How to Get the Most Value Out of E-Learning Templates
August 27th, 2019
E-learning templates are great. They speed up production and deliver a professional and polished look. And there are lots of e-learning templates from which to choose. Articulate 360 offers slides and interaction templates for both Storyline 360 and Studio 360 in PowerPoint.
With all that said, there are some challenges with templates and issues I run into when delivering the e-learning workshops.
- Mix & match templates. The course author wants to mix and match templates. Generally, this is easy enough to do. For the most part it's a
There are a lot of free graphics files available online. Many of the 
Many of you know I'm a big fan of the 
We all want to give proper credit to our sources when presenting content. Many of us learned to cite our sources when writing reports for school work or research papers. But does it work the same way for an e-learning course?
I had a great question from a blog reader last week:
I am a relatively new instructional designer, but I was an English teacher for nearly 20 years. When I started my new job, I found that other designers and trainers in my company were just quoting and copying ...
In a recent survey, 68% of e-learning developers told us that they build compliance training. In fact, it's the majority of what people build. Compliance training is a bit tricky because e-learning contains the word learning, but often compliance training doesn't really have a real connection to learning. If we're honest, a lot of it is a big information dump with little real connection to the learner's day-to-day activities.
For example, you don't hire a bunch of unethical people and then figure it'll all work out after they complete their ...
We’ve all heard about analysis paralysis where we spend a lot of time collecting data and then worry so much about how to interpret it (or building the right course) that we never get anything done.
I’ve worked on plenty of training projects where that was the case. It was frustrating for the customers, as well as the training team.
Here are a few ideas to help in the analysis and getting things done at the speed of business.
Focus on Relevant Content
Training exists for a purpose. It’s a solution for something. Be ...
Every two years I take my car in and have the emissions tested. The goal of the test is to certify that my car meets specific emissions standards. If the car passes, I am certified and I can move on. However, if it doesn't pass, then my car has to go under a different series of tests (and perhaps repairs) to get up to the appropriate standard and certified. Of course, this takes more time.
As I was waiting in my car, I was reminded that ...
Many of us are challenged to convert our linear content into something more interactive and engaging. I was digging through some old workshop files and stumbled upon one I built a while back but never ended up sharing it outside of the workshop. In the workshop activity, the objective was to not build completely from scratch. We started with an existing template that was shared in the community, and then we explored a few ways we could add some gamified elements to create something that is a bit ...
I'm asked to review courses all the time and one of the most frustrating things is to go through the course and find the developer has locked every slide. This requires that I have to click through every screen, interaction, and quiz before I can get to specific places for review.
For those asking for feedback in the community, it's extra frustrating trying to troubleshoot a course and having to click through everything to get to a specific place in it.
An easy solution is to create a secret menu that ...
Here's an issue I run into quite a bit: I need a map for my e-learning courses; but I don't need a detailed map.
Stock image sites are fine for generic illustrated maps but they're usually too generic. The other option is to do a screen grab of an online map, but then that's often too detailed.
Recently, I was working on a map demo where I needed a specific map, but I didn't want a real map screen shot because it was too busy and I knew ...
It costs money to build e-learning courses and it costs money to take e-learning courses. Considering the cost, it's important to ensure that you get the most value out of the courses you create.
One way to get value is to not create a course. Seriously. We don't want to admit it, but many courses are pointless and a waste of time.
However, if you do need to create e-learning courses, then consider the following points below:
Create a Resource Hierarchy
You have limited resources and ...
It’s easy to make a list of things one needs to know and create courses focused on that information. That's why we have a lot of click and read content.
However, knowing information and understanding the information are two different things.
Most e-learning is designed to present information through a series of screens. Then the course ends with a simple quiz to confirm a rote understanding of the content. However, a good course develops understanding rather than merely present information.
Here are 4 ways to move past information ...
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