Articulate Rise 360
MICROLEARNING
Journey Through Earth’s Atmosphere is a 10-minute microlearning experience created in Articulate Rise for elementary learners exploring the layers of the sky. The course blends storytelling, interactive visuals, and original multimedia to simplify Earth science concepts into an engaging, exploratory journey.
A centerpiece of the module is a one-minute animated educational video, which I wrote, illustrated, narrated, and produced to show how the ozone layer protects life within the stratosphere.
The project demonstrates how thoughtful microlearning design and custom media production can transform abstract science topics into approachable, memorable learning experiences.
PROJECT DETAILS
Roles: eLearning Developer, Instructional Designer, & Illustrator
Brief: Creation of a 2-minute welcome video based on a fictional gardening class for beginners.
TOOLS
Articulate Rise
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Express
SKILLS
Instructional Design
eLearning Development
Animation
Voiceover
Visual Design
Illustration
Educational Media Production
Storyboarding
Educational Video
A simple, one-minute educational animation I illustrated, scripted, narrated, and produced to show how the ozone layer protects life within the atmosphere.
Notes & Rationale
-
I defined this independent project as a short, interactive microlearning experience designed to teach middle-elementary learners about the five layers of Earth’s atmosphere.
The goal was to create a visually engaging, self-paced course that used short activities and media-based storytelling to reinforce core Earth science concepts.
Deliverables included one Articulate Rise course, an original educational video on the ozone layer, and interactive activities for knowledge reinforcement.
-
Guided by the ADDIE framework, the design phase emphasized alignment between learning objectives, content sequence, and assessment.
Learning outcomes targeted identification and comparison of the five atmospheric layers, supported by scaffolded discovery and gamified reinforcement.
Instructional methods combined micro-content storytelling, visual scaffolding, and interactive practice to sustain attention and promote retention.
The visual design — original illustrations, cohesive color palette, and clean typography — was crafted for accessibility and cognitive ease, following UDL and WCAG 2.2 criteria scoring a 95% audit score during the automated accessibility pre-check.
-
Developed all illustrations in Adobe Photoshop, produced a one-minute educational video in Adobe Express with custom voiceover and sound design, and assembled the module in Articulate Rise.
Built interactive components including flashcards, hotspots, labeled graphics, embedded videos, and a sorting game assessing learners’ understanding of the troposphere.
Conducted informal usability checks for navigation clarity and timing flow to ensure the module was intuitive for young learners.
Project Snapshot
Final Thoughts
My favorite part of this experience was integrating plug-ins into Articulate Rise to enhance customization of transitions and improve interactivity. In the past, I would use Storyline blocks to achieve similar effects; however, on mobile devices, blocks opened in a separate window, disrupting the continuous flow and diminishing the “visual waterfall” effect of the course. To address this, I streamlined my workflow entirely within Rise. The shift led me to research and implement software add-ons that expanded Rise’s native capabilities, allowing for more seamless transitions and interactive elements without compromising the user experience.
Another notable aspect of this project was intentionally limiting the use of graphic imagery. The course’s theme — space — is inherently vast and dark, which presented a creative challenge: maintaining visual interest and engagement while embracing minimalism. As such, I made careful design choices to ensure the experience remained immersive without relying heavily on visuals.