\n

Scenarios are one of my favorite ways to immerse learners and give them a safe space to practice applying a new process, or to explore the nuances of performing their jobs.

\n

You’ll see two types of scenarios: linear or branched. I use linear scenarios when I need to help learners explore a series of sequential steps or practice applying a simple process. But when I really want my learners to practice decision-making and fine-tune their performance, I lean on branching scenarios.

\n

Creating scenarios, particularly branching scenarios, used to require a lot of time. But now, whether I need a linear or a branched scenario, creating one is quicker and easier than ever with the new scenario block in Rise 360.

\n

Using the scenario block, I was able to create the following interactive branching scenario in just a few minutes’ time! In this scenario, I give restaurant servers an engrossing way to practice upselling their customers to more expensive menu items. Check it out!

\n

\n

View my scenario block in action

\n

Want to see how easy it is to create a branched scenario like mine with the scenario block? Keep reading. I’ll give you a quick walk-through of the process I followed. Spoiler alert: it’s super-simple—and fun!

\n

Overview of the Process

\n

Creating a branched scenario boils down to just four steps:

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1. Add a scenario block to your lesson.
\n
2. Add a scene or scenes to your scenario block (I’ll explain more about those below).
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3. Customize your scenes with Content Library 360 characters and background images.
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4. Add content text and branching.
\n

\n

Let’s do a quick walk-through of each step.

\n

Add a Scenario Block to Your Lesson

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Scenario block is an interactive block type, so you’ll find it under the interactive blocks menu. Here’s how to navigate to it.

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1. Select All Blocks from the blocks shortcut bar. Or, click the insert block icon (+) that appears when you mouse-over a boundary between blocks.
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2. Scroll down and choose the interactive category in the block library, and select Scenario.
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This animated .GIF should point you in the right direction:

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\n

Add a Scene or Scenes to Your Scenario Block

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Scenarios are made up of scenes that are, in turn, made up of content. If you’re planning to build a linear scenario, you might find you only need one scene for your project. But if you want to build a branching scenario, you’ll want to add more scenes to your project so you can change characters and backgrounds and branch to other content based on the learner’s choices. For example, in my project, I used three scenes to align with the three skills I needed my learners to practice.

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To add a scene, just mouse-over your scenario block and click the Edit button that appears. Here’s an animated .GIF to demonstrate how to add a scene to your scenario block:

\n

\n

Customize Your Scene(s)

\n

Now you’re ready to customize your scenes with Content Library 360 characters and a background image.

\n

To customize your scene, click either Edit Background or Edit Character. I found the perfect backdrop for my scene right in Content Library 360, but you can upload an image of your own if you’d like. I also found the perfect character for my scene, Ammon, right in Content Library 360.

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Here are two more animated .GIFs of these steps.

\n

\n

\n

 

\n

Add Content, Text, and Branching

\n

With your scenario block inserted and your scenes customized with the perfect characters and background, you’re ready to add content, pop in text, and add some branching.

\n

1. Start by clicking the Add Content button. From there, you can choose between dialogues and informative text content. Whichever option you choose, you can still offer learners multiple paths to take through the scenario. In my example I used a mix of both types; dialogues to simulate a conversation and informative text content to reinforce feedback.

\n

To add dialogue to a scene, just choose dialogue from the content type drop-down menu in the upper right of the title bar. Here’s a .GIF showing you where to find that drop-down menu:

\n

\n

2. Now you can type or copy in text content for your dialogues or informative text. You can also type or copy in text for answer options and feedback.

\n

\n

3. With all of your content in place, you’re ready to add branching by using the Go to menu to specify where you’d like the learner to go next.

\n

By default, learners are taken to the next piece of content in the scene. To change that, just link to a different piece of content or to another scene. This gives you loads of flexibility, so you can do things like loop learners through a scene until they select the correct answer option, as I did. Or, you could gradually lead them down a path until they reach the end of the scenario. The choice is yours and the creative options are endless.

\n

Pro Tip: I like to preview my scenario from the beginning just to make sure everything is flowing the way I want it to. Here’s how you can do that, right in the scenario block:

\n

\n

And when my scenario block is perfect, I like to save it as a block template so I can quickly reuse it in my current course or in future courses. I feel like I’m doing my future self a big favor and saving even more design time!

\n

\n

I’m convinced that creating branched scenarios just doesn’t get much faster or easier than with scenario block.

\n

Ready to learn more about scenario block? Don’t miss Tom Kuhlmann’s awesome, step-by-step video tutorial on working with scenario blocks in Rise 360.

\n

Want to see more scenario blocks in action? Check out my full course example, 3 Techniques for Successful Upselling.

\n

And if you haven’t already, jump on over to Rise 360 and take a few minutes to play around and explore all the exciting new possibilities with scenario block. Then swing back by and let me know: what will you create with the new scenario block? Share your ideas in the comments, below.

\n

Want to try something you learned here, but don’t have Articulate 360? Start a free 30-day trial, and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning.

\n

Scenarios are one of my favorite ways to immerse learners and give them a safe space to practice applying a new process, or to explore the nuances of performing their jobs.

\n

You’ll see two types of scenarios: linear or branched. I use linear scenarios when I need to help learners explore a series of sequential steps or practice applying a simple process. But when I really want my learners to practice decision-making and fine-tune their performance, I lean on branching scenarios.

\n

Creating scenarios, particularly branching scenarios, used to require a lot of time. But now, whether I need a linear or a branched scenario, creating one is quicker and easier than ever with the new scenario block in Rise 360.

\n

Using the scenario block, I was able to create the following interactive branching scenario in just a few minutes’ time! In this scenario, I give restaurant servers an engrossing way to practice upselling their customers to more expensive menu items. Check it out!

\n

\n

View my scenario block in action

\n

Want to see how easy it is to create a branched scenario like mine with the scenario block? Keep reading. I’ll give you a quick walk-through of the process I followed. Spoiler alert: it’s super-simple—and fun!

\n

Overview of the Process

\n

Creating a branched scenario boils down to just four steps:

\n

\n
1. Add a scenario block to your lesson.
\n
2. Add a scene or scenes to your scenario block (I’ll explain more about those below).
\n
3. Customize your scenes with Content Library 360 characters and background images.
\n
4. Add content text and branching.
\n

\n

Let’s do a quick walk-through of each step.

\n

Add a Scenario Block to Your Lesson

\n

Scenario block is an interactive block type, so you’ll find it under the interactive blocks menu. Here’s how to navigate to it.

\n

\n
1. Select All Blocks from the blocks shortcut bar. Or, click the insert block icon (+) that appears when you mouse-over a boundary between blocks.
\n
2. Scroll down and choose the interactive category in the block library, and select Scenario.
\n

\n

This animated .GIF should point you in the right direction:

\n

\n

Add a Scene or Scenes to Your Scenario Block

\n

Scenarios are made up of scenes that are, in turn, made up of content. If you’re planning to build a linear scenario, you might find you only need one scene for your project. But if you want to build a branching scenario, you’ll want to add more scenes to your project so you can change characters and backgrounds and branch to other content based on the learner’s choices. For example, in my project, I used three scenes to align with the three skills I needed my learners to practice.

\n

To add a scene, just mouse-over your scenario block and click the Edit button that appears. Here’s an animated .GIF to demonstrate how to add a scene to your scenario block:

\n

\n

Customize Your Scene(s)

\n

Now you’re ready to customize your scenes with Content Library 360 characters and a background image.

\n

To customize your scene, click either Edit Background or Edit Character. I found the perfect backdrop for my scene right in Content Library 360, but you can upload an image of your own if you’d like. I also found the perfect character for my scene, Ammon, right in Content Library 360.

\n

Here are two more animated .GIFs of these steps.

\n

\n

\n

 

\n

Add Content, Text, and Branching

\n

With your scenario block inserted and your scenes customized with the perfect characters and background, you’re ready to add content, pop in text, and add some branching.

\n

1. Start by clicking the Add Content button. From there, you can choose between dialogues and informative text content. Whichever option you choose, you can still offer learners multiple paths to take through the scenario. In my example I used a mix of both types; dialogues to simulate a conversation and informative text content to reinforce feedback.

\n

To add dialogue to a scene, just choose dialogue from the content type drop-down menu in the upper right of the title bar. Here’s a .GIF showing you where to find that drop-down menu:

\n

\n

2. Now you can type or copy in text content for your dialogues or informative text. You can also type or copy in text for answer options and feedback.

\n

\n

3. With all of your content in place, you’re ready to add branching by using the Go to menu to specify where you’d like the learner to go next.

\n

By default, learners are taken to the next piece of content in the scene. To change that, just link to a different piece of content or to another scene. This gives you loads of flexibility, so you can do things like loop learners through a scene until they select the correct answer option, as I did. Or, you could gradually lead them down a path until they reach the end of the scenario. The choice is yours and the creative options are endless.

\n

Pro Tip: I like to preview my scenario from the beginning just to make sure everything is flowing the way I want it to. Here’s how you can do that, right in the scenario block:

\n

\n

And when my scenario block is perfect, I like to save it as a block template so I can quickly reuse it in my current course or in future courses. I feel like I’m doing my future self a big favor and saving even more design time!

\n

\n

I’m convinced that creating branched scenarios just doesn’t get much faster or easier than with scenario block.

\n

Ready to learn more about scenario block? Don’t miss Tom Kuhlmann’s awesome, step-by-step video tutorial on working with scenario blocks in Rise 360.

\n

Want to see more scenario blocks in action? Check out my full course example, 3 Techniques for Successful Upselling.

\n

And if you haven’t already, jump on over to Rise 360 and take a few minutes to play around and explore all the exciting new possibilities with scenario block. Then swing back by and let me know: what will you create with the new scenario block? Share your ideas in the comments, below.

\n

Want to try something you learned here, but don’t have Articulate 360? Start a free 30-day trial, and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning.

Hi Trina, do you know if you guys are planning to let us add illustrated characters into the scenario block? At the moment it's just photographic I think. Thanks!

Hi Katie. I don't have any details on plans for including illustrated characters in scenario block, but it's a great suggestion. If you have minute, could you share it with our dev team? Here's a link to our feature request form: https://articulate.com/support/contact/feature-request

This is fantastic. What does/would the registration button at the end link to?

Obviously this is for a fictional restaurant, but I could see that registration link pointing to an LMS or web form that would allow learners to register for additional sales clinics or other types of intensive training. I hope that gives you some ideas, James.

Sure does. I'm in a corporate environment right now, but looking to create out-of-the-box stuff like this for independent retailers as a side hustle, so that kind of thing is super helpful :-)

Hi, I've been using the Scenario block in Rise to create a journey for users, the outcome is that depending on their responses they will be able to see different collateral including a media, PDF's and link to further content. I've been trying to build this all in Rise but I can't see how I can 'branch out' of the Scenario to a specific Lesson; is this possible?
e.g. Lesson 1 - the Scenario block... ends with 3 possible outcomes
Lesson 2 - Outcome 1 video and pdf
Lesson 3 Outcome 2 pdf and audio podcast
Lesson 4 Outcome 3 video and links to other sites.

Am I trying to do too much in Rise - should I be using Story Line? If so can I use the Rise Scenario block in Storyline?

Hi Mike. Thanks for reading my article sharing your question with me. There isn't currently a way to link to another lesson in your Rise 360 course from within the scenario block. You can hyperlink text inside the scenario block, but that hyperlink can't point to another lesson. If you want to send your learners down a course-wide, customized path, I think that's definitely a use case for Storyline 360. If you'd prefer to stay in Rise 360, another option would be to include a button stack block immediately after the scenario block. With the button stack block, you can link to other lessons within your Rise 360 course. The drawback with that, as you can imagine, is that it depends on the learner clicking on the correct button aligned to their scenario outcome. I hope this explanation clarifies the current capabilities of the scenario block. If branching from the scenario block to a different part of the course is a feature you'd like to see, please chime in with a feature request when you have a few minutes: https://articulate.com/support/contact/feature-request Thanks again!

Hey Trina
I have been playing with the scenario blocks and think they are great - I work in the medical field so new ways of delivering scenarios are great.
Just wonder if there would be a way of having more than three options in RISE.
I am aware that we could do something similar on Storyline but we are hoping in the very near futyre to be bake to use our LMS accros various devices and know that Storyline doesn't always work very well on a mobile devices like cell phones.

thanks in advance

Hi Lyn. There isn't currently a way to provide more than three answer options, but I think that would be a nice feature. If you have a few moments, could you share it with our dev team and explain how that would benefit you and your learners? Here's the form: https://articulate.com/support/contact/feature-request Thanks for sharing your feedback with me!

Hi. Looks great! I see it is also possible to upload our own backgrounds. Is it also possible to upload our own characters?

Hi Willianne. Thanks for your kind words! Right now, only the built-in characters are available. One workaround you might be interested in exploring is to add your own characters to the background image. The downside of that is that you would sacrifice the change of expressions based on the learner's responses.

Hello Willianne,
How comfortable are you with opening the SCORM package and making changes there? Each of the characters is downloaded as a .jpg so you could replace these with your characters with each expression, zip the file back up and you should have your characters in place.
You would need to do a lot of testing though.

Thank you both so much for your workarounds!

How can I copy from one scene to the next in Rise scenarios? Sometimes I want to use the same interaction/text in 2 scenes but don't want to retype.

Hi Sherri. Right now there isn't a way to copy content from one scene to the next in the Rise 360 scenario block, although you can copy content from within the scene. As long as you're not changing scenes, using the duplicate function (it's a dropdown menu under the ... to the right of each piece of content) is your best bet for now.

I am a new Rise user. Your article and the responses to the questions above have been very helpful.
Is it possible to use dialogue (without including response), but have control in where the learner is directed?
For example; I want Mary to say \"Welcome to class...\" in a dialogue/speech bubble. When the learner clicks the continue button (continue button appears because I am not including different responses for the learner), I want the scenario to jump to another scene. I am not seeing where I have the option to direct the learner to that other scene.
I have also found that without responses entered into dialogue, I could be sent to the next scene or various other places (which seem to be random) within the training.

Can the responses to each questions be tracked in the LMS?

Hi, I made a small scenario in Rise and would like to change state of the character in the start- and end scene (the same way that is possible in the dialogues eg. happy, neutral, negative, talking reacting and so on).
But I can´t find any way to change state of the character in the start-and- end scene though. Is it possible?