Step Type Overview
Benny Jekel avatar
Written by Benny Jekel
Updated over a week ago

A SimTutor "Step" is what a Sim, or module, is made out of. Think of each "Step" as a slide in a PowerPoint, except that each "Step" within SimTutor has some added functionality. See below for a brief description of each.

To view any of these in more detail, visit our "Step Types" section.

This step is exclusively used for the planning tool, and allows you to create a "placeholder" type step that you can use to plan out your step. Once you are ready to convert this planning step, you can change it to any of our other step types while still retaining it's step name and it's branching properties (when applicable).

This is your step for displaying a simple static image for the user. As basic as it gets, you upload an image, that image will be displayed to your learner, and they must simply click anywhere to proceed to the next step. Great for title pages, or just displaying existing PowerPoint slides as-is.

As the name suggests, it displays a video to the learner. You have a few choices for upload qualities depending on what kind of quality you are after. When the learner gets to this step, the video will playback to them, and once finished, it will automatically move to the next step.

There are a few different Quiz options to the quiz step, firstly the classic multi-choice, one correct answer quiz. You also have the option to create a multiple correct answer quiz, where the learner must select more than one answer to get the step correct. Lastly, there is an option for a drag and drop type quiz, where the learner will have to drag the answers in the correct order in order to proceed correctly.

The new Text Input step allows for your learners to use their keyboard to type into a text box that can be placed anywhere on the step. The learner's answer must match a specific set of set answers given by the author for them to complete the step. This step can be used for questions where multiple choice answers aren't desired, and you'd prefer the learner to come up with the answer on their own. It's also great for software simulations where text input is needed.

The Hotspot Step is our most versatile step, and really embraces the simulation aspect of training. The goal of this step is that you must identify the correct part of an image - this is known as a hotspot. There can be lots more to it than just that, such as adding tools that must be placed in the correct position, or multiple correct answers like we saw in the quiz step.

This nifty step allows the learner to click and drag their screen to scroll through a sequence of images and see a change between said images. This can be used for things such as changing a location of an object in a background, or finding the correct rotation of a tool.

This Step is very similar to a Hotspot step, except when the areas are hovered over, an image can be displayed somewhere on the screen. What image is displayed can be determined by which hotspot is hovered over. This is great for something like hovering over a machine and possibly seeing a zoomed in view with a brief description for what each part is used for.

Whilst not technically a "Step" the Randomizer allows you to randomize a selection of steps so that the user gets a different experience each time they go through the sim. This step heavily utilising branching - a function that can take users down different paths.

The Console Step is another step similar to the Hotspot step, except rather than using drawn hotspots, you utilize uploaded images as "buttons" that need to be clicked instead. These buttons can have on/off/hover states, so you can see feedback as you hover over each button.

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