How to Easily Create Branching Scenarios in Rise 360
Scenarios are one of my favorite ways to immerse learners and give them a safe space to practice applying a new process, or to explore the nuances of performing their jobs. You’ll see two types of scenarios: linear or branched. I use linear scenarios when I need to help learners explore a series of sequential steps or practice applying a simple process. But when I really want my learners to practice decision-making and fine-tune their performance, I lean on branching scenarios. Creating scenarios, particularly branching scenarios, used to require a lot of time. But now, whether I need a linear or a branched scenario, creating one is quicker and easier than ever with the new scenario block in Rise 360. Using the scenario block, I was able to create the following interactive branching scenario in just a few minutes’ time! In this scenario, I give restaurant servers an engrossing way to practice upselling their customers to more expensive menu items. Check it out! View my scenario block in action Want to see how easy it is to create a branched scenario like mine with the scenario block? Keep reading. I’ll give you a quick walk-through of the process I followed. Spoiler alert: it’s super-simple—and fun! Overview of the Process Creating a branched scenario boils down to just four steps: Add a scenario block to your lesson. Add a scene or scenes to your scenario block (I’ll explain more about those below). Customize your scenes with Content Library 360 characters and background images. Add content text and branching. Let’s do a quick walk-through of each step. Add a Scenario Block to Your Lesson Scenario block is an interactive block type, so you’ll find it under the interactive blocks menu. Here’s how to navigate to it. Select All Blocks from the blocks shortcut bar. Or, click the insert block icon (+) that appears when you mouse-over a boundary between blocks. Scroll down and choose the interactive category in the block library, and select Scenario. This animated .GIF should point you in the right direction: Add a Scene or Scenes to Your Scenario Block Scenarios are made up of scenes that are, in turn, made up of content. If you’re planning to build a linear scenario, you might find you only need one scene for your project. But if you want to build a branching scenario, you’ll want to add more scenes to your project so you can change characters and backgrounds and branch to other content based on the learner’s choices. For example, in my project, I used three scenes to align with the three skills I needed my learners to practice. To add a scene, just mouse-over your scenario block and click the Edit button that appears. Here’s an animated .GIF to demonstrate how to add a scene to your scenario block: Customize Your Scene(s) Now you’re ready to customize your scenes with Content Library 360 characters and a background image. To customize your scene, click either Edit Background or Edit Character. I found the perfect backdrop for my scene right in Content Library 360, but you can upload an image of your own if you’d like. I also found the perfect character for my scene, Ammon, right in Content Library 360. Here are two more animated .GIFs of these steps. Add Content, Text, and Branching With your scenario block inserted and your scenes customized with the perfect characters and background, you’re ready to add content, pop in text, and add some branching. 1. Start by clicking the Add Content button. From there, you can choose between dialogues and informative text content. Whichever option you choose, you can still offer learners multiple paths to take through the scenario. In my example I used a mix of both types; dialogues to simulate a conversation and informative text content to reinforce feedback. To add dialogue to a scene, just choose dialogue from the content type drop-down menu in the upper right of the title bar. Here’s a .GIF showing you where to find that drop-down menu: 2. Now you can type or copy in text content for your dialogues or informative text. You can also type or copy in text for answer options and feedback. 3. With all of your content in place, you’re ready to add branching by using the Go to menu to specify where you’d like the learner to go next. By default, learners are taken to the next piece of content in the scene. To change that, just link to a different piece of content or to another scene. This gives you loads of flexibility, so you can do things like loop learners through a scene until they select the correct answer option, as I did. Or, you could gradually lead them down a path until they reach the end of the scenario. The choice is yours and the creative options are endless. Pro Tip: I like to preview my scenario from the beginning just to make sure everything is flowing the way I want it to. Here’s how you can do that, right in the scenario block: And when my scenario block is perfect, I like to save it as a block template so I can quickly reuse it in my current course or in future courses. I feel like I’m doing my future self a big favor and saving even more design time! I’m convinced that creating branched scenarios just doesn’t get much faster or easier than with scenario block. Ready to learn more about scenario block? Don’t miss Tom Kuhlmann’s awesome, step-by-step video tutorial on working with scenario blocks in Rise 360. Want to see more scenario blocks in action? Check out my full course example, 3 Techniques for Successful Upselling. And if you haven’t already, jump on over to Rise 360 and take a few minutes to play around and explore all the exciting new possibilities with scenario block. Then swing back by and let me know: what will you create with the new scenario block? Share your ideas in the comments, below. 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.5 Different Ways to Create Scenarios in Rise 360
If you’ve ever used the scenario block in Rise 360, you know how quick and easy it is to build an engaging interaction fast. But did you know there’s more than one way to create a scenario in Rise 360? With so many block options, it’s simple to customize your course design to fit your learners’ needs. Using the same scenario script, I created 5 versions of the same scenario using different lesson and block types. Let’s look at each of them and talk about when it makes sense to choose one option over the other. 1. Scenario Block Like I mentioned earlier, the Scenario Block in Rise 360 makes it super fast and easy to make your course more interactive. This is the most commonly used block for branching scenarios because everything is already built for you. You can quickly customize the block with Content Library 360 images and characters and then add your own dialogue, responses, and feedback. Use case: It’s best to use this block when you want to build a scenario fast! 2. Button Stack Block For this example, and examples 3 and 4, I inserted the same Image & Text Block to introduce the customer and the scenario, but chose different blocks to display answer options. In this case, I used the Button Stack Block. Button stacks can be used to send emails, access external information easily, or jump to other spots in a course. In this example, I used the button stack as answer options for the scenario. The learner selects a response and is directed to another lesson based on their answer. Use case: This block is useful if your custom feedback includes a lot of text or if you want to provide more contextual information based on a learner’s response—like a lesson with additional images, text, and block types that goes into more depth about that topic. 3. Flashcard Grid Block The Flashcard Grid Block is another option for your story-based interactions. With just one click you can define terms, reveal text, and much more. For this scenario example, I used the cards to display both answer options. The learner can click either option and get specific feedback based on their selection. So if a learner chooses the correct answer but wants to explore why the other answer is incorrect, they can! Use case: When you want to give the learner the option to easily view the consequences of more than one action, whether correct or incorrect—for example, if there are multiple correct answers but one of them is better than the other. 4. Knowledge Check Block Since knowledge checks are ungraded and don’t report a score, they’re a good way to provide a safe space for learners to reflect and practice applying what they’re learning in a low-pressure environment. And the great thing about knowledge checks is that you can build them right within a lesson! That’s exactly what I did in this example. Use case: Use this block when you want to quickly test learners’ knowledge within a lesson and the feedback only includes text. 5. Quiz Lesson Sometimes you need to do more than just check in with learners—for example, evaluate how much they’ve learned. That’s where quiz lessons come in! Quizzes are scored and report that information to your Learning Management System (LMS). For this example, I used a multiple choice question. Use case: If you need to track learners’ scores in your LMS, this is the option you’ll want to choose. Wrap-Up These are just a few creative ways to build scenarios in Rise 360 and when you might want to use them in your projects. Of course, you’re not limited to just these options. With so many lesson and block types, the possibilities are limitless. What creative ways have you used to present scenarios in your Rise 360 courses? Please share them in the comments below! If you liked the scenario examples above, you can see them in action here. Want to learn how to create realistic scenarios learners can relate to? Check out these helpful articles: 7 Tips for Writing Effective E-Learning Scenarios Help Learners Practice Their Skills with Scenarios in Rise 360 How to Choose the Point of View (POV) for Your E-Learning Scenario Want to start creating your own scenarios in Rise 360, 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.2 Rise 360 Scenario Examples That Think Outside the Block
One of the things I love about Rise 360 is that it allows me to easily create beautiful, responsive e-learning courses fast. For example, if I want to give my learners the opportunity to try making decisions in a realistic situation, I can quickly do that using the scenario block. But did you know that using the scenario block isn’t the only way to let learners try their hand at applying content in a real-life situation? You can also stack, arrange, and get creative with a variety of other block types to create truly unique scenarios. Let’s take a look at two Rise 360 examples that do just that. Branching Scenario One surefire way to increase engagement is to build scenarios that help learners apply the content in real life. This negotiation course by Trina Rimmer does exactly that. Using a variety of different block types, it walks the learner through how to tactfully negotiate a job offer. The course begins with a video block that explains the job offer as if the learner (aka potential employee) was on a call with the interviewer. Below the video is a knowledge check block where the learner decides how to respond to the offer. Once the learner makes a decision, they get personalized feedback. This provides a safe space for them to reflect and see the consequences of their choices in a low-pressure environment. The scenario continues with a follow-up, which includes the button stack block. The learner is presented with two options that bring them to a different part of the course depending on their answer. This example showcases a variety of different block types that were used to make custom scenario building easier than ever! Want to take a deeper look at each lesson? Go ahead and send yourself a copy of this course here! Stackable LessonScenario Like I mentioned earlier, there are countless ways to create immersive learning experiences in Rise 360. This customer service training by Nicole Legault shows just how easy it is to combine multiple block types to simulate real-life situations. This course shows the learner how to process a return. First, text and image blocks introduce the characters to learners. Throughout this lesson, the learner must answer questions using different block types to address different parts of the return process. For example, learners must determine the first thing the customer service representative should do by responding to this multiple choice knowledge check question. Then, learners discover the different items the customer wants to return via a four-column grid block. From there, the learner can select which items can be returned in the multiple response block. Another thing that stands out in this example is the creative use of the continue block. Instead of leaving the default button text, the author customized it to spell out the next stage of the process, making the return process clear. This course showcases so many creative ways to use different block types to create scenarios. Want to take a deeper look at this project? Go ahead and send yourself a copy of this course here! In Summary I hope these examples inspire you to use Rise 360 block types in new ways to create your own custom scenarios. And if you’ve already created some unique and inspiring examples in Rise 360, please share a link to your e-learning course in the comments section below! For tips on how to create effective branching scenarios, check out these resources: 5 Different Ways to Create Scenarios in Rise 360 How to Easily Create Branching Scenarios in Rise 360 7 Tips for Writing Effective E-Learning Scenarios Want to start creating your own scenarios in Rise 360, 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.Build 3-Step Scenarios Like a Pro With Storyline 360
Scenarios are a great way to get the learner to think about the content instead of just reading about it. The key to building a great scenario lies in how you approach your content. You should always aim to relate your content back to the real-life situation your learners will be in when they need to apply the information from your course. In this example scenario, a pharmaceutical company is launching a new product, and the e-learning module is for the company’s sales reps. An important question we should ask is: “Why would the sales reps need to know about the new product?” The answer, which defines our scenario, is: “In order to sell the products to potential customers.” That’s how easy it is. Once you start to think of your content this way, you’ll see that your scenarios will come to you naturally. Thinking of the real-life situations your learners will be in when they need to know your content is the hardest part. Once you’ve got that nailed down, building your scenario using Storyline 360 is super-duper easy. Here’s a simple three-step process to write relevant scenarios. 1. Introduce Characters The first step is to insert the characters that will play out the scenario. You can use the photographic or illustrated characters that come with Storyline 360. Try to pick characters that are representative of your audience. Once you’ve added in your characters, you should introduce them, including names and job titles. This will make the characters feel authentic, and lets the learner know why they are on the screen. 2. Insert Background Image Once you’ve got your characters on screen, add a background image to set the context for your scenario. When you’re thinking of background choices, ask yourself, “Where will the learner be when they need to apply the information they’re learning?” For this example, our sales rep would likely be in an office and the potential customer would probably be in a medical setting. So both our sales rep and the customer would be in their place of work. Simply insert images to create a background. 3. Use Convert to Freeform to Build Your Scenario Building your scenario boils down to asking a multiple choice question with one correct answer. The difference between a regular multiple choice question and a scenario-based multiple choice question is how you frame the question. A scenario-based question puts the learner into a situation they might encounter in the workplace, and asks them to make a decision based on the information provided. Asking a scenario-based question ensures your learner is able to do their job and make the right decisions, instead of just testing whether they’ve memorized a few facts. In this example, shapes are used to present a question and two possible answers. You can use the Convert to Freeform option to turn your slide into a “pick one” quiz slide. Pro tip: When you convert a slide to freeform, edit the button states to match the button behaviors for your course. One final key piece of your scenario is to provide feedback to your learners. Just as your scenario-based multiple choice question asks learners to make real-life decisions, the feedback should illustrate the actual consequences of their actions. When you use the Convert to Freeform option in Storyline 360, Correct and Incorrect feedback layers are created automatically. You can then customize your characters’ responses, facial features, and other feedback information depending on their answer. In Sum Simply follow these three easy steps to create your own scenarios using Storyline 360. Remember, you just need characters to play out your scenario, a background to set the context, and a freeform slide to make an interactive pick-one question. If you have any tips for creating great scenarios, please leave a comment below. We love to hear your ideas and advice! Want to try something you learned here, but don’t have Articulate 360? Start a free 30-day trial. 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).10 Things You Could Create Instead of an E-Learning Course
I recently purchased my first random orbital sander for a furniture refinishing project. I found that it worked very well, removing decades of mustard-colored paint with minimal effort. In fact, it worked so well that everywhere I look I see potential refinishing projects where I can use my new sander to take something old or dull and jazz it up a bit! Our innate tendency to focus on using familiar tools—regardless of whether they’re the best fit for the project—is known as the “Law of the Instrument.” Maslow famously summarized the effect as follows: “I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is the hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.” In my experience, this statement applies just as well to the world of training, a world often saddled with finite resources and limited tools for reaching learners—most typically instructor-led training, job aids, or e-learning courses. And when tool options are restricted and every project needs to be delivered “yesterday,” it’s understandable how folks end up framing them all as e-learning courses. Today’s authoring tools make e-learning course creation so much faster and easier, why not just import that content, publish it as a course, and call it done? Unfortunately, lengthy e-learning courses aren’t always the best approach. In fact, a course is often overkill, particularly when the risk of a learner failing to perform a task doesn’t put the organization (or its patrons) in jeopardy. Forcing someone to take a course on a fairly low-risk topic would be a bit like me enrolling in a carpentry school to learn how to use my new sander. So next time you’re faced with a stack of content and a looming deadline, take a few moments to consider what else you can create with the resources you have, instead of, or in addition to, an e-learning course. I came up with a few alternatives to the e-learning course hammer (so you don’t have to!): Not sure how to integrate a compelling but lengthy case study into the training mix? Turn it into a quick, skill-based practice scenario learners can complete on their own. Have a training manual full of instructor-led activities? Turn them into a series of short independent-study exercises that folks can complete online. Time to update that out-of-date training video? Instead of a costly professionally produced training video, ask learners to submit their own video best practices with their webcams. And, if amateur video isn’t your thing? Edit all of the user-generated videos into a few “best of” tips videos organized around specific topics aligned to learning outcomes. This example of curated TED Talks built with Rise should give you a few ideas. Need people to complete a form correctly? Create an entertaining interactive tour like this one from Jackie VanNice. Not sure what to do with an old job aid? Redesign it into a learner-customizable job aid or a hybrid tool like a mouse pad that acts as a shortcut key chart. Have some expert advice to share? Consider recording a series of short audio podcasts, each featuring a topic expert. This approach can be a great way to augment larger training or organizational change initiatives. For examples on using podcasts, check out these awesome contributions from the E-Learning Heroes community. Too much data? Bring that big data down to earth by creating an interactive infographic. Interactive infographics are a great way to make data more tangible and personal to learners. Check out the brilliant community examples in this weekly e-learning challenge for some serious info-design inspiration. Is your software’s quick-reference guide anything but quick? Resist the urge to turn all of that content into a course and instead create a library of short (five minutes or less) “how to” videos targeting critical tasks. Don’t miss this helpful article for some great software simulation and screencasting pointers. Tempted to turn those bullet-heavy, text-laden PowerPoint slides into another click-and-read course? Not so fast. Try morphing the most critical slides into a series of branching scenarios or an app-like decision-making tool that supports performance. How can you make policies and procedures, checklists, forms, or other important resources more accessible and helpful to learners? Use your authoring tool to create an online repository. Rise is great for putting some structure around important documentation. Check out this example for a creative way to gather and organize safety information. How are you embracing alternatives to e-learning courses? What ways are you pushing the envelope with your authoring tools? Share your experiences with a community of e-learning peers by posting in our Building Better Courses forum, or leaving us a comment below. And remember to follow us on Twitter and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning.Help Learners Practice Their Skills with Scenarios in Rise 360
Scenarios are a great way to bring your training to life. They add authenticity and personality to your courses through the use of characters and dialogue. Topics that are often challenging to train on, such as soft skills, are the perfect type of material for scenarios. Creating scenarios is faster and easier than ever with the scenario block in Rise 360. To add a scenario block to your course, pop into any existing lesson and expand the All Blocks library. You’ll find the scenario block under the interactive blocks. Here’s an animated .GIF to show you what I mean: Click to add a scenario block to your lesson and then click the Edit button on the scenario block to start customizing it with a character, background image, and dialogue and feedback text. Once you get the gist of customizing scenario blocks, you’ll probably start thinking of brand new ways to add branching and linear scenarios to your courses. To kick-start your creativity, here are a few ideas for the types of content you can bring to life with scenarios. Soft Skills Training topics like communication skills, problem-solving abilities, and other soft skills are notoriously difficult because they're nuanced and contextual. Scenarios, particularly branching scenarios, are a great fit for training these types of topics because you can presentrealistic situations that are more nuanced and give people a chance to experience the consequences of their choices. Practice your interviewing skills in this scenario. Customer Service Training Providing customers with a consistent, high-quality experience is vital to your business. That means your customer service reps need a space to practice their customer interactions and learn from their mistakes. The scenario block in Rise 360 is a great way to simulate a customer conversation since you can use the characters’ facial expressions and feedback to let learners know how they’re doing in the scenario—and whether their customer service skills are up to par. Practice four essential customer serviceskills in this scenario. Sales Conversations Sales conversations can be difficult, but practicing them has never been easier thanks to the scenario block in Rise 360. Use the characters to bring sales conversations to life and practice selling techniques without any pressure or risk, as you can see in the example below. Have a sales conversation in this scenario. I think these ideas and examples show how easy it is to bring training materials to life with the scenario block. What do you think? How are you using scenario blocks to upskill your learners? Share your experiences with us in a comment. 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.How I Designed This Immersive Scenario on Prioritizing Tasks
Recently my fellow instructional designers Sarah Hodge and Madison McCartney and I teamed up to prove that there’s always more than one way to present course content. Each of us created a mini-course on prioritizing tasks, using the Eisenhower Decision Matrix as our starting point. In this article, I’m going to walk you through how I got from this: … to this: View interactive version | Download template Without further ado, let’s get into it! Setting the Scene Since I created this project as an example, there’s no real target audience, much less learning objectives. But to make it feel realistic I set some basic parameters to guide my design thinking. Here’s what I came up with: Audience: Novice e-learning project managers Learning objective: Be able to identify tasks, classify them as important and/or urgent, and prioritize them accordingly Coming Up with the Concept Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of great e-learning examples in the E-Learning Heroes community, but a few really stand out to me. One in particular is this time management game by Phil Eagles. I love the way he took a series of simple multiple choice questions and made them into a scenario that feels real and meaningful. And since time management is so closely related to task prioritization, it’s the first thing I thought of when I started brainstorming ideas for my project. I wanted to create something similar—but put my own spin on it. Because I wanted to create a totally custom and immersive scenario, Storyline 360 was the perfect choice for this project. I decided to simulate a desk and let learners identify tasks and prioritize items for themselves. The idea behind this was to emulate real life—where learners have to identify tasks and decide which ones to do first—while also following one of the key principles of adult learning by giving them control over their learning experience. Refining the Scenario Once I had a general idea of what I wanted to do, it was time to iron out the scenario details. I wanted to give learners enough opportunities to practice prioritizing tasks without it feeling repetitive. I included a few different types of tasks—since that’s what it’s like in real life. In the end, I settled on a total of six tasks, including a few emails, a couple of text messages, and a Post-it. As I started to build out my scenario, I ran into some challenges. One of the main issues was that my slide was getting overcrowded. To overcome this challenge and help learners focus on one thing at a time, I divided the process of task prioritization into two parts: Step 1: identify and analyze the tasks to determine how urgent/important they are Step 2: prioritize the tasks based on their level of urgency/importance For step one, I used a series of toggles so the learner can decide if each task is urgent and/or important. Based on their answer, I provide custom feedback. This is how that turned out: For step two, I made a simple drag-and-drop interaction so the learner can decide where each task belongs on their to-do list based on its level of urgency and importance. Here’s what that ended up looking like: Because this project was intended for adults who may have previous experience with the Eisenhower Decision Matrix, I made the explanation walk-through optional, as shown in the screenshot below: Is this how I initially envisioned my project? Absolutely not. To be honest, I don’t think I really had a clear mental picture of what it would look like. Some people can map out their entire project before they even open up the authoring app, while others do better jumping straight into building and get inspired along the way. Both methods are totally fine as long as you always keep your learners’ needs at the center of your design. Designing the Graphics As someone with no formal graphic design training, I can be challenged to come up with ideas for the look and feel of my courses. To find inspiration, I usually start by checking out the examples and templates on E-Learning Heroes as well as the Content Library 360 templates. Even if I don’t find exactly what I need, I usually come across something I can use as a starting point. Personally, I find that starting with a template is less intimidating than starting from a blank slide. And even if the final result ends up looking completely different than the original template, having something to start with helps me channel my ideas and inch closer to a place I feel good about. So, once I knew that I wanted to create an immersive scenario, I headed straight to E-Learning Heroes to look for templates I could use as a springboard for my design. A quick search for “desk” led me to this template, which I thought was perfect: Download Template After opening the template, I made some adjustments and played around with different color options. Here’s what my first version looked like: There’s nothing wrong with the way this looks, but—as I mentioned earlier in this article—it was at this point I realized there wasn’t enough room on the slide to allow learners to both identify and prioritize tasks in one spot. Splitting the activity up into two parts gave me more screen real estate to work with. Around this time, I also decided I wasn’t sure about the mint green wall and wanted to give white a try . . . . . . but I wasn’t totally sold on that either. I also felt lukewarm about the way the desk looked and decided to incorporate some texture. This is what the next version looked like: Wondering how I created the wood texture? I did a Google search for “flat design wood,” inserted one of the images I found onto my slide master, and then used the curve tool and shapes in Storyline 360 to achieve a similar effect. This is what it looks like behind the scenes: I was pretty happy with the way this looked, but when I started adding other objects to the screen, I realized they didn’t stand out enough against the dark blue background. That’s when I settled on the design you see in the final version: I went through a similar process for the other slides in my project, so I thought I’d share the different versions with you as well. . . . and here’s the final version. You’ll notice that in the final version I pulled in the computer screen from the previous slide to tie it together a bit more. I also changed the size of the boxes to make it all fit on the screen. As I was working on my core content slides, I also started to pull together my title slide. Since my other two slides used a flat design style, I wanted to stick with something similar. I found this simple slide template in Content Library 360 and used it as a starting point: I didn’t want to include characters, so I deleted those and changed the color of the background to match the dark blue I was using at the time. After taking out the characters and changing the color, I felt like the slide was too minimal. It was missing something, so I sat and thought about how I could incorporate more visual interest. That’s when I had an idea: what if the title slide was a view of the desk from above? And since we’re talking about prioritizing tasks—and many people write their to-do lists in a notebook—I thought that might make sense and look nice. So I went back to E-Learning Heroes for some inspiration and ended up finding this spiral notebook template: Download I imported it into Storyline 360 and made a few adjustments to make it all come together. Here’s what it ended up looking like: As you can see, graphic design isn’t always a straightforward process. It doesn’t necessarily go from zero to perfect in one fell swoop. In many cases it’s an iterative process involving incremental changes until you’re happy with what you’ve got. So the next time you’re feeling stuck and unsure about your design, try doing what I did and search E-Learning Heroes or Content Library 360 for a template you can use as a starting point. Then, make small changes here and there. Eventually you’ll get to a place where you feel good about your design. More Resources Hopefully you’ve found this inside look at my design process interesting and insightful! Remember, it’s okay if your first draft isn’t perfect. Design (whether it’s instructional or graphic) is a process, and it often takes trial and error to get it to where it needs to be. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that! If you enjoyed this article and are looking for more insight into what goes on in the minds of instructional designers as they’re creating courses, be sure to check out these articles: How I Designed This Personalized Decision Matrix How I Designed This Interactive Dial Matrix A Behind-the-Scenes Look at How I Designed This Gamified Quiz Want to try building your own immersive scenario in Storyline 360, 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.Design a Rise 360 Scenario in 6 Easy Steps
The scenario block in Rise 360 is a great way to help learners understand how your course content applies in real life. And because it’s Rise 360, building scenarios is super fast and easy. But it’s still up to you to dream up the scenario, right? Trust me—I know how intimidating that can be if you’ve never done it before. To take all the guesswork out of it, I’ve taken this helpful example and distilled it into a simple 6-step method that you can use to create your own scenarios. Let’s take a look! 1. Introduce the Topic Before you dive into the scenario, start by giving learners some context. Tell them what skills they’ll be practicing in the scenario so they know what to expect. 2. Introduce Your Character Identify your character and share a little about them. Give learners background information about who they are and the situation they’re facing. To make sure it’s relatable, choose a character from Content Library 360 that looks and feels like someone your learners would encounter on the job. 3.Offer Options Dive into the dialogue and give your learners some options for ways to respond. To make sure the correct answer isn’t too obvious, pair it with some incorrect but common responses from real life. The point isn’t to trick your learners, but to make them think. For more tips, check out this article: How to Write Plausible Incorrect Answer Options for Quiz Questions. You also want to make sure that your answer options aren’t too wordy, so learners can focus on the message and not get caught up in the details. 4.Show Consequences Show learners how your character responds based on their choice. Showing learners the consequences of their actions in an organic way gives them immediate feedback on their decision. 5.Give Feedback Follow up with some more detailed feedback to let learners know why their choice was or wasn’t ideal. 6.Repeat From there, you can either start over at step 2 by introducing another character or start over at step 3 by keeping the same character and continuing the conversation. It’s up to you! Wrap-Up When it’s broken down like that it seems easy, doesn’t it? That’s because it is! Now that you have the recipe for creating effective scenarios in Rise 360, it’s up to you to get cooking. I can’t wait to see what you come up with! Looking for more tips on creating scenarios in Rise 360? Check out these helpful resources. Here’s How to Create Scenarios with the Scenario Block in Rise 360 How to Easily Create Branching Scenarios in Rise 360 Help Learners Practice Their Skills with Scenarios in Rise 360 Want to try creating a scenario in Rise 360, but don’t have Articulate 360? Start a free 30-day trial. And subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest product updates, e-learning examples, and expert advice directly in your inbox.How To Craft Branched Scenario Choices Like a Game Designer
Have you ever played through a branched scenario that worked properly from a technical perspective but didn’t feel interesting or realistic? That’s because the branching functionality is just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to crafting scenarios that make an impact. Your scenario choices—both how you write them and how you use them—are just as vital for making this kind of learning experience meaningful. As you think about ways to use choice strategically, there’s a great source for inspiration that you might not have considered: video games. Game designers have been playing with ways to make scenario options engaging for decades. Let’s take a closer look at a few best practices we can glean from analyzing video game scenarios. Make early choices low stakes You know what’s really frustrating? Realizing you accidentally selected the wrong choice because you misunderstood the way the user interface works. That’s why many video games ease you into the controls by ensuring the first options you interact with don’t affect your branching or outcomes. These easier questions are essentially mini tutorials, giving you a chance to make a few mistakes risk-free. With a branched e-learning scenario, you might not have as much time to include guided practice as a multi-hour game, but you can probably afford to give learners an easy question or two at the beginning to help them get used to the way it works. Not all choices have to lead to new branches When you start doing the math on how many new branches each question could create, the idea of actually building a lengthy branched scenario can seem overwhelming. But video games have proven that you can still create realistic experiences without every choice changing things. One of the first games I played that was upfront about this was Telltale’s The Walking Dead series. When you make dialogue choices that impact the game branching, a message flashes on screen saying the other character will remember your decision. So when that doesn’t appear, you realize that your choice doesn’t alter the story. But knowing this doesn’t make those interactions seem less interesting or fun. After all, in real life not every option leads to different outcomes. As you plan out your scenario, here are some ways to save yourself development time: Since not all decisions have to lead to a new story branch, keep an eye out for times you can simplify where choices go next. Sometimes all your options will logically lead to the same next screen, such as if they’re just there for practice or to build out the story. And if you’re already providing immediate onscreen feedback about a choice, you might not need to have the story branch afterward to drive your point home. Look for times multiple answers can go to the same next screen. For instance, in simple situations where a scenario choice is either right or wrong, you might only need to create two branches no matter how many options you give learners. Just because your story branched doesn’t mean those new paths can’t come back together later.You can reunite branches when it makes sense for the situation. It’s okay to offer all bad or all good options Many learning scenario choices follow the same formula: one option is great, one’s just okay, and the final one is definitely worth avoiding. It’s not an inherently bad way to structure choices, but it’s often not realistic. Not only that, but in real situations sometimes none of the options available are good. The game Spent is a perfect example of how to apply this to scenarios. Designed to help people better understand the day-to-day challenges of poverty, players must weigh terrible options and try to pick the one that leads to the least harm. You don’t have any great choices in the game precisely because there aren’t great options in the real-life experiences it’s depicting. So if a situation you’re simulating wouldn’t have positive options, it’s okay to only offer weak choices and challenge learners to identify the least harmful one. Take a scenario where learners practice assisting angry customers. If they make enough mistakes along the way, it makes sense that eventually they’d run out of choices that could magically save the day. At some point, they might just need to do damage control to keep things from getting worse. This also works in reverse—sometimes it makes sense to offer multiple good options. Going back to our example, there’s often more than one way to help an upset customer. Starting the scenario with several different good choices could help learners figure out which approach feels most natural for them. Ripple effects of past choices can unlock additional options Remember the Choose Your Own Adventure books? They were a fun, low-tech way to experience the kind of story branching we use in e-learning scenarios today. But the branching in these stories was simplistic, with each set of options operating in isolation. That’s why the move to digital has been so helpful for this type of storytelling—there’s now a way for the story to “remember” your choices. And this opens up all sorts of new possibilities to adjust your story branches or conversation options based on one or more past decisions. Visual novel games like One Night, Hot Springs do a great job of showing how much this can deepen a story. Just like in real situations, the things you say or do change how characters relate to you for the rest of the game—not just immediately afterward. New conversation options open up because of past reactions. And some story paths can only be unlocked if you make a specific combination of choices earlier. While this level of complexity isn’t always needed, it can enhance scenarios involving conversations or interpersonal relationships. That makes it a good fit for training “soft skills,” like difficult conversations, coaching, interviewing, and more. It also works well for escape room scenarios where learners need to find items and solve puzzles in a specific order. Time limits can mimic stress Few things can amp up the pressure like a clock ticking down. And that stress can make scenarios more realistic and motivate learners to think fast—when used strategically. Video games use time limits to shift behavior in all sorts of ways, from the time field in Super Mario Bros. that encourages you to speed through levels to the bomb countdown timer in Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes that turns up your anxiety and makes it easier to make mistakes. These limits can increase the difficulty of a level or pressure you to speed up how you play. But in the case of Keep Talking, the timer also makes the situation feel more realistic. While time limits can be a strong motivator in e-learning scenarios, they can also backfire if you’re not careful with how and when you use them. Here are some best practices to keep in mind when using them: Allow learners to opt out. Timed challenges can be an accessibility issue for some learners. So if the limit isn’t a legal requirement, consider including a way to turn it off. Only include timers when it improves learning. A little time stress goes a long way. It’s best to save this feature for instances where meeting a time limit connects strongly to learning goals. Don’t make it too hard. Ensure the limits you do use are realistic and achievable. If it’s too hard to meet the requirements, your time limit could cause learners to tune out instead of engage. Make it easy and worthwhile to replay Part of what makes branching scenarios so powerful for learning is the ability to replay the experience to see how different choices would have played out. Like having your own time machine, you can rewind and see what would have happened if you’d done things differently. It’s fun from a curiosity perspective, but this functionality also provides a fantastic opportunity for people to learn from their mistakes and try again. Many video games these days play with the idea of story branching and replays, but unfortunately not all of them make it enjoyable. The ones that get this right tend to have two things in common: they’re easy to replay and the story branches are different enough that going through the scenario again feels worth the effort. Overboard, a mystery in which you’re a murderer trying to cover your trail, is a solid example of this. Content is easy to skip, so you can zoom through sections you’ve already seen. The game also highlights past choices, making it easy to know what options you haven’t tried out yet. Then, at the end of each playthrough, it shares hints about new things to try next time around. And because the story goes in so many different directions depending on your choices, it’s not only effortless to replay—it’s enjoyable too. These approaches are easy to replicate in e-learning scenarios. You can encourage multiple playthroughs by making your story choices and paths feel meaningfully different from each other. Not locking down the navigation makes repeated content quick to skim through. Clearly identifying past choices and offering replay hints can make it easier for learners to find new story branches. And adding a Replay button to the final screen encourages learners to give it another try. Wrap-Up It’s clear that making a compelling branching scenario is about more than making sure each of your slides redirects the learner to the right place—it’s also about connecting your story choices in ways that feel realistic and provoke deep thought. By being thoughtful about how you motivate and encourage learners, removing frustrating barriers, and making your content both realistic and intriguing, you can design scenarios that take full advantage of everything this format has to offer. Want to learn more about creating e-learning scenarios that make an impact? Check out these articles: 6 Things Video Games Can Teach You About Writing Engaging Scenarios 7 Tips for Writing Effective E-Learning Scenarios 3 Different Types of Scenarios You Can Design How to Easily Create Branching Scenarios in Rise 360 Follow us on Twitter and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning. And if you have any of your own tips for crafting effective branched scenario choices, be sure to share them in the comments.How to Choose the Point of View (POV) for Your E-Learning Scenario
When you’re trying to make your e-learning spring to life for learners, it’s hard to top a good scenario. In the end, scenarios are really just a type of story, and stories are ideal for presenting information in a fun and engaging way. Designingeffective scenarios is one of the cool, creative parts ofcreating e-learning—but it does require a little advance planning. For instance, one thing you'll want to consider whendesigning your scenario is how it should involve the learner; in other words, the point of view your scenario will take. Point of view takes two primary forms in e-learning: the visual design perspective and the narrative perspective. There’s a lot of overlap between these two since the visuals you choose should support the narrative, but in this article, I’m going to focus solely on the narrative perspective (aka the nerdy grammar stuff). What is a Narrative Perspective? Narrative perspective is the point of view your scenario takes, and just like other forms of writing, it’s either a first-person, second-person, or third-person perspective. Point of view is established through your use of personal pronouns—“I,” “you,” “she,” “he,” and “they,” for instance. First-Person The first-person narrativeperspective means the scenario is presented from the narrator’s or a character’s point of view. If you find that you’re writing scenarios using “I,” “me,” or “we,” you’re writing from a first-person perspective, as in “I found this explanation of point of view very helpful.” A first-person perspective can be either omniscient, meaning the learner can see and explore the actions, feelings, and thoughts of all the characters, or limited, meaning the characters can only tell the learner what they know, see, or hear. Either way, the narrator or a character is the one addressing the learner. I find writing scenarios in the first-person is a good fit for topics where the learner has the knowledge and skills to act as an advisor to the character.This approach can be made more engaging through the use of branching to show the impact the learner’s choices have on the character’s situation, like in this Storyline 360: Customer Service Scenario by Nicole Legault where we see the customer’s reactions to the customer service rep’s responses at each decision point. Second-Person A second-person point of view is the most common writing approach for all sorts of immersive experiences—and especially for e-learning. That’s because it puts the learner at the center of the action. With a second-person point of view, the narrator speaks directly to the learner, using the pronoun “you,” as in “You will find this explanation of point of view very helpful.” One considerationwhen writing scenarios from a second-person perspective is how you’ll present the learner with the consequences of their choices. To maintain an immersive experience, ideally, you'll want your learners to experience the consequences oftheir actions. Two ways you can do this includeletting the learner choose an avatarto represent them in the scenario, or by using point-of-view visuals. You can see these ideas in action in this Storyline 360 example: How to Fight a Bear by Sarah Hodge, in this Storyline 360: Workplace Violence course from Richard Watson, and in this Storyline 360 example: Scenario-Based Health & Safety from Josh Goodswen. Third-Person The third-person point of view—the most common approach for fiction writing—relies on the use of pronouns like “she,” “he,” and “they,” as in “He found this explanation of the third-person point of view very helpful.” Because of their use in fiction writing, the third-person narrative can also be a good choice for writing scenarios. Much like first-person, a third-person perspective can be either omniscient (the learner can see and explore the actions, feelings, and the thoughts of all the characters), or limited (the learner follows one character’s actions and thoughts). Either way, the learner is more of an observer of the scenario, rather than a participant in the scenario. Whether you choose a first-person or a third-person narrative approach, both approaches give you a way to balance objectivity with learner involvement.For instance,a first-person or a third-person perspective could be a really effective approach for exploringdifficult topics like ethical or moraldecision-making where the personal involvementof the learner could feel too threatening. One great example of a third-person perspective in action is this Rise 360 course: Digital Media Ethics by Kate Lee. I love how Kate’s story-inspired design is nuanced and encourages you to explore the perspectives of the other characters as you weigh the options. Let’s Sum It Up Simply put, a first-person scenario is a story told from the writer’s or narrator’s point of view and uses “I” or “we.” A second-person scenario is directed at the learner and uses the pronoun “you.” A third-person scenario is told from an outside narrator’s point of view and uses pronouns such as “he,” “she,” and “they.” Whichever point of view your scenarios take, it’s best to stick with that perspective throughout. In other words,if you'vewritten a scenario in the first person (using “I” or “we”), try to avoid pivoting to a second-person pronoun like “you” or a third-person pronoun like “they.” Shifting perspectives like that canget confusing to learners. While there are lots of decisions to makewhen you’re crafting a scenario, thankfully there are also tons of pro tips, examples, and resources for creating effective scenarios here on E-Learning Heroes. I’ve gathered a few more articles on the topic of scenarios to round out your reading list: 4 Tips for Writing Effective E-Learning Scenarios What You Need to Know About Encouraging Your Learners to Pay Attention How to Easily Create Compelling E-Learning Scenarios What are your thoughts on point of view in crafting scenarios? Which point of view do you find yourself using most? Share your thoughts and experiences with me in a comment, below. 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.
