Interactive Module Development

Process

We identified a gap in the curricular material we provide to students as pre-work for interactive sessions. Most pre-work included passive readings and watching videos. Theories for multimedia design, andragogy, and cognitive load posit that adults retain information better if there are ways for them to practice what they have learned. The evidence shows that interactive learning is better than passive learning. Articulate is one of the top-line resources for interactive module development. The college purchased 10 seats for instructional designers, faculty, and multimedia design specialists to use to develop modules.

For the Illinois Medicine Curriculum (IMC), I collaborated with faculty to create interactive educational modules using Articulate Rise, Storyline, and Review. The Articulate team at the University of Illinois College of Medicine (UICOM) had made 80+ modules between 2019 and when I left the university in 2024. I developed and/or designed the ones listed below. I ensured the Articulate team was provided with regular updates to new product implementation such as more modern templates and themes in Rise as well as microlearning course development options, and any additional training they may needed.

Unfortunately, most of the module files are lost to time due to a transfer from one Google Console to another. The only one that was retrievable is the one that has an active link below. The others are left with the name of the module and no hyperlink.

Course	module
Body Systems and Homeostasis I	Membrane Potential Comprehension Questions
Pathogenesis	Mechanisms of Edema and Hemorrhage
Digestion and Homeostasis II	Basic Comprehension Questions Renal Physiology Self-paced Comprehension Questions
Brain and Behavior	Cellular Reactions to Injury Phakomatoses-Neurocutaneous Disorders
Regulation and Reproduction	Week 1 Self-Assessment Prep Work Week 2 Self-Assessment Prep Work Thyroid Physiology Case Exercise Pharmacology Review Adrenal Physiology – Steroid Synthesis Pathology of the Lower Female Reproductive Tract Female Reproductive Physiology Supplementary Case
Synthesis	EBM Review for Step 1

Problems

The modules had been hosted on an internal only (to UIC users only) outdated website infrastructure. The advantage of including them on this internal site was that users could go to one central place to find all modules. The infrastructure was eventually be deprecated and there was no information about a replacement so now all modules are embedded in the learning management system for the relevant course.

Results and Takeaways

The anatomy faculty who had developed many of the modules used at the college enjoyed using Articulate to create content. I was impressed with their work and attention to detail. Students had mostly favorable views of these modules and they provided valuable feedback to module developers. One example was a request for a summary guide or set of slides reflecting the content for study purposes to be included in the module.

Accessibility Improvements

Articulate has made improvements in accessibility for their products. In 2023, we performed a systematic review of all modules to ensure they met a certain level of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and other standards such as Section 508. Some interactive elements we used since the beginning of our module development were not considered accessible. This FAQ from Articulate was helpful in guiding us in this endeavor.

Design Improvements

As of early 2023, we had been using Articulate for a few years and were discovering better ways to design interactive elements and color schemes. We reviewed our modules to update them. We used sites like Designs.AI Color Wheel to help us ensure we were following established ‘color harmony’ rules. WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind) is also a useful site for accessibility standards with color.