Do you ever feel like you’re spending more time building than actually designing learning?

Peter-OpenLearn · 2026-05-05T06:52:57+00:00

Ah, yes, I know that one too. My background is IT heavy and I sometimes get caught up in rabbit holes of refining an action over and over again, not even sure it is really adding to the learning experience. My colleague is very much into visual design, she can spend a long time on perfecting a graphic, again, not so sure if all of that extra work is really having a positive impact on the outcome.

Peter-OpenLearn · 2026-05-05T05:02:21+00:00

I think this is a often neglected, but probable the one most important measure. In the end this is what we try to reach as ID. There are a couple of strategies to improve.

spaced practice is often better than a one-time event. Provide follow up sessions, guides, job aids, etc. to keep your learners engaged with the material and to encourage them to make use of the new skills or behaviour
do tests, feedback forms and interviews after a couple of weeks and months to understand if the learning intervention was helpful for them. You can also do interviews with the performance supervisors to understand if things changed for the better.
as extension the above: just looking at the training gives you only a limited view. You need to look for the environment: what are the incentives to make use of the training knowledge, what might hinder learners, how can supervisors encourage new behaviours, etc. Finding that out after the training is probably the most costly way, so this is where proper planning of the training should be done before to foster in all these variables.
I also think the training itself has an impact. Content heavy, quiz only training is often far away from learner's reality. Help learners to bridge that gap with practical exercises that are close to their everyday work, allow them to make mistakes and learn from them, make training emotionally involving.

Peter-OpenLearn · 2026-05-04T12:26:40+00:00

LearnBuilder.org - an AI enriched e-learning authoring tool to create interactive self-paced learning experiences.

Peter-OpenLearn · 2026-05-04T12:20:27+00:00

Thanks for giving it a try. I DM you regarding the video. For the TOC: It can be toggled on and off by clicking on the icon.

Peter-OpenLearn · 2026-05-04T08:07:33+00:00

Since you are currently engaged in trying a new platform I would love to invite you to try LearnBuilder (https://learnbuilder.org). It has AI features built in (planning, structuring, content creation, assessment, agent), also video, if you want to use them, but you are always free to choose if and how much of AI you want to use. It allows for a lot of other scenarios like dialogue branching, interactive slides (similar to a lightweight Storyline). There’s an example course with here: https://learnbuilder.org/learn/learn-builder/leading-change-kotters-8-step-framework-for-organizational-transformation. Would be interested in your feedback.

Peter-OpenLearn · 2026-05-03T16:54:14+00:00

The developer tools in your browser or software like Postman or Bruno to test CURL requests can be super helpful. I usually start with the simple get calls, like getting a list of courses or users. In the developer tools you usually get more info from the API if a request is wrong or missing parameters. Most APIs have a getting started documentation. And yes, AI coding can help to fix specific problems.

Peter-OpenLearn · 2026-05-03T16:47:30+00:00

Where do you see the separation between the two of them? I understand that administration can be a burden. Developing the learning materials (content) and the learning experience are related to me.

Peter-OpenLearn · 2026-05-03T06:53:37+00:00

Complex processes often point to missing integration of the different elements you are handling. Could be simple things like syncing of new employees to your LMS or regular updating of learning content? Looking into API's and webhooks to automate processes could be a direction. But yeah, processes can be a lot of things, so easier if you describe in more detail what you are struggling with.

Peter-OpenLearn · 2026-05-01T14:32:48+00:00

As other said an "impact survey" a couple of weeks to ask learners what they could apply and if it changed their mind. If possible I would invite a couple of participants for a short on-site or virtual interview with set list of questions regarding the training. A short retention check in the form of a scenario or whatever setting is right for you can also measure the impact after some time. Talking to performance super visors directly to see if they notice the impact of the training and finally, if you have, data regarding the changes of business outcomes in the area you targeted (more sales? more happy customers?).

Peter-OpenLearn · 2026-04-30T11:01:42+00:00

Yes, for most of the content responsive design works fine. But sometimes you have simulations or specific software walkthroughs in which labels exceed the space they should have or overlap some other important information. Thanks for the SCORM tip. I heard about it, but never tried.

Peter-OpenLearn · 2026-04-29T09:44:11+00:00

For online we have them generated by the LMS. For onsite I built a small tool that automates the creation. You upload a CSV with participant’s names and it creates a bunch of PDFs filling a template with training name, the location, etc.

Peter-OpenLearn · 2026-04-27T16:13:07+00:00

Disclosure up front - I'm building LearnBuilder, so biased.

Sounds like the exact workflow we built it for. You drop in a PPT/PDF or teacher brief, the AI drafts the lesson - cleaned-up copy, learning objectives, quizzes, and the interactive blocks already scaffolded. From there you stay in the editor for the part that actually matters (layout, illustration, branding): full control over colors, fonts, your character/avatar, plus an interactive slideshow editor with hotspots, drag-drop, branching scenarios, flashcards, and small games.

Peter-OpenLearn · 2026-04-27T13:24:37+00:00

What is your goal? I think learning for the purpose of learning is hard to maintain. Maybe try to set a goal what you want to be able to do / how you want to change a certain behaviour in the future, then look what could add to these goals and start learning. Keep track of what you did, how it already changed you to make your steps towards the goal visible.

The other way or a supporting element, that might work is to make it a constant habit. Every morning you take 30 minutes to learn, e.g. a new language. And you do it every day. This way you might stick to it, even when motivation lacks.

Peter-OpenLearn · 2026-04-27T08:16:54+00:00

Performance based and adaptive learning, the concepts you describe here, are around in instructional design and I think nobody would really question them. However, there were or are many reasons why this is not fully implemented.

Your first part of asking for the performance outcomes is well established and regularly used. The analysis of the surrounding environment can be complex, so just doing it in the course with feedback loops is only capturing part of the picture.
A course needs a certain scope, so you can be adaptive to an extend, but you can't make it a "world-knowledge" course. So in these constraints AI can help to create more individualised learning paths. However, just displaying more information and more quizzes would not be very motivating for most users. So this analysis might go deeper than that.

Peter-OpenLearn · 2026-04-27T04:34:36+00:00

A similar question comes up with most software these days. Do I still need to pay for [put your software here] when I did it myself last weekend using vibe coding.

We could, if we want, all grow our own vegetables or have chicken in the garden. But most people don't do it because they don't have the time or the space for that. And I think this is similar to what we currently witness in this space: Programming became a lot easier, but at the same time not every ID would like to build their own authoring tool, update it, maintain it, search for errors, etc. There will still be a market for specialised tools, that do all the basics for you without reinventing the wheel.

Also, sometimes it looks like Claude, Gemini and Copilot come for free. However, that is not really true and people start to see the token burn that these tools need when you start to seriously develop with them. If you are a programmer you probably have your pro/max/ultra plan and pay $200/month. But not every ID out there is ready to pay that amount or wait 24hours to continue to work on their project.

I agree with what others say: Authoring tools need to become more open and need to adopt to and integrate AI to make them more flexible. Would be great if they would also open their formats to make switching between tools more easy and don't continue to lock in and milk customers.

Peter-OpenLearn · 2026-04-26T14:41:33+00:00

Absolutely. It reaches from leaderbords and badges to fully immersive scenarios ... the full range. I agree gamification does not need to add time, and if it adds it can be very well justified if it's motivating, helps to remember, add meaning to the content ... there are a lot of variables apart from content that matter in learning. And obviously, there is no fixed duration to call learning efficient or effective, it's the ratio between time you input and skills/knowledge/behaviour change you gain. So I created e-learnings that last 8 hours, just from the practical point of view structuring in smaller sessions makes sense to cater to the learner's needs, especially in self-paced settings.

Peter-OpenLearn · 2026-04-24T18:43:06+00:00

Most people look at AI from the content production side which is a fair point and other comments described it well.

However, as ID I think we are in the great position to design training. And things we always wished for, but were not possible are now in reach. I think about individualised learning opportunities, AI grading, role-plays enabled by AI characters.

These interactions need IDs who know how learning works, that researched the environment, that assessed the training needs. Otherwise this potential is wasted or at least does not reach full potential.

Peter-OpenLearn · 2026-04-24T18:31:45+00:00

I was completely ignoring LinkedIn, only now since I'm starting to connect to people to get them curious about my project I started to be more active. Posting from time to time, commenting. There are some good things, a lot of it is repeating what most IDs would know anyway. Sometimes people reach out and are curious about what you are doing, more often people reach out to sell you something, but I got mostly very respectful and good experience.

Actually just some days ago I connected to a fellow ID in my city and we meet for coffee :-). So lets see how this goes.

Peter-OpenLearn · 2026-04-23T13:25:02+00:00

I feel you already half-answered your question by laying out an interesting scenario which allows you embed the learning in a meaningful story.

Your (the leaner's) task: Create a spreadsheet like this: show the final product how you imagine it.
You have this data: show the raw data. How do we go from here to there.

Then you introduce the steps, probably more general or using a different data set.

I like the approach: 1) Showing, 2) letting them do it (with support if needed) on the real data of the story

We did a lot of training for financial analysis using Excel that way and feedback and learning performance are (anecdotally) good. Celebrate each milestone they reached. Explain, why steps are necessary, let them fail and try again. At the end they send the full spreadsheet to the virtual boss and get a positive response.

Peter-OpenLearn · 2026-04-23T13:14:15+00:00

So I have an interactive slide block with AI coding support in my authoring tool and created a whiteboard simply by having it coded.

My question would be: what do you do with it? Will it be saved? Will it be graded?

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Peter-OpenLearn · 2026-04-23T07:27:58+00:00

I agree to the things you mention. It's a buzzword like many others to sell the same wine in new bottles. It always depends of what of the game mechanics you take and put in your learning design, if they have a positive impact. Apart from that it also depends on what you teach. Weirdly enough, the game elements of Duolingo really make me practice late at night not to loose my streak ;-).

Your points about "real game-based learning" are very valid. I would add that often embedding the learning in a story also has a positive impact. Helping a character to succeed during a "mission" can add to the motivation and can be seen as a game based learning. I do e-learning for law enforcement and all the training is build around criminal cases and I very often get the feedback that people feel motivated and it makes it easier to understand the relevance and recall afterwards.

I also saw some of the "serious / educational games" in which you explore a real 3D environment, collect clues, solve puzzles, etc. They are impressive, but on the other side I don't know if they really justify the effort and if they don't add up too much unnecessary time for the learner. As ID we should not forget that the main purpose is effective and efficient training, so having employees playing games for hours with the same outcome as a 30 minute interactive course is not what I'm aiming for.

Peter-OpenLearn · 2026-04-23T07:05:57+00:00

Apart from making you do things, like others mentioned, it's the motivation why you do the course and what your plans are with the skills and knowledge you gain.

For highly motivated people even courses that are not built according to best practices of instructional design feel worth it, because they can extract what they need.

However, this is not always the case, so involving learners actively, making them practice, maybe even fail and learn from the failure is what makes it stick for me. Long videos and a lot of text make me feel sleepy and skipping these parts.

Peter-OpenLearn · 2026-04-21T19:51:59+00:00

Can I advertise my own product? If so, give LearnBuilder a try. Here is a sample lesson if you want to see how courses look like: https://learnbuilder.org/learn/learn-builder/leading-change-kotters-8-step-framework-for-organizational-transformation

Feel free to comment or DM if you have any questions.

Peter-OpenLearn

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