Branching transforms your linear courses into interactive journeys, allowing learners to follow different paths based on their decisions, answers, or skill levels. Think of it as creating a “Choose Your Own Adventure” for your training. It’s a game-changer for engagement and knowledge retention.

So, how do you get started? Let’s walk through the process, from planning to execution.

Why Branching Is a Must-Have in Your eLearning Toolkit

Before we dive into the “how,” let’s quickly recap the incredible benefits of branching:

• Personalized Learning: Learners can skip topics they already know or get extra help on areas where they struggle.
• Real-World Scenarios: Simulate decision-making situations, such as customer service interactions or safety protocols.
• Enhanced Engagement: When learners have a stake in the outcome, they are more invested and focused.
• Targeted Remediation: Send learners who answer a question incorrectly to a specific slide for review, providing just-in-time support.

Step-by-Step: How to Create a Simple Branching Scenario

Let’s use a straightforward example: a short quiz where an incorrect answer sends the learner to a remediation slide.

Step 1: Plan Your Flow

Before you even touch Captivate, grab a pen and paper or use a digital flowchart tool. Map out your slides and the connections between them. A simple visual plan prevents confusion later on.

• Slide 1: Introduction
• Slide 2: Quiz Question (Correct answer leads to Slide 4; Incorrect answer leads to Slide 3)
• Slide 3: Remediation Slide (Review the material, with a button to return to Slide 2)
• Slide 4: Next Topic Slide (Proceed to the rest of the course)

Step 2: Build Your Slides in Captivate

Create the slides you mapped out in your plan. Design your quiz question slide and the remediation slide. For the remediation slide, add a button that will take the learner back to the quiz question.

Step 3: Set Up the Branching Logic

This is where the magic happens. We’ll use Captivate’s built-in actions to define the branching rules.

1. For the Quiz Question Slide: Navigate to the Properties panel for your quiz question. Here, you’ll specify the action for both a correct and incorrect answer.
   • On Success: Set the action to Go to Next Slide (which is Slide 4 in our plan).
   • On Failure: Set the action to Jump to Slide and select your remediation slide (Slide 3).
2. For the Remediation Slide: Select the button you added to this slide.
   • In the Actions panel for the button, set the On Success action to Jump to Slide and select your original quiz question slide (Slide 2). This gives the learner a chance to try again.

And that’s it! You’ve just created a basic branching scenario. The learner’s path is now determined by their performance, not a rigid, linear structure.

Pro Tips for Awesome Branching

As you get more comfortable, consider these best practices to take your branching to the next level:

• Use Advanced Actions: For more complex scenarios, Advanced Actions and Conditional Actions give you more control. You can use variables to track a learner’s progress and show or hide content accordingly.
• Provide Clear Navigation: Make sure your buttons and links are intuitive. Learners should always know where they are and how to move forward or backward.
• Test, Test, Test: Branching can introduce complexity. Thoroughly test your project to ensure all the paths and actions work as intended. Get a colleague to test it out too.

Branching in Adobe Captivate might seem intimidating at first, but with a little planning, you can create powerful, personalized learning experiences that truly resonate with your audience.

What are some creative ways you’ve used branching in your eLearning projects? Share your ideas in the comments below!