Week 2 - Group 4 Discussion

Ok, I hope it's not too late to post my submission! Even with the additional week we were given, I didn't get to make any tweaks to Lesson 3, but I finished Lessons 1 -2 and the Quiz at the end, so I hope that counts for something!

Here's the link to my course: https://share.articulate.com/srFduoT3N79vH_Fw0rdIo

1. Three changes I made to the Rise AI Course Draft to improve learner engagement:
   1. I made the course as visually structured and consistent as I could. Consistency and repetition are beneficial to learning and making things stick with the learner. I'm a visual learner, so to me it's important to visually design courses with that in mind. Things like using specific layouts for certain types of content so our brains can pick up on the patterns.
   2. I added AI voiceover to the interactive content. Again, to help make things stick for different types of learners, using the same voice throughout for consistency. :)
   3. I added a reflection activity at the end of each lesson (well the first two!) to get the learner thinking about how they can apply what they learned in real life.
2. The AI features I found most valuable in my workflow and what surprised me:
   1. Outline creator with learning objectives. This is such a time-saver! Sometimes we get so much content from our SMEs. It takes a lot of time to review it, sort out what's important and map it to the learning objectives, or come up with LOs in the first place. It was so fast with this feature. I was surprised by how good the structure was!
   2. AI image generator. It's fantastic that if I have a specific image in mind, I can just enter a prompt, be as specific as I can, and instantly get a few options that fit the brief. No more scrolling through pages and pages of stock images and settling for "close enough." lol
3. Challenges I faced trying to get AI to produce the results I wanted:
   1. I just praised the image generator, but this was also a challenge in the beginning. I was using vague phrases and getting a lot of images of people that looked exactly the same. How many offices have multiple sets of twins or triplets working there? haha. Then I figured out I had to be specific in the prompts. Go figure. :D

Here it is - I was finally able to carve out some time to work through this project (at least first draft🙂) and play with the new features.

Quick Share link: 

https://share.articulate.com/h6P65CGbzjbKs1T2zpyo1

3 Changes

• Used the custom block feature to convert the key summary section into bullet points and an audio narration. With all of the other text on-screen, I want a different style for the conclusion section that could better highlight the key points.
• Edited a few text sections using a hook strategy so that there was more storytelling and narrative.
• Modified the theme and AI images to use a shared blue color palette (for images, I went with Vector Blues style). I felt it brought in some additional continuity.

Valuable AI feature: I loved the simplicity and ease of adding in AI audio, although now I'm somewhat partial to the Custom Block tool. Once I found this, I loved it. It's like a simplified Storyline function that several built-in starter templates that allow me so much more flexibility in block design.

Challenges: One, I found that when I would insta-convert text with audio (to an image with text block, for example) the audio disappeared and had to be regenerated. Second, I found I rarely used the edit with AI or AI Assistant to modify text. Mostly what I saw with the rewrite function was a swap of word homonyms or some change in verbs, but that's about it. Simplify really struggled to make even a dent in the length of statements. I also wished there was an undo button while doing text editing, in case the output from a prompt was worse than the previous iteration.

 

Howdy! Here's my link. 

3 Changes:

1. Shortened the text in the overview: The text under the header “Caring for Mental Health at Work” did not care for my mental health at work: it was super long and had a formal tone. I adjusted it to be shorter and more friendly.
2. Changed the accordion to flashcards: I used Instant Convert to change a set of bullet points to an accordion interaction, then realized that there was another accordion a few blocks down. Instant Convert knocked that out quickly and easily.
3. Added a voiceover: By the time I got down to the Process interaction that says “Evaluate and Improve Team Mental Health Support,” I felt that the course was already a little too text-heavy, so I added a voiceover. Though this doesn’t stop there from being a lot of info on the screen, I feel like it broke up the monotony of reading while elaborating on the on-screen text.

Most Valuable:

I really liked Instant Convert. I struggle with variety when I make Rise courses, so it was helpful to have it automatically make adjustments without me having to manually copy/paste into a new block.

Challenges:

The biggest challenge that I faced was that the AI tools I expected at each step weren’t always there.

For example, when I changed a set of flashcards to a Timeline, it defaulted to Steps as the titles for each one. I hoped the “edit with AI” button would be available to change all of the “Steps” to “Elements,” but it was not.

https://share.articulate.com/s_WTEbdV1e9LYbboo4jxw

 

The changes I made were: 

• Added short knowledge checks and scenario questions, this keeps learners actively thinking instead of just reading.
• Broke long text into bullet points and visuals, this makes content easier to scan and less overwhelming.
• Replaced images for more colorful ones and included more in all lessons, I think this makes the course more attractive to learners.
• Most valuable AI capability to me will be creating images using AI and definitely content drafting/rewording was most helpful and quick. 

  Challenges: AI responses were sometimes too generic,needed multiple prompts to make them specific. 

https://share.articulate.com/YMJbuMe94FAIOGWIsqu8l

 

1. 

• Improved and added more knowledge checks. AI made it so quick and easy to improve the feedback for each answer to help them better understand the material. 
• Lesson summaries including actionable items.  To keep things fresh in their minds and to make it easy for them to not just remember, but to know what habits to start developing
• Matched all pictures up into a custom "Web Graphic Novel" style. The uniformity looks clean and makes it so the image styles are not distracting (if there were too many conflicting styles)  

2. I loved how the quick it was to include feedback on knowledge checks.  This will save me so much time and effort.  And it also very beneficial for the learners.  

3. The main thing that I remembered being bothered by was not being able to get multiple knowledge check questions from a single block.  It just kept repeating the same question over and over. 

Quick Share: Leading Happy, Purposeful Teams

Share 3 changes you made:

1. Added AI voice over to the Fostering Purpose at Work section to provide helpful examples of: Reflection on Values, Self-Audit and Journaling, Connecting Work to Purpose, and Role Adjustment.
2. Communication Strategies for Team Development section has AI generated imagery- I choose the style "aspirational, precise, and human-centric- Cinematic Photorealism" and I also made a themed template for my image prompt to try to keep consistency.
3. Edited text throughout the course for tone, making less wordy (shorter), improve writing, and changing tone to professional. 

Which AI feature or capability was most valuable?

The most valuable features were the AI Voiceovers and the ability to create interactions from text.

The AI voiceover capability is particularly powerful for our training needs. It allows us to quickly generate audio for scenario-based learning that feels natural and conversational—almost like a manager getting a practical tip from a trusted peer. This narrative style is far more engaging than a simple instructional voice.

Complementing this, the feature that creates interactions from text is a significant time-saver. It automates a tedious part of the development process, allowing us to focus more on content quality and less on manual setup.

What challenges?

The primary challenge involves the AI's handling of text-based content, both in editing and image generation.

While the "Edit With AI" feature is promising for quick revisions, we found it can sometimes miss the intended tone or introduce awkward phrasing that requires further manual correction.

More significantly, the AI image generation capability struggles whenever text is included in a prompt (e.g., a sign, a label on a diagram). The resulting images often contain garbled or nonsensical characters, limiting the feature's utility for creating visuals that require clear, legible text.

AI Cohort practice Quick Share

1. Share 3 changes you made: I used AI to generate custom images based on scenes and characters from The Office. I wanted the effect of humor and recognition but also faithfully conveying the meaning of the lesson content. I also used the Hook technique with Edit with AI to add interest at the beginning of the lesson, and placed an image with audio to introduce the content.
2. Which AI feature or capability was most valuable? I think if I had to choose, the AI voice generator is the most valuable, as you can add voiceover without hiring or scheduling voice talent. It's not a surprise, but adds a ton of value.
3. What challenges did you face? I think remembering the prompts and how to access the features when I needed them. With practice, it will get easier, so this exercise was really helpful. 

AI Cohort QuickShare

1. Share 3 changes you made - For engagement I used vibrant colors and input AI generate images, used AI block conversion to create flashcards, updated text tone and length, used AI narration for the lesson objectives (with the idea, in a full course the narrator could guide/navigate through course checkpoints), and created custom blocks, too.

2. Which AI feature or capability was most valuable - Creating knowledge check and quiz questions based on source content was really quick and useful.

3. What challenges - Some edits to change the text "tones" didn't result in much deviation from the original words. There were also some issues with words/spelling in the AI generated images.

Overall, a great experience and practice opportunity.

Hi! Here's the quick link to my course: 

https://share.articulate.com/5gKwyYBKOLjMghslvZz4h

1. Share 3 changes you made and why: I changed all the images in the course, added new images to the course, and updated all the images to the watercolor style. I used AI to adjust the text to a friendly tone and shorten it in most lessons. Then I edited the changed text to sound more like my writing voice. I used AI to bold keywords and phrases throughout the course for visual appeal. And I changed several text blocks into interactions, including flashcards, accordions, and process blocks. I added voice narration to most blocks, changed one text block to columns, and added images. I'm a firm believer in less text, more images, and more interaction than walls of text. All of these tools serve to make the course more engaging and visually appealing.
2. Which AI feature or capability was most valuable in your workflow, and why? Did anything about it surprise you? Creating images and quickly converting text to interactions were the most valuable features that I used. The capabilities didn't surprise me, but I appreciated how time-saving they were.
3. What challenges did you face when trying to get AI to produce the results you wanted? The biggest challenges occurred when trying to produce the images that I envisioned. For several of the images, it took multiple tries with slight tweaks to the instructions to get an image that met my needs.

I changed my flip cards to audio files of employee issues with their pictures made with AI and created a matching solution on how to respond to each one. Flip cards was bit too passive for me. I wanted it to be a bit more immersive and decision making. 

I found the AI feature of creating scenario questions and the AI audio scripts pretty handy. 

The AI video with voiceover still needs tweaking as it still looks a bit robotic. It didn't work the first time so i had to go back and redo it. 

Here's my course: 

https://share.articulate.com/p_KKK_GMLpB-9iCa9n1lx

Love this! Never thought about doing this from a personal perspective and storytelling but it works and makes so much sense, as well as, keeps the learner engaged. Great job! Thanks for some future ideas too!