elearning

The Pros and Cons of Writing eLearning Narration Scripts

I’ve spent a fair amount of time in the last few months editing training audio and narration. While it is a necessary step in producing high-quality eLearning, it can be a frustrating part of the process when you have an audio file that needs a lot of “clean up”. I’m talking about the narration and audio files that include countless “umms”, fillers, unnecessary dead space, or mumbles.

To ensure the audio recording and editing process is as efficient as possible, I encourage the subject matter expert responsible for contributing content to also prepare a script for narration recording. I thought I would present my case with a list of PROs and a few CONs. Of course, I will also provide ideas on how to work through the (CONs) downside of scripting.

PRO: Using a script to record training audio, can help prevent mumbles, filler language, umms, or gaps in audio. While a singular poorly narrated slide can be easily addressed, what type of time drain does it become to clean-up a lengthy training project? Also, those fillers can add unnecessary length to the lesson. This is time your learner may not have to spare.

PRO: You can make writing the narration a part of your storyboarding process. In a previous role, our storyboards were built in a table format with a space for the slide title, a brief description of what would be included visually, and a third space for narration that would accompany the slide.

CON: Regardless of where you add the process of writing narration, it will require a bit more time of you, subject matter experts, or other stakeholders. But wouldn’t a well-crafted script that results in a solid narration recording save time during your review and editing process?

PRO: You can solicit feedback from subject matter experts and other persons involved earlier in the project. If you can reach a consensus or agreement on the script, you may prevent having the re-record narration when concerns arise regarding what is said versus what should have been said. This can be an especially important step when you are preparing training for compliance and safety topics, and I’m certain your legal team and other experts will appreciate being involved with the script preparation.

CON: It can be challenging to read and record a script you didn’t write. You might say and word things differently than I would. During the script review process, involve your voiceover talent (if possible). If he/she/they suggest changes that won’t negatively impact the content or ideas, have your team discuss implementing those changes to make his/her/their recording work easier.

CON: Reading from a script can almost feel forced, memorized, or less extemporaneous than recording audio narration “off the cuff”. Don’t over rehearse! Instead, simply read through the script briefly. Highlight any passages or areas that may need special attention (like hard to pronounce words). When it is time to record, your voiceover will hopefully feel familiar without being over-done.

PRO: If you need to provide documentation regarding the topics, the script can be an invaluable resource. Whether you need to provide detail of what was said for employee status discussions, revisions based on policy or procedure changes, or legal action (employment status / performance cases, harassment cases, discrimination cases), a prepared and approved script will allow you to quickly provide the necessary information.

The fillers and mumbles I mentioned earlier are unavoidable. There may always be a need to clean-up narrations, but I hope the list above helps you see the value in preparing training scripts. You can easily add this step to your storyboarding process to create an engaging, quality narration that holds the learner’s attention. Do you have a PRO, CON, or best practice regarding your eLearning script process? Please share your ideas in this post’s comment section.

Stay tuned for future posts with more ideas on how to craft an ideal script!

Feedback Master Slides

One of the most convenient offerings of Articulate Storyline is that a lot of features and design needs are canned, or built-in, and immediately populate based on your work. For example, when you add a freeform or question slide Articulate will immediately add the layers for correct, incorrect, or try again layers.

But what do you do if the slide layout for your activity doesn’t really match the standard or templated feedback layers? Similar to Slide Masters, you can build Feedback Masters to better suit your style or needs. The option to adjust, format, and add Feedback Masters is available from the View tab.

This is a simple adjustment to give your training a more polished and custom look. I have attached images of two examples here, and I have also included a standard layout from Articulate for comparison. Keep this design and formatting option in mind with your next project or next freeform slides.

This is one of the “canned” feedback layers available. While the design is clean and modern, it covers the base layer content.

In this custom Feedback Master, the feedback appears at the bottom of the screen with the interaction remaining visible behind the layers adjusted transparancy.

This second custom master shows a similar concept, but with the feedback moved to the right side of the screen with the base layer content appearing on the left side of the screen (behind the layer’s transparency).

Quick Tips for Capturing Quality Audio

Collecting audio to support the e-Leaning content that appears on a learner’s screen can be a frustrating task. If a professional voice over artist is in your budget that is great, but there are a few advantages of producing audio internally:

You can save money and then allocate the found funds to other areas of your project or overall training budget.
It is nice to features a SME or other employee, especially if your learners are accustomed to hearing this person speak on the topic.
If it is a new topic, it is a great way to the person that learners will depend on for follow up information.
This is a chance to grow a SME’s or contributor’s confidence as a presenter and development resource.
Using internal resources may make re-recoding content (if there are errors or future content changes) easier.

Regardless of who may record the voiceover, there are a few things you can do to make this process easier.

BEFORE

1) Get a script approval:
Be sure all stakeholders have the opportunity to review the scripts.

2) Have you voiceover person practice reading the script:
After the script is approved, have the person who will be reading for the recording practice by reading the script aloud. If he/she/they stumble over any passage, you may want to consult with SMEs to revise the passage. When you can prevent auio errors, this can save editing and re-recording time

Also, you can adjust the narration and script for any timing requirements or limitations.

Be sure you practice and record at a pace slow enough for your learner to understand, clearly enunciating. This can save time when you are not required to record rushed passages and can help prevent mumbles and stumbles.

3) Get a release form:
This may be required by your HR, Legal, or Risk Department for using an employee’s likeness/voice. Be sure to consult with your Legal or Risk Department regarding any terms and conditions you may have with external voiceover talent.

DURING

1) Make sure you have quiet space to record:
Is there a quiet or office you can use for recording? You will want to find a space free of distraction, interruption, and ambient noise. Be sure to mute other devices (phones, computer alerts, etc) in the room.

A quick note on ambient sounds-
Sometimes, background noise may actually contribute to quality training audio. For example, when creating training for accident response I added the sounds of sirens and emergency vehicles. This sort of audio content may best best added as a separate file, sourced from a stock audio site.

2) Use a high quality microphone and windscreen:
Some computers and devices have great built in options, but I also like using my Snowball microphone. A windscreen will help reduce verbal “pops” in the final product.

3) Go slow to save time:
As mentioned earlier, speaking at a pace slow enough to create a well articulated narration helps prevent errors and creates a audio track easily understood by learners. It helps prevent the need to re-record audio.’

4) Keep going:
If your voiceover talent stumbles, take a deep breathe and then re-start the sentence where he/she/they stumble, moving forward with the recording. It will be easier to edit out a small error than manage starting over.

If your voiceover person becomes tired or frustrated, take a small break. Visit the restroom, take a sip of water, walk around or stretch, or step outside for some fresh air.

AFTER

The hard part is done! Now that you have the audio narration, you can make any edits, sync screen text and screen objects as necessary, and finalize your content and project.

A quality script can really elevate a topic. Whether you follow the process and ideas here, establishing a method and plan to capture audio can help streamline and make your course production process flow smoothly. Share any tips you have in the comments!

Adjust Multiple Lines of a Text Box to Enter by Paragraph

I’m excited to share this tip because I didn’t know this trick for the longest time. That’s a bit embarrassing to admit, but it also serves as a lesson- there’s always something new to learn to be a better designer and more efficient Storyline developer.

Previously when I had a group of text, like a bulleted list, I would create a text box for each line or item. On the timeline I would label each box (Point 1, Point 2, Point 3, etc) and adjust it to enter the screen based on narration cues.

As mentioned in a previous post, eliminating unnecessary and unused states, triggers, variables, and slide objects can prevent headaches when it is time to publish or troubleshoot project issues. Instead of using multiple text boxes as I mentioned above, you can use one, adjust the animation to enter by paragraph, and then adjust each line to enter the screen at the appropriate narration point.

First, simply add your text to the screen. In this example, I’ve listed basic supplies you may need when you welcome a dog into your home.

Next, adjust the animation to the desired effect and timing. In the sequence area (near the bottom of the effect options) select BY PARAGRAPH.

Now, check the timeline. You should notice a toggle-like arrow now appears with the text box, and when expanded, you will be able to adjust each line’s timing. Once you’re finished you can minimize the text box toggle. Not only have you eliminated unnecessary objects on your slide, the clean timeline is easier to manage.

Even though this is a simple example, I’ve included a link to a published version so you can see how this works.

Click here!

Virtual Training in a Socially Distanced World

I don’t know about you, but prior to the coronavirus outbreak, I would not have been ready to quickly transition instructor-led training to online instruction. Even though I have worked in a large classroom that would allow for socially distance learning, I would not expect participants to travel or gather during quarantines, risking their health during a global pandemic. Not only have my corporate training counterparts addressed the challenges presented by expectations and realities, I see many friends and neighbors who work at all levels of public education working diligently and creatively to help students learn from home and online.

I have collected a few ideas that may help you plan and prepare as you re-design training to present your content in a virtual classroom setting.

As always, it is important that your training include interactivity. Time and again, it has been proven this can improve engagement and retention, and now, you’re having to compete with the distractions that sometimes occur when a person is working and learning from home.
- Why not present scenarios and then use a survey feature in your webinar or training platform to solicit feedback from participants on how they would respond to the situation?
- Be sure you are using the online meeting platform’s interactive features. Is there a chat function? Is there an annotation feature that would allow participants or presenters to write and draw on the screen for everyone to see? How can you make those features work for you?
- Why not use roleplay? This will not only allow participants to practice their new skills, it can be an entertaining way to hold learners’ attention.
  - As an example, I previous presented progressive discipline training with one participant in the role of supervisor and another participant playing the employee whose performance is lacking. You could easily send the details regarding each role to volunteers via chat functions or email when you’re training in a virtual space.
- Instead of table or group discussions, utilize the break-out group or room features in your online meeting platform.
Do not require participants to be on camera, unless appearing is vital while he or she presents. First, some people may be camera shy, and others simply may not want to share while working from home.
If available, you might want to enlist someone to help “drive” the training session. This person can manage break-out rooms, respond to chat questions, monitor survey responses, and take care of logistics and other concerns. This will allow you to focus on your presentation.
Allow times for breaks. Like the classroom experience, your participants will need time to go to the restroom, refill their coffee, respond to calls or emails, or even check in on other family members who are working and learning from home.
Don’t forget ice-breakers and chit-chat. I always enjoyed the conversations that happened between classroom sessions and have noticed those conversations continue to build relationships and camaraderie in an online space. Just be sure you don’t allow this to take over; stay on schedule.
- If your typical ice-breaker may be difficult to facilitate in a virtual space, why not have a show-and-tell? Invite (but do not require) participants to share a unique knick-knack, picture, or other object in their home that they can easily bring to their desk. It is a great get-to-know-you activity, and your participants may enjoy sharing a favorite vacation picture, a special collectible, or even introducing a pet who rests near their home office.
- A great conversation starter I’ve been hearing a lot lately asks others about what podcast, movies, series, or other media they’ve been streaming during quarantine. Your colleagues may will excited to share how they are spending time during socially distancing, and you (or another person within the session) may find your next favorite podcast or show!

As mentioned, I’m not sure those of us who were not already conducting virtual training were ready to convert our instructor-led pieces so suddenly, and I hope we can use this as a lesson to be prepared for almost anything. While I expect we will all continue to learn more about virtual training and its best practices, I highly anticipate the day we can return to the classroom spaces. Whether you use Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google platforms, or another system, I hope you find these suggestions helpful. If there is an idea you would like to share, be sure to leave a comment!

Articulate Storyline Player Features

A few days ago, I realized there are functions on the Storyline player I’m probably not using as much as I should. These features can help you share further information, beyond what is appearing on your training slide.

You may notice (in your software and in the screenshot below) you can adjust where the player features appear across the published project. With this set up, the menu, glossary, and notes section will appear in a bar on the left side of the screen. The title will be in the upper left and resources will be in the upper right corners of the screen. Now, let’s think about how you can use each feature to meet your learners’ needs or grow their knowledge.

Menu: Since the menu may be the most robust of the player features and can impact how the learner navigates the training, I’ll highlight that in another blog post. Check back soon!

Glossary: Does your training introduce new terminology, phrases, or use a lot of industry or organizational specific acronyms? Why not use this easy to build glossary as a reference for your learner?

Notes: If you’re using the notes area in slide view to add scripts, voiceovers, or other details that information will appear in the player’s notes tab. Personally, I would only use the notes tab if I were adding the slide’s script. While I would also prefer to use captioning, adding the script in the notes section and then using this tab is an easy way to accommodate someone who might like to read along with the lesson.

Resources: Here, you can add attachments to the lesson. Even though I have addressed other ways to include policies, documents, or infographics this is another space where you could share that information.

I have often said the variety of design solutions easily crafted is what makes Articulate a wonderful software choice for many designers and projects. As with any lesson, part of the challenge is knowing what works best to suit your learner or best presents the new information. Do you have a favorite or often used area of the player? If there is a clever way you have used the menu, glossary, notes, and resources be sure to leave a comment!

Free Printable Resource: Meeting Notes

I started a new job last week, and as you would expect, there have been countless (virtual) meetings with lots of new information- the team and its processes, learning culture, company strategies, among other topics. Early in this process, I would grab my notebook and scratch out a few “text boxes” to keep track of the meeting’s discussions.

After a few days I realized I could simply design a document and print a few copies for each day, and I thought this might be a useful tool to share. Whether your meeting is needs analysis, project update, and an evaluation I hope you find this form useful. Further, I hope this serves as a reminder that training and design do not have to be complicated. You could easily add a company or department logo or other branding to polish this sort of form to suit your needs.

Stay tuned! I may offer more printable resources in the future as I continue to develop my portfolio.

Meeting-Notes

Organizing Your Storyline Triggers and Logic (Part 1)

It is the biggest piece of advice I would offer a new Storyline user- as soon as it is feasible learn to create states, controlling the object’s state with triggers, variables, and other slide logic. Once you do this, you greatly expand your design capabilities.

Even as an experienced used, it can be difficult to keep up with a slide or design that requires multiple triggers and variables to manipulate slide objects, layers, and other features. How can you easily keep track?

My solution is a piece of scratch paper where you can simply reason out what you’ll need to create for the slide’s function. In my opinion, it is much easier to take a few moments to scribble out any ideas on a piece of paper than try to keep up as you begin building your project. It might be a good idea to include this as a step in your storyboarding. (I’ll offer more thoughts on storyboarding in a future post.) You can also use this paper “draft” to keep track of what has been created and is functioning as you build your Storyline file. Further, including the paper draft in any hard files relating to the project mean you also have a document detailing what is created should you ever have to re-visit the lesson.

I’ve included two pictures showing my paper drafts. As you can see I’ve list the buttons, states, triggers, and other reasoning I would need to implement when creating this slide. Stay tuned, and I will build a slide based on off one of these examples.

BONUS- As you may notice in the second picture, my slide object have names (although they are abbreviated on my paper draft). It can be a tedious step in your design, but naming slide objects (Question1, Feedback1, Question2, Feedbdack2, etc) can save time when you’re building slide triggers, variables, and logic.

Come back soon- I’ll have a functioning slide example based on this paper draft!

Remember, it can be helpful to name the slide objects you’re working with (Question1, Feedback1, Question2, Feedback2, and so on.)

Cleaning Up Your Articulate Storyline Project

With summer and its rising temperatures approaching, one thing is certain in our home- the dogs will shed more than usual, discarding their winter coats. This means I spend a bit more time sweeping and cleaning than usual. (Based on the amount of dog fur I toss into the yard, birds that nest in our neighborhood must have well lined nests.)

Just as I like my home being neat and clean, I like for my Articulate Projects to be neat and clean as well. Both make me feel more at ease and make it easier for me to relax.

Here are a few simple tips to keep your Articulate projects tidy:

If you have any unassigned triggers, either update that logic or remove the unnecessary trigger.

You’ll want to remove any unassigned triggers, variables, and states to prevent issues when your file is published. Here I removed an object, which makes the previous motion path moot.

Also, check for any zero use variables. If the variable should be used, make the necessary update. If the variable is not needed it can be removed.
Remove any unnecessary state on a slide object.
If an unnecessary object on the slide is hidden on the timeline, remove it.

If there is an unnecessary object on your timeline that you have hidden, it is best to remove/delete the object entirely.

Cleaning up these items not only keeps your project neat; making it habit to look for these items gives you a chance to check your work- always a good thing! Equally important, removing the unused triggers, variables, states, and objects can prevent issues when you go to publish your file.

Do you have a trick or tip to help keep your Storyline files (or other training projects) clean? Be sure to share that in the comments area!

The Highlight Reel

When you’re an Instructional Designer or Trainer and in the job market, employers and recruiters often ask to see a sample of your work. It is also a common topic when simply discussing design ideas with colleagues.

Instead of directing anyone to multiple blog posts, I thought I’d link to some of my favorite prior posts in one spot. It will make it easier for me to share my work samples and will (hopefully) make it easier for potential employers to see what I can do!

FAQ Scroll Panel This example includes multiple buttons in a scrolling panel to address frequently asked questions.

Invitation Previously an email and text based message, a simple slide show creates an engaging invitation to attend instructor led training.

Select Avatar Wouldn’t it be neat if your learner/user could select an avatar to represent himself/herself/themself during the training lesson? This example includes two slides to do that, but the variable and logic used could be repeated, continued throughout a course.

Video Background Why limit your slide background to just an image? This example travel policy uses a video background.

Policy Scroll Panel It can be difficult to present text heavy information in an engaging format. Use a scrolling panel to collect learners’ policy acknowledgement so your training can focus on the behavior or action needed for policy compliance.

Problem Solving All twenty-seven squares in the problem solving grid have states, triggers, and logic to help the learner practice problem solving skills while planning a birthday party.