Three days ago, I set a challenge for myself. I started a 60-day trial of Articulate 360 and wanted to make the very most of those 60 days before I decided if I wanted to pay for it.
Getting started with Articulate 360
When I signed up for the trial, a handy checklist popped up on my Articulate 360 site.
- Verify email
- Add team members to your trial
- Download Storyline 360
- Create a Rise 360 course
- Add an asset to your Storyline 360 or Rise 360 course
- Invite people to review a storyline 360 or Rise 360 course
- Attend an articulate 360 training webinar
I love checklists.
And when I would do something on that list, a little green checkmark would appear next to the list item.
I love little green checkmarks.
I feel like I am too easily manipulated. Well done, Articulate. Well done. Here’s what my checklist looks like right now.
I’m not going to add team members to my trial. I have no team members to add. I downloaded all the things. And then I got to the Create a Rise 360 Course. That was bigger than I was expecting.
Day 1: Create a Rise 360 Course
Since I love checklists so much, I tend to follow them. If they were bullets, I might jump around and prioritize, crossing off bullet items as I go. For some reason, checklists need to be done in order. *sigh*
I started the trial to learn Storyline better, but checklists. I figured I should at least look at the Rise stuff.
First, choose a Topic
I watched a short tutorial on Rise 360, just under 20 minutes, I think, and then thought about what I might make my course on. In the summer, I was working on a project with some other Technology and Learning Coaches creating content on how to be a good online student. One of the TLCs developed a 3-minute video on the right way to email your teacher. There were seven tips and those became my seven lessons.
Second, Dive in!
Once I knew what I was teaching, Rise became a breeze! It was so easy to add text, images, and interactive features. I wish I had timed myself. I know I got it all done on Thanksgiving Day around cooking, gathering, and eating.
Half of the course was finished before I had to start cooking at 11 am. We were done eating and socializing and I was back at it by 3 pm. I posted a link to the finished product on LinkedIn just after 5 pm.
Third, Publish and Gather Feedback
Feel free to check out the finished product: The Right Way to Send an Email to Your Teacher. The link should work through the 60-days but I don’t know what will happen to it if I don’t end up paying for a full license. You’re on a timer, people.
What I Learned
I learned that Rise 360 wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be. It had easy drag and drop-in options. There were interactive things I didn’t explore, but I was pushing myself toward a finished product. I’ll explore when I come back around to it again.
I learned that once I have the lesson topic in place, the rest falls in pretty easily. I’ve spent more than 20 years writing instructions for people (students, teachers, and other adults) and giving just enough information to make the case for following said instructions without their eyes glazing over.
I learned that the more I dive into something scary, the easier it gets.
The Articulate 360 Challenge is Born
I’ve been thinking about doing one of these a day. And by these, I mean challenges. E-Learning Heroes, the articulate community, has regular challenges focusing on different elements of e-Learning. There’s a whole archive of them.
My concern is that I won’t keep it up. 60 days = 60 challenges. Let’s see how long I last.
Who am I?
I’m Laura. I’m an instructional designer working on improving my e-Learning development skills. Check out my main website page to see my portfolio of things.
