Our six-step guide to creating an interactive scenario
Creating a compelling and engaging interactive scenario is easy when you follow our six-step guide.
1. Your topic
The first thing you should do is think about the topic you want to teach. It may be easier to consider any existing learning you already have, as it will be easier to adapt to an interactive scenario. For example, you may have learning that is already done through role-play training. This type of learning is easily translated into interactive video scenarios – with the added benefits of flexibility and better data capture and measurement.
Topics such as sales, health and safety and management training are all areas which will work well with an immersive learning approach. However, immersive learning isn’t limited to these topics. It’s an important part of the process to consider in-depth whether or not your chosen topic can utilise this approach, and how it will be done.
Check out our animated demo here, we use this to onboard our Near-Life™ CREATOR users to help them get started on their first interactive scenario. It’s a great way to see if your chosen topic can be adapted to our interactive learning approach.
2. Key learning points
The next part of the process is to define your key learning points. You should consider what you want your learners to achieve by the end of the course. This will help you to layout the key points you need to cover, and how to achieve them. You may need to split your learning into separate modules. Once you’ve created your first scenario, creating your second will be easy
If you believe your learning will benefit from interactivity, you should maximise the impact of your interactions. To do this, you must link the interactions to your key learning points for learners to fully benefit. There must be a reason to make your learning interactive, otherwise, it could hinder the learning.
3. Production
The next thing you want to do is think about production. The term video can mean many different things. From expensive high-value production, to screen recordings, animation or content shot with a smartphone. There are various options but you should think about how much time, resources and costs you’re willing to commit to your learning scenarios.
Once again, the substance is more important than how your learning is produced. Think about how engaging you want your learning to be rather than how big the production is. Once you have considered the topic and your key learning points, you will have a better understanding of how simple or complex your learning will be. This will help you to decide on how best to produce the content.
4. Design
Near-Life™ CREATOR uses an interactive canvas that allows you to design and build scenarios in a clear and simple way. You can add in interactions with buttons or hotspots. The scenario will unfold depending on the branches created or choice options provided. All of your interactions and outcomes become visible on your game map as you build out your scenario.
Once you’ve set up your project and the basic settings such as scoring you can build out your scenarios. You should have a clear game map before you produce any content to ensure it flows correctly. Building out your scenario first will also ensure you’re covering all of your key learning points.
5. Media
Now that you have designed your scenario it’s time to create your media. Your game map will come in handy here. You should use it as a reference to help you match the media to your design. This is important to ensure your learning flows correctly.
Whether you’ve chosen to produce the media on your smartphone, animation or high-end production there are resources that can support you. As well as Near-Life™ Academy, there are various materials online to make sure you produce the best content, according to your choice of production. For example, if you choose to use animation there are tools available such as Vyond that allows you to easily create animated videos for any industry.
Near-Life™ Academy has been set up to support your journey as a Near-Life™ Creator. You’ll find videos and resources to help you to create your first project, all the way through to publishing and sharing your scenario.
6. Build & publish
Once you’ve produced all of your media, it may require some editing – don’t forget to save the correct version. You can then upload them to the game map you have already built on Near-Life™ CREATOR. Then, you simply drag and drop the media into the correct ‘node’. You won’t be able to publish your scenario until all of the nodes have a media file.
However, before you publish, make sure to test your scenario to check that it flows correctly and that it addresses all of your key learning points. You can then publish and share your scenario. There are various ways you can share. Either through an LMS, specific website or directly from the Near-Life™ CREATOR platform.
Successful interactive learning scenarios
By following these six steps, creating an interactive scenario will become second nature and you’ll be creating engaging content in no time. It’s important to remember that learning always comes first. Interactions and production should support your key learning points.
The aim of your scenarios is to impart learning and it is crucial that this can be achieved by the end of the course.
Try our interactive video all about Near-Life
Near-Life is an easy-to-use platform that lets anyone make interactive video, VR and gamified content easily, so they can share immersive experiences that are more engaging, more memorable and more impactful.