THE

ULTIMATE

PROCESS

TO CREATE

E-LEARNING

WITH

ARTICULATE

STORYLINE

“if you quit on the process, you are quitting on the result”

~ Idowu Koyenikan ~

This process has been established with ups-and-downs through the fifteen years that

I’ve been developing e-learning. The purpose of this step by step guide is to make sure

that you take out all the unnecessary (double) steps of the process of developing e-

learning. This way you will gain good quality e-learning in a quicker way with less

mistakes.

On the next pages I will share my process. The steps might seem simple and obvious, but the impact is massive if you can make it your own and use it for every e-learning project in the future.

A tip before we start! Make a print of this document and use it as a checklist if you’re building your next e-learning module in Articulate Storyline! All the best!

Mark Spermon

Upward Online Learning

P.s: At the end of this guide I’ll share two options to kickstart your Articulate Storyline skills!

1. ASKING QUESTIONS

Making a good e-learning module never starts in a developing tool. Before you start

developing you need to answer a few questions and make some decisions. These

questions are:

1. What is the goal of this module?

2. Who is your target group?

3. What should your students be able to do when finishing this module?

2. WHAT’S THE CONCEPT?

When you answered these three questions, you start with creating the concept of your

module.

3. DECIDE ON THE TEACHING/LEARNING FORMAT

After the concept you need to decide which teaching/learning format you will use in

your module. In the list below you will find some options:

• Home screen

• Main menu screen

• Text – image left - right

• Multiple Choice questions

• Multiple response questions

• True – false questions

• Fill in the blank questions

• Hotspot questions

• Drag and drop question

• Chronological questions

• Video screen

• Closure chapter/module

TIP: There are more teaching/learning formats to use or you can use a combination

of these formats.

4. DECIDING ON THE DESIGN

You thought about the purpose of this module, your target group and your educational

goals. You’ve got a concept and you’ve decided on which teaching/learning formats

you’re going to use. The next step is to establish the look and feel of your e-learning.

The house style of your client is always guiding for the look and feel of the module, so

always ask for their corporate identity document. You should also check if there are

any other special wishes concerning the e-learning.

In the corporate identity document you need to check:

Color

Which colors are used in the corporate identity of the company?

What are the primary and secondary colors? Think about how to implement them in

your e-learning.

Fonts

Which fonts are used in the corporate identity of your client?

Specify a font for:

• Headers in your e-learning

• Main text in je e-learning

• Special notifications and directions in your e-learning

Is there no third font you can use for your notifications and directions? Use the font

you used for your main text but in a different point size or in Italic.

Determine the screen size of your e-learning

On which devices will your module be viewed? If your e-learning will be viewed on

computers, laptops and tablets you should choose a screen size with a ratio of 4:3. For

example 1024 X 768

If your e-learning will only be viewed on computers and laptops, you can use a screen

size with a ratio of 16:9. For example 1280 x 720

TIP: For setting the measurments of your e-learning in Storyline you can click the tab

Design >Storysize.

5. TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

What specific technical requirements should your e-learning meet? Ask your client

which technical requirements there are for developing a e-learning. For example:

• Can you use audio and video?

• How many MB’s can the module be?

• Which Learning Management System (LMS) does the client use?

• Which data does the client want reported? Completed status and scores of any

other data?

• Should the module be delivered as a SCORM or TipCan/XAPi?

TIP: Write down the results of points 1 to 5 in a project information document (PID)

or global design. Ask your client for approval. This way you prevent hassle about

changing requirements and wishes.

6. WRITING A STORYBOARD Now you’re going to write the storyboard for your e-learning module. First create the structure of the storyboard and then add the slides one by one. It can be helpful to put your storyboard away once a while to see it with a fresh mind when grabbing it again.

TIP: Satisfied about your storyboard? Check the spelling one more time. Find double breaks and replace them by one break in Word or PowerPoint before getting it approved by your client.

.

7. PROJECT STRUCTURE COMPUTER

You will almost start developing you’re e-learning. It saves a lot of time if you save your

files in a logical place. This will save you a lot of time searching. In the picture below

you can see the project structure I use for every e-learning module:

8. COLLECTING ASSETS

If the project structure is set you can collect all the assets for your module. Make sure

they are in the right file format. Below you can see the best file formats for different

kind of assets:

• Audio as .wav of .mp3

• Video as .mp4

• Photos as .jpg

• Images/schedules in PNG.

TIP: Make sure your photos and images are made with correct measurements. This

way you won’t have to adjust them in Storyline. You can use Photoshop or one of these

free tools: https://www.gimp.org/ of https://www.photopea.com/.

TIP: Also mind the file sizes of your assets. Make sure they are as small as possible.

The smaller the faster your module will load. Jpg’s and png’s can be downsized using

https://tinypng.com. For video and audio you can use www.cloudconvert.com.

9. ASSEMBLAGE Before assembling your e-learning, make sure you check whether you have all materials. This way you avoid making mistakes or having loose ends and you can build in one time. So:

✓ Did your client approve your project information document of global design? ✓ Is the storyboard final? ✓ Do you have all assets complete?

o Are audio and video files compressed in the right file size? o Are images and photo’s in the right size, compressed and cut to the right

size? Is the answer to all these questions yes? Then you can start step 10 and start building

your e-learning module in Articulate Storyline.

Now you can open Articulate Storyline!

10. DEVELOPING IN STORYLINE

Now you will finally start developing in Articulate Storyline. I always apply a special

order. I first lay a base before making slides.

1. Create a Color theme in Articulate Storyline

Tab Design > Colors > Create new theme colors

Do you want to know more about creating a Color theme in Articulate

Storyline? Watch this video on how to create a Color Storyline yourself.

2. Create a Font theme in Articulate Storyline

Tab Design > Fonts > Create new theme fonts

3. Partition your Slide master and layout masters

Tab View > Slide Master & Feedback Master

Do you want to know more about Slide masters and layout masters? Watch

this video on how to create a Color theme yourself.

4. Match your Color theme and Font theme to your Slide master and layouts

TIP: Give objects and variables a clear and logical description in Articulate Storyline.

Here you can see an overview of the descriptions I use.

TIP: You can’t test your templates enough before entering the content. Nothing is as

unpleasant as fixing issues in a template you have used for 24 times in your module.

11. ENTERING YOUR CONTENT

Are your e-learning templates final? Then you can start entering content. My quickest

way of working is batching the entering actions.

• First create the structure of your module. Create scenes for the different

parts/chapters en copy the template teaching/learning formats in order of the

storyboard in the scenes. Add all navigation triggers so that you can navigate

through the module.

• Copy and paste all text of the storyboard in Storyline.

• Enter all Assets (images, audio and video).

• Check the navigation.

TIP: Learn how to work with the keyboard shortcuts in Articulate Storyline. Here you can see an overview of the Storyline Keyboard shortcuts. (you can place his overview on your own website)

12. TESTING

If all content is entered, you can start testing. I always test the following three areas:

1. Functional

• Does the navigation work?

• Do all menu-items work?

• Are all chapters set to completed in my Storyline project?

• Do all hyperlinks to external documents or websites work?

• Can I answer all questions?

• Is the amount of tries considering the questions right?

• Is the success rate of the test or quiz right?

• Is the correct language set in Storyline player? For example: Is the module in English and are all notifications also in English?

2. Textual

• Has all text been entered?

• Is all text in the right place?

• Are all feedback texts right?

• Any misspelled words?

3. Technical

• Does the module work on all devices?

• Is the module scorm and TinCan approved?

• Is the score correctly viewed in LMS?

• Is the module set to passed/completed in LMS?

TIP: Always have the module tested by someone who didn’t work on the module. Two can see more than one. Sometimes you get blinded by some things in your module.

13. REVIEWING

Have you tested the module and corrected any issues? Then you can send your module

to your client to review!

TIP: Are you using Articulate 360? Use Articulate Review. You can sent a link to your

client which can be viewed and reviewed without logging in. Your client can add notes

on each slide. The notes can easily be downloaded as a .pdf or .csv file.

You can directly release your module in Articulate Review by clicking the tabs Publish >

Articulate online.

14. DELIVER YOUR MODULE

Have you fixed all notes of your client? Test your module one last time. Does

everything work? Release your module as scorm or TinCan/xApi and deliver it to your

client.

15. CELEBRATE COMPLETION

Congratulations! You completed your project. Celebrate the completion and take some

time to review the process of the project. Which things went well in this project and

which things went less? What can you learn from it for a next project?

AND NOW KICKSTART YOUR ARTICULATE STORYLINE

DEVELOPMENT SKILLS!

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ABOUT UPWARD ONLINE LEARNING

There is e-learning and then there is really good e-learning. These days it’s very easy to

create a simple online training with all the authoring tools out there.

But e-learning can also be done differently.

My goal:

"Helping you as a Learning professionals/consultants, e-learning developers or

instructional designer to learn how you can build interactive and effective modules in

Articulate Storyline’’.

How I can help you?

Do you want to learn more about creating a quick and effective e-learning

training in Articulate Storyline?

Connect with me on Facebook, LinkedIn and Youtube

Check out my website Upward Online Learning

Are you interested in Instruction / Consulting from me about Articulate

Storyline projects? Send me an e-mail at mark@upwardonlinelearning.com