6 Ways to make your Courses Accessibility Compliant (508/WCAG/ADA) in Storyline

Try this: Open one of your courses, close your eyes, and complete the course without looking. You will likely have difficulty getting off the first screen. If you have vision disabilities, this might be the norm for you. Some in your audience may have color blindness, hearing disabilities, and mobility disabilities, to name a few.

We strive for intuitive eLearning experiences where our audience can focus on the materials, not the container or the navigation. But when we don’t consider accessibility, we are shutting the door on those who have disabilities and challenging our stakeholders to attain alternative training methods for those who need them. You may think that it is rare that someone with a disability would be using your course, but in the United States alone, 6.4 million people have a visual disability, 10.5 million have a hearing disability, and 14.8 million have a cognitive disability (Erickson).

You may have come across these three standards, 508, WCAG, and ADA, but don’t know how they apply to your project. These standards all have the same goal, which is to make our digital solutions accessible for those with disabilities. If followed, the standards set up requirements that greatly increase the accessibility of your course. They all have similarities and you can find additional information about them through the reference links below.

There are many tools that can aid someone with disabilities, such as screen readers that read on-screen text, special input devices that let someone press a few select buttons and read braille, and screens that magnify aspects of the screen. Storyline, as well as most other […]

10 Missed Questions to Ask eLearning Stakeholders

As we begin each new eLearning project, there is information we’d like to request from our stakeholders. We want this information so we can create a project with results that meet and exceed the project needs. So, asking the right questions is essential. Of course, there are core questions asked relating to any established performance requirements, needs analysis data, audience, and job-related information and procedures, to name a few. There are, however, a handful of questions that AREN’T typically asked that should be. And if you are a stakeholder, perhaps the following can give you some ideas when discussing your next project.

Let’s explore 10 commonly missed questions we should be asking stakeholders:

1. Has there been any previous training conducted?

Knowing if any previous training exists, whether it be instructor-led, on-the-job, or eLearning based, can be valuable for a number of reasons.

1. These previous courses may have information that can be used when writing the new course.
2. Knowing this training exists may give you the opportunity to take the same training, which can help you gain a foundation for the materials, job responsibilities, and performance needs.
3. You will know what information and exercises your audience has been invoved in. This may provide insight into why there might be knowledge gaps and act as a foundation that can be built upon.

2. Is there an audience sample group for information, prototyping, and reviews?

Having a sampling of employees who can act as an advisory group […]

Micro-eLearning: What, Why, and 7 Quick Tips

We take a quick look at what eLearning is all about and 7 ways you can micro your eLearning.

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Why Do I Need an eLearning Vendor When I Have My Own Team?

Good question. Maybe what you really need isn’t a vendor, but rather a part-time strategic partner or developer who is there when you need them, and not when you don’t. What do I mean? Allow me to explain.

It’s nearly impossible to staff for every role and depth of resource that a typical organization requires over the course of a few years when trying to successfully meet the eLearning demands of various internal clients. There are often infrequent special needs that can range from specific content or skill knowledge to instructional design, professional videography and audio, to 3D animation – that could make staffing for these situations costly.

That’s why a provider like Illumen who specializes in “meeting you where you are at”, can be that flexible missing team-member behind the scenes, helping you achieve success for every type of initiative. In addition, for those times where the workload becomes unexpectedly heavy, we also have the ability to perform full project implementation- from analysis through instructional and creative design through content development.

Here are just a few ways a partner like Illumen has helped organizations by meeting them where they were at and playing the role of that flexible specialty player on their team’s bench.

1. Effective Efficiency

As an L&D manager, it’s fun to boast about adding training talent to the team. But at a time when salaries and health benefits are on the rise and good talent is becoming scarce, adding a new dedicated L&D or IT professional has become increasingly cost prohibitive. And adding one resource who has the skill of […]

Move from Flash to HTML5 –
and Still Keep Your Super Powers!

Last July, Adobe announced that Flash, the ubiquitous, super-powered website and elearning authoring tool will be phased out by the end of 2020. What does this mean for you and your courses? Most importantly, your audiences won’t be able to see your courses built in Flash, or even courses created in older versions of software such as Storyline. Popular web browsers have already begun to limit their support for the Flash plugin. And your mobile devices already can’t support it.

At this point, there’s very little that Flash can do that HTML5 can’t handle. The number of companies that rely on Flash has steadily decreased over the last few years. Still, a number of holdouts remain, especially in the education and gaming space.

While the end of 2020 seems far away, it really is not, especially if your organization has a large library of courses published for Flash output. Here are some pointers for developing your transition plan:

1. What tool was originally used to build your course?

If Storyline or Captivate or similar top tier authoring tools, were used you’re in for some luck. These tools have the option to publish in both Flash and HTML5. It may just be a matter of opening the source file and re-publishing in HTML5.

Test to ensure the features still work correctly. If your course was built in Flash, you need to consider re-building with one of these other tools.

2. How much updating does your content require?

[…]

MICRO-ELEARNING
Free eBook (Advanced Signup)

Micro-eLearning is an outcome of a well designed training experience. When much consideration is taken as to the audience, what they should be prepared to do after the experience, and the approach you defined, the length of the course happens the way it should. You don’t want to have a course too long, but you also don’t want a course too short to engage, educate, and prepare the audience for what they need. Check out our companion video on micro-eLearning:

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Have Questions?

If you want more information about Micro-eLearning or have a project you would like to discuss, please reach out!

You can email or call us anytime at 847-440-2222!

Illumen-Views: Looking at 3D From “All Sides”
An Interview with Tony O’Dell

Illumen-Views features interviews with experts from the world of custom eLearning.

We’re launching the series by addressing one of our eLearning capabilities that we are most frequently asked about – 3D animation.

To learn more about 3D, Senior Consultant Steve Harker interviewed Illumen founder, President, and resident 3D expert, Tony O’Dell.

Thank you for joining us today, Tony.

Thanks Steve, my pleasure.

Perhaps the best place to start is in the beginning. Tony, what is your background, and how did you start working with 3D?

I have always been an avid visual effects fan, and when I first saw Jurassic Park’s 3D dinosaurs I knew that’s what I had to do. So over 20 plus years ago I set out to learn how to do it myself. I found my passion in product and medical animations. They really appeal to my fascination with science and the world around us and how to communicate that in the most effective way to educate and train different audiences.

What defines 3D animation, especially for its use in eLearning?

Animation, motion graphics or anything else that moves needs to be well thought out to deliver maximum impact to the viewer. In eLearning this means getting often complex ideas across quickly and concisely.

What type of need does it typically address for our Illumen clients?

Usually these eLearning or training needs are based around the external or even internal mechanisms of a product such as micro-filtration, cell biology, or […]