Assess with Success!
Redesign coming soon!
“If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.” -Reid Hoffman
Aside from helping new instructional designers, I had 2 main goals when I first designed this project:
Get over my perfection paralysis and learn to iterate by using the Successive Approximation Model of Instructional Design.
Earn my eLearning Developer certificate from the IDOL Courses Academy, which focuses less on visuals and more on the technical skills needed to develop projects in Articulate Storyline.
That being said, I set a firm deadline to create a technical project that highlighted my ability to use layers, states, triggers, variables, motion paths, and timeline synchronization (see project summary below). This meant redefining my typical definition of done and spending less time on sourcing, editing, or creating the visuals I wanted. Apparently this is called the Marvel Method.
Although I was able to meet my deadline and I'll be earning my eLearning development badge soon, I've grown in my instructional design journey. Now that I have more time, I would like to move this project from the Alpha phase to the Beta phase. By redesigning this training with better images, more interactivity, and a few other features that will help learners retain information while creating a better experience.
Project Summary
Assess with success is an eLearning project developed for new instructional designers to understand how to design assessments effectively in Articulate Storyline. Using a unique theme, this project outlines 5 popular assessment options in Articulate Storyline as well as the benefits and best practices associated with each assessment type. More importantly, Assess with Success teaches new instructional designers when and how to leverage each option strategically as they design their assessments.
Key features of this project:
Click and reveal tabbed menu interaction
Animated visuals and motion paths
Slider menu interaction
Synchronized narration and sound effects
Immediate visual feedback for the final assessment
The knowledge checks in this course are an example of how to use assessments strategically, further reinforcing the course objectives while simultaneously engaging the learner.
Problem & Solution
New instructional designers have access to plenty of resources showing them how to create learning assessments in Articulate Storyline—from articles about designing fancy drag and drops to YouTube videos about how to jazz up your multiple-choice questions. But they also need to be educated on WHY to choose a drag and drop instead of multiple choice in the first place.
Poorly designed assessments hurt everyone involved in the learning process, from the learners and clients to the subject matter experts and the instructional designers themselves. Not to mention, if assessments are designed incorrectly or if they distract from rather than reinforce learning concepts, time, money, and other valuable resources end up being wasted.
Designing assessments purposefully and strategically is beneficial for all stakeholders involved in the learning process. When assessments are designed correctly, it helps:
Learners gauge their knowledge and how well they are progressing with the material.
Instructors and subject matter experts determine whether the learner(s) understood the content.
Instructional designers and clients measure performance objectives accurately.
Assess with Success covers when and how to align different types of assessment to specific learning goals.
Preparation
I chose to focus specifically on assessing learners in Articulate Storyline and did some research to identify the most common assessments used and the mistakes that IDs often make when creating assessments.
Rather than focusing on mistakes, I decided to show and explain the benefits, best practices, and best uses for each assessment type and demonstrate how to leverage them when assessing learners.
Next, I created a course outline using Merrill's Principles of Instruction After activating prior knowledge, I would design 2 menu interactions to demonstrate each assessment and it's use. In the final assessment, learners would have an opportunity to apply their knowledge with real-world applications. Lastly, I would provide resources at the end for that could help learners integrate the knew knowledge.
Although I was accustomed to using the ADDIE method in my previous role, I decided to use SAM to execute this project because it would give me a chance to work on my iteration skills.
Iterative Design Phase
Once I gathered all my research and information, I used Bloom's Taxonomy to create my learning objectives. I wanted to make sure the learners would be given a chance to apply what they learned with the first assessment and analyze and evaluate their acquired knowledge with the second assessment. After designing my assessments (strategically, of course), I set out to create an unconventional theme for the storyboard.
I know you’re probably wondering, "what do cupcakes have to do with instructional design assessments??"
Well first off, talking about assessments alone already sounds a bit boring, so I wanted to center this project around a fun theme that would bring the learning experience to life.
Secondly, I believe that for instructional designers, creating eLearning assessments is very similar to going to a bakery. Some will play it safe and stick with multiple choice (which is the equivalent of choosing vanilla every single time) and some will get carried away, like a child with a sweet tooth, and choose any and everything!
Neither of these options are strategic or effective, but I digress.
Once I found the main background image, I developed a color scheme and began designing my assessments. I decided to break the course up into 2 parts:
Introducing the five most used assessments in Storyline and the best practices associated with each.
Showing the learner when and how to use each assessment type.
After creating the visuals and the outline for each slide, I began writing the script and narration for the content. I submitted my storyboard for review and began the development phase as I waited for feedback.
Iteration, Feedback, and Accomplishments
I originally started with a kid-in-a-candy-store theme but found it challenging to find visuals that would match what I had in mind. I decided on a cupcake theme instead because I would have more flexibility in my designs without having to reuse the same visuals throughout the project. Using a cupcake theme also provided me with a chance to make the final assessment more interesting.
I didn’t have access to Adobe at the time, but I learned how to optimize and improvise in my previous role as an educator. I managed to create and edit most of my visuals using PowerPoint and a few other free software tools I found on Google.
I consulted with a UX designer to improve the UI design of my first assessment. He made some suggestions to improve the overall visual appeal and gave me an article with a host of information about UX/UI principles. I read up on the UX principles and implemented his feedback to enhance the overall visual appeal. Below you can see the process go from the conceptualization stage to the final approved design.
Iterative Development Phase
I started out by setting the slide size and color scheme in Articulate Storyline. Then I created a general outline with headers for each slide so I would know how to fill in the slides from my storyboard. When developing my projects in Storyline, I like to build in chunks.
First, I started with building the conclusion because having an idea of what the finish line should look like always helps me stay motivated! Next, I added in the information for the introduction, content, assessments and feedback with placeholders for the visuals (in case I needed to edit them after receiving feedback). After receiving, feedback, I refined the visuals and added them in along with the narration narration. The last thing I did was add what I like to refer to as the pizzazz (animations, triggered navigations, sound effects, and any other engaging elements) to make the course more interactive.
Iteration, Feedback, and Accomplishments
My microphone malfunctioned during the process of recording my narrations. I quickly realized that using my computer's microphone wasn't a viable option because the narration would be fuzzy no matter how many times I edited the sound clips in Audacity. No microphone? No problem! I had set a hard deadline to complete this project so instead of waiting for my new microphone to arrive, I recorded and edited my narrations on my iPhone. Then I uploaded the narrations to my computer and converted the default M4a files to MP3 in Audacity before uploading to Storyline.
I tested my course on colleagues with different backgrounds—some who work in design and some who do not—to gain insight on the user experience of the course. Then I made changes to ensure the transitions and navigations were seamless (this was the main issue I received feedback on and I'll explain why later).
Initially, my tabbed interaction did not have much of a visual component. After receiving feedback on my storyboard, I redesigned it. I added triggered animations and motion paths to the icons (as shown) so that the visuals could act as a demonstration and further support the content. Below you can see a snippet of the tabbed menu I created with a corresponding animated visual.
Lessons/Takeaways
Storyboarding: I created and submitted my first storyboard initially with the thought that I would be the eLearning developer, in addition to being the instructional designer. I was advised that this isn’t always the case so it’s important to have consistency in my designs and clear instructions on the storyboard. I was able to successfully apply the feedback given to me and from now on, when storyboarding and designing a course, I will be as clear and detailed in my style guide and instructions as possible.
Content: Initially, I included information about how designing assessments incorrectly can affect learners, SME's, and other stakeholders. This information was considered "nice to know" not "need to know" as it did not directly relate to the learning outcomes. After receiving feedback, I removed the unnecessary information so the learner could focus solely on information that aligned with the objectives.
Development: I learned that although copying and pasting layers and elements can be a great shortcut, I need to be careful and double check that my triggers are updated. Otherwise, it can mess with navigation, effects, feedback, etc. and the time you "saved" with the shortcut will end up being spent on troubleshooting.