Create Tool - Create Course

Using the Create Tool, administrators with the associated permission can quickly create new learning content and publish it seamlessly to the Course Catalog.

Note: The Create Tool does not support SCORM courses. It only supports AICC courses.

To access the Create Tool, go to: Admin > Tools > Learning > Catalog Management and click the Create Tool link.

Create New Lesson

To begin creating learning content, click the Create Course button on the Courses page.

Choose a Course Outline

First, you will be asked to select a course outline. Guided outlines make it easy to produce effective micro-learning content. The following outline options are available:

  • Blank Lesson - Choose this option if you would like to build a course entirely from scratch with only blank cards.
  • Explain a Concept - Choose this option if you would like to build a course using a pre-made collection of cards which provide prompts and preset images for explaining a concept. You can modify all existing cards and selections; the template serves as a starting point to help you build a course which explains a new concept quickly.
  • Teach a Skill - Choose this option if you would like to build a course using a pre-made collection of cards which provide prompts and preset images for teaching a skill. You can modify all existing cards and selections; the template serves as a starting point to help you build a course which teaches a new skill quickly.
  • Introduce a Topic - Choose this option if you would like to build a course using a pre-made collection of cards which provide prompts and preset images for introducing a topic. You can modify all existing cards and selections; the template serves as a starting point to help you build a course which introduces a new topic.

Alternatively, you also have the option to upload your own content and convert that content into a course instead of selecting a template. To import your own content, click into the Import Your Own Content zone and select a PowerPoint file from your computer. The file will upload to the system, and the slides in the PowerPoint presentation will be converted to cards. It is not possible to modify the contents of the cards from the PowerPoint import. Only the sequence of the cards may be modified. Note: Only PowerPoint documents are supported by this feature.

PowerPoint Considerations

The following limitations and considerations apply when uploading a PowerPoint presentation to the Create Tool:

  • 100 MB is the maximum file size
  • Files larger than 50 MB may take up to fifteen minutes to upload
  • PowerPoint decks with more than eighty slides may not upload successfully
  • Downloads from Google Slides must to be re-saved as .ppt files

Create Tool

Once you have selected an outline type, you can use the Create Tool to begin building your course. The following features are available when using the Create Tool:

  • Card View - A card is a slide in the course you are creating. The card you are currently working on displays on the majority of the screen, and you can use the other options on the page to add other features and content to the card. The first card in the course contains a Course Title field. The title you enter in this field will serve as the name of the course.
  • Background - In the background section, you can set colors and images for the card background. The following options are available for the card background:
  • Color - Click the Color field to select a color for the card. You can either select a color from the spectrum tool or enter a hex code. Note: If you are using an image or GIF as the card background, a background color cannot be selected.
  • Image - In the Image section, you can either upload an image or select a GIF to use as the card background:
    • Upload - To upload an image to the card background, click the Upload button and then select the image file from your computer. The image will be displayed on the card background. If necessary, you can remove the uploaded image by clicking the Delete icon next to the Upload button. The ideal dimensions for background images are 1920x1080 (16:9 aspect ratio).
      • Hotspot - You can add a hotspot to an image. A hotspot is an area on an image that opens to another screen or provides additional information. To create a hotspot, click Add Hotspot and click and drag over the area where you want to add the hotspot. Enter a text description of the hotspot and click Done.
    • Giphy - To add a GIF to the card background, click the Giphy button and then search for and select the GIF file from the collection. The GIF will be displayed on the card background. If necessary, you can remove the uploaded GIF by clicking the Delete icon.
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  • Layout - In the Layout section, you can configure the following layout options for the card:
    • Show White Box Behind Text - Select this option to add a white box behind the text you have added to the card. Depending on your text color and the card's background image, adding a white box may make the text easier to read.
    • Add Inline Image - Select the Add Inline Image checkbox to add an image or GIF next to the text in the card. Once the image zone has been added to the card, click the Browse for Your File link to select an image from your computer or click the Insert Animated GIF link to search for and select a GIF from the collection. The recommended image size for the inline image is 500x500px.
    • Adjust Text Box Layout - Click the Show link next to this option to see all the available card layout options. Click an option to adjust the location of the text box on the card. To collapse the layout options again, you can click the Hide link.
  • Image Settings - In the Image Settings section, you can provide alt text for the slide.
    • Alt Text - To provide alt text for an image on a slide, place your cursor in the Alt Text text box and type the desired alt text. The text you provide will be associated with the image, and vision-impaired learners that navigate courses using assistive technology will be able to discern the content of the image.
  • Voiceover - In the Voiceover section, you can add audio to the card. Click the Start Recording button to record voiceover with your computer. You can use your computer's built-in microphone or add an external microphone to your computer to enhance audio quality. After clicking the Start Recording button, your audio will be recorded for the lesson card, up to three minutes. Click the Stop button to stop recording. If your recording is acceptable, no further action is required after the recording has stopped. If you need to try again, click the Delete icon, then click the Start Recording button again and start over.
  • Closed Captioning - To add closed captioning to a slide, click the Upload button in the Closed Captioning section of the panel on the right side of the screen. Select the .vtt file from your computer. Once the .vtt file has been uploaded to the slide, the closed captioning is attached and will display to users with this course slide. If needed, you can change the .vtt file by clicking the Change button and uploading a new file from your computer, or you can remove the closed captioning entirely by clicking the Delete icon in the Closed Captioning section.
  • Delete Card - To delete a card from the course entirely, click the Delete Card link. All your selections and content for the card will be lost.
  • Course Summary Panel - The bar on the bottom of the page displays thumbnails of your lesson cards and provides access to other information and options:
    • Course Name - The name of the course that you defined on the course title card displays. This field is informational only and is not editable.
    • Saved Status - The Saved status field displays whether or not all your modifications have been saved. If your changes are currently being saved, this field changes to "Saving..." and updates to Saved again when the changes have been saved successfully. If your internet connection is interrupted, your changes will not be saved until the connection is restored. If saving was not possible, the status changes to Error Saving.
    • Collapse Icon - To collapse the bottom panel and view more of the current card, you can click the arrow icon in the top center of the panel. To expand the panel again, you can click the arrow icon again.
    • Get Link - Click the Get Link button to access a link to your course as a preview or directly to the course within the Create Tool. You can choose which type of link you want to copy using the drop-down menu. If your course is in a draft status, you can access a link for the draft course. If the course is published, you can access a link for the published course. The user will be able to play the course using a link provided for the draft or published course. If you opted to receive a link for the Create Tool, the user who accesses the course using your link will be able to open the course in the course builder window and make edits to the course, provided they have the appropriate permission.
    • Preview - Click the Preview button to open the preview window and view the course from a learner's perspective. You can toggle between the desktop and mobile previews by clicking the Desktop and Mobile icons at the top of the preview window. Use the navigation arrows in the bottom-right corner of the preview window to navigate forward and backward in the course. When you are finished previewing the course, click the X icon in the upper-right corner of the preview window.
    • Publish - To publish your course, click the Publish button. If a part of the course is not yet finished, the course will not yet be available for publishing, and a link to edit any unfinished cards displays in a pop-up window. Click the Edit links for any unfinished items to navigate to the relevant card and resolve any issues. Once the course is ready for publishing and you click the Publish button, the course will be published as an online course to the Course Catalog. See the Publish Lesson section below for more information.
    • Add New Card button - To add a new card to the course, click the Add New Card button.
    • Course Sequence - The display ribbon at the bottom of the page displays thumbnails of your course cards. You can click on a thumbnail to access and make edits to that card, and you can click and drag cards in the ribbon into a different display order.

  • Change fonts - Use fonts to emphasize important information and provide consistency across content. Select text on any card to change the font. To change fonts, add a Text card to your course. Click and drag to select the text you want to format. Formatting options appear. Click the font name to change the font.

Add Hints to Questions

Reinforce important information by adding hints to multiple choice questions. Once a learner selects an option that has a hint, they can learn more about why their selected option is incorrect and/or see information about the right answer.

To add hints to questions:

  1. Add a Question card to your course.
  2. Enter your question.
  3. Enter answer choices along with the hint for each choice.

Publish Course

After clicking the Publish button, a notification appears, alerting you that you must continue configuring the new content via the Course Catalog or Course Console in order to make the content available to users and add metadata such as keywords, subjects, and more. When the course is published to the catalog, it becomes an online course in the system. Click the Go to Course Console button to be navigated to the Course Console page for the content you just published. If you would like to continue editing the content from the Create Tool before accessing the Course Console, you can click the Continue to Edit button instead.

For more information about configuring training metadata via the Course Catalog and Course Console, please see the following resources:

Versioning

Administrator-initiated versioning is not available with the Create Tool. However, when a learner launches a Create Tool course, they will receive the specific published version that was active at time of launch. This allows the progress of the course to be maintained and tracked.

Based on this functionality, it is possible for different learners to view different published versions of the same course. It is recommended that any substantial changes to a course be handled by duplicating the course within Create Tool and publishing a new instance of the course.

Export content as SCORM 1.2

Organizations can download their proprietary content to post on extranet sites or external systems.

To export content, on the landing page, click Export to download the course in SCORM 1.2.

Note: Only published courses that are not duplicated from a Grovo course are available to export. All other courses are greyed out.