#pathways

Jan 26
2 min

Are there limitations when developing an eLearning module in VR?

Virtual Reality is gradually becoming a more popular interactive tool, most especially in the entertainment sector. However, as we have seen in the past few years, and more recently with the project we are developing for one of our amazing clients, VR is taking a hold of the eLearning industry as well. And as much as I don't like to admit it, there are still several challenges that are (probably) inherent to the nature of this technology that may not be apparent at a first gl

Jan 18
1 min

Can I track progress on a Virtual Reality eLearning module?

As we continue working on our Virtual Reality project, we keep discovering and figuring out how to add or modify functionality that in a regular eLearning module would be otherwise very standard and easy to do. More specifically and something that we have been trying to add to our module in the past few days, is a functionality to track progress of the questions answered throughout the module. The first thing to notice is that, as you add hotspots on screen and questions tied

Jan 6
2 min

New Year, New Goals

2021 was a year that went by very quickly, from the uncertainty of 2020 to a more stable, streamlined, remote workflow that allowed us to work on and finish quite a large number of projects. Pathways was also acquired by Pluribus Technologies, which will give a much bigger platform to expand our client base and geographic reach. From a personal point of view, I also accomplished a few goals, the most important of which is the fact that I studied and received a certification i

Nov 11, 2021
2 min

Securely Storing Your Passwords

Nowadays, it is very common to have a decentralized suite of tools that will help us on our daily functions at our jobs. In our eLearning space, we need tools to develop eLearning modules, edit photos, create or edit vectors, and also edit audios and videos. For this reason, we have installed on our computers, a large number of programs that will help us perform all these tasks on a daily basis. But not only that, there are also other platforms where we can access any type of

Nov 10, 2021
2 min

Special Consideration for Using 360 Footage

As excited as we are about using our GoPro Max camera to film 360 videos, and editing them in Adobe Premiere or Adobe After Effects, there is one special thing we need to consider before getting to the editing stage of a project. As it turns out, the videos recorded in this camera, when set in 360 mode, have a resolution of 5.6K (5376 x 2688 pixels) which is much larger than the resolution used by standard computers in Full HD. To put it into perspective, let’s look at the fo

Nov 9, 2021
2 min

What is “stitching” in Virtual Reality?

One of the key aspects of achieving full immersion in virtual reality, whether it is on a game or an eLearning module (and even just 360 images), is to provide the user with an environment where they can turn around and see different things to interact with. This might sound like something simple to do, but there is a lot of things involved in making this happen. We are just going to focus on the process of generating the images that cover every point of view in the virtual e

Nov 4, 2021
2 min

Common mistake when programming eLearning modules in different languages

One of the things that I found interesting when I started working in eLearning modules here in Ontario (and I believe this is the case for most companies across Canada that work at national level), is that most of the modules we develop, probably around 70%, need to be developed in both English and French. Being a company based in Toronto, the first language we use to storyboard and develop the first version of the eLearning module, is English, and then once everything is app

Nov 4, 2021
2 min

What to include in a cybersecurity training?

With most of our jobs and functions moving to online settings, it is always daunting for employers to just make all their information on the web, especially if this information is highly confidential. Just as we have witnessed at Pathways, many companies are turning to companies like ours to create training and help them educate their employees on things they should and shouldn’t do to protect their information (not just corporate information, but also personal information).

Oct 29, 2021
2 min

What if I don’t have VR goggles for my VR eLearning module?

When we were preparing the logistics to develop the Virtual Reality eLearning module for ACCES Employment, this question came up when we were explaining how the output of this project would look like, and it is a fair question, how would people complete the training if they don’t have VR goggles, such as Google Cardboard? What options do they have? Well, I believe this question goes beyond the necessity of having the proper hardware for the VR module, and even touches the top

Feb 17, 2021
2 min

Another Strange Bug in Articulate Storyline

By this point, people should probably know we love using Articule Storyline a lot here at Pathways, because it really streamlines our development process and helps us with creating highly interactive eLearning modules. That being said, because we use it in 90% of our eLearning projects, we are also more likely to find more bugs or inconsistencies than the casual users, which was the case of yesterday’s adventure while developing an eLearning course. To give you a bit of a bac

Sep 2, 2020
2 min

Locking Navigation in your eLearning module: Is it a good idea?

When developing an eLearning module, you might be thinking about adding some restriction to the navigation of the content, with the purpose of making the learners go through the entirety of the module. In tools like Articulate Storyline, this can be done in different ways: Locking the next and previous buttons so that the learner can only move when they are unlocked (either by time or an interaction) Setting the navigation to restricted in the course menu, so that slides are

Aug 12, 2020
1 min

How to easily add Closed Captions to your eLearning module

Check out our new video tutorial on how to add closed captions to an eLearning module in Articulate Storyline 360: #storyline360 #articulate #elearning #accessibility #closedcaptions #aoda #pathways

Jul 16, 2020
2 min

Programming Tip - Extracting images to put in your eLearning module

I have had situations in which I can’t easily get the image I need for my eLearning module, for example, if I am working off of a PDF file that the client provided, and it has an image that is relevant to the flow of the eLearning module, and the client isn’t able to provide the stand alone image file maybe because they don’t have it, I need to find a work around to extract that image and put it in the eLearning module. For the most part, Adobe Acrobat will allow me to export

Jul 9, 2020
3 min

Creating a first draft of an eLearning module with audio

One of the first things I usually do when I’m about to start programming eLearning courses, is to compile the voice over script and send it to the audio talent for recording. Why do I do this? Because it usually takes the voice talent 2 to 3 days to record the entire script and send it back to me, that way I can still start developing, creating templates, and adding the first few interactions to the eLearning module while I get the professional audio. You might wonder why do

Jun 25, 2020
2 min

Accessibility gets better in Articulate Storyline

Here at Pathways Training and eLearning, we have always worked with our clients to achieve the level of accessibility they require for their eLearning projects, keeping AODA standards in mind (for those of you who don’t know, when it comes to AODA for web applications, these have to be compliant with WCAG 2.0). For the most part of our experience, it has been a positive experience making courses accessible, not to say that we haven’t had challenges but we have always been abl

Jun 23, 2020
2 min

Quick Programming Tip: How to (temporarily) Circumvent Rendering Issues in Storyline

We all work with Articulate Storyline to develop fully interactive, animated eLearning modules, and whether we publish it to web, LMS or 360 review, we all love to see all our efforts come to fruition after long hours of work. In my case, very rarely (probably no more than three times since I’ve been using Storyline), I have been asked to publish the eLearning module as a video. Although it is possible to do so with Storyline, one might wonder why not develop the video in ano

Jun 8, 2020
2 min

Getting to work using Brightspace

Recently, Pathways was selected by Centennial College to create all the training for a program using their learning platform Brightspace, to cater to international students that, due mainly to the COVID-19 outbreak around the world, can’t physically make it to the classroom. This is yet another example of how this virus has altered our day-to-day life, but even more importantly, this is yet another example of how technology can ease the transition to our “new normal” and open

May 4, 2020
2 min

Programming Tips: How to easily create the transcript of an audio file

I have been working on an interesting eLearning project as of late, and I say this because of the challenges that were present right at the beginning of the programming phase. In this project, our client has asked us to revamp online training material that was developed over a decade ago using Adobe Captivate, however, the challenge began when we were informed that the source files (.cptx files) have disappeared since the modules were initially developed. For the most part, t

Apr 24, 2020
2 min

What’s the best way to submit feedback for your online training?

In my many years of experience and the number of eLearning modules that I have completed for clients and their online training initiatives, the most common part of the process in developing these modules, is to receive feedback from the client and action those changes. This feedback goes from content changes (either text or images), voiceover changes, animations and even programming changes (sometimes we even need to redo parts of the eLearning modules due to changes in scope

Jan 22, 2020
3 min

My Experience Breaking and Fixing a Moodle Learning Management System (LMS) Installation

Is it safe to manually modify the Moodle database? The correct answer would be ‘No’. It’s not safe because you may end up breaking your Moodle Learning Management System (LMS) installation, since, as you may or may not know, Moodle pulls all its data from different tables in the data base. Also, from a developer perspective, it is not ideal to modify core data from the Moodle installation, since the chances of corrupting it are very high and every time there is an update, we

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