Forum Discussion
Articulate: Stop Chasing AI for a Moment and Fix the Learners Question Experience in Rise
Now, Articulate has done a somewhat impressive job integrating AI across its products, and those capabilities undoubtedly have value. Love the AI image editing.
But there comes a point where new features begin to overshadow the VERY long-standing usability issues that instructional designers have been raising for years.
I'm begging you... please revisit Rise's question and assessment experience. Knowledge Checks and Quiz Lessons still feel visually dated! They've barely changed since Rise launched nearly a decade ago. Huge padding. Heavy shadows. Massive blocks. They consume excessive screen space and offer almost no meaningful control over layout or presentation. And then there's the KCs... they remain fundamentally disconnected from LMS analytics!
The most frustrating aspect isn't simply the visual design and which is outdated, boring and barely customisable but the missed opportunity. Knowledge Checks are where learners naturally demonstrate understanding throughout a course, yet none of that information is reported to the LMS. In a SCORM 2004 environment such as CSOD, only Quiz Lesson questions generate reportable interaction data. The crazy thing is the data is already there. Rise knows the question, knows what I clicked and knows whether I got it right... it just doesn't send any of it to the LMS. If I have use your awful layout at least pass the SCORM data!
So not only do they look outdated with oversized cards, padding and shadows, every embedded Knowledge Check effectively disappears once the learner moves on. Organisations are forced to choose between good instructional design and meaningful analytics. We should not have to make that trade-off in 2026.
At a minimum, there should be an option allowing authors to designate selected Knowledge Checks as reportable SCORM interactions while retaining their in-line presentation and immediate feedback.
In many ways, Articulate has built one of the most approachable authoring tools on the market, but it's time to revisit the foundations rather than continually expanding the AI feature set. Refresh the quiz templates. Modernise the interaction design. Give authors meaningful control over assessment presentation. Most importantly, provide the option for Knowledge Checks to submit question-level interaction data to LMSs that support SCORM 2004.
Those changes would have a far greater impact on the quality of digital learning than yet another AI button added to the toolbar.
Rant over. Sorry... well, not really.
3 Replies
Hi Kane,
Thank you so much for taking the time to share such thoughtful and detailed feedback. I appreciate you explaining both the design challenges and the reporting limitations you've experienced.
I hear that Rise's Knowledge Checks and Quiz Lessons feel long overdue for an update. You pointed out that the current layouts offer limited customization, take up a lot of screen space, and haven't evolved much over the years. I also understand your concern around reporting. While Rise captures learner responses to Knowledge Checks, those interactions aren't reported to the LMS, making it difficult to combine engaging inline assessments with meaningful learner analytics.
I can see how a more modern assessment experience would give course authors more flexibility. Adding the option to report Knowledge Checks as SCORM interactions while keeping them inline within the course would also make learner data much more valuable.
In addition to PhilFoss question above, I’d love to learn how you are tracking learner understanding today when Knowledge Checks aren't reported to your LMS. Also, how often do you find that you’re changing the design of your courses because of the current limitations?
I've shared your feedback with our product team so they understand what's most important to you. The context you've provided is incredibly valuable as they continue evaluating future improvements. Thanks again for your perspective!
Gaslight the users. thx KellyAuner
Hi Kane, can you show an example of how you'd like the Knowledge Checks and Quizes to look? Articulate is handcuffed to their original design, for consistency. They would need to build in a way for users to opt into a new design, maybe in their 'Labs' feature which is a tentative way to release new versions of the older blocks. For now you need to handle visual updates with a custom theme component.
