Menu lesson

The Menu lesson presents the trainee with a series of choices or Options - the trainee can direct their own path through the lesson by selecting the option that they want to learn about, (this may be in the order that they appear or not - depending on the trainee's specific needs).

Used for

Complex learning topics (grouping information into menu headings assists memory retention), Reference guides

 

Options

An Option may contain a List of Elements or another menu (commonly called a sub-menu). An Option also has a Preferences, Introduction and End Section.

Element
Lists

An Element List can be Sequential or Random. The Elements contained within that list are presented to the user in sequential or random order.

For example you may have a Menu Lesson called "35mm Photography", the goal of which is to teach users about photography. You could present the Lesson to a trainee as a menu by subdividing it into separate topics.

35mm Photography

  •  Using a camera
  •  Composition
  •  Lighting
  •  Test

The first three options would be sequential lists of Elements that explain the particular topic. The Test might be a series of Elements, Randomly selected from a list.

When the Lesson runs, each of the Menu options is presented to the user in the form of text, buttons or images. When the user chooses one of the buttons, the matching list of Elements is presented to the user.

When the list is completed the Lesson will return to the menu and present the buttons for each menu option once again. Usually the button for the completed option is ticked.

Sub-menus

Any Option may also be another menu - called a sub-menu. The sub-menu in turn may have an option that leads to another sub-menu and so on. However, navigating through multiple menu levels can be confusing. If you find that you need more than three menu levels for your lesson then you might consider breaking the Lesson into separate modules.

In this way you can give your lesson a structure that reflects the break up of your subject matter. Only a Menu Lesson can contain sub menus.

A Menu option contains an Information and Interaction section.

Creating a Menu Lesson

The steps for creating Menu Lessons are:

  •  add a top level menu to your project
  •  add Options to the menu (or sub menus)
  •  add Elements to each of your Options.

If you are using a script as the starting point for any project, the structure of your Menu lesson will reflect the Table of Contents of this file.

See Creating a Menu Lesson and Adding Options to a Menu .