Forum Discussion
Everything we know about Cornerstone on Demand and Storyline!
I thought I would start a thread about Cornerstone on Demand so there's a central place for people to read and add to. There seems to be a dearth of information about how CSOD and Storyline interact with each other as well as the unresolved issues surrounding it. I've spent many hours scouring the web and speaking with Cornerstone trying to find a solution. Hopefully this thread will serve as a resource for others going forward.
On a side note, I love Articulate Storyline. I started with Adobe Captivate with limited success. It was a very steep learning curve, but I was able to get some basic functionality out of it. I tested out Storyline with it's 30 day trial, and I will say that time-to-effectiveness was drastically reduced. It really IS like using powerpoint. Granted there is less complex functionality and interactions available than Captivate, but so far it's given me everything I've needed to use. The benefit is that the learning curve is much less steep too. Think of it as the difference between iMovie and Final Cut Pro. The latter can do some crazy effects, but the former gives you 90% of what you need and can get you comfortable in 1/4 of the time.
It's nice to have a properly-working content creation tool when you're in an LMS like Cornerstone. I have enough trouble in CSOD as it is.
So some of the nuggets of wisdom that I've found are :
- Cornerstone does not track SCORM 1.2 content properly. You cannot pull a lot of the reports if they are not in SCORM 2004 format. You don't have the option to select that course in the reports.
- If you export into SCORM 2004, there will be an extra section on the left with text links to the module. This takes up 30% of the screen, and on smaller laptop screens may crowd out the module window. Cornerstone says this is a Storyline exporting settings issue. I couldn't find any settings that shows/hides that section. The workaround is to resize the module to the screen, which doesn't get rid of the section, but at least fits the module.
- When reporting, you can get the completion status for a course based on quiz result or last slide viewed. You can also get a final grade for course. Storyline passes the results information for each question (including short answer) but you cannot pull a list of the answers for an individual. Therefore, it may not be advisable to administer any testing where you'll need to review individual answers
- You can get a list of aggregate answers for a module. e.g. I can see how 100 employees answered this multiple choice question. This is helpful to determine if learners are absorbing the course information correctly.
- Web objects (such as websites, or links to sharepoint documents) work in modules if your IT has added csod.com to the trusted sites
- Popup windows that open up the articulate module in CSOD will work if you add csod.com to the allowed list for popup blockers. Your IT dept can also add this to everyone's computer. Otherwise when learners click the "launch" button, the module does not show up.
I'll post more as I think or find them, but feel free to add to this list!
- SteveFlowersCommunity Member
Hi, Amy -
To report survey and question results, you'll need to add a results slide and associate the items with the results. You'll also need to track the completion to the results slide if you want to be able to record the interactions to the LMS.
This is no good if you want the survey to be optional, yes? Here's where you get into workaround territory. One way --maybe the only way-- to get this done while still leaving the desired results tracking is by using a little bit of Javascript.
If this is something you're comfortable trying, I'll post an example and explanation of what's going on. It involves script to:
- Suppress the default Storyline behavior and prevent SL from overwriting our manual completion.
- Sending completion based on the logic that you want. This is either by adding triggers to check an existing results slide or by firing a JS trigger when a slide is reached.
- Associating the publish settings with your survey so that Storyline passes each interaction to the LMS.
This is something that gets a little bit easier with an LRS in place as all Tin Can API interactions will be reported to the LRS regardless of how the publish settings are configured.
- WillFindlayCommunity Member
I think I figured it out - the Responses number goes down each time because one set of learners only had to take the entire quiz 1 time (passed on the first attempt), another set had to take the quiz 2 times, and the third set had to take it 3 times. Thats why it is always 40, 11, and then 1 for each question (29 passed it the first time, 10 the second time, and1 the last time).
Hey Will! It was good of you to return and include everybody on your brainstorming! Useful sleuthing, so thanks for sharing what you've figured out.
- ScottMorrisetteCommunity Member
Hello,
I just wanted to provide a helpful tip that I just discovered. If you are publishing to CSOD and your Articulate course content is not showing, or showing as a blank screen a solution I found was to uncheck the selection box that states "When running in LMS, ignore Flash cookie" this box is found in the "Player Properties" window. This box, once unchecked will allow your course to play on mobile devices in the CSOD application.
- BarryHinksCommunity Member
Hi Will, I share your pain. This is a common issue I've come across and it's not a Storyline issue - plenty about it online if you Google it.
Any material we've created, whether it be a SCORM file, PDF or otherwise behaves in exactly this way since an update to Google Chrome which makes all links open up in the existing window in a new tab, thus appearing over the course so our employees think they have lost the original course window.
Is there a magic fix that can be put in place in Google Chrome that solves this for multiple software? I couldn't find an answer, but it would be nice to at least solve it for Storyline files. (Our old Storyline 1 files work fine and are not overridden by Google Chrome)
Also it's worth noting if users opt for Internet Explorer instead they all work as intended.
If someone has cracked this I'd love to know too!
- Will_FindlayCommunity Member
One rabbit hole I went down was to turn all of the links in a module into clickable Web Objects that open the link in a pop-up window (use Custom or Full Screen window size). I replaced the image of the web object with a screenshot of the hyperlink. When the user clicks the web object image, it opens the linked page a pop-up window.
This works great in Chrome (as long as pop-ups are ENABLED), but in Internet Explorer 11, the pop-up window HAS NO SCROLLBARS, even if the content doesn't fit vertically. At least that is a fix if you are linking to a page with very short content (or maybe directly to a PDF that will size appropriately). We were toying with the idea of linking to an HTML page with an iframe containing the real page we want to see if that would show scroll bars in IE.
- JulieCollett-36Community Member
Ben and Will - I was getting the same error message with uploading to CSOD. I unzipped my Rise SCORM file and discovered two JavaScript files with the same name in one folder (player-interface.js). I deleted one of the player-interface.js and then rezipped the SCORM package. I was then able to successfully upload the Rise course to CSOD. I assume this is a publishing bug with Rise.
Is anyone able to confirm that this is in fact a publishing issues with publishing Rise courses to SCORM?
- Will_FindlayCommunity Member
Julie, Thank you! Thank you! (Extra thank you added!). This also fixed my problem, and my Rise with Storyline embedded course loaded successfully after deleting the extra player-interface.js file.
Ashley, this is actually an issue with a Storyline course embedded in a Rise course, so the answer is "Both." :-)
The path to finding the extra player-interface.js file (as shown in Julie's attached image) is
[zip file]/scormcontent/assets/[Folder with random 16 char name like 'rh71xKNN4BeVrqfT']/
Thank you for figuring this out Julie!
Thanks Will and Julie for that info - I gave it a test with a Rise course I had which included a Storyline block and I didn't have an additional player-interface.js file. Here's a screenshot of the same spot in the Assets folder you mentioned:
Could you share a copy of your Exported Rise zip with me, so I could take a look at that one? Also, I'll test uploading it to SCORM Cloud to see how it behaves.
- SteveFlowersCommunity Member
The JS is pretty straightforward. We've been using similar to the below for awhile. HTML5 references the lmsAPI differently than the Flash output. A conditional check to see if a function exists typically helps send the calls in the right direction.
var player=GetPlayer();
//status is pretty simple.
SetStatus("completed");//if you also want to set the score.
lmsAPI=parent;
var tPercent=player.GetVar("SLSCORE"); //grab a score variable from storylineif(lmsAPI.hasOwnProperty("SetScore")){
lmsAPI.SetScore(tPercent,100,0);
}else{
SetScore(tPercent,100,0);
}- Will_FindlayCommunity Member
Thanks Steve! Do you have the version of the code that accounts for HTML5 vs. Flash that you could share? :-)
- MatthewSteffeckCommunity Member
While we have used close course triggers in the past, we have found the most reliable way to get learners out is to just instruct them to "You have completed the XXXXXXX close the course window by clicking the 'red X' in the upper right hand corner of the player."
- Will_FindlayCommunity Member
I think that the triggers that actually communicate completion to the LMS are the "Submit results" trigger (if you "Track using a quiz result") and the newer "Complete course" trigger (if you "Track using complete course trigger"). We avoid tracking based on slide views because it causes too many support headaches when someone insists they viewed all the slides and we don't have a good way to dispute their assertion. I don't think it should matter how the course is exited as long as one of those triggers is in place.
- MaryChannon-ce1Community Member
I had no idea there was a new Complete course trigger, and I think my life is about to change because I hate the "based on number of slides viewed" for several of our courses that have optional branching and scenarios. ~~doo doo doooo... the more you know ~~~ Gotta love this forum!
- VictoriaSubl729Community Member
I am using Storyline 3 and there is no Complete Course trigger.
- ChrisRoetzer-0dCommunity Member
Will, we're still not using 360 yet until it's approved and funded enterprise wide, so we are still using SL2. Is the "newer" complete course trigger not available in SL2? I haven't really looked or used it. We're converting to COD and I'm screening this thread for some intel in advance of UAT, some earlier posts about reporting and tracking issues have me concerned, hoping a lot of that has been ironed out in more recent times. Most of our existing content was published for Scorm 1.2 so hoping all that works well still in COD. I think our new std. will be to pub as Scorm 2004 v4.
- mkudrnaCommunity Member
I have SCORM 1.2 courses and they function within the CSOD. I use the "slide view" tracking option as my courses are very linear and rarely run into an issue. The main issue I have seen is that if a person has launched a course twice and has two windows are open of the course. If they complete the second opened course their progress isn't documented as the system is looking at the first course. If it sounds legitimate that they completed the course we just mark them complete.
We also have the short delay when closing out a course and I agree with Will that we have never really seen this as an issue and our users haven't expressed confusion either.
One additional note, CSOD supports 3rd edition. When you switch over to SCORM 2004 you will want to go with that.
- JamieWenzel-819Community Member
I have read through most of the Cornerstone threads here, and I am wondering if anyone ever was able to get Cornerstone to report more then 1 attempt on a SCORM quiz. The courses work fine in other LMS's and SCORM Cloud, and it seems to be a Cornerstone only problem. The standard reporting seems to be broken in Cornerstone. Cornerstone has no answer and says it is a Storyline problem. In my testing, standard reports only capture the first attempt score. In later attempts, the report will update the pass/fail, but the score and attempt date remain the same. If I reversion a training, it will add another line item to the report and do the same thing. I can never get it to adjust number of attempts, and the score is always locked into whatever their first attempt was. If I use reporting 2.0 and the field "SCORM 2004 Quiz Data - Quiz Score", I can get the most recent attempt score, but I still can't get all attempts and scores, and I can't get it to say the user had more then one attempt. Since the 2.0 report is capturing the last attempt the user does, I know the SCORM file is pushing the data to Cornerstone correctly. I just think Cornerstone reporting is incorrect. Anybody experience this problem and find a solution?
- JillSpealman-97Community Member
Hi Jamie,
Regarding your statement:
"If I use reporting 2.0 and the field "SCORM 2004 Quiz Data - Quiz Score", I can get the most recent attempt score..."
Is this a setting in Cornerstone? I can't get my retries to post the latest score in Cornerstone (they're fine in SCORM Cloud), but I'm at the mercy of my admins. If this is something they need to set in CSOD, I'd like to know. At this point I don't care about their scores or #tries...I just want people who pass on the second or third attempt to get a pass. Thanks!
- JamieWenzel-819Community Member
Unfortunately, there are no settings in Cornerstone having to do with # of retries for elearning. Other LMS's have that setting, but Cornerstone does not. The number of retries would have to be set in the eLearning itself, and as long as they pass it, then it should post to Cornerstone. However, the reporting problem still exists and you will only see the pass/fail on the last attempt. Therefore, if they pass it, and go in and take it again to practice, but fail; the overall status will show as failed. For most people that is okay, but for me I want to see all attempts, scores, and status; not just their last.