3 Things You’ll Love About the New Microlearning Feature in Rise 360

If you’re like many course authors, you’ve been creating microlearning courses with Rise 360 for years. After all, delivering training in short bursts is a great way to improve knowledge retention and make it easy for learners to grow their skills despite their busy schedules.

And now, thanks to the new Rise 360 microlearning feature, you can create bite-size courses your learners will love faster than ever.

Let us walk you through how it’ll save you time and give you more control over the learning experience.

1. Get useful content out fast by starting from a template

If you’ve created microlearning before, you know that it often takes longer to design effective short-form content because of how strategic you have to be about what you include.

But now, with Rise 360, you can save time by choosing from a library of templates designed specifically for microlearning. This library includes:

Real-content templates, which are ready to publish as is but are also easy to customize if needed.
Placeholder-content templates, which feature a prebuilt course structure with tips on what to incorporate. So all that’s left to do is pop in your content and you’re good to go!

No matter which option you choose, these professionally designed templates will help you get single-objective courses out to learners fast—whether it’s your first microlearning or your fiftieth.

2. Quickly create custom bite-size learning experiences

It’s always been fast and easy to create custom microlearning from scratch with Rise 360, but this cool new feature shaves even more time off your course-creation workflow. That’s because it automatically takes care of many of the microlearning layout and navigation customization steps you might have done manually in the past.

Before

After

Instead of creating a course, adding a lesson, and hiding the menu to create a microlearning feel, just select Create Microlearning and start adding blocks. It’s as simple as that!

3. Focus learners’ attention With Stepped Navigation Mode

Whether you start from scratch or use a template, the new microlearning feature also gives you an all-new option for directing your learners’ attention and helping them focus in on your content: Stepped Navigation Mode. As the name implies, this setting allows you to display content one step at a time—making it easier to digest.

Stepped navigation defaults to showing a single block for each step, but if you need to combine blocks to get a point across, that’s easy to adjust. You can connect and disconnect blocks in just a few clicks to design an optimal learning experience.

Wrap-Up

The new Rise 360 microlearning feature will help you get great short-form content out quickly. We can’t wait to see what you’ll create!

Want to learn more about this new feature? Be sure to check out this overview video:

To dig even deeper, sign up for our dedicated training webinar. And if you want to hear how other e-learning pros are incorporating microlearning into their overall learning strategies, be sure to join us for a fireside chat with Dave LeFevre, Head of Product Learning Design at SAP.

If you’d like to try it out for yourself but don’t have Articulate 360, start a free 30-day trial.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please leave them in the space below! And be sure to follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn and come back to E-Learning Heroes for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning.

48 Comments

ela vel

1 year ago03/01/23 at 12:50 pm (UTC)

HI! This is great. Do you know maybe how do I move an old course unit to become a new microlearning unit?

1 year ago03/09/23 at 12:48 am (UTC)

Hi Ela! There's not a way to convert a course into a microlearning but here's what I would do. Go into the course that you'd like to instead be microlearning and into a lesson. Add a new block template and save all the blocks you'd like in the microlearning from that lesson (you'll have to repeat if it's from multiple lessons but it's fast and easy!) Then, once you've got your block template(s) created, make a new microlearning and drop them in by adding a new block, heading to the block templates, and adding whatever you'd like! More info on block templates available here: https://articulate.com/support/article/Rise-Creating-Sharing-and-Reusing-Block-Templates

Ax Axmaker

1 year ago03/01/23 at 1:48 pm (UTC)

This is awesome! I noticed that for each microlearning lesson, it starts with a full screen image that the user has to click to get started. I'd like to import these microlearning lessons into my LMS, but I don't want the "start" screen - I'd like the lesson to load as if the learner had already clicked it, so the cover page image is small and at the top. How can I do this? Thanks!

1 year ago03/09/23 at 12:52 am (UTC)

Great question Ax. :) I'll submit this as a feature request on your behalf for now, but I love this idea and based on the "likes" you're getting, I suspect others do too! One thing you could do, assuming your LMS allows you to title courses differently than the Rise title, is not put a course title at all. The cover image would still be big, but you'd have a more decorative intro. Just a thought!

Cyd Walker
Elizabeth Pawlicki

1 year ago03/09/23 at 2:19 pm (UTC)

It would be great to be able to have another font color option for the title, like black you can place over light colored graphics. I see it's available for a plain white background.

1 year ago03/15/23 at 10:48 am (UTC)

Thanks for this Feedback, Cyd! I will share this with our development team. :)

2 months ago02/21/24 at 11:20 am (UTC)

You have likely already learned this -- but I had the same Q - you can toggle on the export to an LMS to REMOVE the header... Doesn't seem to be an option though if you are posting to a website..

Sharon Blanchard

1 year ago03/01/23 at 6:47 pm (UTC)

I would love the ability to use navigation mode for all Rise courses or maybe a lesson template or block that has this capability. We use the process block often, but this may be a better way to teach certain processes.

1 year ago03/09/23 at 10:19 am (UTC)

Thanks for this feedback, Sharon! I will definitely pass this along to the team.

Aaron Weislogel

1 year ago03/02/23 at 9:31 pm (UTC)

Really need a quiz or option to make knowledge checks a pass/fail.

1 year ago03/09/23 at 1:00 am (UTC)

Thanks for the great feedback, Aaron! I'm going to submit a feature request for that on your behalf.

1 year ago03/29/23 at 4:34 pm (UTC)

please, sign me in for this request!

Cyd Walker
Elizabeth Pawlicki

2 months ago02/21/24 at 1:08 pm (UTC)

Hospitals need scored quizzes, and they don't like having to retake an entire quiz if they get a few wrong. Since knowledge checks allow multiple tries it would be helpful to be able to score them. And/or feature request to allow retries per quiz question. End up making quizzes in SL and pulling in as a block. Time consuming, especially for changes.

2 months ago02/22/24 at 10:55 am (UTC)

Thanks for this feedback, Cyd! I'll pass it along to our developers :)

Cyd Walker
Aaron Weislogel

1 year ago03/30/23 at 2:15 pm (UTC)

Yes, it would be great to track a quiz dispersed throughout (track knowledge check) versus at the end.

Chris Lorr

1 year ago03/06/23 at 6:52 pm (UTC)

We currently have the ability to copy individual lessons between courses, how about the ability to 'convert' a Course lesson into a 'microlearning' lesson? And in return, the ability to 'import' a microlearning lesson into a course?

1 year ago03/09/23 at 12:53 am (UTC)

Hi Chris! The microlearning lessons are designed to stand on their own, since they have no menu a way a course does, but I gave Ela some thoughts above on how you might take an existing course and quickly turn it into microlearning using Block Templates! I hope that helps!

Mike Clark

1 year ago03/06/23 at 10:06 pm (UTC)

Is there a way to allow for "scrolling" navigation on desktop with microlearning? Meaning you can go through lessons with your scroll wheel vs clicking the arrow in the bottom corner?

1 year ago03/09/23 at 12:55 am (UTC)

Hi Mike! If you have the navigation in the Theme set to "continuous", you should have a continuous scroll microlearning. In stepped mode, I'm able to scroll using my mouse wheel, but did find that my cursor had to be within active content in that block (for example, when I had an image block my cursor had to be over the image for my scroll wheel on my wireless mouse to work).

1 year ago03/30/23 at 2:22 pm (UTC)

I intuitively wanted to see the arrows in the upper and lower middle versus upper right and lower right.

Sandy Preston

1 year ago03/17/23 at 8:43 am (UTC)

Hi, I attended the free webinar Dave hosted this week which I thought was fab! I am struggling though with understanding how I could create Micro Learns similar to the tomato one Dave showed us? Can you signpost me towards any further learning so I can customise the background blocks with my own imagery/elements? Thanks so much

1 year ago03/30/23 at 2:20 pm (UTC)

Try this YouTube video where she'll share how she created graphics and the sizing you need. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6PXoedDU3A

Dan Allen

1 year ago03/29/23 at 8:30 pm (UTC)

The quiz block needs to be added in order for pass/fail + LMS tracking please. This is a FANTASTIC new feature and will work very well with todays learner- but I cant use it without the quiz option.

11 months ago05/24/23 at 2:10 pm (UTC)

Thanks for sharing this feedback, Dan! I will pass it on to the team.

Cyd Walker

1 year ago03/30/23 at 2:16 pm (UTC)

I 'd like to see a knowledge check question fill in the blank that doesn't require an answer. More like a journal entry with a print feature. I know I can add a SL block, but it's cumbersome.

11 months ago05/24/23 at 2:11 pm (UTC)

Thanks for sharing this idea, Cyd! I will pass it on to the team.

Shari Reisch

12 months ago05/02/23 at 6:28 pm (UTC)

Is there a way to eliminate having to click twice which sometimes occurs when advancing from slide to slide? I think it's because the slide doesn't 'fit', but not sure how to control that?

12 months ago05/02/23 at 6:47 pm (UTC)

I agree, I've tried adjusting padding on blocks before and after which sometimes helps.

11 months ago05/24/23 at 2:12 pm (UTC)

You're right, that happens when the content doesn't fit. It scrolls down before moving on so the learner doesn't miss anything. We'd love to hear more about how you'd like it to work if you have time to submit a feature request: https://articulate.com/support/contact/feature-request

Cyd Walker

12 months ago05/02/23 at 6:50 pm (UTC)

I've wondered if the it's more intuitive to have the navigation arrows in the middle of the page versus off the right. I know mostly you can advance by scrolling. But people taking courses in my org sometimes don't notice the arrows off to right, so I add a "navigation hint". Would be nice not to add that.

11 months ago05/24/23 at 2:13 pm (UTC)

Thanks for that feedback, Cyd! I'll pass it along.

Adam Bloomfield

10 months ago06/21/23 at 5:33 am (UTC)

Hi, has anyone used the new Rise 360 microlearning as a presentation tool? Say instead of using PowerPoint for facilitated learning. If so, would you be willing to share your experience? It's been posed to me that this would be a good direction to go. I have been a learner in a test and learn of doing this and I'm not convinced.

10 months ago06/22/23 at 8:43 am (UTC)

Hi Adam, I've definitely done this! I find it's so much quicker and easier than building a PowerPoint presentation and looks so sharp. Not to mention then it's easy to share with people who want to review it afterward.

10 months ago06/27/23 at 10:29 pm (UTC)

Is there anywhere you could lead me to a good example of doing this? I'd love to see it in action, from what I've seen so far it's simply been an online learning experience put up as a facilitated session.

10 months ago06/30/23 at 11:52 am (UTC)

I don't think I've seen an example of this in the community yet with the microlearning feature, but here's an example using a full-length Rise 360 feature: https://blogs.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/how-i-use-rise-360-as-my-presentation-tool-with-zoom/

10 months ago07/04/23 at 2:13 am (UTC)

Thank you I appreciate it.

Rachel Sirr

7 months ago09/11/23 at 11:39 am (UTC)

What are the advantages of using the microlearning feature vs creating a one-lesson course? (aside from speed/having templates). Is it easier to share the microlearning (outside an LMS - e.g. via a Slack channel/email?)

7 months ago10/11/23 at 9:00 am (UTC)

Hi Rachel, Sorry for the delay, I didn't see your question until now. The main advantage of the microlearning option is that there's no menu and you can choose to use the stepped navigation.

Megan Castles

7 months ago10/11/23 at 4:14 am (UTC)

Is there any way to embed one of these microlearning modules into a larger rise course module? I love the clean appearance, useability and adaptability for all devices but for the kind of learning we create a text-based menu is essential

7 months ago10/11/23 at 8:59 am (UTC)

Hi Megan, There's not currently a way to combine microlearning and full-length Rise 360 courses. But full-length Rise 360 courses are also responsive. Are you wanting to do this mostly to take advantage of the stepped navigation?

6 months ago10/11/23 at 11:12 pm (UTC)

Hi Alison, Yeah, the clean-stepped navigation, to focus on learning bites one at a time, rather than having to use continue buttons to get this effect in a lesson. Ideally would like to be able to use that microlearning style as a built-in interaction or lesson option in a larger course file.

6 months ago10/12/23 at 9:28 am (UTC)

I see what you mean! I'll pass that feedback along to our developers. In the meantime, have you considered uploading a series of microlearning courses to your LMS? That way learners can take them one at a time when they have a moment? A lot of learners prefer a series of short courses to one long course, in the same way many people prefer watching a series of episodes rather than one long movie. Something to consider!

6 months ago10/18/23 at 12:53 am (UTC)

Thank you! :)

2 months ago02/16/24 at 5:12 pm (UTC)

Any update about this question? i would like to do the same in a course! thanks!

Courtney Faith

5 months ago11/20/23 at 6:31 pm (UTC)

Is there a way to restrict navigation in a microlearning course? I would like to make sure the learner has completed all the content before moving through to the next section.

5 months ago11/27/23 at 3:24 pm (UTC)

Hi Courtney, The best way to do this would be to use the Continue button, like in a regular Rise 360 course :)

3 Things You’ll Love About the New Microlearning Feature in Rise 360

1. Get useful content out fast by starting from a template

2. Quickly create custom bite-size learning experiences

3. Focus learners’ attention With Stepped Navigation Mode

Wrap-Up

Related Content

Rise 360: Create New Microlearning

3 Steps for Creating Your First Rise 360 Course

Using Microlearning in Rise 360 #407

48 Comments