How I Became an E-Learning Instructional Designer #469
What Instructional Designers Do #469: Challenge | Recap Have you ever tried explaining your job to friends or family, and all you get are those confused looks? Even though our industry is booming, titles like “Instructional Designer” or “E-Learning Designer” are still pretty much a mystery to most folks. It usually leads to a bunch of questions: What kind of education did you need? What exactly do you do? What technologies do you use? Do you build those compliance courses I have to take? And, of course, what do you love about your job? Now, explaining all that can be a bit of a challenge, but it’s also a great way to show off the wide range of skills we bring to the table. And demystifying our profession is what this week’s challenge is all about. 🏆 Challenge of the Week This week, your challenge is to share an example that explains what you do as an e-learning or instructional designer. Your example can be anything from a simple static graphic to a complex interaction. ✨ 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 share your e-learning origin story, check out the drag-and-drop interactions your fellow challengers shared: Drag-and-Drop in E-Learning RECAP #468: 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.Using Photo Mosaics to Design Interactive Stories #459
Interactive Photo Collages in E-Learning #459: Challenge | Recap Visual Storytelling with Photo Collages Build an interactive slide or course from a single image Get rid of bullet points You don't need to be a photographer to make this work Use your own photos or prebuilt stock photo collages Create multiple panel layouts similar t comic books From straightforward panel layouts to asymmetrical compositions, photo collages offer a quick and effective way to craft image-driven stories using stock photo collages. Here's a simple mockup of how the effect can work from a stock photo. A quick search in your favorite stock photo site returns a variety of photo collage styles and possibilities. Here are two more ideas: To learn more about this creative effect, check out Tom's post on converting courses to interactions with photo stories. Challenge of the week This week, your challenge is to create an interactive story around a photo collage. You can use placeholder photos and graphics or rework an existing project into a photo collage. Want some examples? Check out the ELC322 recap for community examples of this effect. Here are a few ideas to get you started: Design your story around a common problem or challenge Rework an existing scenario or interaction using a photo collage Use the built-in characters (illustrated and photographic), which include multiple expressions and poses Map collages are ideal for interactive org charts or customer profiles 🙌 Last Week’s Challenge: Check out the spinning wheel and roulette-inspired examples from last week's challenge: Roulette & Spinning Wheel Games RECAP #458: 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 #460 (05.03): Toggle Buttons. See ELC97 for an idea of what we're going for in next week's challenge. Challenge #461 (05.10): Interactive Podcasts. See ELC364 for 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. See ELC144 for 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.Using Interactive Screenshots to Magnify Important Details in E-Learning #267
Interactive Screenshots in E-Learning #267: Challenge | Recap If you’re trying to teach your learners about software, products, or applications, a common way to highlight features and functionality is to use screencasts and software simulations. But sometimes a screencast or simulation is overkill for orienting your learners with an application’s UI or features. That’s where interactive screenshots come in. Interactive screenshots are a great way to orient learners with a big-picture view of an application’s interface, then let them drill down into the details for a particular menu or panel. They’re easy to build, super versatile, and a solid alternative to screencasts or simulations. And they're what this week’s challenge is all about. View example | Download Challenge of the Week This week, your challenge is to create an interactive screenshot for an application’s UI or specific features. Here are a few things to consider when planning your projects: How much of the application will you show? How much do you need to show? How will learners pull the information? Hover? Click? Drag? How can you work additional resources, videos, or practice opportunities into the detailed views? How will learners return to the original screenshot? Last Week’s Challenge: Before you zoom into this week’s challenge, take some time to meet your fellow e-learning challengers in last week’s podcast interviews: Audio Interviews with E-Learning Designers #266: 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.How to Survive Anything: E-Learning Edition #332
How to Survive Anything #332: Challenge | Recap Worst Case Scenarios In a given scenario, ask yourself the following questions: Do I know how to tell if a clown is dangerous? Do I know how to leap from a motorcycle into a car? Do I know how to tell if someone is lying to me? During a recent trip to Sedona, I stumbled upon a survival book covering almost every imaginable situation anyone could find themselves in. The book is titled The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, and it offers “expert advice for extreme situations.” While I don’t anticipate running into a dangerous clown, the book’s actionable steps, simple illustrations, and pro tips convinced me this would make an excellent resource for this week's challenge. Keep it Simple You don’t have to build something overly complicated. I like how the book combines bullet points with simple illustrations for each scenario. This format is brilliant for a challenge demo. How to Fight a Bear For those of you with extra time or who want to take on something more ambitious, this example from Sarah Hodge is a wonderful example. Sarah packed a lot into this example: motion paths, parallax effects, ambient sounds, quizzing, and more. View the example Challenge of the Week This week, your challenge is to create a short demo or interaction to help learners survive an event or perform some emergency service. Or go with something lighter like surviving a clown attack or designing e-learning in a 100 x 100 slide size. 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: To help you survive this week’s challenge, I’ve prepared a go-bag of examples to show what’s possible using a 100 x 100-pixel slide: Tiny E-Learning Examples RECAP #331: 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.Static to Interactive: Transform Infographics into Interactive Graphics #236
Interactive Infographics in E-Learning #236: Challenge | Recap If you’re looking for a way to exercise your course-building skills, you might have heard us talk about the value of deconstructing and rebuilding finished e-learning projects. Another way to practice your skills is by rebuilding static infographics as interactive graphics. Infographics and e-learning have a lot in common. Both are great sources of data and visuals that you can use to build your interaction. Design considerations Here are some things to consider before you rebuild your infographic as an interactive graphic: Many infographics are taller than typical e-learning projects. What are some ways you can adapt taller infographics into shorter, wider interactive graphics? Is there a way you can enable learners to sort or rearrange the content? Common sorting methods: Alphabetically, numerically, category, date and time, and random. Which information can be turned on and off? Where can you zoom in and out of information? How can markers, tooltips, and callouts help reduce clutter and enable learners to pull information? How can you hide and reveal some of the information to emphasize different types of information? Could the infographic be used as a course menu? This week's challenge This week your challenge will be to take a static infographic and rebuild it as an interactive infographic. For reference, include a link or screenshot of the original infographic when you post your examples. That will help us see what you started with before making it interactive. 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. Last Week’s Challenge: Before you transform your static into interactive, check out the paper cutout examples your fellow challengers shared over the past week: Hand-Crafted Image Effects in E-Learning #235: Challenge | Recap Wishing you a transformative 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.Multimedia Learning Principles for Course Designers #126
Multimedia Learning Principles #126: Challenge | Recap Challenge of the Week This week, your challenge is to design an interaction to teach one of the principles of multimedia learning. You can leverage ideas from previous challenges (tabs, quizzes, games, sliders, comparisons, etc.) as a starting point for your interaction. Resources There are hundreds of good resources available. Pinterest, YouTube, Vimeo, and Google will help you find everything you need to know about Richard Mayer and his Multimedia Learning Principles. Here are a few resources to help you get started: Video Presentation: Principles for Multimedia Learning with Richard E. Mayer Multimedia Principle: Adding Graphics to Words Improves Learning Redundancy Principle: Should You Duplicate Narrated Text On-Screen? Job Aid: Multimedia Learning Design Principles by Mike Taylor Job Aid: 12 Principles of Multimedia Learning Last Week’s Challenge: Check out the gamified scratch off interactions your fellow community members shared in last week’s challenge: Scratch Cards for E-Learning #125: Challenge | Recap Wishing you a great 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 your demos.
