Chicago eLearning & Technology Showcase 2026

In this session, learn how to leverage Articulate 360’s Rise to create an ebook accessible from a learning management system. In the context of a case study, Chris Zahn and Lauren Hamm will discuss the pros and cons of various document formats. They will also describe how they arrived at the decision to use Rise to solve a particular publishing problem for their organization. They will demonstrate the ebook they created and explain how to design and implement an ebook in Rise.

By the end of this session, you will be able to

• State the pros and cons of various publishing formats.
• Decide on the correct format to address a particular problem.
• Use Rise to implement an ebook.

Ever built a course where the content was solid—but learners still struggled to get through it?

Digital learning often fails not because content is wrong, but because design creates friction. In this session, you will explore a practical, 3-part framework for reducing cognitive friction across working memory, attention, and task initiation. Through real-world examples, you will identify common issues like split attention, unnecessary complexity, and unclear navigation.

Using your own device (no software required), you will complete short, guided activities to analyze screens and make design decisions. You will also review before-and-after redesigns and leave with practical UX strategies that you can immediately apply to improve learner performance.

By the end of this session, you will be able to

• Identify sources of cognitive friction related to working memory, attention, and task initiation in elearning design.

• Evaluate how visual hierarchy, interaction design, and navigation impact learner usability and performance.

• Apply practical UX and instructional design patterns to reduce cognitive friction in your own courses.

Learning teams want better elearning experiences, but many instructional designers get stuck between rigid authoring tools and full custom development. In this session, Destery Hildenbrand will show you how to build lightweight interactive experiences faster using a practical prompt-and-revise workflow.

You will move from problem to prototype and explore where AI helps most with repetitive build work, basic layout, and rough first drafts. Destery will also demonstrate where the learning designer brings the most value, through structure, setup, organization, flow, and final design decisions. You will leave with a practical process that you can use right away.

By the end of this session, you will be able to

• Define a practical workflow for building interactive experiences.

• Evaluate which parts of the work are best supported by AI.

• Refine prototypes using strong instructional design decisions.

It’s Monday morning, and you check your email to see, “There’s something wrong with the onboarding process. People don’t know what they need to know after it’s done. The training needs to be revised.” But here’s the issue: you’re working with one person’s assumptions and no time to figure out what’s actually broken.

This session shows you how to stop guessing. Using a real-world example, Shannon Tipton will show you how to work with AI to pinpoint the root cause of the perceived issue and then simplify the development process. You will leave with practical workflows that you can use right away to build training that actually solves the problem.

By the end of this session, you will be able to

• Diagnose training requests using AI tools to find the real cause of business problems, so you can build solutions that fix actual issues instead of incorrectly perceived ones.

• Apply AI-powered content audits to evaluate existing training materials, helping you keep what works and cut what doesn't, save time, and improve quality.

• Implement AI workflows that link training to business problems, so you can build solutions faster and show stakeholders the real impact.

In this workshop, Ron Price will lead you in exploring several simple yet creative ways to bring your slides to life through animation. Animation remains a challenge for many elearning developers. Some overuse it or apply it in ways that distract learners, while others avoid it altogether. In this session, you will examine creative techniques for using animation with purpose, clarity, and impact.

By the end of this session, you will be able to

• Use cue points and syncing.

• Create consistency with an animation painter tool.

• Design motion paths and emphasis animations.

• Create more complex effects by combining animations.