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/Your Handy E-Learning Course Review Checklist
Remember taking tests back in elementary school when your teacher told you to always check your answers before turning it in? Same for an e-learning course. Before you deliver a course to learners, you want to look over your course to make sure it’s the very best it can be. But when you’re reviewing your course, what should you look out for? Every e-learning project is different, so no one checklist will work for everyone; however, here are some of the main things you’ll want to watch out for in your review. Review the Course Content No surprise here. The content is the most important part of your course, so you want to make sure you’re hitting the mark. If you’re not a subject matter expert, you should find one to help you with this part. Here are some questions to ask as you look through your course: Are the learning objectives measurable? Does all the content support the learning objectives? Is there any content that could be taken out? Is there any content missing? Have all the facts been checked and referenced appropriately? Does the course follow a logical order? Do the images accurately represent the course material? Do the examples and/or scenarios accurately portray the real-life context? Will the learners find the characters relatable? Does the quiz focus on the course objectives? Are the quiz questions clearly stated? Are all the quiz options believable (even the wrong answers)? Do you clearly state what learners need to do to pass the course? Here are some additional resources to help you fine-tune your content: How to Write Good E-Learning Objectives for Your Online Course The Dos and Don’ts of Separating Need-to-Know from Nice-to-Know What to Do When Your Course Has Too Much Content How to Create a Successful E-Learning Knowledge Check Copyedit the Text If your course is like most, text is a key part of the learning experience. Grammar and spelling errors are not only distracting, they actually skew your key messages. Here are some things to keep in mind to make sure you’re getting your point across: Are there any grammatical or spelling errors? Are you using punctuation and capitalization appropriately? Are there any run-on sentences that you could split up into shorter, more concise sentences? Are you using the active voice? Are you using the same voice throughout (for example, “I” or “you”?) Can you replace any adverbs (for example, running rapidly) with more precise verbs (for example, sprinting)? Are there any superlatives like "high-quality" or "excellence" that you could take out? Is there any jargon you should take out or explain? Is the voice-over script written in a conversational tone? Does the voice-over script provide notes to the voice talent on pronunciation? If writing isn’t your strong suit, check out these articles for more tips: Top Writing Tips for E-Learning 5 Tips to Improve Your Technical Writing Skills More Than a Dozen Tips for Writing Awesome Audio Narration Scripts Listen Closely to the Audio If your course has any voice-over audio, make sure to listen to it with these questions in mind: Is the audio used meaningfully? Or is the narrator just reading the on-screen text to learners? Does the voice-over follow the script word for word? If not, do any of the slight changes make a difference? If not, edit the script to match the audio. If there are changes that affect the meaning, ask the person to re-record that section. Are there any distracting background noises that need to be taken out? Is the audio volume at a good level (not too loud, nor too soft)? Is the volume and quality consistent throughout the course? Does the tone and inflection sound natural? Never worked with audio before? This article will help you get started: Audio Basics for Online Course Design. Assess the Design While people say not to judge a book by its cover, the reality is that we all do it. The course design is the first thing your learners will notice. If you want them to pay attention, it’s important their first impression be a good one. Here are some questions to ask yourself to make sure you’re on the right track: Does the design respect the brand guidelines (if applicable)? Does the design complement the subject matter? Is the design cohesive throughout the course? Are the objects aligned as they should be? Are all the images of similar style and quality? Are images and illustrations meaningful? Or are they merely decorative? Are fonts used consistently throughout (type and size)? Are all screenshots free of personal information? Do all buttons and hyperlinks look and behave the same (for example, if one button has a hover state, do they all?) so learners understand they’re clickable? If your design skills need a little work, check out these helpful resources: Visual Design How-Tos for E-Learning Developers User Interface Design: 3 Things E-Learning Designers Need to Know Test the Functionality Building a course from scratch using a tool like Storyline that allows you to personalize everything (the player, menu, navigation, quiz options, etc.) lets you create your course exactly how you imagine it. But with all this freedom comes responsibility: it’s your job to make sure everything is working the way you intended. Here are some items to add to your review checklist: Buttons and Hyperlinks If you’ve personalized the navigation of your course in any way (by adding buttons, changing the branching options, etc), check and make sure everything’s working as expected. Here are the steps I recommend going through: Make sure there’s no Previous button on the first slide. Go through the course from start to finish, click on all the Next buttons. Make sure there’s no Next button on the last slide. Go backward through the course, clicking on all the Previous buttons. Now go through the course again, starting from the beginning. Click on any other buttons (that open a layer, for example) or hyperlinks and make sure they’re working as expected. Menu Can you access all the sections of your course from the menu? Are all the titles correct? Is everything in the right order? Player Is there a seekbar on all slides with audio or video? Does the seekbar end at the end of the audio or video? Or does it extend far beyond it? If your course has audio, did you include an audio button so learners can turn the audio off or adjust the volume? Animations Are the animations synchronized with the audio (if applicable)? Do all the animations appear and disappear as expected? Videos Does the video play all the way through? Is the audio high quality? Quiz Questions Go through the quiz, making sure to select the correct answers and review the feedback. Make sure the score correctly shows you’ve gotten 100% at the end and that the correct amount of points is shown (if applicable). Go through the quiz again, this time selecting the incorrect answers and reviewing the feedback. Make sure the score correctly shows you’ve gotten 0% at the end and that the correct amount of points is shown (if applicable). Go through the quiz a third time. Alternate right and wrong answers. Check the score again and make sure it’s correct. Go through the quiz a final time, alternating right and wrong answers again but in the opposite order as the time before. Make sure the score is reporting correctly. Note that if you’re using a tool like Rise, you can skip this part of the review since all the functionality is prebuilt and it works perfectly every time. Check for User-Friendliness Once you’ve tested your course and you’re sure the content, design, and functionality are as expected, ask a potential learner to test it. They’ll be able to give you some great feedback about the course content and usability that you, as the course creator, are too close to the project to see. Here are some questions you should ask them when they’re done viewing the course: Content Was the course helpful and relevant to your job? What are the three most relevant things you learned? How confident are you that you can apply the new skill(s) you learned on the job? Is there anything you didn’t understand? Do you think the quiz accurately assessed your understanding of the course materials? Were the questions too easy, too hard, or just right? Was the feedback too detailed, not detailed enough, or just right? Usability Were the navigational instructions provided explicit enough? Did you always know where to click, or did you sometimes feel lost and unsure where to click? Armed with this checklist, you can deliver your course to learners knowing you did everything you could to make sure it fits their needs, works properly, and looks professional. Remember: if it’s not perfect (and no course ever is) you can always go back and make changes later on, after you get learner feedback. And while we’re on the topic of course review, here are some other great resources you should check out: Why We Love Articulate Review (and You Will, Too) Speed Collaboration with Articulate Review 3 Ways Articulate Review Is a Big Gift for Course Developers 5 Steps to an Easier E-Learning Course Review Process Follow These 3 Tips to Put the “Pro” Back In Your Review Process Rise Example: A Course for Stakeholders on the Review Process What do you think of this checklist? Is there anything on your review checklist that I missed? If so, please share in the comments section below! 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).5 Ways to Use Animated GIFs in Your E-Learning
Animated GIFs—or image files that act like a short video that loops endlessly—are everywhere these days, on social media, in blogs, and even in e-learning courses! That’s right, instructional designers are using these eye-catching multimedia assets to grab their learners’ attention—and you can too. Check out these ideas to get inspiration on how to incorporate animated GIFs in your courses. 1. As Course Header Images If your learners have a ton of courses in their dashboard and you want yours to stand out, try using an animated GIF in the course header, like in this example: Mars Curiosity Rover. It’s a surefire way to get your course noticed. 2. As Attention Getters GIFs are eye-catching. Have you noticed how hard it is to look away even when you’ve already seen the same animation loop 10 times over? That’s what’s so great about them. Their movement naturally draws your learners in and incites them to pay attention. Not convinced? Take a look at this Rise 360 course: Space Travel–Themed Interactive Infographic See how the GIFs draw you in and make you want to click on the interactive parts? I thought so. 3. To Illustrate Key Messages But GIFs can do more than just catch your learners’ eye. They can actually help learners better understand the concepts you’re teaching them. Check out the GIFs in this course, for example: An American’s Guide to Driving in France. See how the GIFs support the key messages? 4. To Lay Out the Steps in a Process If you’re creating a how-to course, you might be tempted to make a video. And that’s definitely one way of doing it! But if people need to replicate the steps one by one, they might need to rewind each step and watch it over and over again. What a pain! Instead of creating a lengthy video or screencast, why not create a GIF of each step, making it easy for people to rewatch the steps as needed, like in this article on how to make coffee? 5. For Comic Relief If the topic of your course is particularly dry, it might be a good idea to work in some humor to make sure your learners don’t fall asleep. GIFs are a great way to do that! However, be careful to not overdo it. A humorous GIF here and there is one thing; peppering every section of your course with them is another. Here's an example that uses humorous GIFs effectively. Another thing to keep in mind with humor is that it’s subjective. Test your course out on a trusted coworker or two and make sure they find the GIFs to be both work-appropriate and funny. The Bottom Line As with anything, it’s important to keep in mind that too much of a good thing is bad. When using animated GIFs, make sure they’re helping and not hindering the learning process. After all, the goal is to get your learners to focus on the content and retain the key messages. If you’re sold on using animated GIFs in your courses but aren’t sure how to go about creating your own, check out this tutorial. Like this article? 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).An Introduction to SAM for Instructional Designers
The ADDIE model is probably the most well-known approach for mapping out the course design process. But it isn’t the only game in town these days. One popular alternative is SAM: the Successive Approximation Model. Created by Allen Interactions, SAM offers an instructional design approach consisting of a few steps that you repeat as many times as necessary. These iterations address common instructional design pain points like meeting timelines, staying on budget, and collaborating with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). So what is SAM? And how is it different from ADDIE? Is one better than the other? Let’s dig in and uncover some answers to these questions. What’s the difference between ADDIE and SAM? ADDIE and SAM are two different approaches for crafting learning solutions that share some similar language. To better see where they differ, it’s helpful to understand how each of them works. Let’s start with ADDIE. ADDIE ADDIE stands for Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate. It’s a linear approach—like a production line—with each step depending on the successful completion of the previous one. To borrow some terminology from project managers, ADDIE is a “waterfall approach.” And in a traditional waterfall method, analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation are all treated as ordered steps in the overall development process. While this model is preferred in many organizations, some folks say this sequential approach contributes to many of the challenges faced by instructional designers, including: Prolonged development cycles: Have you ever had your project come to a screeching halt in the development phase? It’s not uncommon for new training or technology requirements to emerge in the project development phase, bogging down your productivity with re-work. Communication challenges with SMEs and stakeholders: Even the most thorough explanations and storyboards are still open to interpretation. And with a sequential approach, SMEs and stakeholders typically don’t get to try a hands-on version of the project until well into the development phase. This can mean it’s not until you’re near the end of the project—when you’re out of time and money—that you discover your vision doesn’t match theirs. No time for testing: When projects run out of time or money, what’s the phase of the process we tend to skimp on? In my experience, it’s testing. Shortchanging this step may save you time, but with risky downsides like a training product that doesn’t work—or work effectively—to address a critical performance gap. Successive Approximation Model (SAM) SAM, on the other hand, is considered to be an “agile approach” that can be scaled from basic (SAM1) to extended (SAM2) to suit your needs. Both SAM models use iterative cycles to create the end product right from the start—all while continually analyzing and refining your work as it’s being produced. Proponents of using agile methods for creating e-learning claim that models like SAM can alleviate many of the challenges discussed above—in particular, improving the project team’s visibility into the instructional design process and reducing development time frames. The basic process—SAM1—can be a good fit for smaller projects or teams. This flavor of SAM is a simple model with three iterations of the familiar instructional design steps of evaluation, design, and development. Using this approach, everyone’s ideas and assumptions can be discussed, prototyped, and tested early on, bringing you closer to a usable product more quickly. And what if your project is more complex? That’s where SAM2 comes into play. SAM2 is an extended take on SAM1. It consists of eight iterative instructional design steps spread across three project phases: Preparation, Iterative Design, and Iterative Development. In addition to the incremental cycles, another notable feature of the SAM2 model is the preparation phase. It consists of two steps to help you prepare for your design and development work fast: gathering information and then holding a brainstorming and prototyping meeting known as a “Savvy Start.” Which is better—ADDIE or SAM? When it comes to evaluating which design model is a better fit for you and your team, it really boils down to what you’re trying to achieve and what your work environment will support. When applied in the right situations and fully committed to by everyone involved, SAM’s flexibility can get you to a successful final course fast. Its iterative approach both helps you use prototypes to get stakeholder buy-in quickly and also makes it easy to pivot should your course requirements change. However, many instructional designers work in organizations that have embraced agility in theory but not so much in practice. Applying an agile approach like SAM can be difficult when your environment doesn’t encourage rapid feedback or flexible processes. In those cases, ADDIE’s waterfall model may be a better choice. Because ADDIE is a waterfall method that’s been used for years, it might make clients, stakeholders, and even team members more comfortable. And while it’s still not as flexible as SAM, many people find an adapted version of ADDIE that includes some iterative loops does a good job of splitting the difference between both methods. More Learning Whatever design model you follow—whether it’s ADDIE, SAM, or another one entirely—weighing your options for more thoughtful, responsive development practices can be a great way to build collaboration and grease the wheels for smoother training rollouts. Start by digging into these related articles from the archives. An Introduction to ADDIE for Instructional Designers What’s the PADDIE Model of Instructional Design? Best Practices for Effective E-Learning Project Management How to Manage E-Learning Project Scope Creep What design model is closest to how you really work? What are your thoughts on ADDIE vs. SAM? We love hearing from you, so share your thoughts in a comment. Follow us on Twitter and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning.In Case You Missed It: November 2025 in ELH
Here’s a brief highlight reel of the conversations, builds, and resources that shaped the community’s discussions in November. 🧳 Join the E-Learning Heroes Passport Challenge! From now through January 5, you can earn passport “stamps” (aka badges!) just for participating in the community—posting discussions, sharing examples, cheering on peers, and more. Every badge marks progress in your own learning journey and gets you closer to fun rewards like swag, shout-outs, and even a chance to win a Fujifilm Instax camera. 💬 What Everyone’s Talking About Looking for a spark of inspiration? Here are some conversations fueling creativity across the community. Instant Publishing with Quick Share Members are excited about Quick Share’s one-click publishing for everyday Rise content. See how others are using it for job aids, previews, and vendor training, and share your own quick-use ideas. Share Your AI Assistant Makeover Creators are posting fun before-and-after examples of how they used AI Assistant to level up drafts, build scenarios, or refine lessons. Check out their transformations and add your own. A Handy Storyline Notepad JoeDey's persistent notepad for Storyline is getting lots of love. If you’ve been looking for a simple way for learners to save notes, explore the demo and join the discussion. 🌟 Standout Challenge Entries November’s challenges surfaced lots of gems! A few standouts: Using Interactive Video for Scenarios & Quizzes in E-Learning Push vs Pull E-Learning By Jayashree_Ravi A side-by-side look at how the same topic can feel totally different: passive slide vs. active video journey. The branching version turns a basic onboarding moment into an experience you are excited to explore. Train Smart: Technique Quiz By ElenaZhuravleva This first-time challenge entry uses short workout clips as quiz questions to test whether you can spot proper form. Simple, practical, and a great example of how video can make quick checks feel interactive. Designing Office Exploration Interactions for E-Learning Welcome to the Office By Kate_Golomshtok This creative virtual tour guides you through an office space, offering a way to explore rooms, teammates, and key info. A fun, game-like approach with lots of potential for expansion. You're Hired! By ded2 This demo brings an interactive approach to onboarding with AI-powered characters who respond in real time. Airport Security for Travelers The Zero-Drama Security Shuffle By GabrielleBradle See how AI Assistant took an outline and shaped the result into a clean Air Travel Security module. A great example of AI speeding up real course development. TSA Dishes on Thanksgiving Food By GolfPrincess This demo experiments with AI-generated visuals, narration, and custom interactions to build a playful learner experience. 🎤 Members Took the Mic (Guest Webinars) From beginner tips to polished animations, these guest-led sessions offer hands-on tips you can put to work in your next Storyline build. Top 10 Tips for New Storyline Users with Judy Nollet New to Storyline? Learn ten essential tips to help you skip the rookie mistakes and start building with confidence. Creating Animations and Interactions in Storyline with Simple CSS and JavaScript (No Coding Required) with Natalia Vostretsova Learn how to give your Storyline projects a modern, animated feel using a simple framework and copy-ready code. 🎓 Trending Training Webinar November’s training focused on improving visuals with tools you already have. Edit AI Images Using Free Windows Tools Discover simple, free ways to edit AI images on your Windows PC, from removing backgrounds to polishing photos and refining illustrations. 📚 Member-Powered Articles Looking for inspiration? These member-powered reads offer hands-on techniques, career insights, and behind-the-scenes workflows you can adapt to your own projects. Made By Members: Rise Code Blocks See how community members are transforming Rise 360’s Code Block into full-on games, tools, and simulations. Community Insights: What You Can Learn from Career Pivot Discover practical career lessons from David Tait’s journey—from leveraging your existing strengths to turning setbacks into opportunities you can use in your own development. How I Built This: How I Vibe-Coded a People Manager Simulation by Daniel-Benton. A practical walkthrough showing how a story-driven simulation was created in Rise, and how you can adapt the same codebase to build your own interactive experiences. 💎 Hidden Gems Sometimes the best tips are hidden in plain sight. Here are a couple worth exploring: Articuland 2026 is Coming! Join the Articuland 2026 VIP list for early updates and pricing, then share the topics and ideas you want featured as we design next year’s experience together. Come Say Hello in the Welcome Center New members are introducing themselves every day, and a quick hello goes a long way. Jump in, say hi, and help someone feel at home. (Bonus: replying earns you a Passport Challenge badge through January 5!) ✨ That’s a wrap for November! What’s one thing you discovered—or created—recently that we should feature in the next roundup? Share it below!6 Rise 360 Blocks to Use Instead of Bullet Points
Bullet points have been a staple in presentations and e-learning courses since the beginning. It’s easy to see why—they’re a simple and effective way to organize content. However, like anything, they work best when used in moderation. Thanks to all of the block options in Rise 360, bullet points aren’t the only fast and easy option for presenting your content. However, if you’re used to relying heavily on bullet points, you might be struggling to come up with ideas for creative alternatives. You’re not alone! Let’s look at some block types that work well for content traditionally reserved for bullet points. 1. Checkbox Lists You might wonder, what’s the difference between a bullet-point list and a checkbox list? Interactivity, that’s what! Checkbox list blocks in Rise 360 let learners interact with the content, making them less likely to skim over it. Checkbox lists are especially useful when you want learners to reflect on each item and check it off when they’re done or if it applies to them, like in the example below: Explore the interactive version or send a copy to your Rise 360 dashboard. Do you ever use your pointer finger as a guide when you read, to underline the sentence you’re currently scanning with your eyes? Checkbox lists work in a similar way—preventing learners from losing their spot and helping them stay focused on the text they’re currently reading. 2. Flashcard Grids Next let’s take a look at another one of my go-to Rise 360 blocks for bullet-point content: the flashcard grid. Using flashcards is a great way to minimize the amount of text displayed at any given time, which in turn reduces the cognitive load and makes it easier for learners to focus. With flashcards in Rise 360, you have the option to use text on both sides, images on both sides, or one of each. It’s up to you! Here’s what it looks like when you use text on both sides: Explore the interactive version or send a copy to your Rise 360 dashboard. And here’s another example, with images on one side and text on the other: Explore the interactive version or send a copy to your Rise 360 dashboard. See how the images draw you in and make you want to click? If you like the way that looks but don’t have any graphics on hand, don’t worry. Thanks to Content Library 360, you have access to millions of images and illustrations—right from within Rise 360! 3. Labeled Graphics You can also use one illustration to represent all of your bullet points, like in the example below, and add interactive markers the learner can click on to view the text. Explore the interactive version or send a copy to your Rise 360 dashboard. Illustrations aren’t the only option for this approach; photos can work just as well. Check out the example below to see for yourself: Explore the interactive version. For tips on finding the imagery you need, head on over to this article: How to Find the Images You Want in Content Library 360. 4. Carousels Another creative way to transform your bullet points is by using a series of large images in a carousel block and adding the text below, like in this example: Explore the interactive version or send a copy to your Rise 360 dashboard. Are you starting to see a theme here? Whenever possible, it’s a good idea to use relevant images alongside text-based content. It adds visual interest and breaks up the monotony, increasing the likelihood that your learners won’t gloss over your content. 5. Accordions If your bullet points are longer and you’re looking for a way to make them less visually intimidating, accordion blocks are a great option. When learners arrive on the screen, they only see the titles. When they click on the plus (+) icons, they see the additional information for each tab one at a time, making it easier to digest. Take a look at how it works in the example below: Explore the interactive version or send a copy to your Rise 360 dashboard. Note that while the example above is text only, you can also add images to each tab if you’d like. It’s up to you! 6. Tabs Much like accordion blocks, tabs break up your content and allow learners to focus on one thing at a time. Explore the interactive version or send a copy to your Rise 360 dashboard. In the example above, each tab contains only a sentence or two of text, but that’s something you get to determine. And, of course, you can also add any other relevant multimedia elements you have on hand. More Resources If you found this article helpful, be sure to check out the resources below for more inspiring ideas: 7 Creative Ways to Use Images in Rise 360 Courses 5 Ideas for Turning Boring Bullets into Engaging Interactions Basic Elements of an E-Learning Course Want to try out these Rise 360 blocks, 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.What to Include on Your Course Closing Screen
As instructional designers, we often focus so much on designing the bulk of our course that the closing screen becomes an afterthought. This can be a huge missed opportunity to point learners to additional resources, not to mention leaving learners feeling lost and unsure about what to do next. Here are a couple of things to consider adding to the closing screen of your e-learning courses to ensure a smooth ride from takeoff to landing. Additional Resources If additional resources on the course subject matter exist, why not use this opportunity to direct learners to them? This encourages any learners who are itching to learn more to take that extra step and has the advantage of guiding them to resources that you know contain accurate information, instead of leaving them to their own devices, which could result in them finding information that’s not current or correct. Contact Info No matter how well-designed your course is, some learners are bound to have follow-up questions. For this reason, it’s important to include an e-mail address or phone number where learners can reach someone who can help. Depending on the course, this could be you, the training coordinator, the subject matter expert, your LMS administrator, or someone else within your organization. Pro tip: You might want to consider using a generic email address (for example, training-course@company.com) that redirects to the person responsible for answering questions, instead of using a specific email address (name@company.com). That way, if that person switches roles or leaves the company, you won’t have to update the course. Next Steps Once your learners reach the end of your course, be sure to let them know if there are any next steps they should take. For example, do they need to go back to the LMS and download a certificate proving they’ve taken the course? Do they need to let their manager know they’ve completed the course? Do they need to be enrolled in a follow-up e-learning or in-person course? Whatever the case may be, including this information on the course closing screen is your opportunity to point them in the right direction. If there are no next steps, your closing screen can also make that clear so learners aren’t left wondering what they should do next. Exit Instructions You might feel like it’s obvious how to exit your course, but some Learning Management Systems (LMSs) make exiting a course more confusing than you might realize. Some LMSs include redundant navigation buttons or vaguely worded exiting instructions. To ensure learners know how to close the course so their completion is properly recorded, include some clear instructions, such as “click on the Exit button to close this course.” A simple instruction might be enough to remove confusion or doubt. The Bottom Line When it comes to closing slides, the key is to make sure you’ve included all the instructions learners need to feel confident that they know where to find any additional information, who they can contact, what (if anything) they need to do next, and how to exit the course so their scores or completion status are properly recorded. After all, you don’t want your learners feeling lost or confused just as your course is coming to a close. Are there any other important tidbits you like to include on your closing screens that I didn’t mention here? If so, please feel free to share them in the comments section below! And be sure to follow us on Twitter and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning.How to Match Question Types with the Skills You’re Testing
Most e-learning courses end in the same way: with a quiz. The goal of these quizzes is to find out if your learners absorbed the information or skills presented in the course. Seems pretty straightforward, right? But designing quizzes that give you real insight into what your learners have absorbed and how well they’re prepared to apply it is equal parts art and science. Today, let’s focus on one of the most important factors in designing an effective quiz: choosing the right question type. For example, if learners need to be able to explain something, it doesn’t make sense to use a multiple choice question. Even if they get the question right, you still won’t know if they’re actually capable of explaining it. You’ll just know that they’re able to select the correct explanation from a list of choices. In this case, an essay question is a better fit since learners can try their hand at explaining—which is what you want them to be able to do. So how do you know which question type is best suited for each situation? Start by thinking about what your learners need to do with the information or skills you’re teaching them. For example, do they need to recognize a street sign? Locate a specific gear on an engine? Categorize products by type? If you’re not sure, go back and review your learning objectives and think about how you can turn them into questions. Then, use the following list of common question types and the kinds of situations they’re best suited for to decide which question type is most effective. Multiple Choice and Multiple Response Questions Multiple choice and multiple response are the most commonly used question types in e-learning courses. They’re also the most commonly misused question types in e-learning courses, as people often select them by default without considering any other question types. These question types are perfect for situations when your learners need to be able to recognize information or identify the correct response(s) from a set of options. For example, in this course on driving in France, learners need to be able to recognize road signs and identify their meaning. To measure whether or not they’re able to do that, I included a multiple choice question asking them to choose the meaning of a specific sign: You can also create scenario-based multiple choice questions when you want learners to analyze a situation, evaluate the possible outcomes, and identify the best possible option, like in this customer service course: However, it doesn’t make sense to use multiple choice when your learner needs to be able to explain or recall something from memory, because it won’t give you an accurate picture of whether they’re able to do that. It will only allow you to determine if they’re able to pick out the correct answer from a list. Another thing to keep in mind with multiple choice questions is that learners are often able to guess the correct response based on the process of elimination. To avoid this, do your best to come up with plausible incorrect responses (also referred to as distractors) and try to make them all roughly the same length. The risk of this happening is mitigated in multiple response questions where learners don’t know how many of the choices are correct. Hotspot Questions Hotspot questions—or questions where learners are asked to select a specific area on the screen—are best suited for situations when learners need to be able to locate something, for example, a country on a map or a specific gear on an engine. If, instead of asking learners to locate something, you want them to identify an object, you’d be better off using a multiple choice question where the choices are images of those objects, like in this skeletal system example, where the bone name is highlighted when learners click on it: Drag-and-Drop Questions There are four main types of drag-and-drop questions. Let’s take a look at the situations where you should use each of them. Sorting This kind of drag-and-drop is best for when you want learners to categorize concepts. For example, in this sun safety course, learners have to drag items that will help protect them from the sun to the beach bag and items that won’t to the trash can: Ordering You can use this kind of drag-and-drop when learners need to prioritize tasks, rank items, or put items in order. For example, in this sales course, learners have to put the sales steps in the correct order: Matching This question type is great for when learners need to match two related items. For example, in this course on trees, learners need to match the common tree names with the scientific names: Placing If your learners need to be able to organize objects in a certain way or place objects in a specific spot, you can create a drag-and-drop question where learners can do just that. For example, in this course on etiquette, learners are asked to place the utensils in the correct spot on the table: And in this course on Canadian geography, learners must drag the cities to the correct spots on the map: Fill-in-the-Blank or Short Answer Questions When learners need to recall information without any prompts, you should use a fill-in-the-blank or short answer question. What makes fill-in-the-blank questions more complex than other question types is that learners have to provide exactly the same answer as you in order to get the question right. For this reason, it’s important to anticipate as many possible correct answer variations so the course doesn’t mark their answer as incorrect when they’ve actually responded correctly. For example, in this course on animal names, learners need to type in the name of the animals they see pictured: Essay Questions If learners need to be able to explain something, the only way to test their ability is by asking them to complete an essay question. Because these kinds of questions are open-ended, it’s next to impossible to accurately predict all the correct answers a learner could give. For this reason, these questions can’t be corrected automatically. If you include an essay question, someone—likely you or the subject matter expert (SME)—will have to correct them manually. Depending on the number of learners and the amount of time you or the SME have to dedicate to this course, you’ll need to decide whether or not to include this type of question. Before adding an essay question to your e-learning quiz, you’ll also want to find out if your LMS can capture learner answers. Unfortunately, not all LMSs have this capability, so you’ll want to check in with your LMS provider first. Once you determine it’s possible, ask them to walk you through the process of collecting and correcting the responses in the LMS to make sure it’s not too labor-intensive. If you don’t have time to correct each answer manually or if your LMS can’t capture learner answers, another option is to give learners an opportunity to compare their answer to your pre-written answer and self-evaluate, like in this interactive writing example: The Bottom Line If you want your quiz to accurately measure the learner’s ability to apply their newfound knowledge and skills, the questions need to be as realistic as possible. And in order for them to be realistic, you need to choose the type of question that most closely resembles what learners will need to be able to do in real life. Hopefully this list will make that easier! More Resources Choosing the question type that best suits the associated learning objective is only half the battle. It’s equally important to write quiz questions that are clear, include plausible distractors, and provide helpful feedback. Here are some additional resources to help you take your quizzing skills to the next level: How to Write Good E-Learning Quiz Questions 20+ Tips for Writing Great Quiz Questions and Response Options Improve Your Quizzes with These Do’s and Don’ts 6 Common Quizzing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them 3 Ways to Create Better Quizzes with Storyline Like this article? 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).Basic Elements of an E-Learning Course
When something’s new, it can feel complex and difficult. And when you’re first getting into e-learning and you view a finalized course, it’s hard to imagine what all the moving pieces are. However, when you pull back the curtain and look at the most basic elements of an e-learning course, you’ll realize that most courses are made up of the same fundamental components. If you’ve taken or designed at least one online course, you should recognize most of these course building blocks. While there’s no rule saying you must include these components in every course, it’s helpful for new e-learning designers to be familiar with the basic elements and where they fit into the overall course structure. Course Welcome or Opening This is the first thing your learners see when they open your course. In addition to welcoming learners visually, it usually provides options for navigating the different sections of the course. Remember that the welcome content sets the tone for your course, so it’s important to start off strong! Here’s an example of a welcome screen created in Rise: Here’s an example of a Content Library welcome template you can insert into your Storyline 360 project: Instructions Depending on the type of course you’re creating, you may want to include instructions to help learners understand how to navigate through the course. If you’ve built your own custom navigation using a slide-based authoring app, you could use arrows, callouts, and text to point out the important features of the course player. Noteworthy features include navigation buttons, resource tabs, a transcript menu, and help buttons. If you’re using the built-in course player that comes with your authoring app, you may not need to go into that level of detail. But even if you’re using standard navigation, it’s still helpful to let your learners know if they need to turn on their speakers, whether there’ll be a quiz at the end, and how much time they should set aside to complete the course. If you’re using a web-based app, like Rise, it might look something like this: If you’re using a slide-based app like Storyline, a simple instructions slide could look more like this, for example: Learning Objectives Objectives give learners an overview of the course goals. Usually presented in bullet point format, the list shows actionable tasks the learner should be able to do after completing the course. However, objectives don’t have to be listed in bullet point format. Often, it’s the client, business partner, or organizational style guide that requires objectives to be presented that way. There’s a trend in the e-learning industry to find creative alternatives to the bulleted format. For example, you could create an accordion interaction in Rise so your learners can explore the different objectives at their own pace, like in the screenshot below: Or, if you’re using a slide-based tool like Storyline, you can create a stylized objectives layout to catch your learner’s eye: Here are some additional resources and discussions on making bullet points more engaging: Convert Your Bullet Points to Interactive E-Learning with Video Five Surefire Ways to Get Rid of Bullet Points Ideas on Getting Rid of Bullet Points to State Course Objectives Reducing Bullet Points and On-Screen Text Animating Bullet Points — Is It Possible to Animate More Than One? Content This section is the meat of your course, where all the learning happens. Here you can include text, images, charts, tabs or timeline interactions, scenarios, screencasts, videos, and much more. There are many different ways to present your content, but here are a couple of ideas to get you started. Text and Images Example created in Rise Content Library template available in Storyline 360 Scenarios Example created in Rise Content Library template available in Storyline 360 Timeline Interactions Example created in Rise Content Library template available in Storyline 360 Depending on your content and course objectives, your course could include just one or two of these elements, or all of the above and much more! Let your objectives guide you through the creation process and help you decide how to best present your content to help your learners reach their target. Practice Activities The purpose of practice activities is to help learners strengthen their skills and knowledge. As such, they should include content presented earlier in the module so learners can apply what they just learned. Here’s an example of a practice activity you can create in Rise: And here’s another example created in Storyline 360: Knowledge Checks & Assessments Knowledge checks and assessments are quizzes at the end of each topic, module, or course, where learners can test their progress during a module. The main difference between the two types of quizzes is that knowledge checks do not generally count toward the final score, while assessments do. They might look like typical quizzes (i.e., true/false, multiple choice, etc.), or take on a more casual format, such as a scenario in which learners must make decisions about what to do in a real-life situation. Check out this example of a quiz question created in Rise: And this one created in Storyline 360 : Summary At the end of each topic, module, and course you’ll often find a summary of the key points from that section. They can include links to additional resources to help highly motivated learners take their knowledge to the next level. In Rise, that could look something like this, for example: Or if you’re working in Storyline or another slide-based app, you could create a slide like this one: Contact Info & Resources At the end of each course you’ll usually find contact information for the trainer or subject matter expert (SME) as well as some additional resources to help support learners as they apply the skills they’ve learned in the course to their jobs. Typically they include one or more of the following: Contact information: People to contact for help or questions about the course Continued learning: Additional resources beyond what was in the course Job aids: Handouts from the course that can be used as performance support In Rise, you could create something that looks like this, for example: Or you could build a slide like this in Storyline or another slide-based app: Final Thoughts As a course designer, you have unlimited options for combining e-learning elements in your courses. Your experience level, combined with expectations for your course and learners, will influence many of your choices. If you’re a new e-learning designer, try covering these common elements to start. Good luck! Leave a comment or post in the forums if you have any other questions about these e-learning elements or want to share ideas for combining them in unique ways. Follow us on Twitter and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning.
