Responses
Drive dynamic training experiences by leveraging the way a learners respond.
Interact Fundamentals
4 min read
Overview
A response is a mechanism you use within a module to assess engagement and understanding through learner interactions and events. They enable us to evaluate how learners respond to the content we present to them, allowing us to determine navigation and modify current or future experiences based on their performance.
Responses play a slightly different role at each level within a module. At the scene level, they direct navigation based on the learner's overall engagement with a scene's content. At the activity level, they are used to evaluate answers, learner interactions, and can modify what we present. At the component level, responses can assess specific, context-based interactions.
Elements of a Response
When designing our learning materials, we can anticipate likely responses to the materials presented, or at least the responses we wish to react to. At a high level, if we’re assessing existing knowledge, we may anticipate one of the following responses:
The learner has a solid understanding of this topic
The learner demonstrated adequate knowledge
The learner needs assistance on this topic
The learner has no understanding of this topic
To keep our learning materials organised, we can provide each response a short label as indicated by the bold highlighting in the example above. We can also record the objective of the response.
Triggers
When a learner responds to materials we provide, a process is triggered which allows us to capture and evaluate the response. These are called Triggers.
Conditions
Once a Trigger has been fired, we are able to assess if any of the responses we anticipated have occurred. We achieve this by testing the learner’s actions and the current learning state against a series of conditions. If all the conditions are met, we can confirm a match to one or more of our anticipated responses.
Actions
Upon confirming a matched response, we may wish to take action to change the current learning state. Some examples are marking the learner’s response, providing them some form of feedback, storing evidence, playing media or triggering a conclusion to the activity.
Response Objectives
Identifying the objective of a response allows us to manage our time better by deferring work until we can confirm alignments with the broader strategy.
For example, let’s consider we have a response to a task which assesses the process of making a cup of tea. We have labelled an anticipated response “Well understood”. The objective of that response should indicate how we intend to prove the learner’s strong understanding of the content.
Therefore the objective may be:
“Prepared a cup of tea by first boiling enough water, steeping the tea, and then adjusting for taste preferences with milk and/or sugar before mixing.”
There are many advantages to specifying objectives for each response you define. These include…
Guiding Light: Whether you were the person that assembled the logic, or you’re working on a project created by other team members, the objective provides a clear understanding of what the logic needs to accomplish. This avoids misunderstandings, scope creep and streamlines testing.
Communicating Intentions: Communicating the objective of a response prior to spending time assembling the logic provides a way confirm your strategy with subject matter experts, stakeholders and other training team members prior to spending time which could be wasted if the strategy needs to be refined.
Placeholder: In larger teams, it’s common to find training development responsibilities split. The strategy and plan for an activity are likely determined before the materials required for the plan have been created. In this instance, the objective allows you to create a placeholder to act as a reminder to you or your colleagues when returning to assemble the logic with the finished materials.
Creating Scene Responses
There are two methods to create a response:
Adding to a Scene Card on the module map.
Adding via the Properties Panel with a Scene selected.
Important Note
It is important to understand that while it is easy to create a response leading from one scene to another, these responses will only be evaluated when the scene concludes.
Creating Activity Responses
Creating Component Responses
Removing Responses