KanCoach Pre-Training

Business Purpose

Familiarize supervisors within the child welfare system in Kansas with the concepts that will be explored and practiced in-depth during an upcoming training on using a coaching approach to staff supervision.

Target Audience

Supervisors regardless of previous knowledge. 

Training Time

30 minutes 

Training Recommendation

One eLearning course. Course will use content and audio narration pulled from an existing PowerPoint slide deck that was formerly used for this pre-training. Level 1 and 2 interactivity will be added for improved engagement with the content, along with a graded knowledge check at the end. Wherever narration must be added or updated, AI voice narration will be used.

Deliverables  

One eLearning course developed in Articulate Storyline 360. Includes music and voiceover narration, an assessment with five questions and a final score.

Learning Objectives 

Learners will be able to…

1)    Define coaching

2)    Describe the coaching mindset

3)    List six coaching skills

4)    Identify the six steps of coaching

I was contracted to design and develop this learning experience in Articulate Storyline 360 from a narrated presentation provided in PowerPoint. The end client, the Children's Alliance of Kansas, wanted to improve the learning experience for the target audience of supervisors within the organization, who must take this pre-training prior to participating in the coaching ILT to follow. They also wanted me to revise the color scheme to be in line with their brand.

Text-based Storyboard

To help me identify the opportunities for interactivity and more engaging visuals to accompany the exsiting narration, I first created a storyboard in Microsoft Word. This allowed me to plan the best way to visually re-design each slide and plan appropriate interactions to keep the user engaged. I was given creative license to select photos and graphics, and to design layouts and interactions that would enhance the presentation of the necessary information, making it visually interesting. I also used the storyboard to present suggested revisions to the existing voiceover narration as well as my recommended reworking of the content to improve clarity and eliminate redundancy. 

Interactive Prototype

Once the text-based storyboard was complete, I used Storyline 360 to develop a prototype consisting of the introduction and first chapter of the project for review and approval by the SMEs.

By creating a prototype for each project, I enable stakeholders to review and give feedback on the functionality, look, and feel of the project early in the timeline. Then I can quickly iterate based on their feedback, so that the design and functionality are approved prior to full development. Bringing the project to life from that point is a relatively seamless process.

Results and Takeaways

I designed this project with both user engagement and visual design in mind. By greatly increasing the use of images of people, I made the narrated scenarios with dialog come to life, drawing the learner into the scene and improving retention. With animated video not in the budget, I created a motion effect using Storyline characters that simulated a real-time dialog.

Through this project I deepened my experience with Storyline features. I also gained experience producing and editing voiceover narration, both human and AI, and working with multiple SMEs. The end client was pleased with the upgrade to their pre-training experience, and I was immediately asked to work with them again on an upcoming project.