This guide will run you through the basic requirements and recommended settings to use when creating SCORM content with Articulate Storyline 360 for use within the World Manager platform.
Creating your Module
In this stage, you can create your content as you see fit, but pay attention to the setup and configuration options below to make sure things work smoothly when you finally upload the SCORM to the platform.
Setting SCORM Version
To ensure that the content published by Storyline is compatible with the World Manager platform, its output setting must be set appropriately.
This option can be found in Storyline 360 by opening the HOME tab, clicking the Publish button, and then the LMS tab.
At the bottom of this screen, there is an option labeled LMS. This must be set to SCORM 1.2.
Setting Publish Formats
To ensure that the published content is playable across all devices that are supported by the World Manager platform, the publish formats must be set appropriately.
This option can be found in Storyline 360 by opening the HOME tab, clicking the Publish button, the LMS tab, and then the text to the right of Format.
For maximum compatibility, it is recommended that HTML5 / Flash is chosen for the option Publish As. With this setting, browsers will attempt to use the HTML5 version of the module, and failing that, Flash will be resorted to. As Flash is increasingly falling out of favour with modern browsers, it will become safer to choose only HTML5 (subsequently reducing the size of the produced module).
Also be sure to uncheck the Use Articulate Mobile Player for iOS and Android, as this option causes issues when played back on World Manager Android and iOS apps.
Setting Completion Criteria
There are two ways that Storyline can use to determine and report whether or not a user has passed the module: by the number of slides that the user has viewed, or by the result of a quiz in the module.
This option can be found in Storyline 360 by opening the HOME tab, clicking the Publish button, LMS tab, Reporting and Tracking button, and then the Tracking tab.
Track using number of slides viewed
If this option is used, then you will be able to select a number from the dropdown, with a maximum of the total number of slides available. If it is set to the maximum number, then the user will need to visit every possible slide before being able to continue past the SCORM module.
If the module is set up in such a way that the user is able to skip slides (through the use of some navigation menu), then the possibility arises that the user gets to the logical final slide, but is unable to continue past this point.
Track using quiz result
If the module contains a quiz, and that quiz has a corresponding results slide, then you are able to report the completion of the module based on the information from that results slide. If you have multiple results slide, you must use the dropdown to choose which results slide will determine the outcome that is reported to the platform.
See Setting Up Results Slide below for more information.
Setting Status Types
To ensure that the platform will be able to properly recognise the completion and outcome of the module, the LMS Reporting setting in Storyline must be set correctly.
This option can be found in Storyline 360 by opening the HOME tab, clicking the Publish button, LMS tab, Reporting and Tracking button, and then the Reporting tab.
The option Report status to LMS as should be set as Passed/Failed. Using other options here may cause problems with progressing from the end of the SCORM back to the platform.
Setting Up Results Slide
If the module contains a quiz that you wish to use as the determinant for the module's outcome (see Track using quiz result under Setting Completion Criteria above), there are a few further considerations to make.
Passing Score
The threshold for what mark is considered passed or failed can be adjusted. This directly affects how difficult it will be for the user to successfully pass the module.
This option can be found by viewing the results slide, and clicking the EDIT RESULT SLIDE button at the top of the right-hand side sidebar.
For example, setting this option to 100% means that the user must answer all the quiz questions correctly to pass the module.
Triggering Result Submission
When viewing the results slide, the list of triggers will be shown on the right-hand side sidebar. By default, this type of slide includes a number of different triggers that affect the functionality of the slide. Of particular interest to us is the slide trigger Submit results.
This trigger communicates to the platform whether the user has passed or failed the quiz, and (in conjunction with our platform's Finish Button option) subsequently show the Finish button above the SCORM contents. This trigger should appear by default when the completion criteria is set, but if for some reason it is not present, it must be added.
Publishing your Module
Once you are happy with how the training module has been set up, and all the above settings and options have been considered, it is now a simple matter of publishing the module, and uploading it into the platform. To do this, open the HOME tab, and click the Publish button.
From this screen, you will want to select the LMS tab on the left-hand side before progressing. You will be shown a number of options regarding the publishing of this module, many of which have been covered in this article. However, there are others that may be of interest.
Title – This label will be displayed at the top of the training content, as it is being undertaken by users. This can be removed by clicking the Storyline Player button and unchecking the Title option.
Folder – This is the location on your computer that the published file will appear.
Quality – Clicking this option will open a window with some additional settings, affecting the quality and size of the published content. As with most other types of media, quality and size are correlated – that is, the higher the quality, the higher the size of the file. If unsure, feel free to leave this as Standard.
After that, press the PUBLISH button to start the publishing process. Once it has completed, you will see a dialog box congratulating you on a successful publish, as well as a number of further options. Of these options, you will want to select ZIP. This will compress the published files into a single file, that will then need to be uploaded to your platform. Storyline will prompt you for a location to save the ZIP file.
Platform Options
Once you have the published ZIP file, you need to upload this into the platform.
When you create a new SCORM or update an existing SCORM on your platform, you have the option to enable the following buttons:
- Save and Exit Button
- Finish Button
Save & Exit Button
The Save & Exit button adds a button to the top of the user's window which allows them to mark their progress at this particular point within the module, and exit back into the platform (Screenshot 9).
- If you have set up your module to save progress to World Manager, we advise enabling this button. Tick the Save & Exit Button box highlighted in screenshot 10.
- If you have set up your module to always resume from the beginning, we advise disabling this button, as it gives the user the impression they can save their progress. Untick the Save & Exit Button box highlighted in screenshot 10.
Note: If you have set up your module in Storyline to save progress to World Manager, disabling the Save and Exit button will not disable this feature. The user can still navigate back using the browser’s back button or close the tab/window and restart it later. The module will then resume from where the user left off.
Finish Button
The Finish button (Screenshot 11) adds a button to the top of the user's window once they have successfully met the completion criteria for the module, setting the status to passed, failed, completed, or browsed. When clicked, this button will mimic the API call where the module tells the LMS that the user is done (LMSFinish()).
Note: The Finish button should only be reserved for particular circumstances where the module, for some reason, cannot make the LMSFinish() API call itself.
Once the platform hears this call, what happens next depends on a few factors – what type the E-Learning module was (Training Template vs Standalone), and the status that the module had set (passed, failed, completed, or browsed).
If the module's status was set to fail, then the user will be returned to the page in the platform that they began from, showing that they have failed the SCORM.
If the module's status was set to passed, completed, or browsed, then Training Template type modules will continue onto the questionnaire. Standalone modules however, will return the user to the page in the platform they began from, and show that they have passed the content.