Week 2 - Group 1 Discussion

Here's my QuickShare link: 

https://share.articulate.com/QLQrTItqcBUauILXb9xiP

I really enjoyed this entire exercise and learned quite a bit! 

3 changes I made: I used AI constantly throughout the course. I decided to change the opening paragraphs to Quote. I uploaded my headshot to go with the quote and used the text from the opening paragraph as the quote. Below that I added an AI Audio block using the text of the quote.

Which AI feature or capability was most valuable: For me the Instant Convert was the most valuable. I used it throughout the entire course to add variety. I also love the Generate Knowledge Check and Generate Quiz features.

What challenges did you face when trying to get AI to produce the results you wanted? Getting the kind of icon images I wanted for flashcards. I had to really work with the prompts to get the results I was looking for. 

When generating summaries in each lesson I struggled with getting the tool to produce the results that I wanted. I found that by keeping the prompts simple and doing one change at a time worked the best.

My quick link

This was fun! I wish I had more time to truly make the course more engaging for learners, but here's what I did:

1. Share 3 changes you made to the Rise AI Course Draft to improve learner engagement. Why did you make those changes to your project? Be specific!
   1. I combined a couple of blocks that were a bit repetitive. I felt only one combined block would be more understandable for the learner. I also combined some images and related text to improve cognitive load.
   2. I reorganized a few of the blocks so they would be more logical and make more sense to the learner.
   3. I changed the tone of the content to be more casual and to use plain language. I did this to improve readability.
2. Which AI feature or capability was most valuable in your workflow, and why? Did anything about it surprise you?  The spelling of words in images has improved greatly! I think the most valuable feature in my workflow for this project was the image generation, especially the ability to customize the image style. It resulted in consistent images and style throughout the course. Plus I saved a lot of time by not sourcing images.
3. What challenges did you face when trying to get AI to produce the results you wanted? The AI Assistant would include my custom style palette in the actual images. Plus, I often had to add "no words" to the image prompt because it kept including words that were not needed. 

How to we keep in the interactivity and engaging nature of a block yet still be WCAG compliant with accessibility needs?

 

My Quick Link

Share 3 changes you made to the Rise AI Course Draft to improve learner engagement. Why did you make those changes to your project? Be specific!

• When I first generated the AI Course Draft, I chose to have it incorporate AI images and interactions. It built a great starting point but definitely needed refinement to fix some of the repetition of activities/blocks.
• I used AI to generate an image for the cover page. For the prompt, I used the Course Description we were provided to create an image prompt. I didn't like the first iterations that it provided, so I adjusted the prompt and changed the style to Cinematic Photo.
• I also used AI to simplify text in spaces where I noticed the the tell-tale AI em dash to make the course feel more human :)
• Edited the beginning of the Four Pillars of Team Happiness lesson using the Opening with a Hook strategy.
• Used AI to generate images for Flash Card activity.
• In the Purpose and Motivation at Work lesson I used AI Instant Convert to change the Understanding Purpose at Work section from flashcards to an accordion. Since I used Flash Cards on the first lesson, I wanted variation.

I did do other AI edits but didn't want to list them all out here - there'd be too many to list.

Which AI feature or capability was most valuable in your workflow, and why? Did anything about it surprise you?

• Learning about the AI Block Tools was especially helpful. I didn't realize the Instant Convert feature was an option before this cohort and many times would duplicate activities through copy/paste. This is such a time saver!

 

What challenges did you face when trying to get AI to produce the results you wanted?

• As to be expected with AI, I found it difficult to keep consistency between AI images (especially for my flashcard activity).

 

I really enjoyed this course and learned a lot. Thank you!

 

 

https://share.articulate.com/a37bN3lPTXj1Ps7zGs21X

I really enjoyed participating in this cohort and learned a lot that I will be able to put into practice right away!

• Three changes I made:
  
  1. I used the instant convert feature to change several areas throughout the course that were text heavy to convert them into lists, statements and images when appropriate.
  2. I used the timeline feature for the first time to layout a process.
  3. I added a lesson at the end to summarize the course and used AI audio to congratulate the learner on completing the course. 
• Most valuable AI feature:
  • I really like the instant convert feature as can quickly help you see what your content would look like in a different format. 
  • I also really like that you have the ability to change your text tone, length and focus so quickly. Sometimes just seeing what AI will produce helps me come up with the text that I really would like to convey on my own and I just use it as a way to enhance what I already have. 
• AI challenges:
  • Like others, I still struggle with writing solid prompts to get the image I desire especially when you have written words on the screen. 

https://share.articulate.com/BfiRQLCA5wTTDgEYdqkAE

Share 3 changes you made

1. Prompted AI to rewrite the course intro using an engaging hook
2. Incorporated AI audio on a few blocks
3. Created a new custom image prompt and used it throughout the course

Which AI feature or capability was most valuable

• It was amazing being able to give Rise source material and have it create the course for you. It helps get you started, and then you can tweak it from there.

What challenges

• Adding the custom prompts. That’s the biggest thing about AI is the prompting. I know the more I do it, the more successful I’ll be.

https://share.articulate.com/Qb4lLHpxvQxpDa9aIgafk

1. Share 3 changes to improve learner engagement.

First, I added a knowledge check quiz and revised the questions to be scenario-based. Rather than having learners simply recall information, I wanted them to apply what they learned to realistic situations they may encounter in their roles. This creates a more interactive learning experience and helps reinforce knowledge transfer to the job.

Another change I made was utilizing the Instant Convert feature on multiple content blocks. This helped me explore different ways to present information and identify layouts that were more visually engaging and easier for learners to consume instead of relying on text-heavy content.

Additionally, I incorporated AI Audio and reflection prompts using custom blocks in the course. These elements introduced greater variety to the learning experience, encouraged learners to pause and think about how the content applies to their work, and helped break up the course with a mix of media and interaction. It was also an opportunity to explore Rise features that I had not previously used, which enhanced both the learner experience and my own development as a course creator.

2. Which AI feature or capability was most valuable?

The most valuable AI capability was the ability to generate an entire Rise course draft from source files. As an instructional designer, creating that initial structure and first draft can be time-consuming. Having AI generate a starting point significantly reduces development time and gave me immediate ideas for course organization, content presentation, and learner interactions.

What surprised me most was the quality of the initial draft. While it still required review, editing, and customization, it provided a strong foundation that accelerated the design process and helped overcome the "blank page" challenge.

3. What challenges did you face?

One challenge was obtaining accurate course completion time estimates. When I asked AI to shorten the introduction and include an estimated completion time, it initially estimated four hours for a course that would realistically take far less time to complete. After asking it to calculate the estimate differently, it returned a ten-hour estimate, which was even less realistic. This highlighted the importance of reviewing AI-generated recommendations and applying human judgment.

Another challenge was the AI editing workflow. If I accidentally clicked outside the prompt window while writing an AI Edit Prompt, my text was lost and I had to start over, which was frustrating and interrupted my workflow.

I also encountered an issue when generating quiz questions during the initial course creation process. The quiz content was blank when generated as part of the first draft. However, once the course draft was created, I asked AI to generate a quiz separately and it produced several strong scenario-based questions. The main issue was that some questions appeared to be written as multiple-answer questions, yet only one answer was marked as correct, requiring additional review and refinement.

 

https://share.articulate.com/Nia8BgUDaQtzQ0WdOCJbX

Me again - I wanted to try something pretty wild with a tool that I think is really handy. One aspect of the AI Assistant I didn't see really covered was the post-creation options you can access from the title page of the course, in this case the Update Content. While it's still in a beta state, I thought it would be fun to try.

For the changes, I gave the following prompt:
Please change the tone and voice of the entire course content to simulate the Star Wars character Yoda.

The AI responded:
I can't help imitate Yoda's distinctive voice, but I can rewrite the entire course in a similar style: wise, concise, inverted sentence structure and mentor-like.

And it WORKED. So, I thought I'd republish the new version, having saved a snapshot prior to making this update. I also added a new AI Avatar to the summary, so feel free to check that out.

Rise Quick Share Link: https://share.articulate.com/33zJ95b1ylBidj4jMSHQH

• Three changes I made to the course draft:
  • I aimed to create a consistent structure for each lesson, starting with brief intro text, a formatted statement with a tinted background, and an AI-generated photo that illustrated the theme of the lesson (and used AI to generate the captions). Each lesson contains a tabbed interaction with multimedia, flash cards, a table, a process interaction, and a self-check question. Each lesson ends with a lesson summary; I used Edit with AI to simplify the writing and convert the text block to bullets.
  • I used Instant Convert to change the format of many default interactions from the draft course or text blocks. For example, I converted every accordion interaction to a tabbed interaction. Within the tabbed interaction, I inserted AI-generated photos and audio to replace text descriptions and add interactivity/interest. I used Edit with AI to bold key terms and simplify writing. In the process interactions, I inserted AI-generated photos and bulleted lists. 
  • I added Continue dividers to break up content and conserve mental load. I used AI Assistant to generate a course-wide quiz with feedback that was specific to the answer choice. 
    
    
• Most valuable AI feature: The most fun to use was the ability to generate graphics and audio within interactions using AI. "Create AI image prompt" was really useful, although I mostly tried using the default description text or my own brain to write prompts. I am not sure if we'll be able to use these features in the learning projects we currently develop on my team given our current process, branding standards, team structure, etc., but it was super-fun to practice using them. 
  
  The most valuable feature that I will most likely use going forward in my actual Rise courses is the "Edit with AI" to convert text blocks to bullets, change to sentence case, change tone/simplify writing, etc. 
  
  
• AI challenges: Image prompts, hands-down. I am still a novice at writing effective ones to generate images that I have in mind. One pattern that I noticed in Rise when generating images of people is that I had to specify diversity with every prompt, or Rise would just generate images of white young people (usually male). This was surprising to me -- I thought Rise would "learn" after re-prompting to include diversity multiple times, but it never seemed to catch on. 
  
  Another challenge I encountered several times was having to re-prompt AI to reapply sentence case to titles and headings. For some reason, if I made multiple edits with AI after converting to sentence case, the text reverted to initial caps sometimes. Table formatting (cell shading, etc.) using Edit with AI was also a bit clunky -- sometimes it worked great, other times it didn't seem to obey and I ended up making manual formatting changes (which also is a bit clunky in Rise). 

Overall, great cohort and I really enjoyed the demos/tips, practice activities, and the final project! 

Here's my course: 

https://share.articulate.com/3xnzMTMTqvtfHOCJGwoMz

 

1. 3 changes I made
   • Changed list into accordion for more details
   • Created a custom AI image for employees collaborating (watercolor painting)
   • Changed quiz to not just say "correct" or "incorrect" and offer better feedback
   • 

      

2. Most valuable AI feature or capability 
   • Probably converting to interactions. It helps to make stuff less "word-y"
3. Challenges faced with AI
   • After changing the text, I struggled to remember to click the "Replace" button. But that's more UX-related than AI...