What do E-Learning Designers Need to Know About Working with SMEs? #474
Working with E-Learning SMEs#474: Challenge | Recap When it comes to building courses, your Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) hold the keys to your success—you can’t do much without them. They’re the folks who not only bring their expertise to the table but also help you fine-tune those storyboards and quizzes and break down the intricate processes that make your training actually work. But here’s the catch: if they’re not fully on board or are dragging their feet, they can quickly become a major headache. The trick is figuring out how to turn those challenging SMEs into your biggest allies. And that's this week’s challenge is all about! 🏆 Challenge of the Week This week’s challenge is to share a short demo or interaction that helps e-learning designers collaborate more effectively with their SMEs. You can take it in any direction you like—whether it’s creating a slide with your favorite quote about working with SMEs, building a microlearning course, or even a whack-a-mole game (SME Edition). ✨ Share Your E-Learning Work Comments: Use the comments section below to link your published example and blog post. Forums: Start a new thread and share a link to your published example. Personal blog: If you have a blog, please consider writing about your challenges. We'll link to your posts, so your great work gets even more exposure. Social media: If you share your demos on Twitter or LinkedIn, try using #ELHChallenge so your tweeps can follow your e-learning coolness. 🙌 Last Week’s Challenge: Before sharing your favorite tips for working with SMEs, take a look at the final examples from the e-learning game show series: E-Learning Quiz GamesRECAP#473:Challenge|Recap 👋 New to the E-Learning Challenges? Theweekly e-learning challengesare ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of theprevious challengesanytime you want. I’ll update the recap posts to include your demos. Learn more about the challenges in thisQ&A postand why and how to participate in thishelpful article.New Employee Orientation and Onboarding in E-Learning #389
Onboarding and New Hire Training#389: Challenge | Recap Employee orientation training is one of the most popular types of e-learning. Onboarding is typically the first training employees encounter at their new company, so it’s essential to get it right. What should you include in onboarding training? What does onboarding training look like? Well, that’s what this week’s challenge is all about. Challenge of the Week This week, your challenge is to create an onboarding example for new employees. You don't need to build a comprehensive onboarding course. Instead, we want to see different approaches for onboarding new employees. For example, using placeholder content, you can create your demo for a fictional or real company. Or, develop your onboarding demo for your own e-learning company. Who knows? You may need to onboard some new course designers one day. Designing Onboarding Using Common E-Learning Interactions I always enjoyed building onboarding training because of the mix of instructional and interaction design. The course design begins with the content topics and lessons. But when you're ready to dive into development, common e-learning interactions can help you with the presentation design. Employee Orientation vs. Onboarding (See challenge #385 for ideas) Onboarding Checklist (See challenge #291 for ideas) Onboarding Journey Map (See challenge #255 for ideas) Meet the Team & Interactive Org Charts (See challenge #244 for ideas) Onboarding Scenarios (See challenge #365 for ideas) Orientation Tour of the Corporate Campus (See challenge #379, challenge #371, and challenge #337 for ideas) Safety Orientation & Procedures (See challenge #309 for ideas) Resources Here are some articles, examples, and webinars to help you with this week’s onboarding challenge. Webinar: How to Build Onboarding Training in Rise 360 Article: 5 Creative Ideas for Revamping New Hire Onboarding Examples: 5 Fresh Onboarding Examples & Templates Share Your E-Learning Work Comments: Use the comments section below to share a link to your published example and blog post. Forums: Start your own thread and share a link to your published example.. Personal blog: If you have a blog, please consider writing about your challenges. We’ll link back to your posts so the great work you’re sharing gets even more exposure. Social Media: If you share your demos on Twitter or LinkedIn, try using #ELHChallenge so your tweeps can track your e-learning coolness. Last Week’s Challenge: Before you launch this week's onboarding challenge, check out the personality games and quizzes your fellow challengers shared over the past week: Personality Games and Quizzes in E-Learning#388:Challenge|Recap New to the E-Learning Challenges? The weekly e-learning 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. Learn more about the challenges in this Q&A post and why and how to participate in this helpful article.E-Learning Game Design: Development & Review #472
Game Design: Development & Review#472: Challenge | Recap Welcome to the third week of our e-learning game design challenge. Last week, you built a working prototype from your storyboard or design concept. This week, you’ll focus on bringing the core elements of the e-learning game together to create a detailed and functional model. Your game should be far enough along to submit for final QA and testing. 🏆 Challenge of the Week This week, your challenge is to share a fully developed version of the game that incorporates all designed elements, interactive features, animations, and multimedia components. Optional: Since this is our last week of development before submitting the final project, let a few friends or fellow challengers play your game and gather feedback in Review 360. It’s the best way to spot any problems and see what people like or don’t like. I know many of you have been gathering feedback all along, but I’d like to highlight the testing and review process this week. Week 1: Concept & Storyboarding Week 2: Design & Prototyping Week 3: Development & Review Goal: Develop a detailed and functional version of your game Deliverables: Apply and refine the visual design elements Integrate the interactive elements, animations, and multimedia components Refine the visual design and user interface to enhance the overall user experience Submit to Review 360 for user testing and feedback (optional but encouraged) Share a link to your project Week 4: Final Testing & Project Submission 🚨 NOTE: Even if you didn’t participate last week, you’re still welcome to join this week’s challenge. Ideally, you’ll complete all four weeks, but any participation is appreciated. Share what you can. 🙌 Last Week’s Challenge: Before you complete your game design, check out the interactive prototypes your fellow challengers shared over the past week: Interactive Prototypes in E-Learning RECAP #471: Challenge | Recap 👋 New to the E-Learning Challenges? Theweekly e-learning challengesare ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of theprevious challengesanytime you want. I’ll update the recap posts to include your demos. Learn more about the challenges in thisQ&A postand why and how to participate in thishelpful article. 📆 Upcoming Challenges Challenge #473(08.09): Week 4: Final Testing & Project SubmissionUsing Glassmorphism Designs in E-Learning Course Development #310
Glassmorphism Design in E-Learning#310:Challenge|Recap It's a new year, and that means new design trends. In a recent challenge, we looked usingthe2021 Pantone Color of the Year in e-learning design. If you haven't checked out the examples, stop what you're doing and check them out. The color of the yearis abig deal because it will influence design, fashion, home interior, and consumer product trends in the upcoming year. 2021 E-Learning Design Trends This week, we're looking at how course creatorscan use the frosted glass effect, known as glassmorphism, in their e-learning designs. Glassmorphism is a design conceptthat’s been around for a while. Variations of the effect have been used in iOS 7 and Mac OS Big Sur. The effect is created by layering gradient or blurred backgrounds and semi-transparent shapes and panels. Here's an example: Courses Dashboard by Rudi Hartono Applying Glassmorphism Effects to E-LearningTemplates If you’re looking for a place to start, try working with an existing course or template you’ve already built. This way, your content is already in place, and you’re free to focus on the design elements. Here’s a quick before and after for the Serenity template. To create the blurred background effect, I started in PowerPoint and went to Format Picture > Artistic Effects > Blur. Depending on the image you use, you might need to apply another round of blur to the image. To apply a second blur effect, save your image as a picture. Saving the image flattens the blur effect. Insert the blurred image back into PowerPoint and repeat the process. I think the effect turned out pretty well, but I would still like to play with different layouts and panels before considering this a final design concept. Challenge of the Week This week, your challenge is to share an example demonstrating how glassmorphism can be used in e-learning. Your example can be interactive or a screenshot. We want to see how this design trend can be used in course design. Resources Here are some good examples of glassmorphism to give you an idea how the design effect is being used in UI design. Glassmorphism designs and examples on Dribbble Frosted glass examples on Dribbble Glassmorphism in user interfaces Share Your E-Learning Work Comments: Use the comments section below to share a link to your published example and blog post. Forums: Start your own thread and share a link to your published example.. Personal blog: If you have a blog, please consider writing about your challenges. We’ll link back to your posts so the great work you’re sharing gets even more exposure. Social Media: If you share your demos on Twitter or LinkedIn, try using #ELHChallenge so your tweeps can track your e-learning coolness. Last Week’s Challenge: Before you dive into this week’s challenge, check out the interactive aircraft safety cards your fellow community members shared over the past week: Interactive Passenger Safety Cards #309: Challenge| Recap New to the E-Learning Challenges? The weekly e-learning 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.How Are Designers Using Toggle Buttons in E-Learning? #460
Toggle Buttons in E-Learning#460: Challenge | Recap 🏆 Challenge of the Week This week, your challenge is to share an example that shows how toggle buttons and switches can be used in e-learning. You can create a simple example using normal and selected states with button sets or build something more advanced using variables. Let us know if you get stuck or need help with your project. 🧰 Resources E-Learning Challenge #97: 35+ Wicked Toggle Button Effects for E-Learning Designers Video tutorial: Here's how you can create a toggle button effect using Storyline's ✨ Share Your E-Learning Work Comments: Use the comments section below to link your published example and blog post. Forums: Start a new thread and share a link to your published example. Personal blog: If you have a blog, please consider writing about your challenges. We'll link to your posts so your great work gets even more exposure. Social media: If you share your demos on Twitter or LinkedIn, try using #ELHChallenge so your tweeps can follow your e-learning coolness. 🙌 Last Week’s Challenge: Before you switch to this week’s challenge, check out the creative ways your fellow course designers use photo collages to create interactions: Interactive Photo Collage ExamplesRECAP#459:Challenge|Recap 👋 New to the E-Learning Challenges? Theweekly e-learning challengesare ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of theprevious challengesanytime you want. I’ll update the recap posts to include your demos. Learn more about the challenges in thisQ&A postand why and how to participate in thishelpful article. 📆 Upcoming Challenges Challenge #461(05.10): Interactive Podcasts. SeeELC364for a related challenge. This time, the questions will focus on the value of working out loud, weekly challenges, and growing your skills. Challenge #462(05.17): Click. Hover. Drag. SeeELC144for a general idea of what we're doing. 🚨2024 Articulate User Conference Call for Proposals We’re now accepting proposals for this year’s in-person user day conference co-hosted at DevLearn in Las Vegas.Learn more about the proposal process.How are Escape Room Games Used in E-Learning #432
Using Escape Room Techniques in E-Learning#432: Challenge | Recap Escape rooms are adventure games where a group of players are locked in a room (real world or digital) and tasked with solving a series of puzzles and challenges to unlock a door leading to their escape. Popular escape techniques include: Locks and Keys: Locks and keys are foundational technqiues for unlocking new clues, items, or levels of the game. Sequence Puzzles: Players complete tasks or steps by clicking, sliding, dragging, or turning objects in a specific order. Hidden Objects: Players search the room for concealed items for solving other puzzles—a good opportunity for drag-to-reveal interactions. Even if you'd never consider using an escape room-type game in your own courses, they're still a fantastic way to practice advanced techniques. And that's what this week's challenge is all about! ✨ Example of an Escape Room Game Here’s a fantastic example from Karlis Sprogis of an escape room created in Storyline 360. View the example | Learn more about the project Last Week’s Challenge: Before you reveal your example, check out the creative ways course designers reduce on-screen text and boring bullets in e-learning: Bullet Point MakeoversRECAP#431:Challenge|Recap 🏆 Challenge of the Week This week, your challenge is to share an example using escape room techniques. You can choose any theme you like for your demo. The thing with escape room games is that they can go from tricky to frustrating quickly. Try to find ways to integrate hints, clues, and even cheats into your example. 👋 New to the E-Learning Challenges? The weekly e-learning 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. Learn more about the challenges in this Q&A post and why and how to participate in this helpful article. 📅 Next Week’s Challenge & Webinar Next week's challenge #433 (9/19): Using Lightbox Slides in Storyline 360 Upcoming webinar (9/22): Using Lightbox Slides in Storyline 360 Got an idea for a challenge? Are you interested in doing a webinar showcasing how you made one or more challenge demos? Or do you have some comments for your humble challenge host? Use this anonymous form to share your feedback: https://bit.ly/ElearningChallengeForm.Building E-Learning Games: Concept & Storyboard #470
Game Show Design: Storyboards#470: Challenge | Recap How in the world did you build that? A common challenge for new course designers is seeing polished e-learning projects and having no clue how they came together. I hear from folks all the time that they want to do the weekly challenges, but it feels too advanced for beginners. So, for this challenge, we're going to pump the brakes and spread the build over four weeks. We’ll follow a linear development model so we can really dig into and focus on common development steps. I realize experienced designers will prefer a more iterative approach for real-world projects. And that's fair. But using a progressive, step-by-step approach should help new users follow the evolution of an e-learning challenge project from concept to deliverable. Plus, it gives us something tangible to show each week. Week 1: The Concept & Visual Storyboard This first week, we’ll focus on the initial game show theme or concept. Your task will be to create a wireframe, flowchart, or visual storyboard that captures the flow of your game. For new users, this helps you work intentionally through your ideas before jumping into development. And for you pros, this might seem like extra work, but slowing it down will help others visualize how polished interactions come together. Here’s a breakdown of the four-week schedule: Week 1: Concept & Storyboarding Week 2: Prototype Development Week 3: Development & Review Week 4: Final Testing & Project Submission 🏆 Challenge of the Week This week, your challenge is to develop an e-learning game show concept and present a visual, non-interactive storyboard or flowchart of your game’s mechanics and visual elements. You can either create something new or take an old project and break it down with us over the four weeks. This way, everyone can see how it all comes together. Week 1: Concept & Storyboarding Goal: Choose a game show concept and design theme Deliverables: Choose a game show concept, theme and design style Create a visual storyboard, flowchart, or static mock-up of the game Share a link to your static design concept Week 2: Design & Prototyping Week 3: Production & Development Week 4: Final Testing & Project Submission ✨ Share Your E-Learning Work Comments: Use the comments section below to link your published example and blog post. Forums: Start a newthreadand share a link to your published example. Personal blog: If you have a blog, please consider writing about your challenges. We'll link to your posts, so your great work gets even more exposure. Social media: If you share your demos on Twitter or LinkedIn, try using#ELHChallengeso your tweeps can follow your e-learning coolness. 🙌 Last Week’s Challenge: Before you get started on this week’s design concept, check out last week’s examples to see what e-learning designers do and how they got started in the industry. What Instructional Designers DoRECAP#469:Challenge|Recap 👋 New to the E-Learning Challenges? Theweekly e-learning challengesare ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of theprevious challengesanytime you want. I’ll update the recap posts to include your demos. Learn more about the challenges in thisQ&A postand why and how to participate in thishelpful article. 📆 Upcoming Challenges Challenge #471 (07.26): Week 2: Prototype Development Challenge #472 (08.02): Week 3: Production & Development Challenge #473 (08.09): Week 4: Final Testing & Project SubmissionBuilding a Working Prototype for Your E-Learning Game Concept #471
Interactive Prototypes in E-Learning#471: Challenge | Recap Welcome back to part two of our e-learning game design challenge. Last week, you laid the groundwork with your design concepts and visual storyboards. Now, it’s time to bring those ideas to life with functional prototypes. This week, you’ll build a working model to test your game’s functionalities and interactive components. Your example should give us a clear preview of your game's key features and gameplay interactions. 🏆 Challenge of the Week This week, your challenge is to build an interactiveprototype to test specific functionalities or components. The goal is to create a functional version of your game that you can test and refine over the next two weeks. Think of this as the halfway point between the design concepts you created last week and the final version of your project. Don’t worry about making this version of your game perfect. You’re only creating a working model of your project. Keep it simple, focus on the essentials, and let us know if you need help or have any issues. Week 1: Concept & Storyboarding Week 2: Prototype Development Goal: Build a working prototype of your game Deliverables: Create a rough prototype of the game with basic interactions and navigation Build the basic game functionality with questions, scoring, and feedback Focus on core interactions and basic navigation Submit to Review 360 to gather initial feedback (optional) Week 3: Development & Review Week 4:Final Testing & Project Submission ✨ Share Your E-Learning Work Comments: Use the comments section below to link your published example and blog post. Forums: Start a newthreadand share a link to your published example. Personal blog: If you have a blog, please consider writing about your challenges. We'll link to your posts, so your great work gets even more exposure. Social media: If you share your demos on Twitter or LinkedIn, try using#ELHChallengeso your tweeps can follow your e-learning coolness. 🙌 Last Week’s Challenge: Before you move from concept to prototype, check out the storyboard ideas your fellow challengers shared over the past week: Game Show Design: Storyboards RECAP #470: Challenge | Recap 👋 New to the E-Learning Challenges? Theweekly e-learning challengesare ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of theprevious challengesanytime you want. I’ll update the recap posts to include your demos. Learn more about the challenges in thisQ&A postand why and how to participate in thishelpful article. 📆 Upcoming Challenges Challenge #472(08.02): Week 3: Production & Development Challenge #473(08.09): Week 4: Final Testing & Project SubmissionE-Learning Games Inspired by Popular TV Quiz Shows #473
Share Your E-Learning Quiz Games#473: Challenge | Recap Welcome to the final round of our four-week e-learning game challenge! You’ve done the heavy lifting—mapped out your design concepts, built your working prototypes, and taken in all that feedback. Now, it’s time to come on down and show off your final game example. 🏆 Challenge of the Week This week, your challenge is to share an e-learning game inspired by popular TV quiz shows. 🙏 If you’ve been following along with this four-part challenge series, please include links to your previous examples for each week. This will help me pull together a great recap of the series. Week 1:Concept & Storyboarding Week 2:Design & Prototyping Week 3: Development & Review Week 4: Final Testing & Project Submission Goal: Complete and share your final project Deliverables: Add the final touches, animations, and advanced interactions Incorporate any feedback you received Test your game for bugs, usability, and accessibility Share a link to your final project 🎁 BONUS: Share a quick write-up about your projects in the community. Talk about what you learned, how you used feedback, or how your project evolved over the four weeks. Anything you think would be helpful or interesting is welcome! 🚨 NOTE: And don’t worry if you didn’t join the earlier challenges—you’re still welcome to participate this week. Ideally, you’d complete all four weeks, but any contribution is appreciated! 📋 FEEDBACK: I really want to hear what you thought about this challenge.You’re welcome to answer as many or as few questions as you’d like, and you can share as much or as little as you feel comfortable with. If you prefer, you can submit your responses anonymously. Share your feedback 🙌 Last Week’s Challenge: Before you submit your final design, take a look at the functional examples your fellow game-show challengers shared over the past week: Game Design: Development & ReviewRECAP#472:Challenge|Recap 👋 New to the E-Learning Challenges? Theweekly e-learning challengesare ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of theprevious challengesanytime you want. I’ll update the recap posts to include your demos. Learn more about the challenges in thisQ&A postand why and how to participate in thishelpful article.Moving Beyond E-Learning's Next Button #462
Beyond the E-Learning Next Button#462: Challenge | Recap The “Next” button often gets a bad rap in e-learning. It’s commonly associated with linear, information-heavy courses that promote passive learning, leading learners to click through screens without truly engaging with the content. To be fair, the blame doesn’t lie with the Next button itself. Blaming the Next button for boring e-learning is like blaming the Play button for a boring video. For course designers, a good design exercise is to reimagine course navigation without relying on the ubiquitous next button. How would your learners navigate forward and backward? Can you integrate the course content into the navigation? Can interactive objects like sliders, dials, or text-entry fields be used in place of next and back buttons? 🏆 Challenge of the Week This week, your challenge is to show alternatives to using the next button. You can create something new or rework an existing project. Please include the original with your entry if you modify an existing project. Seeing both examples will help users connect the dots between where you started and where you finished. And if you have time, create multiple variations to show how clicks, slides, hovers, drags, and typing can advance learners through the course. 🧰 Resources Check out e-learning challenge #144’s examples to get an idea of what designers came up with in a related challenge. Slide, Drag, and Hover Past the Next Button #144: Challenge | Recap Using Circle Menus in E-Learning #406: Challenge | Recap Interactive Documents with Sliders #300: Challenge | Recap ✨ Share Your E-Learning Work Comments: Use the comments section below to link your published example and blog post. Forums: Start a new thread and share a link to your published example. Personal blog: If you have a blog, please consider writing about your challenges. We'll link to your posts so your great work gets even more exposure. Social media: If you share your demos on Twitter or LinkedIn, try using #ELHChallenge so your tweeps can follow your e-learning coolness. 🙌 Last Week’s Challenge: Before you slide into this week’s challenge, check out the audio interviews your fellow challengers recorded in last week’s challenge: Interviews with E-Learning ChallengersRECAP#461:Challenge|Recap 👋 New to the E-Learning Challenges? Theweekly e-learning challengesare ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of theprevious challengesanytime you want. I’ll update the recap posts to include your demos. Learn more about the weekly e-learning challenges in thisQ&A post. 📆 Upcoming Challenges Challenge #463 (05.24): Using progressive disclosure in e-learning. Challenge #464 (05.31): Labeled graphics and interactive markers 🚨 2024 Articulate User Conference Call for Proposals We’re now accepting proposals for this year’s in-person user day conference co-hosted at DevLearn in Las Vegas.Learn more about the proposal process.
