Week 2 - Group 3 Discussion

Hi everyone! I hope you are all doing well! I finished my assignment last week. 

https://share.articulate.com/mtYHN8E_vY_G350eg7pQh

 I focused on using AI as much as possible, so mine may not look the prettiest, but I did explore and try a wide range of features.

I also attempted to use the AI video generator. However, I ran into some issues. It took about 40 minutes each time after I entered the script prompt, only for the system to return an error. This happened multiple times, so I eventually decided to remove that part. I am not sure if it was just a Friday issue or if anyone else experienced the same problem, but I would love to hear if you did.

Other than that, I really like how it helps my process move faster. At the same time, I think I will focus on working on one block at a time rather than a whole course. I noticed that it sometimes changes a lot of my wording, and I need to preserve that since it reflects the approved language of my organization.

Did anyone else notice that too?

Hello all.  
Here is my course:  

https://share.articulate.com/b0C2PaI8nm0ob4Mcqm0LU

 

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!
2. Which AI feature or capability was most valuable in your workflow, and why? Did anything about it surprise you?
3. What challenges did you face when trying to get AI to produce the results you wanted?

I changed every image.  I wanted it to be a cartoon feel, so I updated each image to be a 3D (think Pixar) cartoon image.  A lot of the prompts were already great, but they almost all started with "realistic" or something to that nature, so I needed to tweak each prompt.  I did this because we currently use stock photos and they can be so boring sometimes, so I wanted something bright that would grab my learner's attention right off the bat.  I also made the tone of the project "Friendly", less formal.  I am in retail - we try to have a non-formal tone with our front-line workers.  I think it helps with monotony and "policy" speak.  Keeps them engaged as though they are more reading a story than learning a policy or procedure. I added AI Voiceover to each lesson to cut the reading down a bit.  I only did it on 3 small paragraphs because I wanted to see what it looked like to change each section from paragraph to list to interaction, but I do like having a voiceover break in there so it isn't just all reading. 

I would definitely say that the AI Image generation is the most valuable to me.  I mean, after the fact that you can upload docs and have the course basically write itself - with designer verification of course!  But we have been kind of stuck in a stock photo hole with very limited visibility.  We can create the diversity that we want to see in our training!  

Words on the AI generated images were hilarious and were probably my biggest challenge.  Attempting to get a laptop to show up without having some type of word on it, or signage in the office.  It was a great learning experience though.  Definitely prompting is something that I need to get better at and using the AI to create a prompt for me was a very useful piece.  All that being said, even though I ran into some funny imagery, It is still miles better than me having to request $$ to be able to license content. 

This was a great experience.  I am excited to use some of our proprietary content to see what that would look like for us.  Thank you very much for this cohort opportunity!

Hi all!

Here is my quick share link: 

https://share.articulate.com/IvBLnwTof34oNmU7S7kHH

Three changes I made were:

1. I changed all of the image styles to a custom editorial style.
2. I converted several text-only blocks into either flashcards or process interactions.
3. In my custom block, I did use one of the templates, but I swapped out the default voice and created an AI image for the avatar of the "manager" that better matched the tone of the voice I picked. At first, she sounded very upbeat, which didn't work because she was apologizing for something. I inserted [serious] before the script so her tone came out more in line with what I was looking for.

Valuable feature:

• I loved being able to use the text to speech and view all the different voices and pick one that I thought sounded right. But it turned out she was more upbeat than I expected! Using the [serious] before my script made it perfect.

Challenges:

• I created a custom image style. I started with the Editorial style and then added some customization to it. Sometimes it gave me exactly what I wanted -- other times the images didn't look enough like the previous images I had used in the course. I'd love to be able to start with a single reference image and work from that moving forward.

Hi there!

Here is my course: https://share.articulate.com/b2haj2bH2K6ooES6UzDhG#/

One thing I really focused on while updating my Rise AI Course Draft was making it feel more engaging and less like something that was completely AI-generated from start to finish.

Here are 3 changes I made:

1) I added a custom block around the 4 pillars of workplace happiness.
The original draft had good information, but it felt a little too linear and text-heavy for me. I wanted learners to pause and actually think about the concepts instead of just scrolling through them, so I built out a more visual/custom section to make that part stand out more.

2) I added voice-over throughout the course.
This honestly changed the feel of the course a lot. It made it feel more conversational and guided instead of just reading slides on a screen. I also liked that it added a little more personality and helped break up long sections of text.

3) I generated AI images for most of the interactive pieces.
I wanted the course to feel more cohesive visually, and using AI-generated images helped me create visuals that matched the tone and content better than random stock photos would have. It also made the interactions feel a little more intentional and engaging.

The AI feature that helped me the most was definitely content and image generation. Being able to quickly create a starting point saved a lot of time creatively. What surprised me most was how much better the outputs got when I gave clearer context and more detailed prompts. Even small prompt changes made a pretty noticeable difference.

The biggest challenge for me was getting the AI to produce content that felt meaningful and learner-focused instead of just “nice sounding.” Sometimes the output looked polished at first, but it still needed a lot of refinement to make it more engaging or instructionally effective. It reminded me that AI is really helpful for speeding up the process, but you still need strong design decisions behind it.

Hello!

Here is my course: https://share.articulate.com/1mzmaaIPbPd83uaQ6gAM9 

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 work in the healthcare field, our learners time is often slim to none so they emphasize the "need to know" and remove extra content - which is what I did. 
   2. Added dividers throughout so allow clear topic breaks
   3. Added visuals and used AI feature to update text 
2. Which AI feature or capability was most valuable in your workflow, and why? Did anything about it surprise you? I really enjoyed using the text update feature. Being able to change the tone or shorten the text was extremely helpful.
3. What challenges did you face when trying to get AI to produce the results you wanted?
   1. I hate to admit it but remembering to highlight text then edit with AI. 😖
   2. It was a lot of content in a short amount of time, I couldn't remember it all so I am glad I could go back and review the activities. Then was able to apply some AI learnings. 

Hi everyone,

here is my quick share link - have fun when checking it out ;-)

https://share.articulate.com/k0mXH4d-H2va0xyKdkMZk

And here I go with my answers:

ad1. Three Changes I made

I made way more then three changes to the AI course draft, because I saw this project like kind of a playground where I try new things and play around with things, which I normaly not be able to do due to look and feel requirements of my organisation.

I changed the theme, cover page, color and fonts. I changed the pictures with the help of AI, as I wanted to try a different picutre style than we normaly use in the organisation. I used background color to cluster content to be more visible which content belongs together. I added a Summary lesson, as I like to have at the end of a course a summary and a goodbye message. I added some audios and all the required tasks from the instructions.

I made all the changes to personalize the course a bit more. The AI generated course was a great way to start and made it easy to create a personalized course.

ad2. AI feature

The "AI block tools" were very usefull and easy to use. I was suprised how easy the AI Assistant Options work, they are also easy to use. There was not so much prompting required as short answers were always offered by the AI Assistant, this came in handy I have to say. It also suprised my how accurate the content of the documents were used by the AI to generate the draft course, so easy - just uploaded all files and voila there is a draft based on the content -  I like :-)

ad3. Challenges with AI

I felt a bit challenged by generating pictures. I had to remind myself several times (after experiencing the fail) to download the pictures I generated and I used in the course. Somehow I thought there would be an option to insert a generated and already used picture again at another stage of the course. But I didn't find this option, so I had to remind myself to download the generated and used pictures to be able to use them again.

And of course prompting is always a challenge to get what you want and to understand the "language" the AI Assistant uses. But as more I used it the more I got it right.

Thanks for this cohort activity and all the ressources, tipps and tricks provided!

All the best,
Christine

Hi Everyone!

My course: https://share.articulate.com/_n9bCI6BT1dNqqIkILnIY 

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. Creating a hook - I used a prompt to begin each section of the course with a hook or scenario to engage the learner and ground the learning in reality. Hooks, such as a problem or question, and scenarios create curiosity and encourage active engagement rather than passively reading content.
2. 2. Formatting key words and phrases - I made key words and phrases bold, making them stand out from the main body content. Making key words bold helps learners quickly identify the most important concepts within a course section. This acts as a form of visual signalling, reducing cognitive load and guiding attention to what matters most. It also aids in skim reading content allowing key content and ideas to be located quickly.
3. Generating custom image prompts - I found the AI image generation feature produced images that didn’t quite fit with my idea of diversity (although this is true of many AI models out there), therefore I used a custom prompt to create line art style illustrations rather than photorealistic images. This style was carried throughout the course to ensure visual consistency and avoid reinforcing biased or limited representations of people.

 

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

I found the ‘Create with AI’ function useful in my workflow due to the fact that I can quickly produce a structured course draft based on source documents. Sometimes the source content I work from is vague and unspecific and this is where the AI assistant comes in to its own to fill in the gaps! As a UK user, I’m often frustrated by the use of US spellings by the AI Assistant, not sure if this can be changed in the prompt but it takes time to pick through and change the US spellings in the course draft.

I love the ‘Instant convert’ feature. This makes it super easy to test content in different block types before finalising an interaction.

The AI audio feature is great and I use this a lot within my courses to give learners a multimodal experience but again its predominately US accents.

The AI Assistant is certainly a great feature and I’m sure it will only keep getting better especially with the beta AI avatar feature.

 

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

I often find generating AI images to be a challenge. Its not always easy to define a prompt or a consistent style and sometimes very time consuming to get a desired result. This is not solely with Articulate but with other AI image models out there. For this course it’s the first time I’ve got to grips with the AI image feature within Rise and although I produced consistent styled images it was by far the most time-consuming part of the development process. For the most part I use external AI tools to create images such as Google Gemini, Canva or Adobe Express as I feel they are more sophisticated in the functionality but that being said the AI Assistant in Rise was a nice surprise once I understood how to prompt!

 

Overall it was great to have time to experiment with the AI features in Rise and although sometimes frustrating it was good fun! Hopefully I will be able to try the AI features in Storyline too :)

 

Hi Everyone! Here is the quick link to my course: 

https://share.articulate.com/e6R5A5xSQFMVxRntgdYkg 

1. Share 3 changes you made 

I made a few changes to improve learner engagement in my course.

First, I created an AI-generated image for the top of the first lesson using a custom style prompt. I wanted to make the lesson more visually engaging and give it a more consistent and professional feel.

Second, I edited one of the paragraphs by using AI to chunk it into three sections. This made it much easier to read and broke up a large block of text so it feels more manageable for learners.

Finally, I added AI audio within one of the sections. I included this to give learners another way to access the information and to make the course feel a bit more interactive.

2. Which AI feature or capability was most valuable 

The most valuable AI feature for me was the ability to generate AI audio. I think this is really useful because not all teachers feel confident or comfortable recording audio themselves.

It’s an easy way to include narration without needing to record your own voice, which can make content more engaging and accessible. It also adds a bit of variety in how the information is presented.

3. What challenges 

One challenge I found was that AI didn’t always give me exactly what I wanted first time. For example, it could take a while to get an image that fully matched the course or didn’t include small details that looked out of place.

I also noticed that when editing text, it didn’t always follow instructions exactly, like when trying to apply specific formatting such as changing text colour.

Hi everyone,

Here is my quick link: 

https://share.articulate.com/oyg0CmanABGejP14IECOG

 

Three of the changes I made were:

• Create a new AI-generated image that aligns with the lesson content (bonus points if you use a custom image style!).
  • On one of the AI generated images I added AI Audio going over the outline of the course which I thought was a pretty neat feature. My favorite AI generated style was the minimal one so I chose to use it throughout the course
• Highlight text and use the Rewrite or Change tone tools to improve clarity or engagement.
  
  • I loved being able to change the tone of the text, some things I viewed as playful and others were more straightforward. 
• Apply two prompts or techniques you learned from the "Tips & Tricks: How to Get the Most Value Out of AI Assistant" Rise course.
  • Two things I used were "Open with a hook strategy" and "Saving custom image styles".
  • Being able to edit the text and come up with a thought provoking or more engaging intro to a course was fantastic! Those of us who work with adult learners know that a feature like this is important because it's hard to get adult learners to buy into the training. If we are able to give them something to spark their interest early on it benefits us all.
  • The custom image option was neat to use because I never thought to or knew that I could create a column and add images to them. Definitely a feature I'll be using moving forward when I don't want to use the Carousel feature.

 

I also added a summary lesson for a little razzle dazzle to tie in everything before they moved onto the quiz.

Hello everyone! Here is my course link 

https://share.articulate.com/1PxqcSDmtO-WZzhlw5z68

Changes I made - Added an AI image under the Engagement Pillar tab, added a process for the Four Pillars in Action and adding audio (I really like the voice options)

Which AI Feature was most valuable The generate quiz, this is a big time saver. 

Challenges Finding the right image, having to change wording several times to eliminate clutter in the image.