Make Working with SMEs a Breeze with These 3 Downloads
One of my favorite things about being an e-learning designer is creating courses on a wide variety of topics. I’ve learned so much over the years! When I look back on it, it’s almost like I had to become an expert in every subject in order to create the most effective learning experience. And while some of my knowledge came from my own research, more often than not it was gleaned from the content provided by my project’s Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). Subject Matter Experts play a critical role in course design. They have the knowledge, experience, and insight to help you create the most impactful training. Despite their importance to your projects, working with SMEs can also be challenging. From different perspectives around how content should be presented to old-fashioned beliefs around how people learn, many e-learning pros find themselves in a battle of wills with their SMEs when all they really want is a productive partnership. This problem can be especially vexing when creating custom e-learning in a powerful app like Storyline 360. With so many creative possibilities, there are countless ways to present content. So how do you help your SMEs visualize different treatments and bridge gaps in understanding, all while building positive relationships with your SMEs? Here are three documents I’ve found essential for communicating clearly and aligning expectations from the start. Document 1: Project Kickoff Questions Before meeting with your project’s SMEs, it pays to do a little prep work. If you already have some source content pulled together, study it to get a basic understanding of the material. And if you don’t have content, research the topic or the company to make the most of your time with your SMEs. As you study, prepare a list of questions to help guide the conversation and show the SME how much you value their time. Need to kick-start your thinking? Download and customize this Project Kickoff Questionnaire for your needs. Download With all of your prep work done, you’re ready to set up a meeting with your SME to discuss the project. Make sure to bring your list of questions, and then listen actively and take notes. This is your time to build trust with your SMEs and identify knowledge and performance gaps to determine the right solution. Document 2: Project Plan After you determine the right solution, it’s time to put the details in writing so you’re all on the same page. A project plan can be a great way to align expectations. In the project plan, you can include the project background, course information, deliverables, timelines, and any other important details. Once you’re done preparing the project plan, have the SME review it and confirm its accuracy before moving forward with design. Need help creating a project plan? I’ve got you covered! Download this free project plan template. Download Document 3: Storyboard Now that you and the SME are on the same page, it’s time to start designing the project. If you’re using a slide-based authoring app like Storyline 360, the best way to make sure you have a solid foundation for development is to create a storyboard. A storyboard is the blueprint for a course that outlines the content screen by screen. Storyboards help your SMEs visualize how the content will flow and allows them to make edits before you start development in your authoring app. Note: If you’re using a web-based authoring app like Rise 360, you can skip the storyboarding phase and go straight to development since it’s easy to use and quick to make changes. Need help getting started? Then download and customize this storyboard template with your content. Download What Next? After the storyboard is finalized, you can feel confident knowing you have a solid foundation to start building your course. Taking the time to develop project kickoff questions, create a clear project plan, and storyboard the content before you start developing it in your authoring app will set you, the SME, and the learners up for success. For more ideas on working with SMEs, check out this series on Everything You Need to Know About Working with SMEs. Follow us on Twitter and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning. If you have any questions, please share them in the comments.How to Copy Blocks from One Lesson to Another in Rise 360
Have you ever built a course in Rise 360 and realized, later on, that some of the content in one lesson would work great in a different lesson? Or maybe you want to reuse the same content structure? I’ve been there! Luckily, it’s super easy to copy blocks from one Rise lesson to another, thanks to the blocks template feature. Here’s how it works. 1. Open the Blocks Library The first thing you’ll want to do is navigate to the lesson that contains the block you want to copy and open up the block library. You can do that either by clicking the plus sign (+) between two blocks … … or by clicking All Blocks in the blocks shortcut bar. 2. Create a New Template Next, select the templates tab in the block library and click the New Template button. 3. Select the Blocks to Copy Then, select the block or blocks you want to copy by clicking the checkmark for each one. 4. Save Your Template Next, click Save, name your template, and click Save once again. 5. Insert Your Template Finally, navigate to the lesson where you’d like your copied block to go, open up the blocks library, and select your template. Wrap-Up Et voilà! It’s that easy. With blocks templates, you can copy blocks from one lesson to another within the same course and copy blocks to lessons in other courses; you can even share your blocks with members of your team if you have an Articulate 360 Teams subscription. It’s super handy! Want to try block templates out, but don’t have Rise 360? Start a free 30-day trial of Articulate 360. And subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest e-learning inspiration and insights directly in your inbox. You can also find us on LinkedIn and X (Formerly Twitter).Coming Soon: Articulate AI (With Video!)
Exciting news: We’re working on some AI features that’ll help amplify your creativity and accelerate course creation. Check out this short video for a quick preview of what’s in store: We hope you’re as excited as we are about these upcoming features! Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest product updates directly in your inbox. If you have questions, please share them in the comments.5 Ways to Use Animated GIFs in Your E-Learning
Animated GIFs—or image files that act like a short video that loops endlessly—are everywhere these days, on social media, in blogs, and even in e-learning courses! That’s right, instructional designers are using these eye-catching multimedia assets to grab their learners’ attention—and you can too. Check out these ideas to get inspiration on how to incorporate animated GIFs in your courses. 1. As Course Header Images If your learners have a ton of courses in their dashboard and you want yours to stand out, try using an animated GIF in the course header, like in this example: Mars Curiosity Rover. It’s a surefire way to get your course noticed. 2. As Attention Getters GIFs are eye-catching. Have you noticed how hard it is to look away even when you’ve already seen the same animation loop 10 times over? That’s what’s so great about them. Their movement naturally draws your learners in and incites them to pay attention. Not convinced? Take a look at this Rise 360 course: Space Travel–Themed Interactive Infographic See how the GIFs draw you in and make you want to click on the interactive parts? I thought so. 3. To Illustrate Key Messages But GIFs can do more than just catch your learners’ eye. They can actually help learners better understand the concepts you’re teaching them. Check out the GIFs in this course, for example: An American’s Guide to Driving in France. See how the GIFs support the key messages? 4. To Lay Out the Steps in a Process If you’re creating a how-to course, you might be tempted to make a video. And that’s definitely one way of doing it! But if people need to replicate the steps one by one, they might need to rewind each step and watch it over and over again. What a pain! Instead of creating a lengthy video or screencast, why not create a GIF of each step, making it easy for people to rewatch the steps as needed, like in this article on how to make coffee? 5. For Comic Relief If the topic of your course is particularly dry, it might be a good idea to work in some humor to make sure your learners don’t fall asleep. GIFs are a great way to do that! However, be careful to not overdo it. A humorous GIF here and there is one thing; peppering every section of your course with them is another. Here's an example that uses humorous GIFs effectively. Another thing to keep in mind with humor is that it’s subjective. Test your course out on a trusted coworker or two and make sure they find the GIFs to be both work-appropriate and funny. The Bottom Line As with anything, it’s important to keep in mind that too much of a good thing is bad. When using animated GIFs, make sure they’re helping and not hindering the learning process. After all, the goal is to get your learners to focus on the content and retain the key messages. If you’re sold on using animated GIFs in your courses but aren’t sure how to go about creating your own, check out this tutorial. Like this article? Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest e-learning inspiration and insights directly in your inbox. You can also find us on LinkedIn and X (Formerly Twitter).How to Do an E-Learning Needs Analysis
According to the ATD, U.S. organizations spent over $100 billion on employee learning and development programs in 2010. That’s a lot of training! And a lot of resources spent. To make training worth the investment, you need to make sure your training program actually meets the needs of your audience. That’s why the first step for any effective online training program is an e-learning needs analysis. An e-learning needs analysis answers this important question: is training the right solution for the problem at hand? If it’s not, you’ll want to know that before you start your e-learning project, not after you finish it. Taking the time now to plan your project with a needs analysis will ensure you’re creating something useful. So let’s take a closer look at how to create your own needs analysis. To Train or Not to Train? Whether you call it an e-learning needs analysis, a training needs analysis, or a training needs assessment, the objective is the same: to identify whether training needs exist, and what they are. The exercise examines a business deficiency and identifies all solutions, training and otherwise, that will solve the problem. Why look at both training and non-training solutions? Because sometimes you may find that a non-training solution is more effective than a training course. Other times, you may learn that the cost of living with the problem is far less than the cost of initiating training. Let’s look at a training vs. non-training scenario: Bob, the sales manager at XYZ company, wants to improve the call handling time for his telephone sales team. Currently, employees take an average of 7 minutes per call; Bob thinks they can be done in 5. So Bob tells you to design some e-learning that will improve his team’s average call time. You dive into a needs assessment and observe the sales team in action. You see they’re doing the process just right, completing calls within the ideal time window. However, at the end of the process, the system is so slow that the sales team can’t complete the job until nearly the 7-minute mark. Would training help here? No, because this example is a computer systems problem, not a “trainable human” problem. That’s why it’s important to start with an e-learning needs assessment—to tease out exactly the problem and the potential ways you can solve it—before you design and deliver an online training program. Creating Your E-Learning Needs Analysis Needs assessments come in many shapes and sizes, but they all start with data gathering. A good, basic framework to get the data you need comes from five very familiar prompts: why, who, how, what, and when. Let’s delve deeper into each of these, to illustrate the kind of information you should look for as you investigate. Why Why do you think you need to create training? Dig into the details of the problem or deficiency, and look for evidence within the organization, in performance metrics, process breakdowns, customer feedback, employee observations, and the like. You should also look for upcoming changes. You won’t find evidence, of course, but you’ll know that if a new policy, process, or technology are in the works, people are going to need training. Who Take a look at the people or departments involved in the problem or deficiency. Then look for other audiences that might benefit from the training, particularly if there are pending changes. These groups will comprise your target audience. Get to know them, their organizational functions, and how they do their jobs. How Brainstorm ways to correct the problem or fill the gap. Can training help, or are there better ways to address the issues? Consider creative options, especially those that make use of resources in place or are less disruptive to ongoing work. Think broadly—this is the time to look at all the different ways to resolve the problem. What For this you should look at what employees do in their jobs. What’s the best way for them to do their job or tasks? Do employees have the knowledge or skills to perform to the standard? Are there critical hazards employees need to avoid in their jobs? Take a look at policies and standard operating procedures, and find out how employees implement these in their jobs. Feedback from the front lines can help you identify discrepancies and gaps. When Training needs to be timed to maximize the number of people who benefit from it and minimize the burden on the organization’s business operations. How you deliver training—whether via online modules employees can complete on their own time, in-classroom training that requires them to gather at a certain time and place, or some other means—will play a role in determining when. For example, if training means pulling people off a production line and into a classroom, perhaps there’s a time during the day when production is slowest; people could do their training then. Get a sense of when employees are going to need the training relative to upcoming business operations, as well as when to deliver the training during their day-to-day work. Once you’ve gathered your data, it’s time to analyze it. Approach this assessment with an open mind and look where the gaps and problems are, and how you might solve them. Understand employees’ current performance relative to requirements or standards they need to meet, and when they should meet them. Rely on your data to point you toward solutions to the problem. This is where you’ll see whether the problem is training-related or needs other solutions. If you can’t find a performance gap after all, it may indicate that the desire for training is more of a want than a need. The key is to know that before you create an e-learning program, not afterward. The outcome of a thoughtful e-learning needs analysis is a clear picture of the problem, solutions, and whether training will help. If it will, the evidence you discover in your investigation can help justify the cost of training to your organization, and serve as a launching point for your e-learning training course. Follow us on Twitter and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning. If you have any comments, please share them below.5 Ways to Get the Most Value From AI Tools
There’s lots of buzz in the e-learning world about generative AI's potential to speed up our workflows and extend our abilities to create exciting new projects. And even though we’re only in the early days of this technology, people are already finding ways it can help them—including summarizing content, refining written text, brainstorming ideas, speeding up development processes, writing code, and taking tedious tasks off their plates. But there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for everyone’s needs. We don’t all work the same way, create the same content, have the same pain points, or even want the same kinds of assistance. So, to get the most value from any AI tool or feature, you’ll want to go beyond the general ways it can help anyone and dig into the specific ways it can help you. As you’re checking out an AI tool or feature, try these five techniques to zero in on how you personally can get the most from it. 1. Dig into how your AI tool works As with any technology, every AI tool or feature has its own strengths—and the more you play to them, the better results you’ll get. So start your journey by investigating what the particular AI tool you’re using is especially good at and how you can get the best results from it. That way, you can set your own expectations around when and how it makes the most sense to include it in your workflow. Official documentation and tutorials are a helpful place to begin. They’ll outline what the tool does and the standard processes for using it. But also keep an eye out for what other users are saying. They can help you separate hype from reality. And they’ll likely have advice on strategic ways to weave the tool into your processes or how to push the boundaries of what it can do. 2. Build in time for experimentation There’s rarely just one “best” way to use an AI tool. Many are flexible, allowing them to play a part in your work in a variety of ways. That flexibility gives these tools more ways to cater to your needs. But it also means that it might take some experimentation to determine how—or if—they fit into different design and development steps. That’s why you can get more from your AI tools and features by simply setting aside time to play with them before you start putting them to work. For instance, try exploring questions like: how do different AI features contribute to the kinds of learning experiences you create? which prompt phrasing gets you the best results in the shortest amount of time? Does changing the order in which you use different AI features together change the results you get? how much do you enjoy using each feature? This up-front play may slow down your productivity in the short run. But in the long run, it’s one of the best ways to refine how each tool fits into your world and discover how to use it skillfully. 3. Look for the overlap between AI strengths and tasks you want off your plate When it comes to getting real value from AI, you don’t just want it to take on any task it’s good at. You want AI to take on the tasks you enjoy the least. Maybe your subject matter experts tend to give you dense info dumps of content. Having AI sift through it all and summarize the main points could make the experience less draining. Perhaps you need to liven up some old courses but don’t love rewriting boring copy. Getting AI to take the first crack at adjusting the copy’s tone could make the rewriting process less tedious. Or maybe you’re tired of refilming the same training video because a few company terms keep changing. By switching to an AI presenter, those changes would take a few minutes at your computer instead of hours of reshooting and editing. If you don’t love doing something and AI can competently take on some of the work for you, you’ll appreciate it all the more. And the flip side applies as well. Is there a task AI is good at that you honestly enjoy? Then don’t feel pressured to give it up. You’re not going to find AI tools valuable if they’re taking away the work that fuels you. Instead, use them to free up time so you can give your most-enjoyed tasks your full attention. 4. Know how to check AI’s work AI tools can be helpful. But, just like any resource or person, they’re not perfect. To get the best results, you need to know where this technology can make mistakes so it’s easier to find and correct them. The first area to keep an eye on is information accuracy. AI-generated content is often accurate. But because AI tools don’t actually understand the material they’ve been trained on and instead work by recognizing patterns, mistakes can creep in. Referred to as hallucination, these tools can accidentally invent facts or content. To catch these occasional errors, build in a content review pass into your development plan—something you or a subject matter expert may already be doing. It’s also helpful to include a bias check in that review process. Since AI tools are typically trained on massive amounts of information, biases around gender, race, age, religion, and more can sometimes sneak into the data set. Because of that, it’s important to review ai-generated or altered work to search for these specific issues—just like you might do today with stock photos or external research. Need ideas on what to look for? Want to consider how to avoid bias in both AI and human-generated content? Check out this article on four ways to make courses more inclusive. 5. Stay on top of how this technology evolves AI tools are evolving fast. So what’s true about their capabilities today might only be part of the picture tomorrow. If you’re excited about the possibilities, this is great news. But it also means that to get the full value from the AI tools you’re using now, you’ll want to actively pursue product updates and news so you don’t miss out on valuable new features. And as you’re planning for future projects, knowing what features and tools will be on the market soon can help you make informed purchasing decisions now. Wrap-up AI tools have a lot to offer our industry. But when it comes to deciding which aspects of them are the most useful, there’s no universal right answer. Instead, it often varies from person to person, company to company, and sometimes even project to project. That’s why the five approaches in this article can be so handy. They’ll help you explore your AI options and determine where they offer the most value for you and your work. Interested in the ways AI and eLearning can intersect? Check out these articles: 4 AI Basics Every E-Learning Creator Needs To Know in 2024 Why AI Could Turbocharge L&D Professionals How E-Learning Experts Shaped Articulate AI Want even more insights on the technologies and approaches that can help you create effective e-learning? Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest e-learning inspiration and insights directly in your inbox. You can also find us on LinkedIn and X. And if you have questions, please share them in the comments.Your Handy E-Learning Course Review Checklist
Remember taking tests back in elementary school when your teacher told you to always check your answers before turning it in? Same for an e-learning course. Before you deliver a course to learners, you want to look over your course to make sure it’s the very best it can be. But when you’re reviewing your course, what should you look out for? Every e-learning project is different, so no one checklist will work for everyone; however, here are some of the main things you’ll want to watch out for in your review. Review the Course Content No surprise here. The content is the most important part of your course, so you want to make sure you’re hitting the mark. If you’re not a subject matter expert, you should find one to help you with this part. Here are some questions to ask as you look through your course: Are the learning objectives measurable? Does all the content support the learning objectives? Is there any content that could be taken out? Is there any content missing? Have all the facts been checked and referenced appropriately? Does the course follow a logical order? Do the images accurately represent the course material? Do the examples and/or scenarios accurately portray the real-life context? Will the learners find the characters relatable? Does the quiz focus on the course objectives? Are the quiz questions clearly stated? Are all the quiz options believable (even the wrong answers)? Do you clearly state what learners need to do to pass the course? Here are some additional resources to help you fine-tune your content: How to Write Good E-Learning Objectives for Your Online Course The Dos and Don’ts of Separating Need-to-Know from Nice-to-Know What to Do When Your Course Has Too Much Content How to Create a Successful E-Learning Knowledge Check Copyedit the Text If your course is like most, text is a key part of the learning experience. Grammar and spelling errors are not only distracting, they actually skew your key messages. Here are some things to keep in mind to make sure you’re getting your point across: Are there any grammatical or spelling errors? Are you using punctuation and capitalization appropriately? Are there any run-on sentences that you could split up into shorter, more concise sentences? Are you using the active voice? Are you using the same voice throughout (for example, “I” or “you”?) Can you replace any adverbs (for example, running rapidly) with more precise verbs (for example, sprinting)? Are there any superlatives like "high-quality" or "excellence" that you could take out? Is there any jargon you should take out or explain? Is the voice-over script written in a conversational tone? Does the voice-over script provide notes to the voice talent on pronunciation? If writing isn’t your strong suit, check out these articles for more tips: Top Writing Tips for E-Learning 5 Tips to Improve Your Technical Writing Skills More Than a Dozen Tips for Writing Awesome Audio Narration Scripts Listen Closely to the Audio If your course has any voice-over audio, make sure to listen to it with these questions in mind: Is the audio used meaningfully? Or is the narrator just reading the on-screen text to learners? Does the voice-over follow the script word for word? If not, do any of the slight changes make a difference? If not, edit the script to match the audio. If there are changes that affect the meaning, ask the person to re-record that section. Are there any distracting background noises that need to be taken out? Is the audio volume at a good level (not too loud, nor too soft)? Is the volume and quality consistent throughout the course? Does the tone and inflection sound natural? Never worked with audio before? This article will help you get started: Audio Basics for Online Course Design. Assess the Design While people say not to judge a book by its cover, the reality is that we all do it. The course design is the first thing your learners will notice. If you want them to pay attention, it’s important their first impression be a good one. Here are some questions to ask yourself to make sure you’re on the right track: Does the design respect the brand guidelines (if applicable)? Does the design complement the subject matter? Is the design cohesive throughout the course? Are the objects aligned as they should be? Are all the images of similar style and quality? Are images and illustrations meaningful? Or are they merely decorative? Are fonts used consistently throughout (type and size)? Are all screenshots free of personal information? Do all buttons and hyperlinks look and behave the same (for example, if one button has a hover state, do they all?) so learners understand they’re clickable? If your design skills need a little work, check out these helpful resources: Visual Design How-Tos for E-Learning Developers User Interface Design: 3 Things E-Learning Designers Need to Know Test the Functionality Building a course from scratch using a tool like Storyline that allows you to personalize everything (the player, menu, navigation, quiz options, etc.) lets you create your course exactly how you imagine it. But with all this freedom comes responsibility: it’s your job to make sure everything is working the way you intended. Here are some items to add to your review checklist: Buttons and Hyperlinks If you’ve personalized the navigation of your course in any way (by adding buttons, changing the branching options, etc), check and make sure everything’s working as expected. Here are the steps I recommend going through: Make sure there’s no Previous button on the first slide. Go through the course from start to finish, click on all the Next buttons. Make sure there’s no Next button on the last slide. Go backward through the course, clicking on all the Previous buttons. Now go through the course again, starting from the beginning. Click on any other buttons (that open a layer, for example) or hyperlinks and make sure they’re working as expected. Menu Can you access all the sections of your course from the menu? Are all the titles correct? Is everything in the right order? Player Is there a seekbar on all slides with audio or video? Does the seekbar end at the end of the audio or video? Or does it extend far beyond it? If your course has audio, did you include an audio button so learners can turn the audio off or adjust the volume? Animations Are the animations synchronized with the audio (if applicable)? Do all the animations appear and disappear as expected? Videos Does the video play all the way through? Is the audio high quality? Quiz Questions Go through the quiz, making sure to select the correct answers and review the feedback. Make sure the score correctly shows you’ve gotten 100% at the end and that the correct amount of points is shown (if applicable). Go through the quiz again, this time selecting the incorrect answers and reviewing the feedback. Make sure the score correctly shows you’ve gotten 0% at the end and that the correct amount of points is shown (if applicable). Go through the quiz a third time. Alternate right and wrong answers. Check the score again and make sure it’s correct. Go through the quiz a final time, alternating right and wrong answers again but in the opposite order as the time before. Make sure the score is reporting correctly. Note that if you’re using a tool like Rise, you can skip this part of the review since all the functionality is prebuilt and it works perfectly every time. Check for User-Friendliness Once you’ve tested your course and you’re sure the content, design, and functionality are as expected, ask a potential learner to test it. They’ll be able to give you some great feedback about the course content and usability that you, as the course creator, are too close to the project to see. Here are some questions you should ask them when they’re done viewing the course: Content Was the course helpful and relevant to your job? What are the three most relevant things you learned? How confident are you that you can apply the new skill(s) you learned on the job? Is there anything you didn’t understand? Do you think the quiz accurately assessed your understanding of the course materials? Were the questions too easy, too hard, or just right? Was the feedback too detailed, not detailed enough, or just right? Usability Were the navigational instructions provided explicit enough? Did you always know where to click, or did you sometimes feel lost and unsure where to click? Armed with this checklist, you can deliver your course to learners knowing you did everything you could to make sure it fits their needs, works properly, and looks professional. Remember: if it’s not perfect (and no course ever is) you can always go back and make changes later on, after you get learner feedback. And while we’re on the topic of course review, here are some other great resources you should check out: Why We Love Articulate Review (and You Will, Too) Speed Collaboration with Articulate Review 3 Ways Articulate Review Is a Big Gift for Course Developers 5 Steps to an Easier E-Learning Course Review Process Follow These 3 Tips to Put the “Pro” Back In Your Review Process Rise Example: A Course for Stakeholders on the Review Process What do you think of this checklist? Is there anything on your review checklist that I missed? If so, please share in the comments section below! Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest e-learning inspiration and insights directly in your inbox. You can also find us on LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter).How to Customize the Review Quiz Experience in Storyline 360
With Storyline 360, it’s easy for learners to review their answers to a quiz and see how they did. By default, there’s a Review Quiz button on the result slide that takes them back through the quiz, where they’ll see a “correct” or “incorrect” banner across the bottom of each question. But often, learners want to know more than just whether or not they got a question right—they want to understand why. So why not tap into that teachable moment by providing some additional helpful content during the quiz review? With Storyline 360, you can do just that! And it’s super easy. In this article, we’ll walk you through how to enhance your quiz review with question-specific content like remedial help, supplemental tips or links, movies, text, images, and audio. Here we go! 1. Open the Question Editor First, open your question slide and click the Form View button above the trigger panel to open the question editor. 2. Add Text to the Post-Quiz Review Field At the bottom of the question editor, you’ll see a field called Post-Quiz Review. In that field, enter some text. When text is present, Storyline automatically creates a new layer on your question slide called Review. This layer is what learners will see if they choose to review their quiz. 3. Customize the Review Layer Next, click on Slide View to see the review layer you’ve just created. From there, you can customize it with whatever content you want learners to see during the quiz review—for example, audio, video, or imagery. Wrap-Up & More Resources Now that you know how to customize the review layer, you can transform a standard quiz review into a content-rich experience that’ll help your users extend their learning! And it only takes a few minutes. Pretty cool, right? And if you’re looking for more tips on making top-notch quizzes, check out these helpful resources: How to Match Question Types with the Skills You’re Testing How to Write Good E-Learning Quiz Questions How to Write Plausible Incorrect Answer Options for Quiz Questions 4 Ways to Use the New Quiz Tracking Features in Storyline 360 Want to try something you learned here, but don’t have Articulate 360? Start a free 30-day trial, and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning. If you have any questions, please share them in the comments.4 Skills Every E-Learning Developer Needs to Have
Two topics that come up a lot in the Articulate community are how to get started in the field of e-learning and good, basic skills an individual should have to pursue a career in e-learning development. I’d like to highlight four basic skills that great e-learning developers should cultivate: Instructional Design Knowledge Instructional design is the discipline of designing instructionally sound learning materials. An instructional designer can look at information and synthesize it to extract what’s most important and relevant to the learner, and present that information in a way that will help the learner retain the knowledge. With basic instructional design skills, you can sift through all of your content and separate out what will actually improve the learner’s knowledge and skills. At the end of the day, separating the “need-to-know” from the “nice-to-know” is why most organizations create e-learning in the first place. Graphic Design Basics You don’t have to be the next Picasso to become an e-learning developer, but it definitely helps to have an eye for aesthetics. It will also really help you out if you are able to do a few common tasks in a graphic editing tool. Having a few basic skills such as the ability to lay out content, choose fonts and color schemes, and remove a background from an image will go a long way when you are designing e-learning and working with graphics and images. Concise and Clear Writing Skills An important part of any e-learning course is its textual content, so it helps to have a solid grasp of the language and a strong vocabulary. You should be able to write properly, concisely, and consistently, but you should also always ask someone to review your work for spelling and grammar. Mistakes in your text make a course look less polished and professional, and can sometimes damage your credibility. Strong Sense of Organization Have you ever looked at a webpage or e-learning course and been overwhelmed with information, or unsure where to click first? That’s a sign of disorganized content. The way your content is organized can be the difference between whether your learners “get it” or not. A great e-learning developer will have the ability to sort and organize all of the information in the course, as well as all of the objects on the slides. Having your content laid out in a logical order (chronologically, alphabetically, or whatever makes most sense for your content) will help make sure all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place for your learners. These are four basic skills that can go a long way for an e-learning developer. Do you know of any other basic skills that you think are essential to being a successful e-learning developer? If so, share a comment below and let us know what you think! You can always sign up for a fully functional, free trial of Articulate software. And don’t forget to post your questions and comments in the forums! We’re here to help. For more e-learning tips, examples, and downloads, follow us on Twitter.6 Rise 360 Blocks to Use Instead of Bullet Points
Bullet points have been a staple in presentations and e-learning courses since the beginning. It’s easy to see why—they’re a simple and effective way to organize content. However, like anything, they work best when used in moderation. Thanks to all of the block options in Rise 360, bullet points aren’t the only fast and easy option for presenting your content. However, if you’re used to relying heavily on bullet points, you might be struggling to come up with ideas for creative alternatives. You’re not alone! Let’s look at some block types that work well for content traditionally reserved for bullet points. 1. Checkbox Lists You might wonder, what’s the difference between a bullet-point list and a checkbox list? Interactivity, that’s what! Checkbox list blocks in Rise 360 let learners interact with the content, making them less likely to skim over it. Checkbox lists are especially useful when you want learners to reflect on each item and check it off when they’re done or if it applies to them, like in the example below: Explore the interactive version or send a copy to your Rise 360 dashboard. Do you ever use your pointer finger as a guide when you read, to underline the sentence you’re currently scanning with your eyes? Checkbox lists work in a similar way—preventing learners from losing their spot and helping them stay focused on the text they’re currently reading. 2. Flashcard Grids Next let’s take a look at another one of my go-to Rise 360 blocks for bullet-point content: the flashcard grid. Using flashcards is a great way to minimize the amount of text displayed at any given time, which in turn reduces the cognitive load and makes it easier for learners to focus. With flashcards in Rise 360, you have the option to use text on both sides, images on both sides, or one of each. It’s up to you! Here’s what it looks like when you use text on both sides: Explore the interactive version or send a copy to your Rise 360 dashboard. And here’s another example, with images on one side and text on the other: Explore the interactive version or send a copy to your Rise 360 dashboard. See how the images draw you in and make you want to click? If you like the way that looks but don’t have any graphics on hand, don’t worry. Thanks to Content Library 360, you have access to millions of images and illustrations—right from within Rise 360! 3. Labeled Graphics You can also use one illustration to represent all of your bullet points, like in the example below, and add interactive markers the learner can click on to view the text. Explore the interactive version or send a copy to your Rise 360 dashboard. Illustrations aren’t the only option for this approach; photos can work just as well. Check out the example below to see for yourself: Explore the interactive version. For tips on finding the imagery you need, head on over to this article: How to Find the Images You Want in Content Library 360. 4. Carousels Another creative way to transform your bullet points is by using a series of large images in a carousel block and adding the text below, like in this example: Explore the interactive version or send a copy to your Rise 360 dashboard. Are you starting to see a theme here? Whenever possible, it’s a good idea to use relevant images alongside text-based content. It adds visual interest and breaks up the monotony, increasing the likelihood that your learners won’t gloss over your content. 5. Accordions If your bullet points are longer and you’re looking for a way to make them less visually intimidating, accordion blocks are a great option. When learners arrive on the screen, they only see the titles. When they click on the plus (+) icons, they see the additional information for each tab one at a time, making it easier to digest. Take a look at how it works in the example below: Explore the interactive version or send a copy to your Rise 360 dashboard. Note that while the example above is text only, you can also add images to each tab if you’d like. It’s up to you! 6. Tabs Much like accordion blocks, tabs break up your content and allow learners to focus on one thing at a time. Explore the interactive version or send a copy to your Rise 360 dashboard. In the example above, each tab contains only a sentence or two of text, but that’s something you get to determine. And, of course, you can also add any other relevant multimedia elements you have on hand. More Resources If you found this article helpful, be sure to check out the resources below for more inspiring ideas: 7 Creative Ways to Use Images in Rise 360 Courses 5 Ideas for Turning Boring Bullets into Engaging Interactions Basic Elements of an E-Learning Course Want to try out these Rise 360 blocks, but don’t have Articulate 360? Start a free 30-day trial, and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning. If you have any questions, please share them in the comments.
