ELearning Lessons Learned
eLearning
I was recently tasked with building an eLearning module from scratch on a new platform based on a design brief, something I had not done in over eight years. The design case focused on how to make nutritious focaccias and pizzas from scratch. The target audience was middle and high school students.
Designing the course started with storyboarding the module. One requirement was that the course offered at least two branching opportunities. By nature, I am more methods and process-oriented, and I found storyboarding easy. For the first time, I used a platform named Twine to create a map of an eLearning module. Twine is an open-source tool for creating interactive, nonlinear stories. I found it to be very relatable and intuitive. The process mirrored my previous experience in creating decision trees for online troubleshooting processes used by customer service agents. Using the tool in the development process reiterated the importance of storyboarding a course and baking the time to do so in your delivery timeline. All too often, I have found myself in time-sensitive delivery windows, and taking the time to storyboard a course has suffered.
I recorded audio assets via Audacity, a digital audio workstation (though primarily used for recording and post-production editing) with which I had not previously interacted. I have experience with similar platforms and found that recording and editing audio, while tedious, built upon my previous knowledge. I am grateful for my experience with a new and fairly powerful open-source audio product.
One aspect of the development process that proved a sticking point was finding relevant, royalty-free, and consistently styled visual assets that would add to the learning experience. Fortunately, I picked a design case with more readily available visual assets than some of the other design cases. Pixabay and Pexels proved to be websites that provided most of the digital visual assets I needed. AI-generated images were also an option, one with which I have experience, but I found it more difficult to prompt the engines to provide results that were consistent with each other.
Once the course design was completed and the assets gathered, it was ready to be developed in Articulate Storyline. I have used similar products in the past, but not Storyline proper. This proved to be probably the most difficult part of the process, as the product was new to me. The learning curve was somewhat steep, given the allotted timeframe and the requirements to be met. Once the growing pains subsided, building triggers, states, and variables was fairly intuitive, having wrapped my head around “Storyline-ese.” I did find some things I would have liked to implement using Storyline to be unnecessarily cumbersome, which showed that the product has significant room for improvement (lessons learned: preventing autoplay from one slide to the next within a given scene). I also found Storyline’s attempted integration of AI features to be almost useless, despite numerous attempts to leverage those tools. I do not doubt that the program will better integrate the power of AI in the future.
The future of eLearning, ten years or more from now, is set to be transformed by technologies such as Generative AI, Augmented Reality (AR), and microlearning. These advancements will create a more personalized, immersive, and efficient learning experience. Generative AI will enable platforms to tailor content specifically for individual learners. This means that as students progress, the material will adapt to their unique strengths and weaknesses. Intelligent tutoring systems powered by AI will act like personal tutors, providing immediate feedback and targeted support to enhance learning outcomes (much like Vygotsky’s “more knowledgeable other”). AR and Virtual Reality (VR) will further enrich the educational landscape by offering immersive environments. Students will be able to explore complex concepts through interactive 3D visualizations or practice real-world skills in safe, virtual settings. For instance, medical students might simulate surgical procedures in VR, while engineering students could design structures using AR. These technologies will help bridge the gap between theory and practical application.
Microlearning will also gain traction, delivering content in small, easily digestible segments. This approach caters to shorter attention spans and busy schedules, allowing learners to engage with material on the go. Future microlearning experiences may include interactive quizzes and gamified elements to boost engagement.
The future eLearning ecosystem will likely see a seamless integration of these technologies. For example, AI-powered platforms could use AR to deliver personalized microlearning experiences tailored to learners' environments and needs. Finally, advanced analytics driven by AI will provide valuable insights into learner behavior and performance. This data will enable continuous improvement of learning experiences, allowing platforms to refine content based on real-time feedback.
Generative AI will streamline content creation for educators by generating initial drafts of learning materials and suggesting improvements. This will allow teachers to focus more on instructional design and student support rather than the time-consuming task of creating content. Generative AI will revolutionize the content creation process for instructional designers. AI will assist in creating diverse learning materials, including quizzes, tutorials, and interactive exercises, streamlining the development process. AI will seamlessly integrate various media types, including text, images, and audio, to produce engaging, multisensory learning experiences. AI algorithms will identify potential learning challenges before they arise, enabling proactive interventions.
As a result of these advancements, learners will benefit from highly personalized and adaptive learning experiences. Immersive technologies will improve their engagement and motivation. Better retention and application of knowledge through practical, AR-enhanced simulations will provide students with a safe environment that closely simulates the real world. These technologies will lead to increased accessibility to learning materials anytime, anywhere, and that is easily scalable.
