How do you evaluate the flow of a course?
Hi everyone, I’ve been thinking a lot about flow in Storyline and Rise courses. Not the visuals or interactions, but the way ideas move, build and connect for the learner. When I review courses, flow is often the first thing I look at, because so many issues trace back to it. A course can be beautifully built, but if the flow is unclear, the learner has to work harder than they should. Here are a few questions I often ask myself: Does each screen naturally lead to the next? Does the learner know why they’re seeing this information now? Is anything arriving too early, too late or without enough context? Are we building on what the learner already knows, or jumping around? Is there a moment where the pace suddenly gets heavier? These small checks often reveal more than a long checklist ever could. I’d love to hear how others approach this. When you evaluate the flow of a course, what do you look for? Are there signals or questions you rely on to check whether the experience “moves” the way you hoped? Always curious to learn from different perspectives.A quality review approach I have been developing for Storyline and Rise courses
Hi everyone. I am Stéphane, a learning designer based in Vancouver. I spend a lot of time helping teams improve the clarity, flow and accessibility of the courses they create (at many big brands such as Arc'teryx, Lululemon, Aritzia...). Over time, I noticed that the way we review a course can vary a lot from one project to another. Some teams follow detailed checklists. Others do a quick end-of-project sweep. It makes quality feel inconsistent and hard to measure. To bring more structure to this, I began developing a quality review approach that focuses on the elements that truly shape a strong learning experience with the goal of helping designers get a clear and repeatable way to evaluate their work before publishing. My vision for this method grew from a simple idea. I wanted a structured way to look at a course and pinpoint what "good" truly looks like, in a measurable and tangible way. I began identifying a few key pillars that define the quality of a learning experience. The methodology I have been building offers a clear, structured snapshot that helps identify what needs attention and speeds up the review process. I am sharing this here because I know many of you care about producing thoughtful, consistent and high quality experiences. I would love to hear how you approach your own review process and what pillars you consider essential. If anyone is curious, I am happy to share an example or walk through the method. Here is a bit more about the work I do: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lix-learning/ Looking forward to learning from your approaches as well.Mentors PLEASE!
What advice can you give to a lonesome Instructional Designer at a mid-size company that is a unicorn at her company, meaning, I don't really have anyone to bounce ideas off of, check usability or practice new skills with. Other than online communities (which are amazing) what are some other tis and tricks you could share to help me boost my skills and try new things that will help me progress as an ID but also give my company what they need/want?What’s your “Figure It Out” moment in learning design?
Thanks to everyone who joined today’s Learning Luminaries with Tim Slade! Whether you attended the session or not, this thread is your space to share takeaways, exchange examples, and ask follow-up questions. 💡 Key takeaways 1️⃣ “FIFO” — Figure It ___ Out. Growth happens when you’re pushed outside your comfort zone. The best work often comes from rolling up your sleeves and figuring it out as you go. 2️⃣ Great learning = great experience. Instructional design is either elevated or detracted from the experience surrounding it — great visuals, an intuitive UI, and accessibility elevate the learning; poor design undermines it. 3️⃣ Stay practical about trends. AI, VR, gamification… tools will change, but the fundamentals stay steady. Wait for a real use case before jumping on the next shiny thing. 4️⃣ Readiness isn’t a feeling — it’s action. You don’t need permission to start. Competence builds confidence, and both come from doing the work. 5️⃣ Be an expert in your experience, not just your craft. Tim’s advice for unlocking potential: your lived experiences are your superpower — share them freely. 💬 Let’s talk Drop a note in the comments about your own “figure it out” moment. What did you try, and what did you learn? Feel free to link or screenshot an example if you have one!The invisible work behind a great Storyline or Rise course
Hi everyone, Something I’ve noticed over the years is that most people only see the final course: the polished screen, the clean interaction, the tidy flow from start to finish. But designers see everything underneath it. We see the messy first drafts, the unclear SME notes, the rewrites, the “wait… does this actually make sense?” moments. We see the small decisions that quietly hold the whole experience together. And honestly, that invisible work is where so much of the quality lives. For me, great learning design isn’t just about content or visuals. It’s the structure behind them: the clarity of the flow, the way ideas build, how we reduce friction for learners, and how we make sure nothing feels confusing or overwhelming. Every time I work with a team, one pattern stands out: when clarity improves, everything else follows. Learners feel more confident. Modules feel smoother. And the review process becomes so much easier for everyone involved. I’d love to hear from the group: What small practices help you strengthen clarity or flow in your Storyline or Rise courses? Always curious to learn from others’ approaches.Welcome to Week 1 of the E-Learning Heroes Passport Challenge!
🌍 Welcome to the Passport Challenge Hub! Your one-stop spot for all things E-Learning Heroes Passport Challenge. Each week, we’ll share a new update celebrating badge earners, Globetrotter progress, and community highlights. Check out the Passport Challenge post to learn how to join, earn badges, and see all the rewards you can unlock! ✈️ Getting Started Here’s how to start filling your passport this week: Post a new discussion or comment on a post that caught your eye. Jump into the Welcome Center and greet a new member. Like a few posts that inspired you. 💡 Weekly Pro Tip You can earn two badges in one! Complete the Weekly Challenge to earn your Challenger stamp, then post your project (with details!) in the Share Examples Hub to unlock your Showcase stamp. 💬 Join the Conversation How are you hoping to grow, learn, or stretch your skills during the Passport Challenge? Drop your goals in the comments — we’d love to cheer you on!AI Voices in eLearning
Hi all! I'd like to hear your thoughts about AI voices in training and educational material. As a neurodivergent, I personally find them distracting and less supportive of learning, despite increasing popularity. I've read that human voices improve learner outcomes/retention etc, yet many folks in our industry seem to love AI narration features. As someone who has both recorded voiceovers and generated them, I don't see an obvious reason to rely so heavily on the latter other than time constraints. Sure, it may save a couple hours of production time, but if learner outcomes aren't improving, shouldn't we reconsider this approach and put the audience experience first? Please share your thoughts! I'm really curious to hear more about this. Maybe I'm missing a key point here! Maybe I'm in a minority of disliking AI voices? And just to be clear, I’m not referring to screen readers or assistive text-to-speech. Those serve a completely different purpose and are essential for accessibility! I’m talking specifically about replacing full-course narration with synthetic voices.Rise 360 Default Line Heights and Font Sizes
Hi E-Learning Heroes, I’m working to ensure our Rise 360 courses meet WCAG accessibility standards, particularly around line height (minimum 1.5) and font size for readability. Here’s what I’ve noticed: The default line spacing for the text blocks seems to be around 1.9, which is great. When I manually set line spacing to 1.5 in the editor, it looks much tighter, almost like single spacing. (not that you need to, but I was curious) Knowledge check blocks and some interactive elements appear to use much smaller line heights and font sizes than body text. Has anyone documented the actual default line heights and font sizes for each block type in Rise 360? If you have this information in a table format, that would be incredibly helpful for accessibility checks. Thanks in advance!Best Certification for Breaking into Instructional Design field
I am mentoring an Educator (with a Master's in Teaching) and 15 years of teaching fifth-grade science as well as pre-school. This educator wants to transfer her skills to break into the Instructional Design field. What are the best certifications programs for this type of professional?Keyboard navigation to support accessibility
Hi all...happy holiday. I recently took a work-required eLearning course (ahem, we won't discuss quality!) that had keyboard navigation options to move through the course, allowing for accessibility. I wonder how that works with Articulate storyline and RISE...how does that get created? No clue on this but see it as necessary for our work. Your guidance is appreciated. Michele
