Articulate Rise 360 · 6 lessons · 30 minutes · SCORM packaged
The problem
Instructional design students learn microlearning as a concept and then get asked to build it, usually without ever having taken one.
What I built
A course about microlearning that is itself microlearning — six lessons, thirty minutes total, each short enough to finish in the gap between other work. Learners define microlearning, compare it against traditional course formats, evaluate the delivery formats in common use, and work through the steps for building concise, targeted modules of their own.
The 5E model structures each lesson — engage, explore, explain, elaborate — so learners meet a concept before being told about it. ARCS shaped the openings and the pacing: each lesson earns attention on its first screen and gives the learner a reason the content matters to their own work. Mayer's multimedia principles governed what went on screen, pairing images and short video with text rather than restating it.
Why Rise
Rise produces responsive, scrolling lessons that render cleanly on a phone — which matters for a format designed to be taken in short sessions, between other things.
Articulate Storyline 3 · Animated narrator · SCORM packaged
The problem
Mobile learning usually gets taught as a list of principles, which is the hardest way to understand a format defined by how it feels to use — short sessions, a small screen, constant interruption.
What I built
A course that takes instructional design students through the foundations of mobile learning, its benefits and challenges, the design principles behind it, and the tools used to build it.
The course is narrated throughout by Anna, an animated character guide who carries learners from one section to the next. That was the central design decision. An asynchronous course with no instructor present can read like documentation, and a consistent guide gives it a voice and the sense of someone teaching. It also works on two principles at once: Mayer's personalization principle, where conversational narration outperforms formal narration, and the confidence element of ARCS, since the learner is never navigating alone.
The 5E model structures the progression, and Mayer's multimedia principles governed how images and video were paired with narration rather than duplicating text on screen.
Why Storyline
Storyline gives slide-level control over timing, states, and animation — which is exactly what a persistent animated guide requires. Rise couldn't have produced Anna.