You’ll learn strategies for writing more effective image prompts to minimize bias and reflect more inclusive representation in your learning. You’ll get tips to more authentically represent your training audience by using AI images. While AI tools are improving all the time, they still have limitations that you need to be aware of. We’ll discuss some of the ongoing challenges with inclusive representation in AI image generation and options to minimize those issues. You’ll leave with a collection of sample image prompts, a prompt framework for better results, plus tactics to make your AI-generated images more inclusive.

Watch the recording

If the video isn’t embedded below, you can watch the presentation recording on YouTube.

Download the slides

Most of the time, I don’t share my slides for presentations. My slides aren’t all that useful on their own, so I build separate handouts with more comprehensive information. However, in this case, where the focus is often on both the inclusive AI images and the prompts to generate them, having the images of the slides is helpful.

AI still can’t show left-handed writing

One of the observations I shared in my session is that AI image generators still can’t show someone writing with their left hand. That’s partly because the majority of images of people depict right-handedness. That becomes the default prediction for the AI when showing writing, and I haven’t found any AI image model that can override that default.

For example, here’s Nano Banana’s result for this prompt:

Editorial photo, a left-handed woman writing in a notebook with her left hand in a charming coffee shop, focus on the hand, notebook, and table. An iced latte is on the table next to the notebook.

Is left-handedness the most pressing issue related to inclusive AI images? Of course not! But it’s an example of how AI predictions about the most likely results can amplify stereotypes in images. The same types of predictions happen with gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, hair, skin color, disabilities, assistive devices, body type, and more.

Generating images of a range of body types

AI images tend toward slender body types. Adding descriptive phrases like “average weight” or “slightly overweight” can help counter that. 

These four images all used the same prompt except changing the body type as shown.

Style: Candid iPhone photo
Subject: Greek woman, mid 30s, black wavy hair, olive skin
Body type: [Very thin, athletic; Average weight; Slightly overweight; Obese, heavyset]
Clothes: Blue and white floral shirt, tan slacks
Action: Laughing at a joke, pointing
Setting: On the sidewalk, outside a cafe
Lighting: Golden hour
No signs or text

More on inclusive AI images

• Disability Representation in AI Images
• Nonbinary Characters in Scenarios
• Considerations for Using AI Images Ethically
• Minimizing Bias in AI-Generated Images (My AIDC presentation last year)

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Upcoming events

Instructional Design Uncovered: A Community Conversation with Instructional Designers. September 10. ATD Research Triangle Area

Creating High-Quality AI Media: Prompting, Scripts, and Consistency. October 8. Register for the ATD AI Intensive.

Creative Solutions with Twine: Design, Streamline, and Refine Branching Scenarios. October 14. ATD Dallas Learning Technology SIG

DevLearn

Register for DevLearn by October 2 for the Advanced Rate. Save an extra $100 with code CHRISTY.

Branch Smarter, Not Harder: Naming Conventions, Variables, and Bottlenecks in Storyline

• November 3, 2026 at 9:20 AM
• CE01: Storyline & Rise Pro Lab

Cohesive by Design: Generate Consistent AI Icons, Illustrations & Characters

• November 4, 2026 at 10:00 AM
• BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)

Buzz Discussion: Video & Media

• November 4, 2026 at 3:45 PM

The post Inclusive AI Images for Learning appeared first on Experiencing Elearning.

Conferences

In Defence of Conferences – by Tom McDowall

Tom McDowall reflects on how conferences serve different purposes depending on where you are in your career and what your professional goals are. Consider his questions when making choices about what’s worth your time and money to attend. The biggest and most popular conference might not be right for you, depending on your goals.

Ahead of booking or agreeing to go to anything, ask yourself two questions: What elements of my practice do I want to focus on? What do I want to deliberately improve over the coming twelve months? Once you know the answer to that, then and only then should you start thinking about: Which events in the calendar could support me on that journey?

—Tom McDowall

elearn Magazine: Writing (And Reading) Conference Session Descriptions

Clark Quinn reminded me of this article from 15 years ago about writing proposals to speak at conferences. Even though the article is older, the advice is evergreen, and it overlaps with some of the same key points I shared in my recent podcast interview on conference speaking. He also talks about titles and other aspects I didn’t address.

What makes a compelling audience experience? What will make them leave in a state of gratitude for the time spent with you?

You need to be answering three questions: Why should I care, how will this accomplish my goal, and why this speaker? In business, what’s the pain point I’m feeling, how will this session address it.

—Clark Quinn

Camera angles

The Psychology of Camera Angles: How Perspective Shapes Every Photo – PhotoWorkout

As I work with AI images and video more, I find myself needing to learn more about camera angles—how to describe what I want and how to be more deliberate in my choices. This article about the psychology of camera angles and how they affect how the viewer feels about an image.

The Ultimate Guide to Camera Angles & Shots (with AI Prompt Examples for Storytelling)

A guide to different types of shots plus camera angles. This includes examples so you can see the difference (although they’re not amazing AI-generated images, they still serve the purpose). The sample prompts give you examples of how to describe and ask for different results. There’s also some tips on combining shot types and camera angles (like close up and low angle) for different effects.

Videos

I hired an AI agent to edit my videos

Ross Stevenson explains how he uses Riverside’s AI features for editing videos to avoid the tedious parts of editing and polishing.

Seedance 2.5 animation prompts: the ultimate guide to 10 styles | Magnific Blog

While I feel fairly confident describing images in prompts, I know I have a ton more to learn about prompting for video, including for animation. This article gives examples of prompts in different animation styles. It’s helpful to see both the repeated patterns in the prompt structure (starting with the medium, listing numbered shots, describing emotions) and the specific keywords to convey different styles.

Scenarios

How to Design Better Branching Scenarios: Start With the Decision

This article by Garima Gupta has a lot of overlap with my own process for writing branching scenarios (e.g., asking questions to narrow down the specific behavior, identifying decision points first). I like her explanation of the “mental model” behind the choices to get more believable options.

A stronger approach is to make each choice represent a different way someone might genuinely interpret the situation. One manager might think, “I need to establish authority before this gets out of control.” Another might think, “They are upset, so I should probably leave the performance issue for another day.” Someone else might decide they need more information before responding. These are not random distractors. They represent different mental models.

The question I would use is: what is the least complex structure that still allows the learner to practise the thing that matters? Branching complexity should follow the learning need rather than become a goal in itself.

—Garima Gupta

Name Generator Tools

Wordineer has name generators organized by continent and country, primarily European and Asian names. You can generate first and last names and pick options like the type of surname and the meaning.

SCQA: What is it, how does it work, and how can it help me? – Analytic Storytelling

I’d run across this model before in business communication, but Jean Marrapodi brought it to my attention again recently. This is really a story framework for presentations or reports where you want to communicate information. It could work as an overarching pattern in an explainer video or training too. It’s less suited to interactive stories or branching scenarios, but you could adapt it to work there too.

Working with clients

Why Silence Scares Your Clients (And How to Fix It)

Clients get anxious when they don’t hear from you, even if you’re working hard and making great progress. Proactive status updates reduce client stress and make you easier to work with. This is a great approach for L&D freelancers and consultants, and very similar to the structure I use for my own weekly updates to clients. I learned this lesson myself early in my freelancing career.

Clients don’t judge your expertise purely by the quality of your final deliverable. They judge it by how safe they feel while waiting for it.

LinkedIn tips for job seekers

LinkedIn Content Strategy for Job Seekers: 5 Posts That Get You Noticed

Knowing how many folks in my network are looking for work, I thought this list of tips for job seekers for posting on LinkedIn would be helpful.

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Upcoming events

Instructional Design Uncovered: A Community Conversation with Instructional Designers. September 10. ATD Research Triangle Area

Creating High-Quality AI Media: Prompting, Scripts, and Consistency. October 8. Register for the ATD AI Intensive.

Creative Solutions with Twine: Design, Streamline, and Refine Branching Scenarios. October 14. ATD Dallas Learning Technology SIG

DevLearn

Register for DevLearn by October 2 for the Advanced Rate. Save an extra $100 with code CHRISTY.

Branch Smarter, Not Harder: Naming Conventions, Variables, and Bottlenecks in Storyline

• November 3, 2026 at 9:20 AM
• CE01: Storyline & Rise Pro Lab

Cohesive by Design: Generate Consistent AI Icons, Illustrations & Characters

• November 4, 2026 at 10:00 AM
• BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)

Buzz Discussion: Video & Media

• November 4, 2026 at 3:45 PM

The post Conferences, Camera Angles, Videos: ID Links 9/1/26 appeared first on Experiencing Elearning.

This year is the final year of the survey; Jane is ending it after this year. She’ll publish the results and her analysis on Monday, September 7, 2026.

Tools I use to create learning experiences for others

I use these tools for creating learning experiences for others: Claude, Flora, Twine, Articulate 360, Affinity, SnagIt, and PowerPoint.

Claude

Claude was on my top ten list in 2024, but last year I primarily used Poe instead. I like how Poe lets me test lots of different models, but it lacks some of the features that modern LLMs have. For working on projects, it’s easiest to work directly in Claude on my desktop. I still use Claude in chat format for tasks like brainstorming, but I’m also starting to use Claude Cowork for more advanced work. I’ve been using it to vibe code practice activities in training, enhance scenarios I built in Twine, and other work. Claude can speed up the process of creating handouts and participant guides based on my PowerPoint slides, and I’ve used it to help organize and build content from multiple source files.

Flora

Last year, I listed Midjourney as my primary image generation tool. I still use Midjourney for my blog header images, but for creating learning experiences for others, I primarily use Flora now. Flora is an all-in-one canvas where you can generate images and videos. It includes all of the major models for AI image and video generation in a single visual interface where you can see your work at a glance or zoom in to focus on a single element. It also includes useful tools for editing media like cropping and separating images into layers. One of my current goals is to learn how to use Flora better; I know I’m not using all of its capabilities effectively yet.

Twine

Twine is my favorite tool for creating branching scenarios. After struggling to write scenarios and make them work in linear tools, it’s amazing how much faster I can develop multiple connected paths in Twine. Being able to generate a lightweight interactive prototype is critical for branching scenarios. Plus, it’s free and open source, with an active developer community working to extend its functionality and user communities for support.

Articulate 360

Most of the elearning content I build for clients is created in either Articulate Storyline or Rise, part of the Articulate 360 suite. Storyline is fairly easy to develop with, but flexible enough to do plenty with if you’re creative. I use Rise for some development as well, depending on the project.

Articulate Review saves me tons of time collecting feedback from clients and stakeholders.

Affinity

I use Affinity nearly every week to edit images for elearning and my blog. Affinity is a great replacement for Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop at a much more affordable price.

SnagIt

I use SnagIt all the time for quick screenshots. If I need to quickly show a colleague or client how to do something, or I need to show an error for troubleshooting, SnagIt is the perfect tool.

PowerPoint

For all that it is a much maligned tool, PowerPoint is still a regular part of my toolbox. I use it to create mockups of elearning layouts and occasionally for basic image editing. As I regularly speak at conferences and online events, I also use PowerPoint to create slides for those sessions.

Personal Development: My own continuous learning tools

Raindrop

I spend time nearly every day reading and learning online. Reading a lot is great, but I also need a way to find sources again when I need them. When I read something interesting, I bookmark it so it’s easy to find and refer to later when I need it. Raindrop is the online bookmarking tool I use for my own personal knowledge management to save and find resources. I also use these saved links to curate resources for blog posts every 4-5 weeks.

WordPress

WordPress has been my tool of choice for blogging for nearly 20 years. This is the place I do most of my personal reflective learning. Frequently, I don’t know what I really think about a topic until I write about it. Writing helps me connect ideas and clarifies my understanding.

In addition, my blog is a place where I try to help others learn. When I “work out loud” and demonstrate how I accomplished something, others can read and benefit from that. When readers email me or comment about how helpful something was, I know I’m meeting that goal too. In addition, clients find me through my blog. If they read something I wrote and find it helpful, they already trust my expertise before they even contact me.

Zoom

Zoom is a tool I could put as both a personal learning tool and one for delivering learning to others. It’s the tool used in several online communities and small groups that support my continuous learning. But I also use it for working with clients and SMEs as we collaborate on learning projects, and it’s the platform I use for coaching and teaching live online sessions.

Past top ten tools posts

Interested in how this list has changed over time? While I haven’t participated all 20 years that Jane has been collecting this data, I shared my top ten tools for learning in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2014, 2021, 2022, 2024, and 2025. Not a single tool from my list in 2007 is still on the list today, although I do still use some of them for work.

Don’t forget to add your vote for your top 10 tools for learning by August 27, 2026!

The post My Top Ten Tools for Learning 2026 appeared first on Experiencing Elearning.

Compliance training is often boring

As instructional designers, we often build a lot of compliance training. All those policies and regulations that affect our organizations need to be trained. Unfortunately, compliance training is often just a content dump with a narrator reading the policy, followed by some multiple choice questions to see if learners remember what they heard 5 minutes earlier.

This training can be so boring that organizations have to offer bribes (“You’ll be entered in a drawing!”) or threats (“Failure to complete this training may result in termination”) to cajole employees into completing the courses.  In many cases, companies don’t even really seem to care if employees’ behavior changes due to the training. They just want to check a box that says, “we provided training” to cover themselves legally.

If you’re training food production workers on personal hygiene policies, you could simply list the rules. However, just telling people the rules isn’t always enough to convince people to follow them. Have you ever driven faster than the speed limit—even when you knew what the limit was? Knowing the rule isn’t always enough.

Show a worst case scenario

Instead of focusing on just the policies and regulation in abstract, engaging compliance training focuses on when employees need to follow those policies and why they matter.

To show the “why,” start with an example of what can happen if they don’t follow the policies. In the case of food safety, it’s easy to imagine a worst case scenario with a nationwide food recall. In fact, almost 15 years ago, I built a mockup of a newspaper front page showing a headline about a “Nationwide Food Recall.” While now a news website or social media mockup looks more current, the same example warning feels sadly relevant in 2026.

(As a side note, I used to spend so much time manually building fake examples like this in Photoshop for elearning. This took me a few minutes and 3 iterations with AI. It’s much easier to generate these supporting visuals now!)

What could other worst case scenarios be?

• Ethics: A scandal that causes a company’s stock to drop or legal consequences
• Safety: An injury resulting in missed work, lost income, and a long recovery
• Security: A breach that results in data loss and all the ramifications from that

For any compliance training topic, there’s a consequence if the policy isn’t followed. That consequence can be your opening scenario that draws your learners into the story and gets them emotionally involved.

Compliance training with interactive video

A classic example of this technique is The Lab: Avoiding Research Misconduct. This is an interactive video you can play from the perspective of different characters. The story starts with “a very bad day,” where news reporters are interviewing a supervisor about misconduct. Right from the start, you see the consequences of poor decisions. As a learner, you get the opportunity to go back in time to see how those decisions were made and try to avert disaster.

You might not have the resources to hire actors and film scenarios in multiple locations like this, but you could still provide this kind of setup. It’s easy to mock up a newspaper headline like the one above or a fake website screenshot with trending news.

What if your worst case scenario would be internal, like an employee losing sales or being placed on a performance improvement plan? In that case, even a photo of an unhappy manager with voice over or text explaining the consequences can be effective.

Why the worst case scenario works

The worst case scenario gets learners attention because it shows them why the policy or regulation matters. Instead of the compliance training being just a box to check off, it’s teaching them how to be a hero and prevent a disaster.

It’s important to show these consequences and not just tell them. Simply telling people, “Failure to comply with personal hygiene policies could result in a food recall,” doesn’t have the same emotional impact as showing them a fake headline about a recall for contamination.

Show the “Why” and the “When”

Starting with a worst case scenario is the “why” for a policy. For tips on how to focus on the “when” policies apply, check out my post Creating Motivating Compliance Training. That post describes the difference between a “push” training where you give all the info to learners when you decide and a “pull” training where learners get the policy information they need, when they need it.

Originally published 3/10/2016. Updated 7/6/2020, 8/13/2026.

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Upcoming events

Instructional Design Uncovered: A Community Conversation with Instructional Designers. September 10. ATD Research Triangle Area

Creating High-Quality AI Media: Prompting, Scripts, and Consistency. October 8. Register for the ATD AI Intensive.

Creative Solutions with Twine: Design, Streamline, and Refine Branching Scenarios. October 14. ATD Dallas Learning Technology SIG

DevLearn

Register for DevLearn by October 2 for the Advanced Rate. Save an extra $100 with code CHRISTY.

Branch Smarter, Not Harder: Naming Conventions, Variables, and Bottlenecks in Storyline

• November 3, 2026 at 9:20 AM
• CE01: Storyline & Rise Pro Lab

Cohesive by Design: Generate Consistent AI Icons, Illustrations & Characters

• November 4, 2026 at 10:00 AM
• BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)

Buzz Discussion: Video & Media

• November 4, 2026 at 3:45 PM

The post Make Learners Care about Compliance Training appeared first on Experiencing Elearning.

Watch the interview

If the video isn’t embedded below, you can watch it on YouTube.

Listen to the podcast

You can also listen to the podcast on Spotify. (We didn’t have any slides or visuals, so you’re not missing anything if you just listen.)

More podcasts

Check out my collection of over 25 podcast interviews on scenarios, ID careers, AI, and more.

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Upcoming events

Instructional Design Uncovered: A Community Conversation with Instructional Designers. September 10. ATD Research Triangle Area

Creating High-Quality AI Media: Prompting, Scripts, and Consistency. October 8. Register for the ATD AI Intensive.

Creative Solutions with Twine: Design, Streamline, and Refine Branching Scenarios. October 14. ATD Dallas Learning Technology SIG

DevLearn

Register for DevLearn by October 2 for the Advanced Rate. Save an extra $100 with code CHRISTY.

Branch Smarter, Not Harder: Naming Conventions, Variables, and Bottlenecks in Storyline

• November 3, 2026 at 9:20 AM
• CE01: Storyline & Rise Pro Lab

Cohesive by Design: Generate Consistent AI Icons, Illustrations & Characters

• November 4, 2026 at 10:00 AM
• BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)

Buzz Discussion: Video & Media

• November 4, 2026 at 3:45 PM

The post Conference Speaking Tips for L&D Professionals appeared first on Experiencing Elearning.

Branching scenarios

How to Write Scenario-Based eLearning That Doesn’t Feel Fake | Embark IQ

Tips for making scenarios feel authentic, creating plausible distractors, and supporting learning with feedback.

Enhancing workplace eLearning with branching scenarios: An action case study

A case study on branching scenarios for workplace learning, looking at motivation, engagement, and knowledge retention. The researchers asked how engaging with branching scenarios influenced motivation, what design features supported engagement and minimized cognitive load, and learner perceptions of decision-making support. This is a small study (n=10), with participants from a range of backgrounds and roles.

All quotes below are from the authors of the linked paper: Pimblett, Ceri ;Rowe, Lisa; Fenton, Alex. DOI 10.1108/IJOTB-04-2025-0103

Branching scenarios offer design features that can help reduce extraneous cognitive load through segmented content and scaffolded decision-making. Rather than overwhelming learners with dense information, these structured interactions promote focused engagement and facilitate problem-solving.

The findings indicate that two key design features support sustained learner engagement and minimise cognitive overload. First, relevance was critical: scenarios that closely aligned with real workplace contexts enhanced motivation and perceived usefulness, whereas generic or abstract content reduced engagement (Theme 2). Second, cognitive load was shaped by how content was structured. Overly complex tasks overwhelmed learners, but well-sequenced, chunked scenarios helped them stay engaged and retain information effectively.

Learners perceived branching scenarios as valuable tools for developing workplace decision-making and applying skills in realistic contexts.

Participants consistently identified the branching scenarios as a distinctive and valuable feature of the training. This interactive format enabled them to explore different choices, including deliberately selecting “incorrect” options to better understand consequences and reinforce learning. This aligns with the concept of “safe failure” (Sennett & Vasquez, 2021), which allows learners to make mistakes in a controlled environment without real-world repercussions.

Interviews revealed that participants felt less overwhelmed by branching scenarios compared to previous, text-heavy training modules. Instead of being overloaded with information, scenarios progressed step by step, providing only the necessary details at each decision point.

Working with AI

When AI Gets Better, Do We Get Worse? – Usable Learning

AI is getting better at lots of tasks. But even though we know we should rigorously verify AI outputs, we’re less likely to do so when AI is generally better. If the AI does well 4 times in a row, you’re not going to check the 5th time very closely. Julie Dirksen explains the psychology and gives examples.

Bot or Not? Text Edition (v2), Lancaster University

Quiz yourself to see how accurate you are at distinguishing AI-generated text from that written by humans.

Digital Learning Nook | Digital Learning Nook

Pooja Jaisingh created a quick warm-up practice activity for L&D called “Learndle.” Given a brief description of situation, type the model, tool, or approach to solve the problem. Each time you get it wrong, you get a new hint.

My Turn with Claude — Design, Code, and Everything In Between – Visual-e-Learning

Jerson Campos published a great “show your work” post about his experiences rebuilding some old training using Claude, specifically comparing having Claude Design do the work for him versus using Claude AI and Claude Code with more explicit direction. Jerson was happier with the results when he did more steering of the AI. The first Claude Design version looked polished but lacked interaction and depth.

This, I think, is where it’s going to separate instructional designers who let AI build their projects for them from those with a wider breadth of knowledge who can actually direct AI to build effective training.

Test your prototype early. Once you have a sound design for a few slides, have the AI build it out so you can test it. Nothing is more frustrating than finishing an entire storyboard, only to find the course player isn’t what you imagined — and then having the AI go back and edit every slide or module. It’s a great way to introduce new bugs. Be specific about what you want and what you can provide — videos, audio, narration, animations (if the AI won’t generate them for you). Then ask for an asset list at the end covering the deliverables you’ll be responsible for.

Disability stock photos

All in Frame

Free stock photos showing authentic images of people with disabilities. This library includes suggested alt text for each image. (Thanks to Kayleen Holt for sharing this.)

Changing people’s minds

Why Good Evidence Sometimes Fails to Change Our Minds

This article is about teachers changing beliefs about instructional methods, but the points about psychology and learning apply broadly. Changing people’s minds isn’t just about providing good information, especially when those beliefs are tied to key values and identity.

We do not evaluate new evidence in isolation. We interpret it through the understandings we already possess, sometimes reshaping new ideas so that they fit our existing thinking.

If the new information fits comfortably with our existing understanding, learning can be relatively straightforward. But when it conflicts with the way we make sense of the world, we rarely abandon our existing understanding immediately. Instead, we usually reinterpret the new information in ways that preserve as much of our existing understanding as possible.

—Jim Hewitt and Nidhi Sachdeva

Working with SMEs

Working with SMEs: 6 Types Every Instructional Designer Should Know – Scissortail Creative Services, LLC

Kayleen Holt describes six types of SMEs with tips on how to work productively with each one.

The post Scenarios, Working with AI: ID Links 8/4/26 appeared first on Experiencing Elearning.

So what’s the trick? If you’re having trouble identifying a scenario for training, stop focusing so much on the content. Shift your focus to the people who have to do something related to that content. Every rule, regulation, system, and process has to be implemented by actual human beings. Even if the regulations are boring, the people who have to apply and are affected by those policies aren’t boring. If you focus on the people and the decisions they need to make, then you’ll find it easier to write scenarios. Ultimately, this can help us create training that improves learner engagement and outcomes.

Worst case scenario

One strategy you can use for many types of training is the worst case scenario. Tell the story of what happens to someone who doesn’t follow the rules, showing the catastrophic consequences. Sometimes I use this at the beginning of training to “hook” learners’ attention. Then, you can back up and show how to prevent that problem.

For example, the ORI interactive video training The Lab begins with the words, “It was a bad day. It started with just one reporter…” This ethics training starts with news reports discussing research misconduct. In the training, you can pick a role in an “alternate reality” to attempt to prevent that misconduct from happening.

In that example, the focus of the problem isn’t on the research integrity, but on how that affected the people involved. One person lost his job; others had to deal with the effects of lost reputation. You watch the uncomfortable interviews about the fallout from these poor decisions. The training starts with that focus on people. Later, it asks more specific questions about research integrity, but only after learners have a reason to care about the training.

Compliance training: the boring way

Compliance training can be the bane of an instructional designer’s existence. But let’s face it—if it’s boring for us to create, it’s probably boring for the learners too, right? We have to find the people involved and tell their stories.

For example, say you need to create training on wage and hour laws. The boring way to create the training would be to cite the regulations. In the US, that’s the FLSA.

The federal overtime provisions are contained in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Unless exempt, employees covered by the Act must receive overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek at a rate not less than time and one-half their regular rates of pay. There is no limit in the Act on the number of hours employees aged 16 and older may work in any workweek. The Act does not require overtime pay for work on Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, or regular days of rest, unless overtime is worked on such days.

The Act applies on a workweek basis. An employee’s workweek is a fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours — seven consecutive 24-hour periods. It need not coincide with the calendar week, but may begin on any day and at any hour of the day. Different workweeks may be established for different employees or groups of employees. Averaging of hours over two or more weeks is not permitted. Normally, overtime pay earned in a particular workweek must be paid on the regular pay day for the pay period in which the wages were earned.

Excerpted from the FLSA explanation of overtime pay

Compliance training scenario

In order to make this not-so-boring, you first need to identify the important people. Let’s say the audience is retail managers, so that’s the primary focus. Include the employees in the scenario because that helps provide realistic context.

Next, identify the specific problems. The SME tells you they’ve been having problems with managers not tracking and paying overtime correctly. You can ask the SME and stakeholders more questions to gather information to create the scenario.

Based on the information you gather, you might draft a scenario question like this:

Instead of an abstract question about overtime rules, this asks the learners to apply the rules to a specific scenario. Scenario questions like this require plausible distractors, but making people think makes the training less boring.

In that example, you could also include an option for “I’m not sure, let me check with HR.” That option could provide an explanation of the rules. Sometimes, you do need to list the actual policy in compliance training. However, if you can include that policy with a scenario, it gives people a reason to look up the information. Instead of pushing information to learners, you give them a reason to pull the content themselves.

How do you deal with large amounts of text?

In some training, you can’t get away from large blocks of text. Some job roles require working with text, so practicing important skills means having big blocks of text on the screen. While we should try to rephrase regulations into plain language where possible, what if the job itself requires reading and applying different regulations?

In that case, you need to practice that skill. You’ll include the regulation text, but you’ll put it into a realistic context where applying the regulation matters. A story where people experience consequences if you don’t follow the policies suddenly makes the content less boring.

Regulations example

One of my past projects involved training advisors on how to support international students. Part of their job is understanding regulations so they can explain and advise students. We used a series of case studies to give learners numerous practice opportunities with a wide range of problems.

In this example, the advisor was working with a student facing disciplinary action and possible loss of a visa. In the case study, they needed to determine the conditions of the regulations and potential consequences. Therefore, one of the activities was to review the regulation and identify the important text.

While I can’t share the full version of this with the proprietary content, you can get an idea of how the activity worked even with the text replaced. This is a practice activity for one step in a real-world skill.

Connect regulations to people

The regulations activity above was one piece of a larger scenario.

1. A story about the student’s actions and situation
2. Two advisors discuss how to help the student
3. Review the regulations
4. Two advisors discuss how to apply the regulations using a framework taught earlier in the course
5. Multiple choice questions about actions to take
6. Additional information about the student in the story
7. Decide whether to take additional action based on the new information

I didn’t show the regulations in isolation; I connected them to the people affected by them. The regulations on their own would be extremely dry and boring.

In the context of the case study, understanding the regulations meant determining if an international student could maintain her visa or not. That’s a story about the people. If you didn’t apply the regulations correctly, then the characters in the story were affected, including one of them potentially having to quit school and leave the country. That’s a consequence with some emotional resonance for advisors who work with students.

More on scenarios and compliance training

• Create Motivating Compliance Training
• Make Learners Care about Compliance Training
• Mini-Scenarios for Assessment
• Converting to Scenario-Based Questions
• Plausible Distractors for Compliance Training Mini Scenarios
• 7 Tips for Writing Realistic Wrong Answers in Branching Scenarios

Originally published 10/26/21. Updated 7/27/26.

The post Scenarios for Boring Training Topics appeared first on Experiencing Elearning.

You can try the scenario with the updated images now. This is more of a beta version than an alpha version, but there still may be some problems.

Reference images and planning

Reference images are key to getting consistent characters across multiple images. I started by generating images of each character looking at the camera; these are my clean reference images that I refer to later. These all look very posed because I prompted for a “studio photo,” but that’s fine since these are just reference images.

Since I was already working with Claude on the updated user interface, I prompted Claude for a list of the images and poses I needed. That saved me some time in my planning. I also generated an image of a conference room as the setting for the initial team meeting in the scenario. I named all of these reference images with the character names.

Generating scenes with multiple characters

Assembling scenes with multiple reference images is really easy in Flora. You just type your prompt and add @ before the name of the image. That’s why I named each reference image with the character names.

Style: Editorial photo
Subjects: @Samantha @Jake @Alex
Setting: @Small conference room, laptops on the table
Action: Having a meeting, discussing

In the screenshot of Flora below, you can see the thumbnails of the reference images for each character plus the setting.

Changing camera angles

To provide some variety in the scenario images, I changed the camera angle for some images. As you can see in these two images, they’re the same scene, but with the camera angle changed.

I used Flora’s image tool for changing the camera angle to accomplish this change. That uses a model called Qwen Image Edit that has special options for directing where the camera should be. As you can see below, you can set both horizontal and vertical angles plus a Zoom. That means I have a lot more control than just prompting Nano Banana to change the camera angle (which I never have much luck with).

Unfortunately, while Qwen does great overall at changing the camera angle and keeping objects pretty consistent from different angles, it didn’t do well at all at keeping the characters consistent. They look sort of like my characters, but they lost a lot of detail. The people have that very airbrushed AI image look that I’m trying to avoid. That meant I had to do another step to prompt Nano Banana to replace the people in this image with the characters from my reference images.

Time and cost for scenario image creation

I spent about 5.5 hours generating the images for this scenario. While I can batch image generation in Flora to speed up the process, that process didn’t work with this project. I needed to get the scenes right and then build from there, so each image built on the previous one. Once I got a few scenes right though, I maybe could have done some batches to get multiple poses of people talking and listening.

I could generate characters with transparent backgrounds and assemble them into scenes, the way we all did with cutout images in the past. Sometimes that might be faster, although I think it would have taken longer for this particular project.

My total time includes some time where I was task switching though. Image generation is usually fairly fast, but I still find myself switching to check email or my phone while waiting. Am I always switching right back to the image generation as soon as it’s done? Probably not. I don’t have a solution for that right now, but it’s something I observe in my work.

My cost for generating 100+ images was about $9. Combined with the cost of redesigning the UI with Claude, my cost is about $15 total.

Over 100 images generated

While there are only 22 images in the final product, I generated over 100 images in Flora. All of the edits and regeneration means I’m only keeping about 20% of the images I generate. I hear similar ratios of 20-40% from other people who use AI for media generation. Image generation is about your prompting and ideas at the beginning, but also about your judgment and refinement throughout the process. Don’t believe any hype about how AI is a magic button that you click once and get great results out of; there’s a ton of refinement, iteration, and sometimes manual editing involved.

Interactive video

I’ve thought about changing this to an interactive video scenario. There’s a fair amount of dialogue here that would lend itself to video. (Although as I’ve been rereading this scenario, I see a number of places I’d like to edit.) I might do that as a future update. I’m sure the time and cost will be quite a bit higher though; video generation is a lot more expensive and time consuming. It might be a good project to build my skills with AI video though.

What do you think? Would you like to see this scenario as a video? I could do some more of these working out loud posts to show my process.

Find any glitches?

If you find any glitches in the scenario, please let me know! Generating the images took a lot of time, so I haven’t spent as much time testing as I’d planned. I suspect there may still be some issues for me to resolve.

Looking for more?

I’ve published a number of articles on AI image generation, particularly around character images.

• Updating a Twine Branching Scenario with AI – Part 1 (My previous post about updating this scenario)
• Speed Up Character Image Creation with Flora
• Comparing AI Image Generation Tools
• Testing Freepik Spaces for Character Image Generation (Freepik is now Magnific, but the basics of this post are still accurate.)
• Nano Banana (Gemini) Character Image Experiments

You can also check out all of my posts about AI and instructional design as well as my growing collection of over 70 posts on scenarios and storytelling.

The post Updating Scenario Character Images with Flora appeared first on Experiencing Elearning.

The original scenario

You can try the original scenario to see where I started. Pay attention to the project status dashboard at the bottom and how it changes based on the decisions you make. If you want to see the branching structure and learn about my process for this first version, check out my previous post Project Management Simulation: Modeling Tradeoffs in a Scenario.

The updated scenario (a work in progress)

You can also try this updated version of the scenario. Note that this is a work in progress; most of the images are placeholders, and I haven’t fully tested everything in the new UI yet. Some elements may be broken or behave unpredictably. Consider this an alpha version.

Initial pass updating the UI in Claude

From Twine, you can export to Twee format. Without getting too far into the technical details, just know that Twee format can be saved as a .txt file just by changing the file extension. Claude can understand Twee format in a text file, so that’s typically how I work with Claude and Twine together.

Here’s my initial prompt:

This is a branching scenario I built in Twine for practicing decision-making for project managers, specifically about the trade offs between cost, quality, and time in projects. I'd like to refresh it with a more modern design. The attached file is the Twee format (saved as a .txt file).

What to keep:

    All the text of the dialogue and choices
    The elements of the project dashboard (elapsed days, cost, etc.)
    Overall color scheme

What to change:

    Make it responsive so it adjust for smaller screens. The current dashboard doesn't work on phones.
    Add placeholders for images (I'll generate some new ones--AI image generation has improved a ton since 2024).
    A way to add those images (maybe just put everything in a folder with the right file names? open to better ideas)
    Update the overall styling for buttons and UI to be more modern and clean

The final output should be HTML that I can upload for my blog and website.

Do you have any questions about the output and what I want before you get started? If not, you can build it and we'll iterate from there.

Iterations

As is always the case in working with AI, I did some iterations back and forth to make improvements. The initial layout Claude designed was a big improvement from my original, but the color contrast was really low in some areas. The buttons weren’t as obviously clickable as I wanted, and they had an odd hover effect that changed the size. The dashboard was responsive, but it also took up a lot of space on small screens.

So, I went back and forth. The good news is that you can do all of this vibe coding without necessarily knowing the technical code that needs to change. However, you need to be able to clearly describe what you want, even if it’s not in technical language. Vague directions aren ‘t as effective.

Then, although I started with my own improvements for the iterations, I also asked for ideas with this prompt: “What other suggestions do you have to make this better?”

Claude suggested several additional improvements:

• Better accessibility
• A running decision trail
• Animated metric changes
• A richer ending summary
• Progress or phase indicator
• Some other small polish items

I prioritized the accessibility improvements, decision trail, and progress indicator.

UI and structure improvements

Through those iterations, I got to the version you see now. I had Claude summarize all of the changes, but its summary was wordy. So, you’re getting my bullet points instead.

• Platform and structure: This is now a single self-contained HTML file with Javascript rather than using the Twine and Harlowe format.
• Responsive: On desktops, the project dashboard sits in a sticky sidebar. On phones, it collapses to s compact top bar. The dashboard metrics were reformatted as cards.
• Images: Claude replaced the images with placeholders; that’s the next part I’ll work on.
• Visual and brand styling: My overall original color scheme was retained, but the visual elements were modernized with a card-based design with rounded corners and subtle shadows.
• Accessibility: A “Skip to decisions” skip link was added, and the dashboard was given a labelled landmark. The meters have concise ARIA labels. The focus now moves to the top of each new passage on navigation. All interactive elements have visible focus rings for keyboard users.
• Your path and progress: A running log of your decisions appears below the decisions so you can see the cause and effect of your choices. At the bottom of the dashboard is a phase tracker to show progress without pretending the branching is linear or that all the paths are the same length.

Cost of using Claude

I used Claude through my Poe subscription. Poe gives me access to all the major LLMs plus a number of image, video, and audio tools for $200/year. My costs may not reflect what you’d pay working in Claude directly.

For the initial build and all of the iterations, the cost for my tokens was $5.75. I worked on this off and on while also working on another project, so I don’t have a great time estimate. It was probably about 60-90 minutes of work.

Next post: Images in Flora

This post is already over 1000 words, so I’m breaking it into a series. In my next post about this project, I’ll share how I used Flora to generate new images.

Check out my collections of posts on AI and Instructional Design and on Storytelling and Scenarios for more.

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Upcoming events

Instructional Design Uncovered: A Community Conversation with Instructional Designers. September 10. ATD Research Triangle Area

Creating High-Quality AI Media: Prompting, Scripts, and Consistency. October 8. Register for the ATD AI Intensive.

Creative Solutions with Twine: Design, Streamline, and Refine Branching Scenarios. October 14. ATD Dallas Learning Technology SIG

DevLearn

Register for DevLearn by October 2 for the Advanced Rate. Save an extra $100 with code CHRISTY.

Branch Smarter, Not Harder: Naming Conventions, Variables, and Bottlenecks in Storyline

• November 3, 2026 at 9:20 AM
• CE01: Storyline & Rise Pro Lab

Cohesive by Design: Generate Consistent AI Icons, Illustrations & Characters

• November 4, 2026 at 10:00 AM
• BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)

Buzz Discussion: Video & Media

• November 4, 2026 at 3:45 PM

The post Updating a Twine Branching Scenario with AI – Part 1 appeared first on Experiencing Elearning.

Vibe coding and accessibility

The Vibe Coding Crisis: Why AI is Manufacturing Accessibility Debt

Jacob Wood shares examples of technical debt for accessibility caused by using the messy code that vibe coding generates. Yes, we can build activities and websites quickly, but how are we going to make it accessible? If we ignore accessibility and don’t plan for it from the start, we’re going to accumulate a lot of cleanup work later.

So here’s a quick tip: When vibe coding anything, remind your friendly neighborhood AI, “The first rule of ARIA is that no ARIA is better than bad ARIA.”

Learning friction

Why AI Needs Vygotsky: The Case for AI-Based Intentional Friction – Learning Guild

LLMs can give nearly instant answers with almost no effort–but effort is what helps us learn and grow. This article connects classic learning science of Vygotsky and the ZPD to how AI can cause harm through cognitive outsources and provides principles for designing for intentional friction.

The absence of “desirable difficulty” or friction in AI interactions is among the most serious concerns for learning and instructional design experts today. This concern is not due to tool speed, but rather because the lack of friction bypasses or eliminates essential stages of the learning process that strengthen human cognitive and neurological foundations. When machines respond effortlessly, the natural learning pathway described in Vygotsky’s ZPD and scaffolding is disrupted. While this may seem “efficient” in the short term, over time it can undermine higher-order cognitive skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, and creativity.

—Atefeh Ferdosipour

AI trends and L&D teams

The Anatomy of a Modern L&D Team [2026 Edition]

Ross Stevenson shares research, trends, and outlook for how roles in L&D have shifted and are continuing to change. What do those roles look like moving forward? What skills should L&D professionals focus on?

Recover unpaid invoices

Recover Your Unpaid Invoices

I’ve had several conversations with other freelancers and consultants recently about clients not paying their invoices. It’s usually not enough money to justify hiring an attorney or sending them to collections, but it’s also painful when you work for yourself. This is an AI-supported tool to generate and send a certified letter and follow up until you get paid. Will it work? I don’t know. For $50, I’d probably try it myself if I had an unpaid bill. I might even pay the extra for an attorney to send the letter on their letterhead.

Medical imaging with Midjourney

A New Era of Midjourney

This is all very early and not in production yet, but Midjourney is working on using their expertise working with image data into developing a body scan machine to provide medical imaging. I think a heavy dose of skepticism is smart until it’s actually in use and we see results, but I like the idea of using AI to generate images that help doctors and patients make more informed decisions.

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Upcoming events

Instructional Design Uncovered: A Community Conversation with Instructional Designers. September 10. ATD Research Triangle Area

Creating High-Quality AI Media: Prompting, Scripts, and Consistency. October 8. Register for the ATD AI Intensive.

Creative Solutions with Twine: Design, Streamline, and Refine Branching Scenarios. October 14. ATD Dallas Learning Technology SIG

DevLearn

Register for DevLearn by October 2 for the Advanced Rate. Save an extra $100 with code CHRISTY.

Branch Smarter, Not Harder: Naming Conventions, Variables, and Bottlenecks in Storyline

• November 3, 2026 at 9:20 AM
• CE01: Storyline & Rise Pro Lab

Cohesive by Design: Generate Consistent AI Icons, Illustrations & Characters

• November 4, 2026 at 10:00 AM
• BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)

Buzz Discussion: Video & Media

• November 4, 2026 at 3:45 PM

The post Vibe Coding, Learning Friction: ID Links 7/7/26 appeared first on Experiencing Elearning.