Death, Taxes, and E-Learning Mistakes #32

Actually...we can’t help you cheat death or skip taxes, but we can show you common e-learning mistakes so you can avoid them.

E-Learning Challenge #32

Two weeks ago you told us what e-learning designers do. Last week you showed us what you’ve done as e-learning designers. What about telling and showing what e-learning designers shouldn’t do?

Show what we shouldn’t do? What is this, opposite day or something?

It’s kind of like like opposite day. If you’re like most course designers, you’ve learned more from your mistakes than you have your successes. And showcasing e-learning mistakes is what this week’s challenge is all about!

Challenge of the week

This week, your challenge is to design one or more slides featuring common course mistakes. Yes, mistakes. Unleash those pet peeves and visual nightmares. Don’t hold back. Amplify the mistakes. Let us feel the pain of bad e-learning.

There are quite a few ways you can approach this challenge. You can focus on visual design mistakes, usability and navigation mistakes, quizzing mistakes, or general online training mistakes you or “someone you know” has made.

There are two parts to this challenge:

• List the mistakes. Use the comments below to list the mistakes you’re highlighting.
• Show the mistakes. Design your slide using the mistakes you listed.

Please list the mistakes. Next week, you'll use your list to make fixes to your files!

Tools

You can use any program you like to build your bad e-learning examples.

Last week’s challenge

Before you unlearn everything you know in this week’s challenge, take a look at all the amazing work you and your fellow community workers have done recently:

• Patrick Gurczynski kicked off portfolio week with a sporty design featuring fast-paced animations and transitions.
• Lindsey Ball introduced herself to the community by sharing her interactive portfolio. Welcome again to E-Learning Heroes, Lindsey!
• Dan Sweigert soared through this week’s challenge to showcase his e-learning examples and expertise. Dan also produced the background audio used in his portfolio. Read more about Dan’s process and portfolio in this blog post.
• Dianne Hope shared her e-portfolio using a metro-themed design. You can read more about Dianne’s template on her blog. This one turned out really well, Dianne!
• Donna Carson jumped into her first challenge with a desktop-themed, click-and-explore interaction. This type of design always works well for interactive resumes because designers can easily add new portfolio projects to the existing design. Well done, Donna!
• Jackie Van Nice shared a theatrical resume inspired by classic movie posters and spy thrillers. You’ll definitely want to read all about this one and how it came together.
• Zara Ogden shared her interactive resume featuring a creative layout combined with interactive objects showcasing her experience.
• Jerson Campos shared his interactive resume that features a timeline and interactive objects highlighting his e-learning experience.
• PS Wong jumped into the community to share this quick example she worked on in a recent workshop. Great start, PS! Looking forward to seeing you around the community.
• Allison Nederveld shared her visual resume featuring an elegant flat design to showcase her skills and experience. Allison generously shared a template version of her resume that you can download and use for your own projects. Learn more about the template and how to edit it for your own needs.
• Nancy Woinoski has a lot going on in her interactive portfolio. You’ll definitely want to see this project! Great job, Nancy!
• Laura Payette brings a lot to the table in this creative resume that features an interactive timeline, click-and-reveals, and more.
• Jeff Kortenbosch shared a creative concept using Articulate Replay combined with text captions.
• Nicholas Sargent shared his mobile-friendly portfolio that features video summaries and highlights of his e-learning skills and experience. Thanks for sharing, Nicholas!

More about the e-learning challenges:

The weekly challenges are ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of the previous challenges anytime you want. We’ll feature your work and provide feedback if you request it.

Wishing you the baddest week ever, E-Learning Heroes!

Even if you’re using a trial version of Studio ’13 or Storyline, you can absolutely publish your challenge files. Just sign up for a fully functional, free 30-day trial, and have at it. And remember to post your questions and comments in the forums; we're here to help. For more e-learning tips, examples, and downloads, follow us on Twitter.