This post was co-authored by Paige Dao and Elisaveta Yancheva, Learning Designers.
The problem
Articulate Storyline is an eLearning authoring tool first released in 2012 and adopted a slide-based approach to course creation. At UCEM, we implemented this tool years ago providing interactive presentation-style resources and integrating text, audio and video content, as well as multiple choice and drag-and-drop quiz questions.
However, in the past years our institution has developed further, redesigning its academic provision during the Transform project in 2020, stepped up its accessibility game and launched Globe, an ambitious project to drive sustainability in the built environment. To reflect this growth and where we would like to be in the future, a new template was needed. Paige Dao, Elisaveta Yancheva and Sharvari Balagate Ramesh, in the capacity of learning designers, worked on this project with the invaluable help of other teams such as Graphic and Media Design, Learning Technology and Quality Control.
The first step was analysis of the current resources. When examining areas for improvement, we stumbled upon some accessibility issues, particularly concerning colour contrast in most slides and primary buttons such as previous, next, menu, home and close. Using a contrast checker tool, the contrast ratio measured for these elements were at 4:39:1, falling below the WCAG 2.1 Level AA standard of 4:5:1. Moreover, we identified an opportunity to enhance the template so that it aligns with UCEM’s updated branding colour scheme. Additionally, with resources that used audio narration uploaded directly to Storyline, we found some room for improvement, such as adding synchronous close-captions and implementing mechanisms to pause, stop or control the audio volume.
The solution
We initiated the project by outlining its scope and decided to create two separate templates. The first one is a standard template which provides learning designers with a simple and straightforward starting point to create learning resources. The second one is a custom template empowering learning designers to create more creative learning experiences such as incorporating gamification or scenario-based learning. We are planning to start working on the custom template soon.
For the standard template we identified the following objectives the new template needed to achieve:
- Offer easy and intuitive navigation for students;
- Comply with accessibility standards, specifically WCAG 2.1 Level AA;
- Enable quick development of resources for learning designers;
- Adhere to UCEM’s updated branding requirements.
The areas below are where we focused our attention:
- Enhancing the player’s accessibility, specifically the navigation options and control of embedded media resources;
- Visual design of slides in terms of branding, colour and contrast, heading levels.
Accessibility
In this part, we will explain the rationale behind enabling/disabling certain player features, and how they help enhance learners’ experience and meet accessibility requirements.
Player tabs
Menu
We chose the Storyline player with a visible menu on the player tab for enhanced learner navigation. In the previous template a separate slide was acting as a table of contents at the start of a learning resource, as shown in Figure 1. Each slide includes a progress tracking indicator (e.g. slide 7/15) to tell the learner their position in the resource. To maintain these features in the new template, we enabled the menu tab, shown in Figure 2. It allows learners to track their progress through tick symbols on the menu. When we distributed the template for a pilot test, valuable feedback we received was that users didn’t know there was a menu on the left-hand side for them to navigate. In response, we’ve made the sidebar visible when users first open a resource, giving them the option to close it, if desired.
Navigation and Resources tabs
At the top right corner of the player, we enabled a ‘Navigation’ tab which offers learners instructions in terms of screen readers that are compatible with the resource, keyboard navigation, short-cuts and which browsers and devices work best with our Storyline resources. The ‘Resources’ is where we upload audio and video transcripts.
Player controls
Play/Pause and volume features
When enabled, they allow users to play/pause a timeline and adjust the volume of a slide. These features are useful when a slide has pre-recorded audio uploaded directly to Storyline. It also allows us to meet WCAG criterion 1.4.2 Audio Control. To avoid having two clashing audio (from the screen reader and from the audio recording) play at the same time, we created two triggers on Storyline. The first one is to pause the timeline on the slide when learners first land on it. The second one is to display captions if learners decide to play the audio. The second trigger is to ensure that learners know there are captions available. Both features are shown in Figure 3.
Seek bar
The seek bar is a visual indicator of a slide’s timeline. For Storyline 360 modern players, it appears at the bottom of the screen except for smartphones in landscape mode, where it is a circle indicator. In our template, depending on the content on an individual slide, we have given developers the chance to decide if the seek bar is used or not.
Visual design
Slide templates
Collaborating with our graphic designer Asma Hussain, we developed more than 10 slide templates including title slide, introductory slide, multiple choice questions, audio and video slides and different slides to display texts.
UCEM’s branding colours are divided into primary and secondary colours. We integrated primary colours into key template features such as slide backgrounds, buttons, the UCEM logo, accent colours, accessibility focus colours, and player background. These features underwent colour and contrast testing to meet accessibility requirements.
We made use of the Team Slide feature and saved ready slide templates with appropriate layout, images and branding elements. This allows developers to quickly add a slide without having to set up all these elements every time and keep the look of the slides consistent throughout the resource.
While striving for branding consistency, we also recognised the need for flexibility in resource development. Understanding that other learning designers may want to create interactive activities beyond quizzes, we provided instructions for using the Secondary Colour palette. This allows our team to create activities of their choices without compromising branding requirements.
Impact and future plans
Implementing the template while developing new resources
Currently around 80 Articulate Storyline projects are in use on UCEM’s Moodle VLE. As converting all of these will require a lot of time and resource, for now we will be applying the template when developing new content and on existing resources in need of complete redevelopment.
It will be interesting to look into student feedback once such resources are made available on the VLE to see what our users think of the improvements to the template.
Develop a custom template
To allow creative freedom for developing more interactive resources, we are planning to start the second part of this project, which will focus on developing a custom template. Our aim will be to allow learning designers to develop gamified and scenario-based resources.
Provide training for other learning designers
All settings of the template and instructions for use have been summarised in a single document. This and additional resources like importable player settings, stock images aligned with the branding, are now stored in a repository directory as a Storyline developer kit for other learning designers to use in their work.
We are looking into offering short training sessions to other learning designers in the organisation, who weren’t involved in the development of the template. In addition, we would like to provide sources of inspiration through examples from Articulate Community.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Asma Hussain, Graham North, Caroline King, Ross Pearce, Damien Peters-Turner, Sandra Scalzavara, Ian Elliott, and Adrian Shell for their expertise and guidance on this project.
Cover photo by Christian Morillo on Pexels
Learning Designer at UCEM