Illustrated characters looking around trying to figure out where to go

Are you looking for ideas for incorporating navigation instructions into your courses in a way that’s helpful and effective, yet not too in-your-face? You’re not alone! That’s a common challenge that many instructional designers run into. To help you out, we’ll walk you through three tried-and-true design approaches.

1. Make instructions available in the course player

Screenshot of course with instructions in the player

Explore interactive version | Download the template

One easy way to get navigation instructions out of the learner’s way, while still making them easily accessible throughout the course, is to add them to the course player. And with Storyline 360, it’s super easy to do that by adding a custom player tab that opens a slide in a pop-up window, called a lightbox

2. Build in a time-sensitive prompt

Screenshot of course with timed navigation pop-up

Explore interactive version | Download the template

If you feel like your course interface is intuitive enough that most learners don’t need any hand-holding, but want to make sure those who do will still get help if they need it, you can design instructions that automatically pop up if the learner hasn’t made a move in a while—since that might mean they don’t know what to do next. This solution helps you give those learners a gentle nudge in the right direction. 

3. Give learners the ability to opt in or out

Screenshot of course with option to opt in or out of navigation instructions

Explore interactive version | Download the template

Whether you’re creating a course for new employees who might not be familiar with your course interface or you’ve redesigned it and want to help folx get acquainted, this option can be a great way to offer a helping hand to those who need one while empowering savvy users to dig right in to your great content.

Wrap-Up

Now you’ve not only got three great options for incorporating navigation instructions into your course, but you also have some free templates you can adapt to fit your needs in just minutes. Helping your learners navigate your course doesn’t get any easier than that!

And if you’re looking for more instructional design tips and tricks? Check out these resources:

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