern take on a bulleted list, built out using rectangles. The question slide was a modified convert to freeform pick one that was created for an exercise in the book I’m currently finishing up, Mastering Articulate Storyline. Finally, I went to the course player and disabled pretty well everything, and adjusted the colour scheme to match my palette. The Result Click here to view the full demo. | Click here to download the source file.

This week I wanted to discuss how I modified the Storyline course player for my recent course starter template, which you can download for free by clicking here. To do this, I made some very simple modifications to the player tabs and controls, and then to the player colours. Check out the demo below to find out what I did!