Ashley Chiasson, M.Ed

Favourite E-Learning Development Tools! (Updated)

December 15, 2016

Wow. It has been a hot minute since I’ve blogged. Things have been B-U-S-Y! In any event, I thought it might be appropriate to ease back into blogging with an updated list of the tools I’ve been using for e-learning development. Let’s get to it!

Articulate 360

If you haven’t checked out Articulate 360, you must check it out. The subscription-based model received a bit of flack at launch, but for what they’re providing you, it’s really a good bang for your buck. Especially if you make your living from Articulate products.

A360 gives you access to all of the authoring tools you might possibly need for your development: Storyline 360, Studio 360, and Replay 360 – updated versions of fan favourites as well as: Articulate Live, Content Library, Peek, Preso, Rise, and Articulate Review. Here’s the quick and dirty:

Articulate Live provides you with webinars and live training opportunities from the folks at Articulate.
Content Library provides you with SO MANY assets (including fully functional templates) – seriously, if you’re on the fence about A360, the Content Library could sell it for you!
Peek is a powerful tool for easily recording screencasts on your Mac or PC.
Preso allows you to easily capture and annotate recordings from your iPad.
Rise (is amazing) gives you the ability to author courses quickly and effectively with a modern look and feel.
Articulate Review makes course reviews fun and efficient – I bet those are two words you don’t use often when referring to course reviews.

Basically, A360 is a one-stop-e-learning-development shop. GET ON IT.

Articulate Storyline 2

While I love A360, most of my clients are still working from Storyline 2, which is a tool that is near and dear to my heart. I’m resentful of my current workload that I haven’t been able to play around as much in A360 as I would like to, but with a workload heavy in Storyline 2 development, I still get to have fun!

Storyline 2 allows me to take my imagination to the limits by designing high-quality e-learning for my clients. It’s a no-brainer. And with clients a bit hesitant to re-invest in new technology (aka A360), it seems like I’ll be using it for the next little while – I have no complaints!

Tempshare

Articulate Review is amazing, but because most of my clients are still using Storyline 2, I use Articulate Tempshare as my primary means of hosting Storyline output for client reviews. Tempshare hosts your output for 10 days, which is usually enough time for my client reviews, and all you have to do is drop a .zip folder of your output. Once uploaded and published, Tempshare spits out a URL, and you’re good to go!

Camtasia

I’ve been using Camtasia for Mac a lot over the past few months. With Sprout underway, there are a lot of videos that need recording, and Camtasia lets me do that very easily, producing professional outputs with minimal effort. At the university, we also use Camtasia Studio to record faculty videos (lectures, demos, etc.).

Blue Yeti

Blue microphones have great quality; I’ve been using the Blue Yeti for my Camtasia recordings, and I also have and love the Blue Snowflake (super great quality with portability!). If you’re looking into an affordable audio setup, check out the Blue Yeti – for the price, the quality is bar none. As a side note, I will say that I’ve invested in a pop filter (which is basically an embroidery ring with a pantyhose material) to remove any of the noise created by those bilabial fricative sounds (I’m talking about your P sounds and your B sounds).

Vimeo

Finally – on the topic of videos, I host all of my videos with a Vimeo Plus account; this membership has enough capacity per week for my needs, and allows me to customize video settings appropriately.

Parallels

My computer setups include a Macbook Pro and an iMac, so to run my windows-based programs (e.g. Articulate), I prefer to use Parallels. My first kick at the dual-boot can was with Boot Camp, and it really didn’t address my needs. I found that I had to segment my workflow into Mac-based operations and Windows-based operations, and it just wasn’t an efficient workflow for me. Parallels allows me to run both operating systems in coherence, meaning it looks as though I’m working in one OS, and runs seamlessly. I recommend this to any Mac user over Boot Camp.

I will say, however, that it runs better on my Macbook Pro, which is setup with Windows 7, than it does with my iMac, which is setup with Windows 10. I don’t blame Parallels for this. I blame this one Windows 10…an evil, evil, operating system that insists on performing system updates at any inopportune time. If you sense resentment in my voice…it’s true. I hate Windows 10.

Dropbox

Dropbox is where I upload all of my files to share with clients, and to backup files. I have a pretty Type A backup protocol, and Dropbox is one of my backup locations. I have a Dropbox Pro account, and it has all of the space that I currently need.

Todoist

A few weeks back, I reached out to Twitter to find out what my fellow e-learning developers were using for project management. I explored all of the options suggested, but settled in on Todoist Premium, an application I’ve been using for years.

The reason I was looking for something better than my trusty notepad was because I’m still experiencing post-concussion syndrome from taking a softball to the face a year and a half ago…my memory (particularly short-term) is not quite what it used to be, and I find myself needing a bit more help to remember tasks and keep on schedule. What I like about todoist is that the interface aligns with my preferences, and it has multiple options for reminder-setting, which is something I really need now. In the past, I would have found these reminders annoying, but now I find them an integral part of my life.

Sprout E-Learning: Cyber Monday Sale!

November 27, 2016

I’ve been working really hard to get Sprout E-Learning up and running; it’s almost there, but I thought what better time than Cyber Monday to put it’s first course, Articulate Storyline 2: Basics, on sale? There’s no time like the present!

If you’re not interested in learning about Articulate Storyline, there will be an Instructional Design Certificate coming in January 2017, so sign up for Sprout’s mailing list to get updates!

If you are interested in this Cyber Monday deal, head over to Sprout’s temporary URL, click the Buy button, and use coupon code: yippie.

Here are the details on Articulate Storyline 2: Basics:

Have you or your organization just purchased Storyline 2?
As an organization, are you looking to quickly get your employees trained on using Storyline 2?
Are you looking to quickly learn the ins and outs of Storyline 2?
Do you want to take your e-learning development up a notch?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, this course is for you!

All too often, developers are thrown deep into the trenches of a new authoring tool with zero training. As humans, we’re fairly adaptable, so this is no big deal…except when you have looming deadlines. To maintain efficiency and reduce costs for you or your organization, training needs to be made available – otherwise, you’ll spend more time and resources in the start up development and/or revision stages of your project.

Articulate Storyline 2 is a powerful e-learning authoring tool that allows you to take your creativity to the next level and easily author your own captivating stories. By helping you leverage built-in development functionality, you can quickly create interactive and engaging e-learning experiences.

By adding this course to your training arsenal, my goal is to ensure that you have everything you need to successfully create high-quality e-learning courses using Articulate Storyline 2, while simultaneously maintaining your efficiency. No one needs a steep learning curve when it comes to new authoring tools!

This course is designed to walk you through the entire life cycle of a story, from creating a new story, to publishing and sharing your story. Walkthrough videos will take you on a tour of how to effectively enhance your story by adding images, audio, screen recordings, and interactive media. I’ll also show you how to master the trigger wizard, create high-quality assessment items, and how to customize the player.

Within this course, you will learn how to:

Build a new story and familiarize yourself with the user-friendly Storyline interface
Discover how to let your content do they talking with the help of text, images, and characters
Improve the quality of your story using interactive elements such as buttons, markers, and screen recordings
Create enhanced interactivity using triggers, states, and hotspots
Build practical and common interactions, such as Tabs, Timelines, and Custom Menus
Assess your learners using built-in question types or custom freeform questions
Preview your story and modify the player settings to create a customized learning experience
Share your story by exploring the available publishing options

Taught by the author of Articulate Storyline Essentials and Mastering Articulate Storyline, Ashley Chiasson, you are in good hands. Ashley will use screenshots, video demonstrations, and exercise files (that you can interact with) to emphasize all teaching points throughout this course, providing you with ample opportunity to become an Articulate Storyline 2: Basics champion!

DevLearn 2016 Session – BYOL: Using Variables in Articulate Storyline #demo #freedownload

November 23, 2016

So, today I’m talking about the session I gave at DevLearn 2016. It was my first Bring Your Own Laptop (BYOL) session, and there were a few hiccups, but I would definitely revise the delivery and give it again! In this session, I showed participants how to use variables in Articulate Storyline to create a closed captioning effect, and to create a very basic progress meter.

Closed Captioning Effect

The technique for this effect was first shown to me by Nancy Woinoski at an Articulate Community Roadshow in Toronto a few years ago. I liked the clean effect, and thought it would be a great one to share with the greater commonwealth of e-learning developers! There are many other ways that you can create this sort of effect, and perhaps one day, you will no longer need a workaround for closed captioning in Storyline (pleeeeease, Articulate?!). Until then, we have workarounds. David Lindeberg actually drafted a great post on how he approaches closed captioning in Storyline – you can read it here.

Download this Participant File, and this Completed File. You can use the participant file to walkthrough the steps with me, and you can use the completed file to reverse engineer the programming and figure it out on your own!

Here’s the video walkthrough:

Progress Meters

Next, I showed participants how to create a very simple progress meter to track learner progress through a course. I can’t remember exactly where I saw this method, but I know it was via Articulate, and it was a long time ago (I think it was in Storyline 1). If you know which post I’m referencing, please link it in the comments below, because I scoured the community but I’m coming up short and would love to provide attribution.

After running into David Anderson on my coffee run the morning of my session, I was told doing both closed captioning and progress meters was ambitious for a 1-hour session, so I was a bit nervous, but I think this example is easy enough that most folks were able to follow along.

Download the Participant File and the Completed File, and then watch the demo below. If you want the Course Starter Template that I based this demo off, you can also download that.

Terminology Tuesday: E-Learning Portfolios

November 22, 2016

I’m shocked that I haven’t included this as a Terminology Tuesday. I’ve written extensively about portfolios, which I’ll link to below, but I began drafting this post after DevLearn 2016. Tim Slade was giving a Morning Buzz on Friday morning regarding Portfolios, and at dinner the night before he mentioned that I should pop by. I did, and was first surprised by the amount of people who already had portfolios, but also by how much the discussion was able to help 1) those who didn’t have one yet, and 2) those who needed information related to more of the logistics behind portfolio building.

In any event, being an instructional designer, e-learning designer, or e-learning developer without a portfolio is pretty much a crime. At least if you want to position yourself well within the market. There are a lot of developers out there competing for jobs that you might hope to have (now or in the future), so it’s important to get your work out there, but to do so in a strategic manner.

E-Learning Portfolio

An e-learning portfolio is a container that houses most of your best work. The goal of your portfolio is to be able to provide a visual guide, for prospective clients, as to what you can do within the technologies you work within.

Sure, you might not be able to share all of your coolest things because of non-disclosure agreements or proprietary content concerns, but you can still create SOMETHING. How will prospective clients know that you can do the type of work they need done if you have no way of showing that you’re capable of doing that type of work?!

I’m not going to repeat myself too much here, but if you want to dive further down the hole of why I think portfolios are so important, please check out the following resources. I include tons of tips for creating an effective e-learning portfolio, and have even been told this past week, that the ‘How to Build Your E-Learning Portfolio’ series has been a good job aid and effective motivator!

Resources

How to Build Your E-Learning Portfolio – Part 1

How to Build Your E-Learning Portfolio – Part 2

How to Build Your E-Learning Portfolio – Part 3

How to Build Your E-Learning Portfolio – Part 4

Podcast: Share Your Tips for Creating Effective E-Learning Portfolios

Learning Solutions 2015 Presentation: Building Your E-Learning Portfolio

Screencast Monday: Coin Flip Animation in Articulate Storyline

November 21, 2016

So, on Day 1 of DevLearn, I posted a recap, and in that recap, I outlined a coin-flip animation effect that Ron Price of Yukon Learning had showed us in Articulate Storyline. Jeff Kortenbosch had asked for a video demo, so here it is! I’ll also include a recap of the steps:

Create the shape you want to animate.
Create a transparent rectangle over the shape you created.
Select both items and group them.
Animate the group to swivel.
Enter the group, and move the original shape down the timeline, so the original shape only appears after the majority of swivels have occurred.

DevLearn 2016: Day 2 Recap

November 18, 2016

DevLearn day 2 is upon us, and my body certainly hasn’t adjusted to the time change. I woke up at 430am, ran into a bunch of e-learning heavy hitters at 5am on my way to forage for coffee, and at 10:45am, I feel like I have to go back to bed.

I missed today’s keynote because I was preparing for my presentation, so I’m excited to read other people’s recap of that, but I’m here now, and I’m ready to absorb!

Session 1: Tim Slade – Designing with Animation

I love Tim. Whenever I attend a learning conference, I make it a point to seek him out and say hello, and attend his sessions. He’s a great speaker, and really knows his stuff! Today he’s teaching us all about designing with animation, something that jazzes up almost any e-learning…unless you’re using star wipe for anything and everything. His session is also being streamed on Facebook Live!

Animation is visual storytelling, which communicates movement. He takes us through a series of awful transitions and animations, but what he really wants to do is explain how to use animation to focus learner attention, identify how you can use animations to transition learners, and how you can communicate ideas/concepts instead of using text.

Directional Animation

Animations can distract you, and hold your attention, removing you from an actual learning experience. He provides the example of including ‘click the next button to continue’ text on each slide, but this is incredibly redundant. You can use animation to create a visual indicator to direct the learner’s attention.

Transitional Animations

Transitional animations are used to transition learners through changing content. You can easily create transition layers to provide additional context for the learner. The example he provides is an exploded view of an e-learning template that he had to animate in order to more clearly explain what he meant by the visual.

Instructional Animations

Instructional animations allow for non-verbal communication. These animations support the instruction being provided. For example, with the concept of the moon orbiting the earth, you can use animations to animate the moon orbiting the earth to emphasize the concept.

Tim’s 3 Tips When Working with Animation

Use animations to help learners see what you’re explaining.
Use animations with purpose and intention.
When in doubt, fade in and fade out.

Session 2: Ashley Chiasson – BYOL: Using Variables in Articulate Storyline

Now, I won’t inundate you with a lengthy description of my session, because I’m going to be providing a formal write-up, with screencasts in a later blog post. I will say that this was an interesting experience because it was my first Bring Your Own Laptop (BYOL), so I was quite nervous.

The session was specifically using text, number, and true/false variables in Articulate Storyline to create a closed captioning effect and to create a simple progress meter, and it was really well attended (about 130 people). Having run into David Anderson, Kevin Thorn, and Alexander Salas at 5am that morning, I was told doing closed captioning and progress meters in a one our BYOL was ambitious, but I think we got through it.

There are things I will revise about the delivery when I provide this session in the future (and I will do this session again). With such a large audience, a job aid walkthrough of each step would be a good consideration for the future. A co-facilitator or peer in the audience would also be helpful to step in when folks were having questions or concerns. Luckily, Tim Slade and Owen Holt both attended and were able to help out post-session.

I still believe the session was a success, because despite a few fumbles, it went pretty smoothly and I got through both demonstrations. I also set my benchmark for epic failure as “if 75% of my audience gets up and leaves…”, so with only about 5-10 people leaving, I think I did pretty well. We’ll see when the session evaluations come in.

Day 2 wasn’t packed with many sessions, but I felt great focusing on the one I had to deliver.

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