Back to School: Education Templates for E-Learning #96

K12 E-Learning Examples #96: Challenge | Recap

Whether you prefer skeuomorphism or flat designs, there’s no denying that classroom- and education-themed templates are some of the most popular design styles in e-learning. And since August is the month when most kids head back to school, I thought it would be fun to shift our focus from corporate e-learning to childhood education.

From the Office to the Classroom

In one of our early challenges, we looked at desktop and office theme designs. In that challenge, the examples were designed around corporate office environments.

The same design process, layouts, and interactions can be easily themed for education. And that’s what this week’s challenge is all about!

Backgrounds Drive the Learning Context

I probably sound like a one-track song sometimes, but slide backgrounds really are one of the easiest ways to set the visual voice and tone for your designs. Not only are backgrounds the largest slide element, they really help create a sense of place for your content.

In the desktop office example I shared, I built the template design using three elements:

Using the same design process, you can assemble common classroom elements to create an education theme:

Makeover Existing Templates

One of the easiest ways to tackle this week’s design challenge is to take an existing template from our downloads and give it an academic makeover.

Here’s an example of a classroom theme that was based on a six-tabs interaction:

Download the Evaluation Tabs Interaction for Storyline

Challenge of the Week

This week, your challenge is to design an education-themed template or interaction. You can focus on any type of academic environment you like.

You should try to include at least three different content slides.  Your slides can be static or built out as working activities and interactions. Show us how you would carry your design ideas across a real-world project.

Resources

There’s no shortage of chalkboard and education templates to help you get started this week.

• Create a Chalkboard Template with These Simple Tips & More Than 40 Free Graphics
• Here’s a Bucketful of Free Office Themed E-Learning Templates & Media Assets

Fonts

• 32 Chalkboard Graphics
• Fabulous & Free Chalkboard Fonts
• Free chalkboard fonts
• Chalk fonts

Last Week’s Challenge:

Before you hit the books, check out the amazing video background examples your fellow community members shared in last week’s challenge:

Video Backgrounds in E-Learning Recap #95: Challenge | Recap

Wishing you an inspired week, E-Learning Heroes!

New to E-Learning Challenges?

The weekly challenges are ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of the previous challenges anytime you want. I’ll update the recap posts to include your demos.