For several weeks now I have been covering the process of creating an e-learning course. You can view my previous posts Getting Started, Use of Visuals in a Course, Importing a PowerPoint into Storyline, Customizing the Player and Feedback Layers, and Using Audacity to view the process. This week I am going to cover importing the audio into Storyline and syncing the animations and graphics with the audio.
Shortcuts for Inserting Audio
First, I begin by importing all of the audio into Storyline. Unfortunately there isn't a way to do a mass import. So if you have a large course, the import process can be a little tedious. The only way I found to speed things up a little was to add a shortcut for importing audio on to my Quick Access Toolbar. All you need to do is right click the button for any Storyline feature and choose Add to Quick Access Toolbar. In this case I right clicked the Audio button on the Insert menu and selected Add to Quick Access Toolbar.
Shortcuts for Inserting Audio
First, I begin by importing all of the audio into Storyline. Unfortunately there isn't a way to do a mass import. So if you have a large course, the import process can be a little tedious. The only way I found to speed things up a little was to add a shortcut for importing audio on to my Quick Access Toolbar. All you need to do is right click the button for any Storyline feature and choose Add to Quick Access Toolbar. In this case I right clicked the Audio button on the Insert menu and selected Add to Quick Access Toolbar.
Now I see a small Audio icon on my Quick Access Toolbar. Instead of clicking on Insert and then Audio, all I need to do is hit this Audio icon. Or if you want to use a keyboard shortcut instead you just need to hit the ALT key and then the number key that matches that shortcut. The first icon on the Quick Access Toolbar is "1" and then it moves to the right from there. So in my case below the keyboard shortcut would be ALT + 4, since the Audio icon is the 4th button on the Quick Access Toolbar.
Now that you have your shortcut set up, you can use that on each slide to import the audio you recorded from Audacity.
Other Timesaving Tips for Syncing Audio
Once everything is imported you can begin the process of syncing your audio to your animations and graphics on the screen. You can do this manually by listening to the audio and then moving the items on the timeline. However a great timesaving tip is to use Cue Points. Here is a brief video that shows how to use cue points to sync up with your audio.
Sometimes the audio you have is quite long and makes working with the timeline a bit cumbersome. For way too long I spent a lot of time moving things manually along the very long timelines until I found out about another timesaving tip of how to shorten a long timeline. Here is another brief video that explains how it works.
Additional Resources for Working with Audio
Articulate also has many different tutorials on how to use the timeline, add animations and transitions, as well as sync and edit the audio. Below are just a few:
Using the Timeline
Using the Audio Tools
Adding Animations
Lastly, if you have already added your animations in PowerPoint before importing it into Storyline, you may see some differences in how Storyline handles the animation. Here is a list of the different animations in PowerPoint and how Storyline handles them.
How Microsoft PowerPoint Animations and Transitions Are Imported
Well, that is all for this week's post. Next week I will cover Adding Quiz Questions and Results Slides.
Other Timesaving Tips for Syncing Audio
Once everything is imported you can begin the process of syncing your audio to your animations and graphics on the screen. You can do this manually by listening to the audio and then moving the items on the timeline. However a great timesaving tip is to use Cue Points. Here is a brief video that shows how to use cue points to sync up with your audio.
Sometimes the audio you have is quite long and makes working with the timeline a bit cumbersome. For way too long I spent a lot of time moving things manually along the very long timelines until I found out about another timesaving tip of how to shorten a long timeline. Here is another brief video that explains how it works.
Additional Resources for Working with Audio
Articulate also has many different tutorials on how to use the timeline, add animations and transitions, as well as sync and edit the audio. Below are just a few:
Using the Timeline
Using the Audio Tools
Adding Animations
Lastly, if you have already added your animations in PowerPoint before importing it into Storyline, you may see some differences in how Storyline handles the animation. Here is a list of the different animations in PowerPoint and how Storyline handles them.
How Microsoft PowerPoint Animations and Transitions Are Imported
Well, that is all for this week's post. Next week I will cover Adding Quiz Questions and Results Slides.
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