Earth’s Atmosphere
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.
Design Notes & Rationale
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Because Journey to the Earth’s Atmosphere was an independent project, I defined the boundaries as a short, self-contained microlearning experience focused on the five layers of Earth’s atmosphere. The goal was to design a 10-minute eLearning module that introduced the foundational Earth science concepts through visual storytelling, interactivity, and accessibility.
Deliverables included one complete Articulate Rise course, an original educational video on the ozone layer, interactive events embedded within the module, and a final knowledge reinforcement.
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Guided by ADDIE, the design phase centered on clear learning goals and alignment between instruction, media, and assessment. The learning objective was to help middle-elementary students identify and describe each atmospheric layer’s defining characteristics and role in protecting Earth.
The instructional strategy used scaffolded discovery learning and visual anchoring, allowing learners to “travel” downward through the atmosphere, uncovering content layer by layer. The formative assessment was designed to reinforce retention through repetition and immediate feedback.
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All graphics were hand-illustrated in Photoshop using a Wacom Pen Tablet. The illustrations were developed with a child-like, approachable style suitable 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.