In a prior post, we reviewed iSpring Suite Max, a powerful eLearning authoring tool with amazing features. That post gave instructional designers and course developers a high-level preview of the features and capabilities of the product. But such a review doesn’t capture all the nuances that specific features and functionality offer Instructional Design (ID) specialists. In this post, we’ll do a deep-dive on two amazing features that are a must-know for anyone using this suite of eLearning authoring tools: Custom Characters and Portfolios.
The Power of Custom Characters
If you are an instructional designer or an eLearning course builder, you know how important it is to create courses that are visually appealing, engaging, and interactive. One of the ways to achieve this is to use custom characters in your courses. Characters can help you illustrate scenarios, tell stories, convey emotions, and add personality to your content.
But how do you tap the right characters for your courses? How do you customize them to fit the needs and preferences of your content? How do you make effective use of them when designing your courses?
Unleashing Character Power
That’s where iSpring Suite comes in. This suite of tools is a cloud-based platform that helps you produce stunning e-learning courses with ease. One of the features of iSpring Suite is the Custom Characters tool, which lets you create and edit your own characters from scratch, or leverage a library of ready-made templates.
- For example, busy course designers can now tap into the tools’ Content Library to access a collection of more than a hundred characters that blend well in different learning scenarios. From corporate training and certification to healthcare training and academic learning – a single click enables designers to access a wealth of personalized characters
- IDs won’t have to wait until they complete the design of a segment, and wonder what impact a character has. For instance, as you create your character, you can instantly preview how it looks in different poses, clothing, and expressions. You can also change the background color or image on the fly.
- If you’ve got a lot on your plate, it’s tempting to skip creating characters from scratch and reuse/repurpose, instead. With iSpring’s Custom Characters, you can! For example, if you don’t want to create a new character from scratch, you can also use one of your own templates, or tap into existing character templates that iSpring Space provides. iSpring supports all popular image formats: .bmp, .gif, .pg, .png, .tiff, .wdp.
Using custom characters in eLearning content can be a powerful way to enhance learner engagement, motivation, variety, diversity and inclusion in your courses. However, creating custom characters can also be challenging and time-consuming. With new characters, locations, and icon updates released continually, ID professionals can use iSpring Suite’s Custom Characters feature to address those challenges!
Showcasing your Work Through Captivating Portfolios
If you are a course developer, you know how important it is to demonstrate your skills and experience in the e-learning field. You want to stand out from the crowd and attract potential customers, employers, or collaborators. But how can you do that effectively?
iSpring Suite’s Portfolio feature gives ID professionals a convenient way to create a portfolio of your courses and share it with your target audience. A portfolio is a collection of your work that showcases your achievements, capabilities, and style as an e-learning professional. As an eLearning course designer and developer, you can use the Portfolio feature for:
- Establishing your credibility and reputation in the industry
- Highlighting your strengths and areas of expertise
- Showcasing your creativity and innovation
- Providing evidence of your learning outcomes and impact
- Attracting new employers, job opportunities and clients
Putting iSpring Portfolio to Work for You
Unlike many other eLearning content creation and management tools out there, IDs will find using iSpring’s Portfolio feature a breeze. So, how easy is it to build a dazzling portfolio of your work? This is how easy it is:
- Log in to your account if you already have one – or sign up for a free trial of iSpring Space.
- Identify which e-learning projects you wish to include. You can add courses, quizzes, interactions, simulations, videos, podcasts, and more.
- Create the Portfolio.
- Give your portfolio a name and a description. You can also add a profile picture, a bio, and links to your social media accounts or website.
- Add the projects that you want to include in your portfolio. You can also reorder them by dragging and dropping them in the desired position.
- Publish them to make your portfolio public. You will get a unique URL that you can share with anyone you want.
- There are features to help you manage the portfolio once you’ve created it.
It’s really that simple!
Unleashing Portfolio Power
To get the best out of iSpring’s Portfolio tools, it’s important to treat portfolio building and maintenance as a “mini-project”. Here are some examples of how ID pros can unleash the power of Portfolio:
- Include projects in your iSpring Portfolio that are relevant to your target audience and align with their goals and needs
- iSpring Portfolio allows you to Include a variety of projects that demonstrate your skills in different types of e-learning content, such as courses, quizzes, interactions, simulations, etc.
- Use high-quality images, videos, and audio to make your portfolio visually appealing and engaging
- Portfolio allows you to describe each project in your Portfolio deck. Write clear and concise descriptions for each project that explain the context, objectives, challenges, solutions, and outcomes
- Highlight any awards, recognitions, or feedback that you received for your work
- Update your portfolio regularly with new projects or improvements to existing ones
Extending your eLearning Capabilities
Custom Characters help personalize eLearning content and give personality to the courses you create. They also facilitate learner engagement with your course. A portfolio is a powerful tool that can help you showcase your work as an instructional designer or course builder and attract new opportunities. With iSpring Space, you can create powerful courses by using characters that learners empathize with; and you can also build professional and attractive online portfolios that demonstrate your skills and expertise in e-learning design.
Download your free trial and start creating beautiful courses today!
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