E-Learning Challenges - Complete List
The weekly e-learning challengesare ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of theprevious challengesanytime you want. I’ll update the recap posts to include your demos. 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.If you share your demos on Twitter, try using#ELHChallengeso your tweeps can track your e-learning coolness. View a condensed list of the challenges How Do You Show Conversations in E-Learning? #105 This week your challenge is to show how dialogue can be shown in e-learning courses. You can focus on talking, texting, instant messaging, video chats, or any other form of communication. Build and Promote Your E-Learning Voice Over Portfolios #104 This week your challenge is to pull together a simple voice over portfolio for e-learning. Never mind the fact you’re not interested in becoming a professional narrator. The goal for this week’s challenge is to practice recording different styles of narration for e-learning. If you pick up some additional work along the way, that’s a bonus. E-Learning Voice Over Portfolios #104:Challenge|Recap Create an Infographic: What Do You Love and Hate About E-Learning #103 This week, your challenge is to create an interactive graphic using the data from theWhat People Love & Hate About E-Learninginfographic.You don't need to rebuild the entire infographic. Just find one or two sections you like and redesign those as an interaction. Love and Hate E-Learning Infographic#103:Challenge|Recap Gamify an E-Learning Course #102 Gamify an E-Learning Course #102: Challenge|Recap Before and After: Showing Visual Comparisons in E-Learning #100 This week, your challenge is to create an interaction to visually compare two images.You can use any technique you like to compare images. As much as we’d like to see real-world examples, this week’s challenge is more about the interactive ways course designers can create interactive comparisons. Show us anything you like! Before and After Visual Comparisons #100:Challenge|Recap How Are You Using Branching Scenarios in E-Learning? #99 This week, your challenge is to share one or more branching scenario examples. Your entry can be as simple or complex as you like. Branching Scenarios in E-Learning #99:Challenge|Recap E-Learning Buzzword Bingo Games #98 This week, your challenge is to create an e-learning buzzword bingo card or interaction. Your bingo card doesn’t need to be interactive — static is totally fine if you’d rather work on your graphics skills this week. Just share your bingo card in .pdf format so others can print and play. E-Learning Buzzword Bingo #98:Challenge|Recap Toggle, Switch, and Slide Your Way to More Creative E-Learning Buttons #97 This week, your challenge is to show one or more creative ways to use toggle buttons and switches in e-learning. Toggle, Switch, and Slider Buttons #97:Challenge|Recap Celebrating 2 Years of E-Learning Challenges This week your challenge is to catch up on at least one challenge you’ve missed. I’ll recap your entry in the original challenge recap as well as next week’s recap. Having a random selection of challenge entries should make for an interesting recap. 2 Years of E-Learning Challenges:Challenge|Recap Get Schooled by These Stellar K12 E-Learning Examples #96 This week, your challenge is to design an education-themed template or interaction. You can focus on any type of academic environment you like. Education Templates for E-Learning: Challenge|Recap Using Video Backgrounds to Visually Engage Learners #95 This week, your challenge is to show one or more ways video backgrounds can be used in e-learning courses. Video Backgrounds in E-Learning#95:Challenge|Recap Video Interviews: Creating Interactive Experiences in E-Learning #94 This week, your challenge is to create an interactive video interview. Video Interviews in E-Learning#94:Challenge|Recap Grabbing Attention and Motivating Learners in E-Learning #93 This week your challenge is to show one or more examples of how you grab attention and motivate learners. Gaining Attention in E-Learning #93:Challenge|Recap Guided Tours and Course Navigation Instructions in E-Learning #92 This week your challenge is to design a guided tour for an e-learning course, website, app, or digital product. Course Navigation Instructions #92:Challenge|Recap Get to Know Your E-Learning Community with Two Truths and a Lie #91 This week your challenge is to create a playful interaction using theTwo Truths and a Lieicebreaker game. You can build anything you like this week. Engage Your Learners with Interactive Conversations #90 This week your challenge is to create an example based on the interactive conversation model. Interactive Conversations #90:Challenge|Recap Creative Button Styles and Effects in E-Learning #89 This week, your challenge is to have fun with buttons! Play with different shapes, styles, and effects to show how you can use buttons creatively in e-learning. Be sure to include the Normal, Hover, and Selected states in your work. Creative Button Effects #89:Challenge|Recap Interactive Audio: Using Soundboards in E-Learning Courses #88 This week your challenge is to create an interactive soundboard.This week’s challenge is mostly a technical challenge so you can choose any topic and design style you like. Interactive Audio in E-Learning #88:Challenge|Recap Take Your E-Learning on a Summer Fakecation #87 E-Learning Fakecation #87:Challenge|Recap Interactive Maps in Online Training #86 This week your challenge is to show us where you live by creating an interactive map of your town or city. You can use any combination of photos, audio, and video to create your interactive map. Challenge|Recap Wireframes and Functional Prototypes in E-Learning #85 This week, your challenge is to build a functional prototype using theOSHA Fall PreventionPowerPoint slides. Challenge|Recap Using Image Sliders and Photo Galleries in Online Courses #84 This week your challenge is to show and share an image slider for e-learning. You can focus on any style or layout you like. Just show us what you can do with image sliders! Challenge|Recap E-Learning Reaction GIFs for Visual Storytelling #83 This week your challenge is to share a collection of reaction gifs for any e-learning topic you like. Challenge|Recap Show Us How You Create Online Courses #82 Challenge| Recap Show Us Your Best Ergonomics Training #81 This week, your challenge is to share an e-learning example for ergonomics training. You’re not limited to workplace-related topics so feel free to take on any form of ergonomics training you’d like. Challenge|Recap Can You Pass an Eighth-Grade Science Test? #80 This week your challenge is to design a learning interaction for a science topic. You can design a makeover for theBullitt County science quizor come up with something that interests you. Just keep the focus on science and you can do whatever you want. Challenge|Recap Show Us Your Custom Navigation Menus for E-Learning #79 This week, your challenge is to create a custom menu example for an e-learning course and share your favorite UI design tip for building custom navigation menus. E-Learning Challenge #79:Challenge|Recap E-Learning Icons: Show and Share Your Favorite Styles #78 This week your challenge is to create a set of icons, buttons, or stickers to share with the e-learning community. E-Learning Challenge#78:Challenge|Recap Get Your Emoji On with These E-Learning Examples #77 This week your challenges is to design a quiz or activity using emoji. You can work entirely in emoji or combine words and letters to create your projects. It’s up to you. E-Learning Challenge#77:Challenge|Recap Here's How Course Designers Use Animations in E-Learning #76 This week your challenge is to share one or morepractical examples ofeducational animations. E-Learning ChallengeRecap#76:Challenge|Recap E-Learning Games to Improve Punctuation and Grammar #75 This week your challenge is to design a learning interaction that teaches one or more concepts around punctuation. Challenge|Recap Using Toys for Storytelling in E-Learning #74 This week your challenge is to design a short interaction using toys as your primary characters.You can combine toys with photographs, illustrations, or hand-crafted scenes and backgrounds. Challenge|Recap Design a Cover Slide for the Oddest E-Learning Course Title of the Year #73 Silly book titles not only make for fun awards, they also give course designers an opportunity to practice their design, typography, and layout skills. And that’s what this week’s challenge is all about! Challenge|Recap Build and Share Your Own E-Learning Image Library #72 This week your challenge is tocreate a small set of e-learning imagesto share with fellow course designers. You can share images of people, places, objects, or anything you think will be useful. Challenge|Recap Teaching Math Concepts with E-Learning #71 This week your challenge is to design a short lesson to teach one or more math concepts. Challenge|Recap Sweets for the Sweet: Share An E-Learning Valentine #70 This week your challenge is to design an interactive graphic, demo, or activity that features a Valentine’s Day theme. Challenge|Recap Give Your E-Learning Skills a Checkup With This Medical Template Challenge #69 This week your challenge is to build an e-learninggame, presentation, or interactionfor a medical topic or concept. You can pick any area of healthcare you like but the focus should be around the medical industry. Challenge|Recap Champion Tips for Designing Football Training #68 This week your challenge is to design a learning interaction to teach one or more football concepts. Challenge|Recap Podcast: How Do Instructional Designers Get Things Done? #67 Challenge|Recap Creative Invoice Designs for Course Designers #66 This week your challenge is to create or share a creative invoice example or template. You can share something you’re already using or mock up a creative design for your entry. Challenge|Recap E-Learning Makeovers: Designing A Unified Template #65 This week your challenge is to findthree different templatesand combine them into a single template with a unified design. You don’t need to use real content in your final template design—the current placeholder content will work fine. Challenge|Recap How Can You Present Data Using Interactive Charts and Graphs? #64 This week your challenge is to show how interactive charts and graphs can be used in online training. Challenge|Recap What Can You Do with Pantone’s Color of the Year? #63 This week your challenge is todesign an e-learning template or interaction using Marsalaas the primarycolor. E-Learning Challenge #63:Challenge|Recap How to Survive the Holidays #62 This week your challenge is to help your fellow community members survive the holidays. You can create anything you like this week. Want to keep things simple? Create atypography poster. Want to take things up a notch? The sky’s the limit. E-Learning Challenge #62:Challenge|Recap Freelance Tips for E-Learning Designers #61 This week your challenge is to design a poster around yourfavorite freelancing tipfor coursedesigners. Challenge|Recap Using Progress Meters in E-Learning #60 This week your challenge is to show how progress indicators can be used in e-learning. Challenge|Recap E-Learning Games for Kids #59 This week your challenge is to build a simple e-learning game for kids. Challenge|Recap Digital Magazines and Interactive E-Learning #58 This week your challenge is to design a digital learning magazine. Challenge|Recap Preventing Workplace Violence: E-Learning Scenarios #57 This week your challenge is to show scenario examples designed to prevent or address workplace violence. Challenge|Recap 10 Things Instructional Designers Don’t Like to Hear #56 This week your challenge is to design an infographic, poster, or a simple list of the top 10 things instructional designers don’t like to hear. And then share your ideas for how to best reply to each. Challenge|Recap How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse #55 This week your challenge is to design a training interaction, job aid, or mini-course to help learners prepare for and survive the Zombie Apocalypse. Challenge|Recap Rapid Response Training: Ebola Outbreak #54 This week your challenge is to design a learning interaction around the Ebola outbreak. You don’t have to create a full course on the Ebola virus. Instead, focus on something short and quick to address one area of the virus. Challenge|Recap DIY E-Learning Characters #53 This week your challenge is to create your own pictogram characters for a specific industry or learning topic. Challenge|Recap Interactive Sliders in E-Learning #52 This week your challenge is to show creative ways to use sliders in online learning. You can focus your slider on functionality or visual design. Challenge|Recap Font Games, Quizzes, and Examples #51 This week your challenge is to create an interaction that teaches one or more basic principles of typography. This is a slightly bigger challenge than usual because it requires some content and interaction design. Challenge|Recap Flat Design Graphics and Examples #50 This week your challenge is to design an office or desktop theme based on your own workplace environment. Design as many objects as you like. For variety, try adding both top and front views of your workspace. Challenge|Recap Webcam Video in E-Learning #49 This week your challenge is to create awebcam videoto introduce yourself and the types of e-learning projects you enjoy most. Challenge |Recap Storyboard Templates for E-Learning #48 This week your challenge is to share an example of your preferred e-learning storyboard, blueprint, or scripting template. We want to seewhatyou use and learnhowyou use it! Challenge| Recap Call Center Training in Online Learning #47 This week your challenge is to design a call center interaction. You can choose any area of call center training you like. Don’t worry about scripting out a detailed or authentic storyboard. Prototypes, unfinished interactions, and even sketches are perfectly acceptable. Challenge|Recap Show Us Your E-Learning Portfolio #46 This week’s challenge is all about youre-learning portfolios. We already know you do awesome work, and we want to help others find your awesome work. Challenge|Recap Recording Audio in Online Training #45 This week, your challenge is toshare your audio recording deetswith the community. We want to know all about your audio recording: your best practices, your gear, your processes, even your quirks and tricks that give your audio that special something. Challenge|Recap Virtual Tours in Online Training #44 This week, your challenge is to design a virtual tour of a real or fictional location. You can use any photos, illustrations, audio, and video you like to create your tour. Challenge|Recap Interactive Org Charts and Meet the Team #43 This week, your challenge is to design an interactive graphic to introduce an organization’s team members or key players.You can focus on corporate teams, sports teams, or something more playful likecomic book characters. Challenge|Recap Smartphone Video Training #42 This week, your challenge is torecord, edit, and publisha training video using your smartphone.Choose a topic that allows you to record multiple videos for your project. The focus on this challenge is as much about editing as it is recording. Challenge|Recap Low-Tech, High-Speed Course Design #41 This week, your challenge is to create an emergency-response course usingpen and paper. Challenge|Recap Instructional Design Quizzes #40 This week your challenge is to create a quiz that tests learners on an instructional design principle, model, researcher, or theorist. Challenge| Recap Podcasts for Learning #39 This week your challenge is torecord your answers to the following 10 interview questions. Challenge|Recap Steal This E-Learning Template#38 This week your challenge is to repurpose theCreate Your Own Quest templateinto something of your own. Challenge|Recap Spelling Bees and Interactive Vocabulary Quizzes#37 This week your challenge is to build an interactive vocabulary quiz. You can focus your interaction on spelling, pronunciation, comprehension, or anything else. Challenge|Recap Interactive Step Graphics in Online Training#36 This week your challenge is to build a step graphic to tell a story or communicate a process. Choose any topic you like and see if you can find creative ways to present the step graphic navigation. Challenge| Recap What’s In Your Course Design Toolkit?#35 This week your challenge is to share your favorite, free tools that make your course design easier. Challenge| Recap Instructional Design Learning Activities#34 This week your challenge is to create aninteraction that introduces an instructional design principle, model, researcher, or theorist.Interactions can be anything from simple Engage interactions that present terms and definitions to custom games created in Storyline. Challenge|Recap Fix Your E-Learning Mistakes#33 This week your challenge is to give your slides a proper makeover. Assume the bad slide designs were given to you by your client and that it’s your job to make them right. Challenge| Recap Death, Taxes, and E-Learning Mistakes#32 This week, your challenge is to design one or more slides featuring common course mistakes. Yes, mistakes. Unleash those pet peeves and visual nightmares. Don’t hold back. Amplify the mistakes. Let us feel the pain of bad e-learning. Challenge| Recap Creative Resume Templates for E-Learning Portfolios#31 This week, your challenge is to design an interactive resume or portfolioshowcasing your e-learning work. You can show all your work or highlight only a couple of your favorite projects. Challenge| Recap What Do E-Learning Designers Really Do?#30 This week, your challenge is todesign a visual chartusing the “What People Think I Do / What I really Do” meme. You can choose any job role you like: instructional designer, course designer, Super Hero, or any other title that interests you. Challenge| Recap Summary and Resource Slides in Online Courses#29 This week, your challenge is to design an e-learning conclusion or summary slide.You can focus your entry on instructions for closing the course, job aids to support the course, or even additional resources for learners to continue learning. This week’s challenge is all about design ideas for presenting summary slides and resources. You don’t need to build out a working interaction—but I know many of you will, and that’s totally cool, too. Challenge| Recap Top 10 Things Learners Need to Know About Storyline#28 This week your challenge is to put together aTop 10list of “getting started” tutorialsfor any area of Storyline development you like. Challenge|Recap Visual Storytelling with Photo Collages#27 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. Challenge| Recap Interactive Screenshots for Online Training#26 This week, your challenge is to create an interactive screenshot for an application’s UI or specific features. Challenge| Recap Instructional Design Tips That Really Pop#25 This week your challenge is todesign a poster around your favorite education or instructional design quote. Your quote can be serious, playful, or even a little snarky. The text is simply the vehicle for your favorite tip designed as a typography poster. Challenge| Recap Create a Simple E-Learning Game#24 This week your challenge is to build a simple e-learning game in either Storyline or Quizmaker. Challenge|Recap Decision Map to Branching Scenarios#23 This week your challenge is to build a branching interaction based on theWhat Kind of Leader Are You?infographic. This challenge is all about interpreting an existing simulation map and bringing it to life. Use whatever design style you like. This can include using characters, boxes and arrows, LOL Cats or anything else you can dream up. We just want to see what you can come up with using the infographic as a starting point. Challenge| Recap Design an Olympic-Themed E-Learning Template#22 This week your challenge is to design an e-learning template for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. You can design a general template for the Winter Olympics, or focus your template around a specific country or event. Challenge| Recap Beyond the Basic Drag-and-Drop Interaction#21 This week your challenge is to build a drag-and-drop interaction based on one of the three examples above.Don’t have time to put an activity together? No problem. Just share some ideas for ways to use drag-and-drop in non-quizzing activities. We’ll pull the ideas together and use them for a future challenge! Challenge| Recap Ask Your Learners to Prove They’re Learning (NEXTCHA)#20 This week your challenge is to build your own NEXTCHA solutions that help reinforce learning content while preventing learners from mindlessly clicking the Next buttons. In the challenge, you don’t have to limit NEXTCHA to text entry fields, but please limit your demos to text-based interactions. Challenge| Recap Screencasts and Software Simulations in Online Training#19 This week your challenge is to record a screencast or software simulation. You can choose any type of topic that interests you. Challenge| Recap Using Characters in E-Learning#18 This week your challenge is to show us how to use characters in e-learning. You can create static slides that show character-based ideas, or build something more dynamic to show the interaction between characters Challenge|Recap Using Job Aids in E-Learning#17 This week your challenge is to show us how to use job aids in e-learning. You can share examples of job aids that were used in place of courses, integrated into courses, or offered as course alternatives. Challenge| Recap Creating Custom Drag-and-Drop E-Learning Interactions#16 This week your challenge is to show some creative ways to use drag-drop interactions. Challenge| Recap Create a Radiant Template with Pantone’s Color of the Year#15 This week your challenge is to useRadiant Orchidas the base color for your e-learning templates.Include at least three different content slides, and more if you’d like. Your slides can be static or built out as working interactions. Your goal is to work from a single color and show how you will carry that color across your design templates. Challenge| Recap Give Your Quiz Results Slides a Makeover#14 This week, your challenge is to show us your best, your most creative quiz results designs. Show us as many makeover designs as you can imagine. Challenge| Recap Interactive Timelines for E-Learning#13 This week, your challenge is to rebuildBig History Project’s interactive timeline. This is our first challenge where everyone is working from the same source project. The tool you use to recreate this project will impact your design considerations. For example, the dynamic menu effect is not possible with most tools. You’ll want to capture the essence of the effect, whichever tool you choose. Challenge| Recap Transform Infographics Into Interactive Graphics#12 This week your challenge will be to take a static infographic and rebuild it as an interactive infographic. Challenge|Recap Design a Comic Book Theme for Your E-Learning Course#11 This week, your challenge is to design your own comic book e-learning template. Try to include multiple slides so you can show how the template will carry through your content. Challenge|Recap Shoot Your Own E-Learning Background Graphics#10 Create a shot list of possible images and shoot your own background graphics using your office or work area as the primary location. When you share your photos, please include your shot list and at least one original photo so we can compare the before and after. Challenge|Recap Design an Ethics Course Template with Clipart#9 Using clipartStyle 1368, design a course template for a corporate ethics e-learning course. Include at leastthree content slidesandtwo quizzing slides. Your slides can be static or built out as working interactions. We just want to see how your template carries across your project. Challenge|Recap Create an E-Learning Template from Clip Art#8 Show and share your clip art-inspired template using one or more clip art objects.Create one or more e-learning template slides using free clip art objects. Challenge| Recap Converting Static Content to Interactive Knowledge Checks#7 Show and share your interactive makeovers using an existing slide from one of your projects.Convert an existing content slide and convert it to an interaction using one of the Storyline’s six free-form questions. Challenge| Recap Bring This Medical Training Course Back To Life!#6 Show and share your re-design ideas for a medical e-learning course template.Using the source files provided, create a clean, flat, medical design theme. Try to work within the provided color requirements (included in the forum thread and the source files) and comp out 2-3 slides for this design. Challenge|Recap Desktop and Office Theme Designs#5 Create an office or desktop course template. Include at least three different content slides, and more if you’d like. Your slides can be static or built out as working interactions. The objective is to show how us how your design will carry across your project. E-Learning Challenge #5:Challenge|Recap Flatten Up Your Course Design Skills#4 Show and share your best flat design template ideas for e-learning.Create a flat design course template. Include at least three different content slides, and more if you’d like. Your slides can be static or built out as working interactions. The objective is to show how your flat design will carry across your project. Challenge|Recap Gate Screens in Online Courses#3 Design a two-slide interaction that includes a content screen and a gate screen. The content screen can be a placeholder screen. The key is to show how your gate screen will load and close in relation to the course. Challenge|Recap What’s Your Best Tabs Interaction?#2 Design a 5-tab interaction. Tabs should be on the left or the right and need to be persistent over slides or layers. Challenge|Recap How Would You Show Meaningful Comparisons? #1 Design an interactive graphic to show relative sizes for a series of airplanes. Check out thisWikipedia entryon giant aircraft for inspiration. Challenge | Recap Post written byDavid AndersonGetting Started with the E-Learning Challenges Q&A
When we started the E-Learning Challenges(this is our 10th year hosting the event), the goal was to help answer a few of the most common questions we’re asked: “How do I become an e-learning pro?” and “How do I build my e-learning portfolio?” The E-Learning Heroes community offers course creators many ways to learn everything about e-learning: ebooks, tutorials, online training, and published examples. However, to get the most from your learning and grow your skills, you need to practice and apply what you’ve learned. And one of the best ways to practice e-learning is with the weekly E-Learning Challenges. With new users joining the challenges every week, I put together a short Q&A that will hopefully address some of the most-askedquestions. What are the weekly e-learning challenges? The weekly challenges are structured activities designed to help course designers practice e-learning and instructional design. Think of the challenges as e-learning sprints. Similar to CrossFit training, the challenges share similar elements and focus: Varied. The challenge topics are designed to strengthen all your e-learning muscles. We have challenges for Articulate 360 app features and workflows, graphic design, multimedia, instructional design, production tips, and more. Functional. The steps and movements you perform to complete each challenge are structured around real-world tasks you’ll perform during every phase of e-learning course design and development. Intensity. It’s up to you how much or how little intensity you commit to each challenge. If you’re new to Articulate 360 or e-learning, try committing to doing one challenge per month and commenting on ten projects each week. Are the challenges mostly for e-learning pros? Most of the people who participate are beginner to advanced e-learning and instructional designers. There are some pros and future pros who are trying to gain the skills and confidence to work full-time one day. I’m new to e-learning and instructional design. Will I be able to participate in the challenges? Absolutely. The users who get the most from the challenges are people who are relatively new to e-learning and Articulate 360. Every week, I hear from users (this is our 10th year hosting the challenges) that they were hesitant to begin but learned a ton after sharing their first projects. When do challenges and recaps get posted? Challenge posts go live every Friday. The current challenge will always be the most active because it's new and gets the most visibility. The older challenges are less active, so some users prefer to get started that way. It's a way to dip your toes into the challenge pool by sharing your work without all the attention the current challenge generates. Recap posts drop the following Thursday. If you submit an example after the recap post goes live, I've still got you covered. I'll update the recap as your examples come in. How much time will a challenge take to complete? The challenges are designed to be simple practice activities where you can commit whatever time you want. Some people do more, and some do less. For example, I know users who won’t spend more than 30 minutes on their demo, while others spend 6 or more hours. It’s up to you. Where can I find a list of challenges? You can find the E-Learning Challenges hub by hovering over the Learn drop-down menu on the E-Learning Heroes homepage. You can always find the current challenge in the top left corner of the page. How do I participate? To participate, open the challenge post and drop a link to your project in the comments. If you have Articulate 360, the easiest way to do that is to publish your project to Review 360 and share that link. I missed some challenges. Can I still participate? Challenges are always open—there’s never a deadline to submit an idea. If you missed a challenge, just add your demo in the challenge comments and I’ll update the recap post. You can find the complete list of challenges here. I’ve got a really cool idea for a challenge. Wanna hear it? I’ll take all the help I can get. If you have an idea for a challenge, I definitely want to hear about it. You can share your challenge idea in this form. I submitted an example but it didn’t get added to the recap. What’s the deal? Sorry–this is my fault. I’m updating 350+ challenges each week and sometimes fall behind. If you submitted an example but don’t see it in the recap, please use this form to contact me. What are some pro tips for getting the most out of the challenges? Share your work. Post your examples on your blog or website. If you’re on Twitter and LinkedIn, share links to your work and use the hashtag #elhchallenge. Create a giveaway or freebie. I’m going to let you in on a secret. Everyone loves free stuff. When you include your project’s source file, you’re creating another artifact from your learning that will attract more attention. It’s not required to include a download, but it helps. Write about your projects. One of the best ways to learn is to document what you know and what you’re learning. Think of your blog writing as a learning journal where you reflect on each project’s design concept, production process, mistakes you made, etc. I like how Jonathan, Aman, Tracy, Montse, Ron, and Jackie write about their work using their own blog, LinkedIn, and E-Learning Heroes. Are you telling us everything? What else should I know? The best way to learn is by doing. Here are a few more ways to start practicing and showing your work in the weekly challenges: The challenges are always open. You can join the current or any previous challenge. The current challenge will always have the most activity, while the older challenges are a little quieter. Sometimes users feel more comfortable joining older challenges because it’s a way to test the waters without drawing too much attention. Make it a goal to participate monthly. You don’t need to join every challenge. If you’re just getting started, commit to at least one challenge per month. They don’t need to be perfect. The main thing is to come up with an idea and then see if you can make it work. Some people build simple prototypes, and some put more work into them. It doesn’t matter. The main thing is you’re playing around with ideas and the software. Check out the recaps every week. Even if you don’t do the challenge, look at the weekly recaps to see what others have done. You’ll see a broad range of ideas, and many share their source files, so it’s easy to deconstruct them and learn from what they did. Have you shared one or more examples in the challenges? What tips or suggestions would you suggest for users looking to get started?Why & How To Participate in the Weekly Challenges on E-Learning Heroes
Did you know that every week here on E-Learning Heroes our very own David Anderson challenges community members to build mini-projects around a different theme? Well, if you didn’t—now you do! Keep reading to find out why and how to participate. Why participate? There are so many great reasons to participate in the E-Learning Challenges. Here are a few: Grow your skills. Whether you’re new to e-learning or a seasoned professional, it’s important to continuously grow your skills to stay up-to-date with current practices and trends. Participating in the weekly challenges not only allows you to build projects that might be outside your comfort zone and get feedback from others, but it also gives you a chance to see their work and glean inspiration from it. Build your portfolio. Even if you’re not currently looking for work, it’s important to create and maintain a portfolio. After all, you never know when an exciting opportunity might pop up! One challenge with e-learning portfolios is that often the e-learning courses you create for work are confidential and therefore can’t be included. The challenges give you an opportunity to create a variety of projects you can show prospective clients and employers to showcase your skill set. Expand your network. While some people participate in the challenges more sporadically, many of the participants are the same from week to week. Joining in the challenges is a great way to get to know other e-learning professionals and build relationships with people who can help you grow your skills and advance your career. Boost your visibility. When organizations are searching for e-learning designers, the internet is the first place they’ll look, so establishing an online presence is key. Participating in the challenges regularly is one way to boost your visibility and increase the chances that your name will come up in search results. Have fun. When you’re building courses for clients, you can’t always do things exactly the way you’d like to. The challenges are a great place to let your creativity run wild and have a little fun. How to participate Now that you know why you should participate, you might be wondering how to join in. It’s supereasy! Just follow the steps below: 1. Check out the challenge article Hover over the Learn tab in the navigation bar and scroll down to E-Learning Challenges. This will take you to the E-Learning Challenges hub, where you can click on the current week’s challenge—which is always featured at the top of the page: And if you’d like to participate in a previous week’s challenge, you can do that too! Just open the full list of challenges and click on one that interests you. 2. Read the challenge description Take a minute to read through the challenge and get a feel for what it’s about. Often there are a couple of examples to get your creative juices flowing. 3. Create your project Once you’ve got a handle on the challenge, it’s time to start working on your project. You can spend as much or as little time as you want on it—so no need to create a full-fledged course or stay up all hours of the night getting it done. Just sit down and see what you can bang out in the time you have—whether that’s 30 minutes, an hour, or half a day! 4. Add a comment When you’re done, simply add a link to your project in the comments section of the challenge article. Easy-peasy! Not sure how to generate a link to your project? If you’re using Articulate 360, simply publish your course to Review 360 and paste the share link in the comments box. Otherwise, you can also publish your course for the web, upload it to a web server, and share that link. It’s up to you! Here are some resources to help you generate a link to your project: Rise 360: Publishing a Course to Review 360 Storyline 360: Publishing a Course to Review 360 How to Get an E-Learning Course Online That’s all there is to it! From there, you can check out other people’s challenge entries and leave feedback if you’d like. But once again—there’s no obligation! And if you want to increase the visibility of your entry, you can start a new thread in the discussion forums, write about it on your blog, or share a post on social media with the dedicated hashtag: #ELHChallenge. 5. Check out the recap (optional) About a week after David posts a challenge, he rounds up all the entries in a separate article to highlight all the projects people have shared—to give them maximum visibility. If you didn’t have time to check out the other entries, the recap is a fast and easy way to do that. To access the recap, you have two options: Go back to the challenge article and click on the recap link he’s added below the article illustration. Go to the E-Learning Challenges hub and click on the recap article directly. It’ll appear below the featured article with the same illustration as the challenge, but with a restart icon instead of a trophy icon: Challenge Recap Wrap-Up So what are you waiting for? Head over to the E-Learning Challenges hub and join in on this week’s challenge. You’ll be glad you did! And remember to follow us on Twitter and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning. If you have any questions, please share them in the comments. This article is part of our E-Learning 101 e-mail course, a series of expertly curated articles that’ll help you get started with e-learning—delivered right to your inbox. You’re only a click away from becoming an e-learning pro!Sign up here to enroll.These 7 K-12 E-Learning Examples Are Best in Class
Developing K-12 e-learning gives course creators a chance to test their creativity and explore the possibilities. Effective K-12 e-learning can transform tricky subjects into fun, light, and engaging content for young learners. These seven examples created by the imaginative members of the E-Learning Heroes community use inviting designs and fun narratives to keep learners interested. Take a look: Young learners will have fun fulfilling pizza orders while learning fractions in this clever drag-and-drop math example by Anuradha Gopu. Gamify your projects to capture your K-12 audience’s attention. Snag this countdown quiz example template by Allison LaMotte to help you get started. Teach young students critical math skills withthis mermaid-inspired counting example by Gabrielle Schofield. This super-cute soap-a-sheep example by David McEachan helps K-12 students learn to properly wash their hands. Transform heavy science subjects into fresh, engaging, and relatable content like Trina Rimmer does in this Rise 360 K-12 example with facts about blood. Young children will have fun toggling between animal names and sounds inthis farm example by Allison LaMotte. This simple but beautiful Rise 360 course by Allison LaMotte helps learners identify different animals—it also includes a quiz to help students practice what they learned. If you’re feeling inspired, then join the E-Learning Challenge and submit your own K-12 e-learning project. You can also find more course design inspiration in the Building Better Courses forum. We’d love to see you there!
