15 Examples of Interactive Prototypes for E-Learning Games #471
Interactive Prototypes in E-Learning RECAP #471: Challenge | Recap This week’s challenge asked course designers to share an interactive prototype of their game show designs. This is the second week of our four-part game design series. Phil Mayor Example | Phil Mayor | Website | @philmayor David Davis Example | David Davis Jonathan Hill Prototype | Working Demo | Jonathan Hill | Website | @DevByPowerPoint Ron Katz Prototype | Ron Katz | Website Jesse Wu Prototype | Jesse Wu | Website Jodi M. Sansone Prototype | Jodi M. Sansone | Website | @jodimsansone eLearn Dev Prototype | Learn more | eLearn Dev Samuel Apata Prototype | Samuel Apata | Website | @afrostem Arron Walker Prototype | Learn more | Arron Walker | Website Thierry EMMANUEL Prototype | Thierry EMMANUEL | Website Kate Golomshtok Prototype | Kate Golomshtok | Website Lisa McDonald Prototype | Lisa McDonald Angela Thomas Prototype | Angela Thomas Shelby Breece Prototype | Shelby Breece Mara Buggenthin Prototype | View progress | Mara Buggenthin New to the E-Learning Challenges? The weekly challenges are ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of the previous challenges anytime you want. I'll update the recap posts to include your demos. If you have a blog, please write about your challenge example. I'll add links to your blog post so your examples get even more exposure. And for those who share your demos on Twitter or LinkedIn, please include #ELHChallenge so your network (and Articulate!) can track your e-learning coolness. Share Your Working Prototype Examples! The game show prototype challenge is still open! If you have one or more ideas you'd like to share, please jump over to the original challenge and post your links in the comments section. I'll update this recap page to include your examples.499Views0likes0CommentsBuilding E-Learning Games: Concept & Storyboard #470
Game Show Design: Storyboards#470: Challenge | Recap How in the world did you build that? A common challenge for new course designers is seeing polished e-learning projects and having no clue how they came together. I hear from folks all the time that they want to do the weekly challenges, but it feels too advanced for beginners. So, for this challenge, we're going to pump the brakes and spread the build over four weeks. We’ll follow a linear development model so we can really dig into and focus on common development steps. I realize experienced designers will prefer a more iterative approach for real-world projects. And that's fair. But using a progressive, step-by-step approach should help new users follow the evolution of an e-learning challenge project from concept to deliverable. Plus, it gives us something tangible to show each week. Week 1: The Concept & Visual Storyboard This first week, we’ll focus on the initial game show theme or concept. Your task will be to create a wireframe, flowchart, or visual storyboard that captures the flow of your game. For new users, this helps you work intentionally through your ideas before jumping into development. And for you pros, this might seem like extra work, but slowing it down will help others visualize how polished interactions come together. Here’s a breakdown of the four-week schedule: Week 1: Concept & Storyboarding Week 2: Prototype Development Week 3: Development & Review Week 4: Final Testing & Project Submission 🏆 Challenge of the Week This week, your challenge is to develop an e-learning game show concept and present a visual, non-interactive storyboard or flowchart of your game’s mechanics and visual elements. You can either create something new or take an old project and break it down with us over the four weeks. This way, everyone can see how it all comes together. Week 1: Concept & Storyboarding Goal: Choose a game show concept and design theme Deliverables: Choose a game show concept, theme and design style Create a visual storyboard, flowchart, or static mock-up of the game Share a link to your static design concept Week 2: Design & Prototyping Week 3: Production & Development Week 4: Final Testing & Project Submission ✨ Share Your E-Learning Work Comments: Use the comments section below to link your published example and blog post. Forums: Start a newthreadand share a link to your published example. Personal blog: If you have a blog, please consider writing about your challenges. We'll link to your posts, so your great work gets even more exposure. Social media: If you share your demos on Twitter or LinkedIn, try using#ELHChallengeso your tweeps can follow your e-learning coolness. 🙌 Last Week’s Challenge: Before you get started on this week’s design concept, check out last week’s examples to see what e-learning designers do and how they got started in the industry. What Instructional Designers DoRECAP#469:Challenge|Recap 👋 New to the E-Learning Challenges? Theweekly 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. Learn more about the challenges in thisQ&A postand why and how to participate in thishelpful article. 📆 Upcoming Challenges Challenge #471 (07.26): Week 2: Prototype Development Challenge #472 (08.02): Week 3: Production & Development Challenge #473 (08.09): Week 4: Final Testing & Project Submission499Views0likes51Comments20 Ways to Present E-Learning Game Design Concepts & Storyboards #470
Game Show Design: Storyboards RECAP #470: Challenge | Recap This week’s challenge asked course designers to share a concept or storyboard for an e-learning game show activity. This is the first part of our four-part game design series, which highlights the major milestones in e-learning development. Week 1:Concept & Storyboarding Week 2:Design & Prototyping Week 3: Development & Review Week 4: Final Project Submission Mallory Frazier Example | Mallory Frazier | Website Phil Mayor Example | Phil Mayor | Website | @philmayor Julie LALAMEDIA Example | Julie LALAMEDIA David Davis Example | David Davis Thierry EMMANUEL Example | Thierry EMMANUEL | Website Sean Murray Example | Sean Murray Samuel Apata Example| Samuel Apata | Website | @afrostem Jonathan Hill Example | Jonathan Hill | Website | @DevByPowerPoint Ron Katz Example | Ron Katz | Website Jodi M. Sansone Example | Jodi M. Sansone | Website | @jodimsansone Jesse Wu Example | Jesse Wu | Website Maren West Example | Maren West eLearn Dev Example | eLearn Dev Shelby Breece Example | Shelby Breece Mara Buggenthin Example | Mara Buggenthin Angela Thomas Example | Angela Thomas Kirsten Ossa Example | Kirsten Ossa Arron Walker Example | Learn more | Arron Walker | Website Jayashree Ravi Example | Jayashree Ravi | LinkedIn Kate Golomshtok Example | Kate Golomshtok | Website New to the E-Learning Challenges? The weekly challenges are ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of the previous challenges anytime you want. I'll update the recap posts to include your demos. If you have a blog, please write about your challenge example. I'll add links to your blog post, so your examples get even more exposure. And for those who share your demos on Twitter or LinkedIn, please include #ELHChallenge so your network (and Articulate!) can track your e-learning coolness. Share Your Concept & Storyboard Examples! The e-learning game challenge is still open! If you have one or more ideas you'd like to share, please jump over to the original challenge and post your links in the comments section. I'll update this recap page to include your examples.499Views0likes0CommentsAn 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.399Views0likes19CommentsGet to Know The 4 Levels of E-Learning
If you work in e-learning or training, you’ve probably heard people refer to the levels of e-learning before. But what does that mean? In the e-learning industry, there are four generally accepted levels of e-learning that will, in turn, affect the learning experience, cost, and development time of your project. Today, you’ll get a high-level look at all four levels. Once you understand the key components of each level, you’ll be better equipped to estimate the time—and also cost—of future projects. Level 1: Passive Interactivity Level 1 e-learning is a passive experience, where the learner just consumes information. There’s little to no interactivity with the course and the learner mostly reads and moves forward by clicking Next. In fact, some refer to level 1 as the “click next” style of e-learning because of its low level of interactivity. These courses include static text and images, and little to no multimedia. Quizzes in level 1 courses are usually straightforward multiple choice and true-or-false questions. Level 1 e-learning, while simple, does have its place: it can be a quick way to cover simple rules or procedures. Check out these examples to get a better understanding of what level 1 courses look like: View Example View Example Level 2: Limited Interactivity At level 2, e-learning courses start to incorporate some multimedia. Courses at this level can contain audio, some video, basic animations, and a few simple transitions. This level of content is often accompanied by narration and click-and-reveal interactions. Level 2 quizzes start to incorporate drag-and-drop interactions and matching activities. If you’re looking for a nice middle ground with a richer learning experience without too much development time, level 2 e-learning is probably a good fit. Here are some examples of level 2 courses: View Example View Example Level 3: Complex Interactivity With level 3 e-learning courses, the interactions become even more sophisticated. In this level, you can expect to include extensive audio, video, transitions, animations, and more. Quizzing can involve branched, scenario-based questions that allow learners to explore multiple paths and feedback levels. Level 3 e-learning is usually a good fit if you’re looking to teach learners more complex skills, for example, if you’re creating a course for new nurses on patient care. Here are some examples of level 3 e-learning: View Example View Example Level 4: Full Immersion Level 4 e-learning uses all of the components in levels 1, 2, and 3, plus gamification or simulation. These courses may incorporate 360° images, games or complex gamification, scenarios, avatars, or interactive videos. These courses are more immersive than other levels of e-learning. As learners interact with the course, they receive feedback on their choices. And in some cases, their choices might even impact the content they’re presented with next. This makes level 4 e-learning excellent for learners who need to practice real-time decision-making skills. Although these courses take the longest to develop, the learner experience makes it well worth the effort. Take a look at a few examples: View Example View Example Wrap-Up Now that you know about the four levels of e-learning, you’re ready to identify which one a new project falls under! This will help you appropriately estimate the time and assets needed to create the course. Are you looking to learn more about e-learning development? Check out these helpful resources. What You Need to Know to Create Amazing E-Learning 6 Easy Ways to Make More Compelling Interactions for Your Online Courses Here’s How I Transformed This Static E-Learning Content What level of e-learning is your favorite to create? Let me know in the comments below. Follow us on Twitter and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning.299Views0likes25CommentsE-Learning Storyboard
Do you need help organizing content and resources into a slide-based e-learning course? Before you start developing, download and customize this Microsoft Word Storyboard template to clearly outline the learning content for your Subject Matter Experts. If you found this document helpful, then check out:Make Working With SMEs a Breeze with These 3 Downloads199Views0likes28Comments5 Ideas for Turning Boring Bullets Into Engaging Interactions
Bullet points. They’re one of the easiest ways to break up lots of content and highlight important information. But the trade-off you make when you rely too heavily on bullet points in e-learning is a critical lack of learner engagement. After all, a slide full of bulleted text doesn’t really invite learners to think deeply, internalize the information you’re sharing, or interact with it— all activities that spark learning. So, how do you go about reimagining bullet points into something more inviting and interactive? And what are some creative ideas for presenting content that’s better than bullets? Keep on reading for answers to both of those questions. How to Reimagine Bullet Points One mainstay of presentation design is the good ol’ 50/50 slide layout. You know the one I’m talking about … where half the slide is a bulleted text box, and the other half is an image—often decorative? That slide layout can work well for presentations because a presenter can give the audience some context for those bullet points. But that same approach doesn’t work as well for an entire e-learning course. Screen after screen of bulleted text—no matter how compelling the audio narration or animations accompanying it—can be tedious and difficult for people to absorb and retain. To break out of that pattern, start by reframing those bullet points. Here are two techniques to try: Transform the bullets into a content outline. Start by morphing your bullet points into steps or top-level topics, and then bucket the other bullet points that support ideas underneath. From there, you look for information gaps and brainstorm questions learners might have. If you have speaker's notes or scripts to work from, you might find some of the answers you're looking for in there, but others might require further investigation. No matter how much work is in store, going through this process helps you organize the material, flesh out the content, and surface some creative ways to morph it into almost any of the interactions we’ll explore in this article. Imagine the “big picture” story behind the bullets. Another great technique is to piece together a narrative from your existing bullet points based on the topic or theme of the source material. For example, try creating some characters who embody bulleted dos and don’ts (a hero and a bully, for instance), or draft a quick backstory where applying the information in the bullet points would come in handy. Both of these ideas can be especially helpful when you want to design a branching scenario to make your content more relatable and interactive. 5 Ideas for Engaging Interactions With your bullet points organized, it’s time to start thinking about ways of using them as the foundation for a more interactive experience. Let’s take a look at five ideas for doing just that! 1. Use a Clickable Image Clickable images are one of the easiest ways to leave bullet points behind and invite learners to interact. Instead of giving learners a bunch of bulleted text next to a static picture, isn’t it much more inviting to urge them to explore that image in detail? See for yourself how much better that kind of learning experience can be with this super-cool example from Richard Hill, built with the labeled graphic block in Rise 360. With the labeled graphic block in Rise 360, you can easily add an animated GIF and some markers full of all the helpful information and resources you want to share with learners. That’s certainly more stimulating than a list of bullet points, don’t you think? 2. Create a Tabs Interaction Another easy way to reimagine bullet points is as a tabbed interaction, as you can see in this brilliant and beautiful Storyline 360 download from Montse. Creating a tabs interaction from a bulleted list is so easy to do. In Rise 360, just add an interactive tab block and pop in your content. Or, to quickly build a more custom tabbed interaction in Storyline 360, save some time and grab this free, easily customized Storyline 360 download. 3. Make an Interactive Video Adding hotspots to a short video is another great way to turn passive bullets into a more active, engaging experience for learners. Check out this Storyline 360 download that features three ways you can use interactive video for some design inspiration. Think video is too expensive or time-consuming? Think again. With Content Library 360 videos—like the ones featured in the example above—right at your fingertips, you have countless creative options for using video in your projects. Want to create your own video? Nowadays, almost anyone can shoot good quality instructional videos with the camera on their smartphone and edit them just as quickly using free or low-cost apps—or the built-in video editing feature in Storyline 360. To learn more about creating your own images and video, check out the pointers in this article, 4 Tips for Taking Your Own Pictures for E-Learning. 4. Design a Scenario One super-engaging way to rework static bullet points is to incorporate them into feedback for learners. Scenarios are a great way to give learners a chance to explore, practice, and learn through their choices—like in this Rise 360 example. This project uses a scenario block to branch to different outcomes depending on the learner’s choices. It illustrates one way you can use scenarios to help learners practice their upselling skills. And it’s a whole lot more engaging than a lengthy list of do’s and don’ts. Looking for some more inspiring examples of scenarios in action? Grab this handy Storyline 360 scenario template for prioritizing tasks or this Storyline 360 law enforcement-themed scenario starter to begin playing around with the possibilities. 5. Build an Immersive 360° Experience With the 360° images feature in Storyline 360, you’ll find you have all sorts of clever new ways to share text content. Add your 360° image and some interactive markers that entice learners to explore and interact. Or give learners a guided tour experience with navigational nudges that help move them through the experience. For some creative inspiration, check out one way you can combine audio, video, a scenario, AND 360° images in this brilliant, interactive storytelling example from Bianca Woods. Ready to get started with building your own immersive 360° interaction? Dive into this super helpful article from Sarah Hodge for some pro tips. Summing it Up Swapping boring bullets for enticing interactions doesn’t necessarily take a lot of time—just a little creativity. I hope the examples I’ve shared spark your imagination and inspire you to think of new ways of presenting information. What’s your favorite creative alternative to a bulleted list? Have an inspiring e-learning example to share? We’d love to see it! Leave me a comment below, or better yet, share your great ideas in our Building Better Courses forum. 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 Twitter. And if you have questions, please share them in the comments.199Views0likes28CommentsBuilding a Working Prototype for Your E-Learning Game Concept #471
Interactive Prototypes in E-Learning#471: Challenge | Recap Welcome back to part two of our e-learning game design challenge. Last week, you laid the groundwork with your design concepts and visual storyboards. Now, it’s time to bring those ideas to life with functional prototypes. This week, you’ll build a working model to test your game’s functionalities and interactive components. Your example should give us a clear preview of your game's key features and gameplay interactions. 🏆 Challenge of the Week This week, your challenge is to build an interactiveprototype to test specific functionalities or components. The goal is to create a functional version of your game that you can test and refine over the next two weeks. Think of this as the halfway point between the design concepts you created last week and the final version of your project. Don’t worry about making this version of your game perfect. You’re only creating a working model of your project. Keep it simple, focus on the essentials, and let us know if you need help or have any issues. Week 1: Concept & Storyboarding Week 2: Prototype Development Goal: Build a working prototype of your game Deliverables: Create a rough prototype of the game with basic interactions and navigation Build the basic game functionality with questions, scoring, and feedback Focus on core interactions and basic navigation Submit to Review 360 to gather initial feedback (optional) Week 3: Development & Review Week 4:Final Testing & Project Submission ✨ Share Your E-Learning Work Comments: Use the comments section below to link your published example and blog post. Forums: Start a newthreadand share a link to your published example. Personal blog: If you have a blog, please consider writing about your challenges. We'll link to your posts, so your great work gets even more exposure. Social media: If you share your demos on Twitter or LinkedIn, try using#ELHChallengeso your tweeps can follow your e-learning coolness. 🙌 Last Week’s Challenge: Before you move from concept to prototype, check out the storyboard ideas your fellow challengers shared over the past week: Game Show Design: Storyboards RECAP #470: Challenge | Recap 👋 New to the E-Learning Challenges? Theweekly 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. Learn more about the challenges in thisQ&A postand why and how to participate in thishelpful article. 📆 Upcoming Challenges Challenge #472(08.02): Week 3: Production & Development Challenge #473(08.09): Week 4: Final Testing & Project Submission199Views0likes49Comments