Can You Handle a Day in the Classroom?

My Process

Guided by the ADDIE model, I iterated each step of my process until I felt certain with the look, feel, and effectiveness of the learning experience. I conducting a training needs assessment to gain a deeper understanding of the needs and challenges faced by the target audience. Focusing on the objectives, I created a text-based storyboard and sent it to the SME for approval. Once I had approval on the content and media selection, I began designing the visual mockups and sent them to the SME for feedback, and made the necessary improvements. Once I had made the improvements I moved on to full development, constantly getting feedback until it was was ready to be implemented. Creating this project was an ongoing process that required repetition and analysis. I created an action map, wrote a text-based storyboard, designed visual mock ups, created a visual storyboard, before finally developing the final product.

Action Map

I conducted several informational interviews to understand the role of a substitute teacher, the expectations, responsibilities, common mistakes, and the need for training became very clear. With this information I used MindMeister to create an action map.

Text-Based Storyboard

Using my action map as the groundwork, I created a text-based storyboard for this project. My informal interviews helped me to identify real-life consequences that substitute teachers would face depending on how they managed the class and supported the students. The text-based storyboard includes a breakdown of the scenario by prompts, questions, answer choices, consequences, and character text. 

To best help the learners meet the established goal, I prioritized the common mistakes and included them in the experience. It was important that the final product was scenario-driven and based on selected actions in the action map to avoid information overload.  

Visual Mockups

When I was confident that my storyboard laid out an engaging and effective training experience, I was able to move on to my visual design phase. I used Adobe XD to create visual mocks and get a better idea of how the project would look. Using Adobe XD allowed me to make quick edits, and experiment with color palettes before moving to Articulate Storyline. This helped streamline my creative process and develop several visual mock ups quickly,

Visual Storyboard

Next, I created a visual storyboard that not only included the design of the slides, but also the text, triggers, programming notes, color palette, and visuals to bring the scenarios to life. This helped visualize how the elements would interact on the screen and the flow of the eLearning.

Interactive Prototype

I then created an interactive prototype using Articulate Storyline 360, to test the functionality on the project. This prototype consisted of the introduction, a prompt, and the first two questions based on the template I created on Adobe XD. I incorporated many features from Storyline such as triggers, icons, characters, and states. Developing the prototype before full development was a crucial step, as I was able to redo and edit certain areas after receiving feedback on the project.

Full Development

Although, at times, the full development of this project was challenging, it was also extremely rewarding. I learned the complex features of Articulate Storyline quickly, and worked them to flow well and consistent. Learning these functions was important as they allow the learner to advance through the training smoothly. It was important to make sure that the buttons were in tune and with the style of the project, so I built them from scratch. I am so pleased with how they turned out, and how much I learned in the process.