Creating Immersive Learning Experiences with 360° Images #467
Labeled graphics interactions are one of the most popular interactions because they’re easy to create and only need a single image to turn static visuals into interactive, explore-type activities. Similarly, 360° images offer the same ease of creation but on a whole new level. They bring static images to life, allowing learners to explore real-world environments as if they were actually there. And that’s what this week’s challenge is all about! 🏆 Challenge of the Week This week, your challenge is to show how 360° images can be used in e-learning. If you're a Rise 360, the 360° images feature is a fantastic way to enhance your courses by using Rise 360's Storyline blocks. 🏞️ Looking for 360° Panoramic Stock Photos? Storyline 360 supports equirectangular panoramas in all standard image formats for creating 360° image interactions. Here are some places you can find images: Pixabay 360Cities Flickr Pixexid *Each image provider has its own licensing terms. Be sure to review them to ensure proper use. 📸 360°Degree Cameras Here are four of the most popular 360° cameras: Insta360 ONE X2 and Insta360 X3 Ricoh Theta Z1 GoPro MAX Ricoh Theta SC2 🧰 Resources 360° Images User Guide Adding and Editing 360° Images Tutorials: How to Create a Progressive Scavenger Hunt with 360° Images in Storyline 360 How to Create Badges for a Gamified Scavenger Hunt Using 360° Images ✨ 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 take this week’s challenge for a spin, check out the accessibility makeovers your fellow challengers shared over the past week: E-Learning Accessibility Makeovers RECAP #466: 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. 📆 Upcoming Challenges Challenge #468 (07.05): Drag-and-drop interactions. This will be a general drag-drop challenge, so you can share anything you like.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 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 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 Do RECAP #469: 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. 📆 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 SubmissionE-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? 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. 📆 Upcoming Challenges Challenge #473 (08.09): Week 4: Final Testing & Project SubmissionCreating Roulette & Spinning Wheel Games in E-Learning #458
Roulette & Spinning Wheel Games #458: Challenge | Recap This week’s challenge was inspired by a recent community discussion by Troy Westphal. Troy created a roulette game using true/false variables to determine if the roulette’s spinning wheel selected red or black. Walt and Tom jumped in with ideas and tutorials to help troubleshoot Troy's source file. While Roulette games aren't a common interaction in e-learning, they present fantastic ways to flex our variables muscles. And that's what this week's challenge is all about. 🏆 Challenge of the Week This week, your challenge is to create a roulette-type game that involves spinning and randomization. You can create a literal roulette game or anything that captures the essence of the game. Ideas and Possible Projects Here are a few ideas to help you get started. Remember, you’re not limited to only roulette games. The objective this week is to combine spinning effects with randomization. Lottery Number Generator: Create an interaction to generate a set of random lottery numbers based on learner inputs or random numbers. Slot Machine Games: Create a slot-machine game where learners can spin the reels using sliders, dials, or simple buttons. Wheel of Fortune Games: Create a game based on the popular TV show. Examples of Spinning Interactions Here are a few examples of different approaches to this week’s challenge. ELC444: Example by Nichole Codrington ELC405: Example by Natalie Friedman ELC334: Example by Emmy Buxengard ELC311: Example by Owen Holt ELC278: Example & download by Samuel Apata ELC275: Example & download by Samuel Apata 🧰 Resources User Guides Storyline 360: Working with Variables Storyline 360: Adding Variable References Storyline 360: What "Object Loses Focus" Means Webinars Overview of Variables in Storyline 360 Using Text Variables in Storyline 360 Using Number Variables in Storyline 360 5 Ways to Personalize E-Learning Courses Using True/False Variables in Storyline 360 ✨ 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 spinning random ideas on this week’s challenge, check out the creative ways your fellow challengers combined three or more challenges: Mix-and-Match Challenge Examples RECAP #457: 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. 🚨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.E-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 & Review RECAP #472: 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.Building 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 interactive prototype 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 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 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? 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. 📆 Upcoming Challenges Challenge #472 (08.02): Week 3: Production & Development Challenge #473 (08.09): Week 4: Final Testing & Project SubmissionHow are Badges, Awards, and Achievements Used to Gamify E-Learning? #280
Badges and Awards in E-Learning Courses #280: Challenge | Recap Gaming elements, such as rewards, points, discovery, and competition, are excellent ways to engage and motivate learners. But the challenge for most course designers is finding practical ways to apply game mechanics without disrupting their existing course design models. One way to begin adding gamification elements to e-learning courses is by starting small and working with existing projects. And that’s what this week’s challenge is all about! E-Learning Challenge of the Week This week, your challenge is to share an example that demonstrates how badges, awards, or achievements can be used in e-learning. If you’re new to course authoring, focus on the technical basics of working with variables and showing custom bookmarking states. For those with more experience, try showing more real-world examples that demonstrate how awards and badges can be appropriately used in e-learning. New Entries Only! We’ve hosted several gamification, showing progress, and personalization challenges which are similar to this week’s topic. To keep this week’s entries fresh, we’re asking that you only share new examples in this week’s challenge. 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 level up in this week’s challenge, check out the the creative ways your fellow challengers motivate learners and gain attention in e-learning: Motivating and Gaining Attention in E-Learning #279: Challenge | Recap Wishing you a great week, E-Learning Heroes! 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.Using Animation Techniques to Create Countdown Timers in E-Learning #298
Animated Timers in E-Learning #298: Challenge | Recap Timers are a common element in game-based learning where time constraints play a role in the success or failure of a task. Timers can be used for most decision-making activities that require learners to quickly process information. Animated timers can be used to: Create a sense of urgency, tension, or pressure Simulate real-world tasks that involve time constraints Gamify decision-making activities Create timed skill and drill exercises Timers can be created using a variety of techniques including video clips and basic entrance animations. The best part is that timers can be visually themed to align with your course content. Let's look at a few examples: Card Match Game Try your memory in this card matching game from Richard Hill. First shared in the memory game challenge, this game features an animated timer that puts learners under pressure to complete the puzzle. View and download the timer in action Wait! How’d he do that? The effect was created using Storyline’s wheel entrance animation and a 35-second duration. Using a longer duration, the entrance animation creates the visual countdown effect. Brilliant! One Creative Timer Begets Another Following up in the same memory game challenge, community member Ridvan Saglam used a similar technique for his airplane countdown timer. I really like the way he visually connected the design of his timer to the theme of his game. Ridvan shared a few more visual timers that you can download from this discussion thread. Using Timers to Gamify Existing Slides Here’s an example that Alexander Salas shared for a previous challenge where he took an existing template and gamified it by adding a simple countdown timer. You can download his source file and use that as a starting point for this week's challenge. View and download the timer Using Video Clips as Timers Animated timers can even be created with simple tools like PowerPoint. In this example, Tracy Parish created an animated loading bar effect in PowerPoint. Using a screencasting tool, she recorded the animation as it played back. Learn more and download the source file Because Storyline has a trigger to evaluate when a when a media clip completes, the video’s duration becomes the timer. Challenge of the Week This week, your challenge is to share an example that demonstrates how animated timers can be used in e-learning. NOTE: Your entry can be anything from a rough concept to a polished example. The challenges are open to everyone, regardless of experience or skill level. If you need technical or creative help with your project, please ask in our forums and reference the challenge number you’re working on. Last Week’s Challenge: Before you put the time squeeze on your learners, check out the interactive Tour de France examples your fellow community members shared in last week's challenge: Tour de France Interactive Examples RECAP #297: 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.Using Timed Activities in E-Learning #352
Using Timed Activities in E-Learning #352: Challenge | Recap Using timers is a great way to create a sense of urgency or pressure in learning games and activities. And with Storyline 360's new elapsed time variables, it's never been easier to create engaging, time-based activities in e-learning. And that's what this week's challenge is all about. Ideas for Timed Examples Combine 360° images with countdown timers to create a gamified new hire orientation activity Simulate real-world tasks that involve time constraints Gamify decision-making activities Create timed skill and drill exercises Show hints or clues to quiz questions Using the Elapsed Time Variables in Storyline 360 Check out this recent article from Amanda to learn more about the elapsed time variables and ways to use them in your projects. View the article | Download the source Accessibility and Timed Interactions Timed activities aren't recommended for accessible courses or learners with limited language proficiencies. You can find more guidance on using time limits in the WCAG 2.0 guidelines and success criteria. Challenge of the Week This week, your challenge is to share an example that shows how time-based activities can be used in e-learning. You can use Storyline’s new elapsed time variables or any other approach that triggers events based on time. Project Files If you use Storyline’s elapsed time variables, please consider sharing your .story files this week. I know it’s not always possible to share project files, and that’s okay. The variable is new to everyone, so your project files will help other designers learn from your work. Resources Storyline 360: Elapsed Time Variables 3 Reasons You’re Going to Love Elapsed Time Variables in Storyline 360 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 make some time for this week’s challenge, check out the light and dark templates your fellow challengers shared over the past week: Light and Dark E-Learning Themes #351: 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 Games for Kids #59
E-Learning Games for Kids #59: Challenge | Recap Games. They’re fun to play and even more fun to design. In a previous e-learning challenge, we saw some really creative games designed around topics for all ages. This week we’re going to look at learning games for kids. Here are a few examples shared in the community: Math Games Flashcards Articulate Super Hero Paul Alders recently shared a free math game template. Using a flashcards design, the learner progresses through the cards by correctly answering basic math problems. View the flashcard math game Get the Bananas An amusing math game designed by Jeanette Brooks. Help the monkey climb the tree and reach the bananas by correctly answering the math problems. View the e-learning math game Fun Games Connect the Dots Simple connect the dots game built in Storyline. The game features options for enabling and disabling the number guides. View the e-learning game Brain Teasers Visual Logic Game Lateral learning game designed community member Montse Anderson. The game is based on a real-world game where the learner is asked to remove match sticks to “make ten.” View the visual logic game Health and Nutrition Games Start Your Day with Breakfast Excerpt from learning course designed by Super Hero Phil Mayor. This interaction helps kids learn about healthy food choices. View breakfast foods demo from Start Your Day With Breakfast lesson Challenge of the week This week your challenge is to build a simple e-learning game for kids. You can design any type of learning game you want. Just keep it simple and have fun with it. Resources Here are some e-learning game examples shared by your fellow community members. Not all were designed for kids, but there are some free templates that might help you get started. 12 Free E-Learning Games for Articulate Storyline 10 Free E-Learning Games for Articulate Storyline 5 Free E-Learning Games for Articulate Storyline Previous e-learning challenges: Spelling Bees and Interactive Vocabulary Quizzes Font Games, Quizzes, and Examples 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. Twitter: If you share your demos on Twitter, try using #ELHChallenge so your tweeps can track your e-learning coolness. Facebook: Share your work on our Facebook page by replying to this Facebook post with a link to your example. Last week's e-learning challenge E-Learning Challenge #58: Challenge | Recap Wishing you a game-tastic week, E-Learning Heroes! New to the 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 the work you share.
