We’re really excited to share some changes to the Design section of the Synapse platform. Like any big transformation, we thought that some Before and After images might illustrate these changes, and how they’ve made things easier and more flexible for you to build out your designs.
Jump ahead to specific changes here, or continue reading below!
Adding Tags
Before, when creating a new Design, you could only add a title and select your template.
Now, you can add a Tag when you are creating a design making it easy to keep your designs organized and tagged correctly.
Requirement Location
Requirements were a separate tab and often not used in the design process as it seemed like a disconnected step.
Now, Requirements appear in the "Design" tab under the Course information. This helps keep everyone collaborating on the project aligned to the goals, audience and other projects requirements.
Due Date
The Due Date was a required field in the Requirements section and could not be removed.
The Due Date is now considered part of the overall Course information and can be updated as required.
Lesson Structure and Descriptions
Previously at the lesson level, you would be able to add your Learning Objectives and any assessment questions.
Now at the Lesson Level you can:
Add a Lesson Description which can appear on your Course Overview page for learners.
Add assets including Learning Objectives, Editor, Attachment, Embed and Assessment.
This makes your course structure much more flexible! If you do not have Lessons and Topics you can just add content at the Lesson level.
Topic Structure and Descriptions
Previously at the topic level, you could only add assets and these included only Editor, Attachment and Embed.
Now you can add a topic description, and all five asset types Learning Objectives, Editor, Attachment, Embed and Assessment.
This means you can add assessments throughout the flow of your content making it more engaging for your learners.
Adding Assets
Previously, you would have to add an Asset to the bottom of a Topic and then drag into the correct order.
You can now hover between assets and simply add one into the correct order.
Editing Asset Titles
To edit an Asset title, you would have to click on the three dots, then edit title, then modify the name.
Now you can simply click on the Asset title and enter the new Title.
Editing Templates
We had received a lot of feedback that it wasn't always clear when you were editing a template versus a design.
We've improved the User Interface so that it's more clear when you are editing a template.
Tab Settings and Sections
Previously you could only disable the tabs visible at the top of each design.
We've added the option to toggle off "Topics" if you only require two levels to your course hierarchy.
Requirements remain optional if you don't add any requirement cards to your template.
Navigation Icons
Current navigation icons.
We've updated the icon set to make it more clear what certain functions do.
Look and Feel of Content
Previously the Lesson overviews would only display the Learning Objectives.
Now you'll be able to display custom descriptions. We've also updated the UI to make your content feel more modern.
There was also no ability to add a description for each Lesson and Topic.
You can now add descriptions for each Lesson and Topic to introduce the concept to your learners. This is optional.
While these changes will improve the flexibility and ease of creating your designs, we have a few recommendations for things that you should consider in advance of these changes.
Given the added flexibility, it’s important for you to take a renewed look at your templates. Simply navigate to the Templates section, and we’d recommend reviewing the following:
Within the template settings, you can also choose to condense your course hierarchy and disable the “Lesson” level. This might be something to consider for any microlearning templates.
Your requirements will now appear under your Course Title, Description and Audience so consider whether there are any requirements you’d want to add or remove.
If you’re looking to encourage Learning Objectives and Assessments to be added prior to your designers jumping into the course content, you can add these assets as part of your template to have a similar workflow to the previous version of the platform.
If you have any questions about the changes and want to hop on a call with our Client Care team, feel free to book some time below.
Please note: We’ll be updating our current Learning Center articles to reflect these changes.