Virtual Meetings That Work Microlearning

This quick learning experience helps leaders transform lackluster virtual meetings into engaging, productive gatherings that people actually want to attend.

RESPONSIBILITIES: Instructional Designer & Developer
SKILLS: JavaScript development, Visual design, AI-assisted content creation, E-Learning development
TOOLS USED: Articulate Rise and Storyline 360, JavaScript, Adobe Illustrator, Claude LLM
TARGET AUDIENCE: Virtual team leaders, managers, facilitators
CLIENT: Personal Portfolio Project
YEAR: 2025

EXPERIENCE THIS PROJECT

THE PROBLEM

For this personal portfolio project, I wanted to develop my JavaScript skills to create a sophisticated downloadable reflection feature that could collect learner inputs across multiple reflection prompts throughout the course. I knew I would need to push myself to use temporary browser storage to seamlessly compile reflections from separate Storyline blocks into a single downloadable PDF. This is a feature I envision using in future learning experiences.

THE SOLUTION

I created "Virtual Meetings That Work," a short course based on Priya Parker's research, that guides learners through the complete meeting lifecycle while they build a personalized meeting plan. The course employs a sophisticated technical feature that allows learners to reflect on their own meeting challenges throughout the experience and download a comprehensive action plan at the end. This approach transforms passive content consumption into active application, ensuring learners leave with immediately usable tools for their workplace.

THE PROCESS

TOPIC SELECTION

As organizations continue to embrace remote and hybrid work models, the need for effective virtual meeting facilitation has never been greater.

I chose to build around Priya Parker's "Virtual Gathering Guide" because her evidence-based approach to meeting facilitation aligned perfectly with my goal of creating actionable, behavior-focused learning content. Her work provided a solid foundation while allowing room for creative instructional design interpretation.

CONTENT DEVELOPMENT WITH AI ASSISTANCE

In recent years, I have found a variety of ways to leverage AI tools as a productivity-booster in the content planning and development process. While AI cannot replace human creativity and expertise, it can accelerate brainstorming, quickly generate multiple content variations, and serve as a tireless collaborator for refining ideas.

For this project, leveraged the Claude LLM (large language model) to analyze Parker's guide and generate topic outline ideas. Through iterative prompting, I had Claude help me refine and condense the content structure and draft realistic workplace scenarios and knowledge check questions. While the LLM helped me synthesize content and brainstorm examples, the instructional design decisions and learning experience architecture were my own. Believing that effective learning content must drive behavioral change, I directed Claude to structure the course into four mini-modules that mirror the natural flow of a meeting: pre-meeting planning, opening, facilitation, and closing. This practical organization, alongside the real world application activity, allows learners to immediately apply concepts learned to their own meetings.

I also leaned heavily on Claude to troubleshoot the JavaScript components. This coding would have taken me days to research and figure out on my own, so it was a big time saver and accelerant for my learning.

A screenshot of part of my conversation with the Claude.ai LLM

VISUAL DESIGN

Using sound visual design principles to organize and present information not only makes the experience more appealing, but also promotes understanding, recall, and combats cognitive overload.

It was important to me that the course be cohesive and visually striking. I developed a vibrant, playful visual identity that brings energy and warmth to what could otherwise be dry corporate content.

To accomplish this, I started by selecting a bold color palette and sourcing a vector illustration pack.

Using Adobe Illustrator, I deconstructed the vector images to varying degrees and drew some custom accents (squiggles, lines, etc.) to create unique design elements scattered throughout the course.

I used these images to make the background images for the Rise course, creating visual cohesion while maintaining that bright, approachable aesthetic.

JAVASCRIPT DEVELOPMENT

The ability to take notes or respond to questions directly within the course is a feature I have often thought could be helpful in certain learning experiences. Unfortunately, this is not a feature built into Articulate products currently.

For this project, I built a downloadable notes feature using JavaScript that I coded in Articulate Storyline, which were embedded within the Rise course where they are accessed by the learner. This enables the learner to respond freely to reflection questions throughout the lesson, then download their compiled reflections at the end. Unlike simpler single-page downloads I'd created before, this required collecting user inputs from four separate interactions and compiling them into one cohesive PDF download.

I solved this challenge by using temporary browser storage. I built a system that seamlessly captures reflections across questions and generates a personalized meeting planning guide to download at the end of the course. The Claude LLM proved an invaluable assistant for troubleshooting my code and helping me make this complex feature work reliably. This saved me hours of research and trial and error.

TAKE A LOOK

Get a feel for this course, or feel free to experience the whole thing by using the button below.

Experience this project.

RESULTS & TAKEAWAYS

This project significantly advanced my technical capabilities in JavaScript development and complex data handling across multiple course components. With some help from AI, I now have a powerful new tool in my toolbelt to enhance the learner experience in future projects.

From an instructional design perspective, this project reinforced my belief that the most effective learning experiences are those that focus on enabling learners to apply concepts in their own contexts. The meeting-planning activity ensures that course completion naturally leads to real-world implementation.

Moving forward, I'm excited to incorporate both the technical skills and the learner-centric design approach into future projects. The combination of thoughtful AI collaboration, custom visual design, and advanced interactivity represents a new level of sophistication in my portfolio that I can bring to complex challenges in the future.

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