Let Me See about that SCORM

My challenge of the day was to get my SCORM package created in Storyline into Blackboard and reporting to the gradebook.
It took me a few attempts (and an email from a helpful colleague) to get them right but I seem to be getting reports into the gradebook from a PC and a tablet so it is looking good :)

Step 1 - Player settings.

When I first tested on an tablet (Samsung) I had this problem.

The submit button was cut of and I could not resize the screen. It worked if I rotated the screen but that left the player very small. So in player settings I did this...

(worth  noting is, even in my super awesome version of Blackboard where files update automatically if they are changed in the file system, SCORM packages don't seem to update. I had to remove and rebuild the package)
- although that could just be me -


Step 2 - LMS settings

When publishing the story you are also given options for reporting.

Under advisement I set my reporting to pass/fail.
I think - purely speculation at this point - that if you set it to complete/incomplete for it to report to the grade book you also need to change the settings on your results slide.

Finally - The SCORM settings

My SCORM settings looked like this. The top half of course changes depending on your requirements but under advisement again I set the grading settings as shown.

I tried messing with them and didn't get results in my grade book so this is my settings and I am sticking with them!






And just to prove it works...

Here is my grade book with multiple results reported!

Articulate - multiple answers on 1 slide

My only frustration with storyline at the moment is not being able to have a question that has multiple part answers. After reading a few blog posts however I have found a work around. 

First create your slide with the objects you need then add extra buttons for the number of correct answers. On mine you can see I have three blank boxes (numeric entry objects) so I have created three 'correct' buttons to correspond to them. For ease of identification later I renamed the objects to match their corresponding buttons. The 'correct' buttons are out side the slide so they are not visible to the students.

Then convert the slide to a 'freeform pick many'

This process works by adding logic operations to the slide. These operators are added as triggers that tell articulate to select the correct button if a specific answer is entered into the numeric entry field. If the student answers an incorrect answer the button will not be selected and the slide will return and incorrect answer.


Select new trigger and your trigger wizard should look like this...

• Where 'button 1' is my 1st 'correct' button
• Object 'MEAN' is the numeric entry box associated with MEAN 
• control loses focus seems to be the term for the change of state of a text entry box - the logic escapes me but this is how I got it to work.

You then need to add conditions by opening the 'show conditions' tab at the bottom of the page.

• Add a condition by clicking the green + in the bottom right corner
• Then you can specify your variables
• 'NumericEntry 6' is the name of the box which I called MEAN 
• Then you only need to select the operator you want and the appropriate value. 

After you have added conditions to all your buttons you can edit your pick many slide in the normal way and you should get a multiple answer question on 1 slide...

Or that is the theory anyway.

Learner time, learner control and learner engagement

I was reading Clive Shepherd's - Clive on Learning blog this week and have a few reflections on what he has written. Clive on Learning is primarily about providing training in the business sector so has slightly different priorities to those of learning techs in the education sector but in his series of visions I think he made some valid point that I think are worth considering for university students as well.

Vision 2 - economical learning

"time spent learning could have been used productively elsewhere" 

I think this is particularly relevant to the kind of ungraded e-learning content that I am working on providing. Students, many of whom also work, will always have course work or assessments to do which are a graded part of their course so why would they spend time doing other activities? If they are going to complete an exercise that is not graded they need to know how and why it is relevant to a course of study that they are taking. I think the best way to do this is probably to tell them as part of the assessment. This assessment is designed to... etc. 

Time is also important to students especially if they are juggling a course, a job and a family. In this respect I think it also important to tell students how long a task is going to take them, this should enable them to manage their time in a more efficient way. This probably falls under a topic I have written about before namely 'signposting' in an on-line environment this takes the place of the teacher as there is no one person who will physically give students this information. With learner time commitments in mind it is also very important that all questions are valid and worthwhile and adhere to the general principles of assessment.

Vision 4 - flexible learning

“Adults expect to have control over what they learn, when and where and will increasingly demand it. They expect it because they have grown accustomed to finding whatever information they need at the click of a mouse from Google, YouTube and Wikipedia. Synchronous learning (that takes place with others, at a specific time, perhaps in a virtual classroom) can be powerful, but it is certainly not flexible. It means you have have to compromise on when you learn in order to suit others. Similarly, face-to-face learning can add a great deal of value when used for the right purposes, but is highly inflexible. Being face-to-face means you have to compromise on where you learn in order to suit others.”

I don't really have any comments on this other than to say that this is what I am aiming to do and think it will become more and more relevant as the next generation of students who have been exposed to google, YouTube and Wikipedia for their whole lives come through into higher education and consequently bring with them a higher set of expectations relating to the technology they expect from their learning institutions. 

Vision 5 - Engaging learning

"Engaging the learner is about getting the elephant on board. While the rider may be engaged by the long-term benefits of a learning activity or an intellectual curiosity, the elephant is much more interested in what’s in it for him right now." In this example the elephant is the intellect and the rider is the learner.  

Clear goals, immediate feedback and a sense of control are some of the things which Clive suggests are a way of making learning engaging for adult learners and I whole heartedly agree. The sense of control in some ways come from the goals and the feedback, for example including links to information relating to the questions so students can find the answers to wrong questions rather than just showing right or wrong answers.  In addition showing learners what they will gain from an activity, particularly a voluntary one,  allows them to plan and direct their own learning and gives them a sense of control. Clive also suggests that "the elephant may also be motivated by a challenge - perhaps a game which involves some form of competition. Humour may also do the trick, or just plain novelty." In addition to that I would also (as you have probably worked out by now) suggest that something pleasing to look at and easy to use is also a good way, if not to motivate the elephant, to keep the elephant engaged while working through a boring or challenging subject.