Sign Up for the E-Learning Heroes Newsletter
E-Learning Epiphanies is now E-Learning Heroes Weekly! Do you love all the helpful content here on E-Learning Heroes? If so, you should subscribe to our newsletter, E-Learning Heroes Weekly, to stay up-to-date on all the inspiring examples, insightful articles, and valuable tips shared in the community. You'll even get information about upcoming webinars, industry, and Articulate events, so you never miss out on an opportunity to grow your skills or connect with the Articulate team. Sound like something you’d like to see in your inbox on a weekly basis? Sign up here. We hope you’ll love it as much as we do!How I Built This: How I Vibe-Coded a People Manager Simulation
When the new Rise 360 Code Block (Beta) feature launched, I wanted to see just how far it could be pushed. Could you build something more than static content? That’s how the People Manager Simulation came to life – a fully playable, story-driven experience built entirely inside a single Rise code block, using only HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. In this video, I explain how it was created and how you can repurpose this approach in your own projects. Why I Made This In my day job, I design learning experiences for real teams, often around leadership, people management, and workplace decision-making. I wanted to create something that shows how these kinds of soft-skills topics can be transformed into immersive simulations without needing heavy development tools. The result is a game where you step into the shoes of a brand-new team leader, navigating real-world decisions that impact morale, performance, retention, and stress. Each choice has a trade-off, and yes, you can get “sacked” if you mismanage your stats. In the video, I mention that this project was built gradually, late evenings, after work, once my son was asleep. There were plenty of failed tests, odd bugs, and “why won’t this work” moments along the way. I did consider going back and documenting every single prompt and adjustment… but honestly, that would read like an increasingly impatient diary of me negotiating with ChatGPT! So instead, I wanted to share a simpler, more practical way for you to repurpose what already works. How I Built It Rather than starting from scratch, the method I show in the walkthrough involves: Uploading the existing working code of the simulation. Giving ChatGPT a single clear prompt that explains: This is for Rise 360’s custom code block. It should learn the structure and logic of the original simulation. It should rewrite the theme, dialogue, and characters for a new scenario. In the video, I demonstrate how to use the current People Manager Simulation code as context; use the download attached below. 📁 Download: People Manager Simulation HTML; attached below. You then give this to your LLM of choice as an attachment and provide your repurposing prompt; the one I used can also be downloaded below. 📁 Download: GPT Prompt for Repurposing Existing Demo; attached below. Key Takeaways Start from a working simulation instead of a blank page. Use a single, focused prompt to repurpose the entire code and story. Attach your full code as context so the model understands structure and logic. Re-use this workflow to adapt learning scenarios quickly—no coding expertise required. The Result Here’s the outcome of my own repurposing test from the walkthrough: a completely new narrative built using the same base code and single prompt. Is it perfect? No. But it’s a solid foundation—and all this came together in about ten minutes. 📁 Download: The Result — Full New HTML Code; attached below. Final Thought The best part of this approach is accessibility: you don’t need to be a coder to build something that feels custom. By starting with a working framework and iterating through clear, focused prompts, you can turn any learning scenario into a playable, data-driven experience. Whether it’s leadership, compliance, or customer service, this structure gives you the foundation to explore how choices shape outcomes, all inside Rise 360. My final ask is: please repurpose and improve on any of the ideas shared in this article. Let me and the wider community know how you get on. 💬 Ask Me Anything! I’d love to hear your feedback and answer any questions about the build. Drop your thoughts in the comments below—I’ll be checking in and responding! Want to Share Your Build? Do you have a project you’d love to share with the community? We’re always looking for more How I Built This stories. Whether it’s a game, interaction, or unique design, we’d love to feature your process. Drop a note in the comments or reach out to the community team if you’re interested!Community Insights: What You Can Learn from David Tait’s Career Pivot
One of the best things about creative careers is how flexible they are—you can take them in so many directions. For DavidTait, that flexibility led from graphic design to learning design, and eventually to co-founding 4pt, a learning design studio. 4pt has been creating meaningful learning experiences for more than 16 years. In this Member Spotlight, you'll discover how adaptability, curiosity, and community shaped David's journey, and how to apply these lessons to your own career path. From Design to Learning “Before starting my career in e-learning, I was a student focused on design,” David says. “I spent four years studying design. Two in graphic design and two in newspaper, magazine, and infographic design. That background gave me a strong foundation in visual communication, which has been incredibly useful in my learning and development (L&D) work.” While still in college, he took on a freelance project as a graphical user interface designer for the Northern College Network. “It was my first real step into the world of digital learning design,” he recalls. “It helped me see how I could apply my design skills in a completely different context.” Soon after, a former lecturer offered him a role at an e-learning startup creating online CPD courses for healthcare professionals. “Working in a startup meant wearing many hats,” David says. “That experience really shaped my path and helped me see how my design skills could grow into a career in learning.” 💡Tip: Apply your existing creative skills to a small digital learning project (freelance, volunteer, or self-initiated). Hands-on experience helps bridge design and instructional work faster than theory alone. Turning Change into Opportunity A few years later, the company was acquired, and layoffs followed. “Rather than seeing it as a setback, my studio manager and I took it as an opportunity,” David says. “When we started 4pt, all of those responsibilities suddenly became our job. Being able to adapt to new challenges was essential, and it’s a big reason why we’ve been able to thrive.” 💡Tip: When your path shifts unexpectedly, use it to test new skills or partnerships. Career detours often reveal strengths you wouldn’t discover in a stable role. Finding Flexibility with Storyline “One project in 2013 really shaped our company,” David says. “A client asked us to build a course in Storyline 1. We’d never used it before, but rather than turn the work away, we invested in licenses and learned as we went.” “Before long, Storyline became the tool most of our clients wanted to use,” he explains. “Storyline gave us the ability to solve problems ourselves, experiment more freely, and move much faster. That agility has stayed with us ever since—it’s a core part of how we approach learning design.” 💡Tip: Don’t wait to feel like an expert. Pick a project, open the tool, and build. Use the community forums and shared files when you hit roadblocks. The Power of Community “I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve hit a dead end in Storyline and found the solution on the forums,” David says. “That support has saved me countless hours and kept projects moving. The community around Articulate is unlike anything else.” Over time, helping others became just as rewarding. “Being part of E-Learning Heroes isn’t just about getting help,” he adds. “It’s about giving back. I try to pay it forward when I can, and that sense of community has been such a valuable part of my journey.” 💡Tip: When you find an answer in ELH, take a minute to thank the poster—or add your own version of the solution. Small interactions build visibility and confidence. Lessons from the Journey “Figure out where your limitations are, and then build a trusted network of professionals who can help you overcome them,” David says. “Continuous learning is important, but you don’t have to master everything yourself.” He also believes in stepping outside your comfort zone: “Sometimes doing that sooner opens doors you didn’t even realize were there.” “I try to focus on projects where I can see real value and impact—and to work with people I genuinely like and respect. That combination has made the journey far more meaningful.” 💡Tip: Find one collaborator who complements your skills—a developer, writer, or media pro—and trade knowledge. Collaboration accelerates growth and keeps learning fun. Looking Ahead These days, David is focused on advancing localization in his projects and exploring how AI fits into e-learning. “We’re evaluating Storyline’s new localization features ahead of a major project,” David says. “I’m excited to see how these tools evolve and how we can integrate them to deliver even better multilingual learning experiences.” He’s also reading Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI by Ethan Mollick. “It’s not written specifically for L&D, but it’s helped me think more critically about how AI can be used thoughtfully and effectively.” 💡Tip: Keep one “outside-the-industry” book on your reading list. Fresh perspectives often spark the most creative ideas. 💬 Your Turn David’s story is a reminder that creativity, curiosity, and community can take your career in directions you never planned, but might love most. What’s one skill—or moment—that’s shaped your own learning design journey? Share it in the comments below!What's Possible with Rise Code Block
We recently held our first Build-a-thon, focused on pushing the possibilities of the Rise 360 Code Block. With more than 60 submissions, the community brought incredible creativity, experimentation, and problem-solving to the challenge. Winners were selected by community vote, and these top three stood out, each stretching the Code Block in a different direction. These projects demonstrate how the Code Block can bring fresh, meaningful interactivity to Rise. Dive in to explore the three winning builds and what you can learn from each one. 💡 Try It Yourself: Rise 360: How to Use Code Block | Creating Blocks with Vibe Coding First Place: “Meet Your Learner Persona” by ClaudiaNadol891 🔗 View the post | Try the demo About the Build This project is a playful, two-minute interaction designed to help learners reflect on how they prefer to learn. As a newcomer to vibe coding, Claudia leaned into experimentation, using ChatGPT and Lovable as collaborative partners. After exploring both simple and more complex interaction patterns, she made a choice to keep the experience lightweight, favoring micro-interactions that quietly support learning rather than compete with it. This build proves that thoughtful prompt writing and iterative refinement can produce polished, learner-friendly interactions, even without deep coding experience. From the Community “This is a meticulous prompt!! I love this idea so much.” - JenniferSavage- “Well done! I especially like the stacked cards, offset, and counting down from 10.” - Thomas_Shayon What You Can Learn Treat your prompt like a design brief. Clear goals and structure lead to better results. Prioritize simplicity. Lightweight interactions can have powerful impact. Expect iteration. Refinement isn’t failure, it’s part of the process. Creator Q&A Second Place: Accessibility Reality Checker by SheriLee 🔗 View the post | Try the demo About the Build Sheri created the Accessibility Reality Checker after noticing that much accessibility training follows a predictable pattern: it explains rules, but it doesn’t change decisions. Teams often ship inaccessible experiences not because they don’t know the guidelines, but because the tradeoffs feel invisible in the moment. Rather than building another checklist-style tutorial, she designed a short, decision-based simulator built around one core question: “Which would you ship?” The experience includes custom UI, scoring logic, state management, and step flow. It also models accessibility best practices directly in the interaction itself, using semantic HTML, keyboard-operable controls, visible focus states, and high-contrast color choices. From the Community “Thank you for demonstrating that usability needs to be built into a design and not just an after thought.” - Michael_Ishola “I really enjoyed this interactive demo on accessibility. Great way to get the learners engaged and thinking about the design and process.” - CharlottieMa153 What You Can Learn Design for decisions, not just information. Simulations can recalibrate instincts. Use constraints intentionally. Fewer instructions can increase impact. Model what you teach. Build accessibility into the experience itself. Creator Q&A Third Place: Paint by Num-Birds by ArthaLearning03 🔗 View the post | Try the demo About the Build For this team of avid birdwatchers, trying to "onboard" people to the hobby always poses a classic blocker: "How do you tell the birds apart?" Rather than relying on default interactions like flip cards or checklists, they designed a hands-on “workshop space” where learners visually analyze key bird features. The experience combines anatomy diagrams, reference snapshots, and field notes, then challenges learners to apply what they’ve learned by identifying subtle visual differences on their own. Behind the scenes, the team blended vibe coding with human expertise. The build went through multiple rounds of refinement to improve usability, stabilize the code, and polish the interactive diagram. From the Community “This was amazing and fun! I see potential for other ‘paint by numbers’ uses…” — LinneaConely “WOW — Lots of interactivities — I could see this being used for medical training.” — TracyWindsor What You Can Learn The Code Block supports custom, workshop-style environments. Use AI strategically. Refine small components instead of rewriting entire files. Balance experimentation with direction. Know when to step in manually. Creator Q&A What Will You Build? These three projects stretch the Rise Code Block in very different directions, while sharing one key theme: thoughtful experimentation. From structured prompts to simulation design to ambitious custom UI, each build shows that meaningful interactivity doesn’t require a full development environment, just curiosity, iteration, and a willingness to try. If you’ve been curious about experimenting with the Code Block, let this be your sign. Explore additional Build-a-thon submissions and share your own experiments here. Which of these builds surprised you most, and how might you apply a similar idea in your own Rise course?How I Built This: I Developed an Award-Winning Ethics Course
Why I Built This: When I first learned about branching scenarios, something clicked for me that I hadn’t seen other eLearning developers execute: visually compelling, philosophically rich thought experiments. I studied Moral Philosophy in my undergrad and became obsessed with ethical dilemmas. Naturally, I decided to build an ethics course about technology. Think The Trolley Problem, only I wanted to pose questions about the growing reliance on AI and its implications by employing Instructional Design strategies. An opportunity came up through my Master’s program to attend DevLearn and compete in DemoFest, so it was time to start building my concept. I designed and developed a course in Storyline called The Agency Algorithm that confronts learners with issues regarding three main topics: algorithmic warfare (The Armory), AI assisted resource allocation (The Triage Garden), and surveillance (The Mask Archive). The Experience & Design Intent: A quick walkthrough of the multi-room experience. The Agency Algorithm is a multi-room interactive learning experience that blends instructional design, game-like mechanics, and philosophical inquiry. It immerses learners in ethically complex scenarios by leveraging branching logic, and integrating experiential aesthetics with conceptual depth. My primary goal with this project was to encourage critical reflection on the role of technology on human agency and autonomous choice. The concept itself was pretty clear to me, but I wanted to push the limits of Storyline visually, so I acquired a number of 3D assets from Adobe Stock, some of which I further modified in Adobe Dimension. I wanted the visuals to anchor the learner in a unique environment that did not feel reminiscent of traditional eLearning, and rather create space to explore and feel like a participant in something unfolding. There aren’t often black and white answers to ethical questions, and branching scenarios are an excellent way to illustrate this while offering learners a safe place to experiment and think through various outcomes based on their decision making. Visual Worldbuilding/Making It Not Feel Like eLearning: Initially, I intended to hand draw assets myself to really hone in on the human vs AI dynamic, but quickly realized the time I’d have to accomplish this was dwindling. While I drafted a few loose concepts in my journal, I ultimately decided to stick with digital assets. While I landed on 3D assets largely due to time constraints, the outcome is reminiscent of an old experimental video game or some sort of immersive idea gallery. As an artist, I often approach my work from a minimalist lens so this project was a fun way to really add some artistry that corporate training often doesn’t have room for. Variables, Multi-state objects, Cue points, and other mechanics: I relied heavily on multi-state objects to create hover states, “tip” cards, text labels, and more, for example in the circuits with definition reveals. I enjoyed building the “loading” effect in the Mask Archive, although it was a bit clunky and took a lot of trial and error! I learned a lot along the way and used a cue point on an orb with a glow effect beneath the mask and used triggers to cause the effect to work. The course overall has a few hundred triggers (slide, object, and variable triggers) and somewhere around 40 variables (mostly T/F variables). What I learned: I think it is important that we don’t hand-hold learners through every learning experience. I want users to think through complex challenges and autonomously choose and feel like a true agent in the process of acquiring knowledge. A lot of eLearning makes it too easy for the learner and we lose engagement when we undermine the intelligence of our audience. I learned SO much about how to leverage Storyline in new ways. I am still a relatively new user to the tool, so this project allowed me to freely explore and be guided by curiosity. Link to my portfolio: https://www.abigailvettese.com/
