After getting an email with another increase in prices - for services I don't need, I'm looking at alternatives. I only use Rise360 to create courses and export SCORM files, and enjoy the interactive quiz / knowledge check features and scenario based interactions I can create.

Has anyone else found themselves in a similar boat, did you successfully move to an alternative platform? Or find yourself sticking with Articulate? I've signed up to trials of various platforms, but keen to hear some personal stories.

I’m tired of the "Mac Tax" in ID. I love my MacBook for everything - design, video editing, management but the second I need to open Storyline or Suite Max, I’m back in 2015.

I tried Parallels but the lag killed my flow and drained my Mac's battery. Now I’m stuck keeping a dedicated Windows PC on my desk just for course authoring. It feels ridiculous to have a two-computer setup just because the industry standard course authoring tools refuse to go native on macOS.

To my fellow Mac-based IDs: How are you actually navigating this?

Are you just sucking it up with a second machine? Did you find a cloud-based VM that actually works without the lag? Or have you finally ditched the Windows-only tools for web-native ones even if it means losing some complex functionality?

I can’t be the only one frustrated by this. What’s your setup? I honestly want to know if there is a better way or if we’re all just collectively stuck in 2015. Recommendations desperately needed.

Hi all, I'm a freelancer who produces many 'how-to' screen recordings for clients. I’m struggling with the balance between a fluid video and making sure the learner actually sees the specific UI elements I'm talking about.

I’ve started experimenting with freeze-frame annotations. Literally pausing the video at key moments to overlay arrows and callouts before moving on.

I have two questions for the pros here:

• From an instructional design standpoint, is 'pausing the world' to add callouts better for retention, or does it break the learner's flow too much?
• If you use this technique, how do you handle it in your workflow? I find that 'slicing and extending' frames in standard editors is a massive bottleneck.

Thanks!

we're about to start training external clients and debating whether to just use LMS that we already have internally or set up something separate

While doing research on various LMS systems, we found that the engagement on legacy LMS systems is bare minimum which impacts the learning outcomes. We thought if students can engage on platforms like Discord and professionals can rely so much on platforms like Slack then why not develop a LMS that has the good of both worlds for both students and professionals. Then we came up with SchoolScape.ca . You got to try it to see how awesome it is. There is a free full feature demo available. Let me know if you have any questions.

Happy learning!

What is good for web making maybe free?

Working on optimizing our training workflow and trying to understand what's actually breaking for people when they're creating training videos.

So curious - what are your biggest pain points right now?

Specifically:

• How long does it take you to produce one training video?
• What part of the process eats up the most time?
• Are you using multiple tools or trying to find an all-in-one solution?
• What would actually save you the most time?

I've been experimenting w/ different approaches and found some workflows that cut production time dramatically, but wanna hear what's actually frustrating people.

What's your current setup? What's working and what's not?

Thanks!

I thought building the course was the hard bit.

Turns out… it wasn’t.

Spent years refining my training, getting real results, then moved it online using platforms like Udemy and Coursera.

At first it felt great. Easy setup, built-in audience.

But then you realise:

• You don’t own your audience
• You don’t control pricing
• And you can’t really shape the experience
• You’re not building a business. You’re feeding a platform.

And honestly, even if you leave and host it yourself… if you’re still just selling videos, it’s the same problem. Low completion, low engagement.

Feels like the whole model’s a bit broken.

Curious if anyone else has hit this point or if it’s just me.

I've been evaluating Teachable and it seems like a nice platform for hosting my course. My only real concern is the 1000 student limit for the Builder plan (and 5000 for the Growth plan).

I'm basically interpreting this as "Sales are capped at 1000".

Has anyone here exceeded these limits? What is the process for getting it expanded? There is a "Custom" tier but the limits all say to "contact sales". I'm tempted to try Thinkific because they support 10,000 on most plans.

Any insight appreciated.

A lot of L&D and compliance managers without a certification system in their LMS are experiencing a version of the same problem: someone on their team owns a spreadsheet that tracks who's certified, when it expires, and who needs a nudge. Sometimes it's a very large spreadsheet. Sometimes it's several spreadsheets. Sometimes, nobody's entirely sure which one is current, and even the most recent version is already outdated.

Sound familiar? Good news — there's a better way to handle this, and your LMS probably already has the tools to do it.

The core concept

When certification management is running through your LMS, here's what changes: you define the training requirement, set an expiration window, and the system takes it from there. It tracks completions, calculates expiration dates per learner, sends reminders on a schedule you control, and flags anyone who lapses.

Your spreadsheet doesn't disappear — but it stops being the thing your compliance depends on. Instead of being the source of truth that someone has to maintain manually, it becomes just another export when you need one. That's a really meaningful shift for the people who've been maintaining it.

The decisions that actually matter

If you're setting this up — or evaluating whether your LMS can handle it — here are the questions worth thinking through:

Rolling expiration vs. fixed calendar dates

Rolling means each learner's clock starts when they complete the training. Fixed means everyone expires on the same date regardless of when they completed it.

Rolling is cleaner for onboarding-heavy organizations — new hires get a full certification period from day one. Fixed is easier to audit — everyone's status resets at the same time, which compliance teams often prefer.

Neither is wrong! Know which one fits your organization before you build it out.

How far out do you start reminding people?

This one depends on how long your training takes and how hard it is to schedule. A 30-minute online course? Two weeks notice is usually plenty. A multi-day in-person certification that needs to be booked in advance? You might want reminders starting 90 days out.

Build your reminder cadence around the reality of your learners' lives, not an arbitrary number.

What happens when someone lapses?

This is the question most people don't think about until it becomes a problem. Does a lapsed certification have real consequences — regulatory, contractual, or otherwise? If so, you need a grace period policy before you need a grace period setting. Decide what your organization's tolerance is first, then configure accordingly.

New hires are a special case 👀

If someone completes a certification during onboarding and your system renews on a fixed annual date, they could be flagged for recertification just weeks after starting. Most LMS platforms have an exemption window for exactly this scenario — definitely worth using if you're on a fixed date cadence.

What good looks like

When this is working well, your compliance team can pull a real-time report of who's current, who's upcoming, and who's lapsed — anytime, for any certification, without asking anyone to update a file. Learners get reminders before they lapse, not after. Managers get visibility without having to chase it.

For regulated industries, the audit trail this creates is often just as valuable as the training itself. And honestly? The person who used to own the spreadsheet usually appreciates the change most of all.

How are you handling certification tracking right now? Especially curious from anyone in healthcare, government, or other regulated environments — what's your current setup, and what's the part that still causes the most headaches? I'd love to hear how others are solving this. 👇

TraCorp admin? The step-by-step setup guide is in our knowledge base: Create a Certification

Hey all,

I work in marketing and been testing AI video tools to speed up my workflow. My editing skills are pretty basic: mostly Canva and CapCut

Been experimenting w/ newer AI tools and wanted to share what actually works vs the hype.

The challenge: I needed something that could:

• Turn scripts or blog posts into videos fast
• Work for demos, training, social clips

What I've tested:

Tried a few different approaches but the one that stuck was using tools that automate the whole pipeline. Instead of juggling script, voiceover, editing, captions separately, I needed one place for everything.

What's working for me:

The biggest game-changer has been tools that let you go from script to video in mins. No timeline editing, no stitching clips. Just paste content and let AI handle it.

My question for everyone:

What's in your tech stack for video creation? Using traditional editors, AI tools, or hybrid? What's actually saving you time?

Looking for honest takes - what tools changed your process?

Thanks!

One of the most common questions we get from admins building out their content library for the first time is some version of: "I want to group these courses together. Should I use a Learning Track or a Custom Bundle?"

Both group content. But they're built for different situations. Here's how to think about it.

The short version

• Learning Track: a curated group of courses assigned and managed together. The admin defines what's in it. You can set a completion percentage threshold and mark some content as optional, giving learners some choice in how they complete it.
• Custom Bundle: a package of content that functions as a single content item. Every piece of content in the bundle must be completed before the bundle is marked complete. No exceptions, no optional items.

They're not interchangeable. Each solves a different problem

When to use a Learning Track

Learning Tracks are your workhorse for structured, ongoing curriculum. Think of them as a playlist. You define the content, assign the track to a user group, and learners work through it. They're flexible and easy to manage over time.

Use a Learning Track when:

• You want to assign multiple courses to a group of learners as a package
• The content might change or update over time (tracks can be edited after assignment)
• You want learners to be notified when content in the track changes
• You need to assign the same curriculum to multiple user groups
• Learners should be able to self-assign the content

Learning Tracks are also easy to duplicate, which is handy when you're building similar curricula for different roles or departments.

The flexibility feature most admins don't utilize 👀

Here's something that surprises a lot of people: Learning Tracks don't have to require completion of every single piece of content. You can set a completion percentage threshold, meaning a learner earns a track completion after finishing a defined portion of the content, not necessarily all of it.

On top of that, you can mark individual courses within a track as optional, while keeping others required. This gives you a really useful structure:

• Required courses ensure everyone gets the core, standard content
• Optional courses give learners some choice around that foundation
• The completion threshold defines how much of the optional content needs to be done

In practice this works really well for professional development tracks where you want everyone to complete a few foundational modules, but then give learners the freedom to choose electives that match their role or interests. It's a much more learner-friendly experience than a rigid "complete everything" requirement, and learners actually appreciate having some agency in the process. 😊

When to use a Custom Bundle

A Custom Bundle packages multiple pieces of content into a single content item. It shows up as one thing to the learner and one thing in your reporting. Think of it as shrink-wrapping several courses together. Every piece of content in the bundle must be completed before the bundle is marked complete.

Use a Custom Bundle when:

• The content belongs together. If you have a video, a job aid, and an assessment that only make sense as a set, bundling them enforces that relationship at the system level. Learners can't complete one without the others.
• You want to keep things simple. A bundle is one assignment, one completion record, and one line on a transcript. If three courses always go together and you never need to think about them separately, bundling them reduces the administrative overhead of managing them as individual items.
• You want it in the content catalog. Bundles live in the catalog just like any other piece of content, making them easy for learners to find and self-assign.

One important thing to know before you bundle: content that's part of a Custom Bundle can no longer be copied for use elsewhere. If any of that content is used in multiple places, copy it first and then bundle the copy. This catches people off guard more than almost anything else.

Also worth knowing: once content is bundled, it can't be part of another bundle, a prerequisite for other content, or already assigned to users or learning tracks. Clean up your assignments before you bundle.

The honest answer to "which should I use for onboarding?"

Almost always a Learning Track. Here's why:

Onboarding content evolves. You'll add a module, update a policy course, swap out a video. Learning Tracks let you do that without disrupting what's already assigned. The ability to mix required and optional content is also a real advantage for onboarding. You can ensure everyone gets the non-negotiables while giving new hires some choice in how they explore the rest.

Custom Bundles lock content in a way that makes ongoing maintenance harder. Save them for content packages that are genuinely stable and meant to be experienced as a single unit, like a product certification course that wraps video, a quiz, and a task together.

How are you grouping your content? Do you use Learning Tracks, Custom Bundles, or a mix of both? And if you're using the optional content feature in Learning Tracks, what's your setup? Curious how others are balancing required vs. optional content. 👇

Full setup guides in the knowledge base: Learning Tracks | Custom Content Bundles

What exactly is an authoring tools and can you give me examples?

Hey everyone!

Quick intro - I’m a IT professional with broad industry experience from working in education, startups to non profits.

Currently developing a new learning platform, aiming to simply content creation, reduce manual admin burden & bring all the tools you need to deliver training effectively in one platform.

So need some sense check in what are actually some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced with existing LMS systems?

Ps. Open to beta testers!

We’re a ~250-person company and starting to feel the growing pains around training.

we’ve implemented the EducateMe corporate LMS to support onboarding, upskilling, and compliance. it’s helped centralize things, but we’re still seeing inconsistencies across teams and a lot of learning happening in an ad hoc way. it feels like we might be missing dedicated ownership to really make it work end-to-end.

we’re debating whether it’s time to bring in a dedicated L&D specialist, but not sure if we’re “there yet” or overthinking it.

for those who’ve been in similar-sized companies:

• At what headcount did L&D become necessary (if at all)?

• What problems made you realize you needed it?

• What were the first use cases you focused on (onboarding, upskilling, compliance, leadership dev, etc.)?

• Did you start with one person or external support?

would love to hear what actually triggered the shift for you

hey gals 25f here always hunting better ways to learn online without wasting time on meh platforms and coursera caught my eye again with their updated 2026 lineup. started peeking at a machine learning intro during lunch breaks and the structure feels way more hands on but those sub prices still sting a bit. love how it mixes video lectures with real projects tho makes me actually stick with it unlike some scattered free sites.

curious if others in here find the certs boost your portfolio or open doors cuz im stacking skills for a remote gig switch. completed a short one last month but no feedback yet wonder if its paying off or just feels good. thoughts from long term users on the real value this year?

Storyline kinda shot itself in the foot with mandatory AI and crazy pricing, so my company decided we already have enough AI tools and just dropped it. Now we’re building eLearning with the coding tools we’ve got, and honestly it feels doable since I have some coding experience plus a graphic design background, so I can put together SCORM packages with AI that run in our LMS. I’m curious though, for anyone else doing this, how’s the technical side been for you? Are you building from scratch, using frameworks, or just patching things together? What’s actually working?

Hello all -- With the new DOJ deadline for making your content accessible on the horizon, I created an application called Joshua, which can help you remediate your content.

JOSHUA is your virtual Instructional Designer for Canvas. Equipped with a variety of templates, JOSHUA can assist faculty with designing ADA-compliant Canvas pages color-coded to their campus.

Most folks select: Create a General Content page or Announcement, but he can walk you through the steps to create more nuanced pages. :) If you need help, please message me.