Week 1 Discussion

1. What surprised you about how AI handled text or media generation?

   I was surprised by how often text in AI-generated images isn’t real. What looks like words from a distance often becomes jumbled gibberish up close. It's like the models learn the look of text (strokes, spacing, placement) without actually learning how letters and words work.

   It’s sometimes funny, but it breaks immersion. Those fake letters seem to imply these models nail patterns but still miss rule-based details.

2. Which AI Assistant feature felt most intuitive or useful to you during the practice activities?

   @hat felt most intuitive and useful was how effortlessly the assistant could take a block of text and convert it into different formats like accordion-style sections, bullets, sorted lists, summaries, and more. 

   I also appreciated that the assistant added text where it made sense, like clarifying headings, inserting brief transitions, or filling tiny gaps to improve readability, without overstepping or changing the original meaning. That combination of flexible formatting plus thoughtful, minimal additions made the tool feel both powerful and respectful of the source content.

Which AI Assistant feature felt most intuitive or useful to you during the practice activities?

One of the features I found most useful is Convert a Block. I often change my mind about which block works best, and this tool saves a significant amount of time by removing the need to copy and paste content into a new format.

I love the Create AI Image tool, but I will have to check with my organization for guidelines on usage. At the moment, we are not supposed to use AI to create images due to copyright concerns.

In addition, I’m looking forward to using Create AI Audio in my courses, especially since learner feedback frequently highlights a preference for listening rather than reading large amounts of on-screen text.

Which editing tools (rewrite, shorten, change tone, etc.) did you find most valuable, and why?

I found several of the editing tools valuable. I am very straight and too the point, so the Improve Writing tool helped make my writing a bit more friendly. I think I will use the Make Shorter and Make Longer tools a lot. The Simplify Writing tool will help when using text provided by SMEs. I didn’t use the Create Analogy and Create Scenario tools yet, but I’m excited to try them out in a course. Our course template includes providing key takeaways at the end of the course, so I think the Create Key Takeaways tool will be helpful there.

Which AI Assistant feature felt most intuitive or useful to you during the practice activities?
The AI Text-to-Speech feature was the most intuitive and useful. It was easy to use, worked quickly, and produced clear, natural-sounding audio. It helped with reviewing content, catching errors, and improving focus by allowing information to be consumed in an audio format.

What challenges did you face when trying to get AI to produce the results you wanted?
The main challenge was with AI Image Generation. Achieving the desired results required careful prompt wording and multiple attempts. Small changes in language often led to very different outputs, making the process less predictable and more time-consuming. But this is true in most, if not all, programs that utilize AI Image Generation.

Which AI Assistant feature felt most intuitive or useful to you during the practice activities? The Magic Text Import was a game-changer for me. The ability to then switch that content to a different block type without copy-pasting was also really smooth. I can see this being huge for anyone who has existing content in documents that needs to become elearning quickly.

Which editing tools (rewrite, shorten, change tone, etc.) did you find most valuable, and why? The "change tone" feature was probably the most valuable for me. I tend to write content that's a bit formal or dry, and being able to quickly shift something to a more conversational tone helped me match the voice I actually want learners to experience. 

1. Which editing tools (rewrite, shorten, change tone, etc.) did you find most valuable, and why? I really enjoyed using the AI Text‑to‑Speech Audio feature. It was incredibly easy to use, and it was great having such a wide variety of voices to choose from. I was also surprised by how natural and realistic the voices sounded.
2. What challenges did you face when trying to get AI to produce the results you wanted? I found AI image creation to be a bit challenging. I didn’t always get the results I wanted, and sometimes the images included odd errors—like a person with three hands, distorted text, or details that just didn’t look quite right.

Which AI Assistant feature felt most intuitive or useful to you during the practice activities?

The most useful feature will be the AI Voices. The variety of options is very impressive and the quality is excellent. This will save us so much time with both course development and updates when needed. I’ll add that the sound effects tool is a great addition. I can see using this in our safety training in a variety of ways.

Which editing tools (rewrite, shorten, change tone, etc.) did you find most valuable, and why?

The block convert feature is so helpful! The ability to convert a paragraph or two into a more interactive activity will help increase learner engagement. I will also use the convert to Knowledge Check to create embedded assessment questions, this will save a lot of time.

Which editing tools (rewrite, shorten, change tone, etc.) did you find most valuable, and why?

I liked how easy it was to shorten text and that you could add the new text below, so you did not lose your old work. It really helps your course not be too text-heavy. I also like being able to change the tone when possible. 

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

My biggest struggle was trying to get the AI images to be what I wanted for the flashcards. Sometimes the image would be what I wanted, but the text was not in English. Another struggle was in Rise exercise when I was trying to make the keywords and summarize the slide. Even though I selected the box to use all content on the page, it did not generate information from the page. It was generating information about keywords and why it's good to summarize the content. It had the same results as the one in the tutorial video. 

Overall I was very impressed with the way AI Assistant has been further integrated in Rise/Storyline. The quality of generated audio and imagery has greatly improved as well!

Which AI Assistant feature felt most intuitive or useful to you during the practice activities?
Text adjustments like tone, length, etc. are both intuitive and useful.

Which editing tools (rewrite, shorten, change tone, etc.) did you find most valuable, and why?
"Generating an image prompt" was most valuable as it provided me a prompt to review and edit, saving time both writing the prompt and getting an accurate image.

What surprised you about how AI handled text or media generation?

I was pleasantly surprised by how effectively the AI handled the media generation prompts I provided. I was able to generate a very specific visual concept with far fewer iterations than I expected. I had anticipated needing to refine multiple prompts to achieve the final look, especially since I’ve often found that providing more detail to AI tools can sometimes cause confusion and move further away from my original vision. The ability to customize prompts with clear, specific instructions/details made the process much simpler and significantly faster for me. I tended towards looking for stock images in rise previously thinking AI generation would not be that helpful, but I am very excited to continue playing with AI image generation for future projects. I was also very happy to see that my customized prompt was saved for future use, which was a huge plus for maintaining consistency in style and ensuring continuity across ongoing series or projects.

Which editing tools (rewrite, shorten, change tone, etc.) did you find most valuable, and why?

I found the tone change and shorten/lengthen options to be the most valuable editing tools. They’re a great source of inspiration and a significant time saver, especially when I already have a solid foundation for what I want to say and just need to adjust the tone, refine the wording, or experiment with different language styles. I often start with all the key information I want to communicate and then spend a lot of time editing it down to be more concise. This feature made it easy to quickly shorten the content and then review it to ensure nothing important was lost and the message was still delivered clearly. Overall, it was a huge time saver for me, particularly when it comes to fine‑tuning small nuances that would normally take much longer to edit manually.

2. What surprised you about how AI handled text or media generation?

The tool that I found most surprising while working through the exercises was the image generator. Like the instructor said in the video, not every image is a winner, but I see a marked improvement in the images I got today versus what I was getting last year. I’m sure some of that is because I’m getting better at writing prompts, but I think the image quality is also improving. I especially like that we can create square images that fit the flip cards and some of the grid image blocks without having to edit them further.

3. Which editing tools (rewrite, shorten, change tone, etc.) did you find most valuable, and why?

The editing tool I found most valuable was the instant conversion to another type of block. I tend to use one type of interaction a lot and this feature makes changing to another one really easy.