Getting creative...

Aug 12, 2013

Hi everyone! I'm working on updating my company's welcome course - a basic overview of how we view ourselves as an organization, the products we produce, the culture we encourage, etc. I've really been trying to get creative and make the course as interactive as possible, but more and more frequently I find myself creating different versions of "click this thing and get a pop up with some info in it" screens. They all look different, but it's the same general form of interaction.; Now that I'm getting into the more dry content (our distribution channels, the positioning of our brands, etc.) I'm having trouble coming up with engaging interacitons that will get my learners thinking. 

Do any of you ever feel like you've gotten stuck in this rut of "click for a pop up"? Other than scenarios, which I don't think will work for this particular content, do you have any ideas for making dry content more interactive and/or engaging?

6 Replies
Jerson  Campos

The biggest problems I face trying to be creative when I don't need to be. Sometimes the best solutions are the simple ones. Something you can also look at is inspiration from other sources. Break out of you normal routine and just type in some keywords in google and go on a scavenger hunt for ideas.

One idea that just popped in my head is you can go for a "Game of LIfe" type of game embedded into your course.  

Minh-Triet Nguyen

I often think of new hire on-boarding courses as marketing courses intended to make new employees feel good about the choice they've made to work for you.  More specifically to your question, how do you get someone who might be a total stranger to your business (maybe even industry) care about what you sell and how you sell it? Maybe look at how your marketing department answers those questions for customers and incorporate those themes into the course. 

Bruce Graham

Hi Sarah,

One way to get around this is to produce the "sections" in different "genres".

Now I am not saying it is the best in the World - but here's a portion of something I produced for a Distribution Channel course - like you mentioned.

http://www.pperf.co.uk/IconCourseExample/story.html

I decided to produce the course with as few on-screen words as I could, and use a lot of icons.

So long as they learn, and are interested in your content, you do not necessarily need to look for one "theme" for the whole thing.

Hope that helps.

Bruce

Sarah Newman

Thanks for all of the great suggestions, everyone! For the distribution channels portion, I ended up decided to do a drag n drop interaction. The learner drags a shipping box to a loading dock door, which triggers a layer to open. The new layer has a truck on it that drives onto the screen when the layer opens, and on the side of the truck is some information about that distribution channel. It's still sort of pop-up-ish without being a pop up.

I love the idea of using icons to give an illustrated presentation, Bruce. I might try it for the next section, which is on our sales strategy.

Ari Avivi

Sarah,

One of the things that we stress in our team it to remember that in most cases the end user will experience the module once.  Everything is new to them even though we have seen the same interaction over and over again and get bored with it.

As much as click and reveal may be boring, it can be very comforting to the learner as they build a sense of famiarity with the functioning and can then concentrate on the actual content not the style.

Lately I've become a fan of a 'guide' who randomly pops in with options for things for learners to do. 

r.e.

This discussion is closed. You can start a new discussion or contact Articulate Support.