Everyone sees the power of gamification—a trending concept in the learning and development industry—in the workplace, but is either too expensive or no one knows how to implement it. Learning professionals are being asked to do more with less every day. So if you have already created a catalog of eLearning courses for your organization in Articulate Storyline, how can you make these more engaging? How can you save thousands of dollars by adding basic gamification elements to your existing and new courseware?

Do your eLearning courses need a punch of creativity? Have your users grown tired of the same drag and drop interactions? Would you like to add something new and exciting that will increase learner retention? With the brain processing visual information 60,000 times faster than text, it’s crucial to have visual impact in your courses. The good news is that design tools are more powerful than ever and provide developers with more options for creativity.

Storyline 2 is Articulate’s most powerful tool yet, but many are not using it to its fullest capabilities and producing the level of engagement and interactivity needed in many eLearning solutions. Storyline 2 is laden with such a wide variety of features that it is easy for users to lose track of some of the key, lesser-known features that provide an opportunity to create dynamic eLearning.

Your company is growing fast. Your team has expanded way beyond the small, intimate group it once was. Demands are increasing. Development tools are changing. The new people have to be brought up to speed, now. And your industry is heavily regulated, so it has to be right. How do you maintain the independent spirit that made your company successful and still get all the work done?

Let’s face it. Learning proposals rarely elicit enthusiastic responses from clients, except when the solution includes video. Suddenly, the decision makers are paying attention. But those nods of approval start disappearing when the discussion turns to the cost, timelines, and sustainability of outsourcing video production. So you have two options: get out your wallet, or find a cheaper, faster, more flexible way to produce the videos you need.

Video has long since been a medium that evokes emotion and sells products through dynamic storytelling. In the past, however, it has been a passive medium. Fortunately, new knowledge and advancements make it possible to create more interactive video outputs.

Video can be a highly effective form of media for learning. However, adding video to an eLearning course has historically been expensive and something that required a large amount of time and skill to create. That’s not the case today, with the tools for creating and editing video becoming both easier to use and less expensive.

The classic eLearning lesson forces participants to read slide after slide of textual content and take an evaluation when completed. Employees retain just enough to pass the test, so they can check off yet another mandatory course. As a rule, employees dread this kind of learning but consider it a necessary evil.

A complete software system overhaul is a challenge for any organization. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory completely re-engineered its 17-year-old system from the ground up, requiring training on the new systems and related processes for each of its employees. Creating a learning program, which includes 189 different processes for 4,300 employees across 21 role groups with a core team of two in less than eight months, makes for overwhelming odds against success.

Clients come to eLearning developers with many questions and preconceived ideas about generally what's possible and specifically what's feasible. Maybe all they've ever seen are poorly developed read-and-click courses or maybe they want rapid eLearning, but don't know exactly what that means. As a developer, you know there are many factors to consider including focus, timeline, design, scope, and content development. How can you and your client have an informed, common understanding when you have your initial discussion?