Try These 3 Easy Ideas for Using Articulate Engage to Build Interactive Content
Does your content feel text-heavy? Is it riddled with bullet points? If you want to distill your content into a single, explorable screen, try a go-to solution for many course developers: a Labeled Graphic in Articulate Engage ’09.
A Labeled Graphic is simple to build: you just import an image and insert clickable labels anywhere on the screen. Add some text and media to each label and—voila!—you’ve built an engaging, professional-looking piece that you can publish as standalone content or embed into a course.
Ready to get started with your Labeled Graphic? Check out these three simple ideas to get your creativity flowing:
#1: Build an explorable infographic
Infographics can really make content come alive. In the example below, learners build their knowledge by exploring the label on each state. It sure beats working your way through a stack of boring text-filled slides!
#2: Design your own interaction type
Here’s another idea. Suppose you have an idea for an interaction, but the ready-made interaction types in Engage aren’t quite the concept you had in mind. No worries! You can build your own interaction type by creating a custom image that suits your needs. Then, use a Labeled Graphic to make the image interactive.
For example, say you like the Pyramid interaction, but you want the narrow part to point downward instead of upward. You can create the look you want by building your own pyramid graphic. Insert the image into Engage, position your labels where you want them, and you’re done. Here’s an example:
#3: Guide learners through key parts of an image
A Labeled Graphic is a great way to call out key points on a diagram, or to simulate distances between points on the image so learners get a feel for relative spaces. One of our favorite examples is this explorable diagram by Prometheus Training, where learners uncover four sources of visual fatigue in a typical office environment. And below is another, where learners build their food-safety knowledge by exploring important readings on a thermometer:
How to build Labeled Graphics like these
You can easily build your own image for a Labeled Graphic, like we did in the three examples above. We used PowerPoint as the canvas to create the images (though you could certainly use whatever graphics tool you prefer). Then, use Engage to make the images interactive. Here’s the workflow we used:
- We started with a blank PowerPoint slide, size 9.58” x 6.53”, as David recommends in this helpful article.
- We built our graphic by adding a textured background, some shapes, text boxes, and clip art.
- When we were happy with the look, we used PowerPoint’s File > Save As option to save the slide as a .png.
- We inserted the .png into a new Engage Labeled Graphic, then added and positioned our labels.
That’s all it takes! It couldn’t be easier.
Want to peek at the files we used? Feel free to download any of the Engage (.intr) files for the projects above, along with the PowerPoint files where we built the images:
- Wind Energy: Engage | PowerPoint
- The Reporting Pyramid: Engage | PowerPoint
- Food Safety: Engage | PowerPoint
For more great tips on using Engage Labeled Graphics, view these posts:
Using PowerPoint to Create Labeled Graphic Backgrounds
3 Creative Ways to Use Engage Labeled Graphics
And be sure to jump into the Articulate Engage forum at E-Learning Heroes to connect with fellow Engage users if you need more ideas or help.
2 responses to “Try These 3 Easy Ideas for Using Articulate Engage to Build Interactive Content”
Thanks for this and sharing the files. I’d be interested in a more detailed tutorial on creating engage interactions? Do you have anything available?
Great content again,
Hi Scott – In this screencast, David walks through how to build a Labeled Graphic in Engage: http://www.screenr.com/hWus Other interactions are built similarly… basically you just add text and media to each segment or step of the interaction. You’re welcome to post in the Engage forum if you have something specific you’d like to build and want a little more guidance: http://community.articulate.com/forums/58.aspx
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