4 Common Myths About Responsive eLearning ... Busted!

Responsive eLearning design has long been a focus area for instructional designers and developers looking to keep up with the way people learn. It’s become clear to instructional designers in 2025 that learners are no longer completing 100% of their training on their desktop computers – they’re often using phones and tablets to access their learning. Responsive design was created to target the changing way in which users were interacting with the web and learning content. With responsive design content adapts to different screen sizes, aiming to provide a great experience for people, no matter what device they are using. 

But what are the limitations of responsive eLearning, and perhaps more importantly, what are they not? 

Paul Schneider, PhD from dominKnow recently hosted a webinar with Jacqueline Hutchinson, Chief Learning Designer at e-Learning Pros. They discussed common myths about responsive eLearning design and explored how to transition from an authoring tool like Articulate Rise to an all-in-one learning content management system (LCMS) with a built-in responsive authoring option, such as dominKnow | ONE—highlighting why this switch is easier than it may seem.

Busting 4 common responsive eLearning design myths

Many misconceptions about responsive eLearning design stem from the limitations of the tools authors use and how providers present their solutions. A common misconception among Articulate Rise users is the belief that creating more engaging or creatively designed learning experiences isn’t possible with responsive design, forcing them to rely on traditional fixed-pixel solutions like Storyline. The good news? That’s simply not the case!

Let’s unpack four of the most common myths.

Myth #1: Responsive content design is limited to basic uniform blocks

Rapid content authoring tools like Articulate Rise generally offer predefined block controls for adding content. While they’re great for quickly developing eLearning, they can feel limiting if you want to break free from those constraints and get more creative.

Luckily, with a platform like dominKnow | ONE, authors gain significantly more flexibility, enabling them to elevate their designs without being confined by the restrictions of other responsive authoring tools.

In Rise, you can work with basic templates like image + text, but customization is limited unless you rely on a third-party tool or Storyline. However, using these external tools often compromises responsiveness—such as adding text over an image in Photoshop or embedding a Storyline block—resulting in non-responsive content and ultimately diminishing the learner’s experience.

With a tool like dominKnow | ONE, you can incorporate elements like panels to emphasize key content, ensuring it adapts beautifully across different screen sizes. It also maintains content cohesion by using features like pop-ups to structure information effectively, keeping related content organized in a logical flow. This is just one example of how you can design based on instructional needs rather than being constrained by tool limitations.

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Jacqueline Hutchinson

Chief Learning Designer, E-Learning Pros

“In dominKnow, I can have all my elements in whatever order and as many columns as I want.”

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Myth #2: I’m limited in my page design and layout

Many responsive tools limit the ability to create complex designs and layouts, often leading to the misconception that a fixed-pixel approach is necessary. For instance, in Rise, presenting large amounts of related data typically requires a basic table. While this technically displays the information, Jacqueline pointed out that it can overwhelm learners and obscure key relationships. To achieve a more intuitive design, Rise authors often have to build it externally and then import it back as a non-responsive block, compromising the learning experience.

With dominKnow | ONE, you gain greater flexibility in page design and layout, allowing you to create structures that better align with your instructional goals. For example, when Jacqueline’d Rise content was converted into editable dominKnow | ONE content, she was able to refine the content that resided in a table into a smart ‘tab-in-tab’ setup. This approach made the material feel less overwhelming, helping learners focus on individual relationships and understand how they connect to the bigger picture (e.g., 'X sits under umbrella Y')."

A core principle of responsive design is that elements like tabs adapt to different screen sizes, ensuring content is presented logically regardless of the layout. In contrast, non-responsive designs that simply 'shrink to fit' often fail to provide the same usability, forcing learners to constantly zoom in and out just to read the content. Responsive design eliminates this frustration by automatically adjusting to different screen sizes for a seamless learning experience.

When combining Rise with non-responsive tools, learners often face disjointed content—what works well in one section may require zooming or resizing in another. With dominKnow, however, all your unique designs and interactive elements are natively responsive. They automatically adjust and 'stack' as needed, providing a smart layout that maintains your design objectives across all devices. 

Myth #3: Responsive content can’t be as “interactive”

Another common myth, often fueled by differences in tools, is that responsive content can't be as interactive as traditional fixed-pixel designs. While it's true that considerations around size are important when creating drag-and-drop or click/touch exercises, responsiveness itself doesn't hinder the ability to craft engaging interactive content.

Though 'interactive' content can mean different things to each instructional designer, it generally refers to any experience that requires learner input, leading to changes or actions as a result.

Jacqueline’s ‘tab-in-tab’ setup in dominKnow | ONE serves as an example of interactive content. The core of interactivity involves a ‘trigger,’ often initiated by the user, such as a click, followed by an ‘action,’ like content appearing on the screen that wasn’t visible before. The limits of many responsive tools have led to the misconception that only prepackaged actions—such as tabs, basic question types, and markers—are capable of creating interactivity. This often results in less engaging, less meaningful content, where ‘click’ exercises are added just for the sake of interaction, rather than offering true learner engagement.

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A simple yet powerful example of interactivity that showcases the flexibility offered by dominKnow | ONE involves drawing attention to specific aspects of a video clip. Jacqueline mentioned that in Rise, you can add narration text or specific points beneath the video for reinforcement, but that approach is quite limiting. In one of her use cases, she wanted to emphasize certain key moments within the video while it was playing. With dominKnow, she was able to set triggers at specific video timestamps, allowing key points to appear and disappear as the video progressed. This approach reinforced the message within the context of the full video. This was just one situation Jacqueline was able to improve upon and fully realize her instructional goals and all with a responsive design. For an example with advanced uses of triggers, actions, variables, timers, and branching, check out the Drive-Thur Service Game

Myth #4: Objects are limited in design and interactivity

Responsiveness and interactivity go hand in hand, and choosing a tool like dominKnow | ONE allows instructional designers to optimize both. With dominKnow, designers can enhance customized designs and interactions, while also making the most of the built-in interactive objects.

Quizzing is a prime example of this. In tools like Articulate Rise, you can create basic multiple-choice quizzes with predefined questions and answers. It offers the essentials, such as individual item feedback, but it’s limited in terms of deeper engagement. While it serves the purpose of knowledge checking, any skilled instructional designer knows that if you're only assessing knowledge, you're missing out on a valuable learning opportunity.

In contrast, dominKnow | ONE offers a wide variety of question types and interactive quiz options. Authors can customize feedback in virtually any way they choose, even linking back to content within the material, which reinforces the knowledge check and saves authors time. Instead of relying on basic “Yes, that’s correct” or “No, try again” feedback, quizzes can become an integral part of the learning experience. This flexibility allows authors to incorporate pre-testing, timed assessments, branching, and even unique interactions before (e.g., pausing a video for a knowledge check) and after (e.g., providing personalized visual experiences or branching to different sections based on user choices), eliminating the repetitive cycle of simple multiple-choice questions.

How to convert from Rise to dominKnow | ONE

Converting content from one authoring tool to another can seem overwhelming, often involving a lot of manual work—copying and pasting content, with minimal optimization using pre-defined templates. 

Recognizing this challenge, dominKnow created a solution: the Articulate Rise to dominKnow | ONE conversion tool. With this tool, your team can submit a request to convert a few courses or your entire Articulate Rise library, and the dominKnow team will process a mass conversion. 

The mass conversion tool will process all of your content, preserving the look and feel of your content while empowering your team to elevate it using dominKnow | ONE.

This means your team can focus on what really matters—adding interactive elements and innovative designs—without worrying about how to manage existing content or maintaining unnecessary software licenses. With the original course as a foundation, you can easily incorporate the advanced features you’ve always wanted but couldn’t implement before. You might be surprised by how quick and painless the process can be!

At this point, the biggest challenge may simply be overcoming the limitations you’ve grown accustomed to and fully embracing your creative freedom with dominKnow | ONE!

‍Ready to explore more? Watch the full webinar recording here to catch all the valuable insights shared by Jacqueline and Paul!

Experience dominKnow | ONE’s responsive eLearning for yourself

Of course, the proof is in the pudding, and we want to prove to you just how quick and easy it can be to create responsive eLearning courses with dominKnow | ONE. That’s why we’d love to offer you a free trial – get started today for your fastest route to engaging, interactive, responsive eLearning design.