Week 1 Discussion

1. Which editing tools (rewrite, shorten, change tone, etc.) did you find most valuable, and why?  I appreciate these tools to give me options on making what I’ve written better.  Shorten/Lengthen are my favorite when I don’t have enough words….or need to be more concise.  I also like the Simplify Writing option!
2. What challenges did you face when trying to get AI to produce the results you wanted? My challenge is deciding which AI tool to use.  I had to slow down and pay attention to the different purposes for Edit with AI, AI Block Tools and AI Assistant

I absolutely loved the "key takeaways" feature!  Something I've struggled with previously is condensing content into a small section as a recap of the material covered.  Although I don't use Rise much, I will absolutely use this and copy the content into the storelines that I create!  Nice work with this!

I was really surprised to see how easily AI handled the sorting feature.  I think it's important to "test" learners as they progress through the course to ensure they're comprehending the material.  This seemed like a great way to make this happen and saves me quite a bit of time during development.

Which AI Assistant feature
I found the ability to convert blocks extremely useful for testing different looks and feels without overwriting existing content by adding below. I also appreciated being able to precisely target the source content, whether a specific block, multiple blocks within a lesson, an entire lesson, or selected documents, so the generated block stays tightly aligned to the information you need.

What surprised you
I was pleasantly surprised to work with a text generator that already had an instructional designer role built in. It made capabilities like changing tone, improving writing, and adjusting for different audiences feel native, without needing to add extra context to ensure the output was created for a learning purpose.

I chose: 

1. Which AI Assistant feature felt most intuitive or useful to you during the practice activities?  i think adding blocks in Rise is the most intuitive and simple, then using AI really opens up whole new possibilties.  Also in Storyline, the Accessibility checker and working those items was most useful to me.  
2. What surprised you about how AI handled text or media generation?  I currently use Text to Speech in my work but love the new generation model.  I saw some comments about using phonetics and it seems we have to do that pretty often, so hopefully the new update will handle those more efficiently.

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

I liked how easy it was to ground the AI using real sources in Rise, especially being able to add both documents and websites. That helped the content grow from a more authentic place, rooted in our company's policies and language instead of being generic. One thing I’d love to see is the ability for AI to generate or suggest images/screenshots directly from those sources and place them into Rise, especially for more conversion of technical/functional job guides. 

In Storyline, the tutorial practice felt similar to what I’ve used with AI Text to Talk, so the learning curve was low there, but I really liked what the AI Assistant suggested for animations. It was nice because they added engagement without a lot of extra effort. 

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

The biggest challenge was keeping the Rise output lean and specific. If I wasn’t very clear about the audience, time limit, and context, the AI would drift into broad or generalized language that felt like learners could skim and skip it. 

I also know I probably won’t use the Storyline question generator much, since our SMEs need to review and approve assessment questions during the storyboard phase of our process.

For me, this AI Assistant is most valuable as a way to speed up drafting, visuals, and structure, while still leaving space for me to humanize where it matters.

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

I thought the Convert a Block feature was really easy and I can see myself using that frequently as I try to figure out the best approach for the content I'm working with. Seeing the content in a variety of blocks might enable some lightbulb moments for overall course design.

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

I was surprised that there was the ability to download Ai generated images.  This is an awesome feature and I can see using the images in Rise and Storyline, but also possibilities to download an image for another delivery method or to be the course catalog image in the LMS.  Very cool. 

1. Which AI Assistant feature felt most intuitive or useful to you during the practice activities?
   Instant convert. Sometimes I like to build different variations of the same content in different blocks. This makes that process so much faster.
    
2. Which editing tools (rewrite, shorten, change tone, etc.) did you find most valuable, and why?
   Rewrite and shorten. Its helpful to be able to rewrite or shorten content without having to leave the program.

1. Which AI Assistant feature felt most intuitive or useful to you during the practice activities? Being able to quickly covert a block without having to rewrite or map out how I was going to go about something felt so liberating and offered an opportunity for me to really step back and start to get creative about how I could enhance or make a lesson more interactive. I'm also a big fan of the text to speech and the voice options are high quality. 
2. What challenges did you face when trying to get AI to produce the results you wanted? The text to graphic generation posed a couple of challenges - in some ways I got exactly what I wanted and in others either the text wasn't correct or the image didn't align stylistically - the cookies exercise was interesting because even when I specifically stated to not include anything resembling an edible 'cookie', those chocolate chip cookies snuck in. The multiple image options to choose from was helpful, however. Also, being able to download them even if we didn't want to use them in the lesson is a great option to add to your repository. 

Which AI Assistant feature felt most intuitive or useful

The Instant Convert feature in Rise felt like a very intuitive way to quickly browse and evaluate different block types within a lesson. It's very helpful to see your actual content already in place and it adds a lot of flexibility to the design process.

What challenges did you face

One challenge I've noticed with AI image generation is consistency. It's hard to know how many iterations it will take to land on the result you're looking for, and there isn't really a way to reroll small variations of the same image. I've had decent results using it for abstract background imagery or very simple icons, but for anything more specific I still gravitate toward stock imagery because it feels a little more curated.

In my experience using the AI Assistant in Articulate 360, the editing tools I found most valuable were the "Rewrite" and "Shorten" features. These tools are particularly helpful because they allow me to refine my original wording while still maintaining the integrity of the message. Often when creating training content, I already know what I want to say, but the phrasing can sometimes be longer or less polished than I would like. The "Rewrite" tool helps restructure my sentences into a clearer and more professional format, while the "Shorten" tool condenses the message without removing the core meaning. This is especially useful when designing e-learning content where clarity and brevity are important for learner engagement and screen space.

The AI Assistant feature that felt most intuitive and useful during the practice activities was the "Key Points" and "Summary" portion of the practices. In my work creating learning materials, I frequently have to develop learning objectives and summarize lessons or modules for training courses. This feature simplifies that process by quickly identifying the most important information and presenting it in a concise way. Instead of spending additional time manually distilling large sections of content, the tool helps organize the main ideas efficiently. Because of how often I perform these tasks when building training materials, the Key Points and Summary feature stands out as a particularly practical and time-saving tool.