KinFirst Connections

Business Purpose

Create a self-paced 30-min introductory “pre-course” that participants will take prior to a three-hour ILT. 

Focus: Build enthusiasm and buy-in for prioritizing connection in foster care.

Why the pre-course? 6 hours is too long in the classroom. Need for efficiency and to establish buy-in and common ground prior to the ILT, which will be shortened to 3 hours. 

Get participants excited about the value of kinship and eager to explore how to support connections. Move them away from being quota focused. Inspire them to come into the ILT ready to contribute their own ideas of how to strengthen and expand connections for children in care.

Target Audience

All agency workers, regardless of role and previous knowledge. 

Training Time

30 minutes 

Training Recommendation

One eLearning course. Course will present content in four chapters with a knowledge check after each one and a reflection exercise at the end. Learners will be invited to print a copy of their reflection exercise and bring it to the ILT to enhance the discussion.

Deliverables  

One eLearning course developed in Articulate Rise 360 that allows the learner to interact with the content and receive feedback, to include:

• A variety of interactive blocks such as flip cards, accordions, carousels, tabs, and matching activities

• Graphics, photos, and videos

• Interactive knowledge checks with feedback

• A reflection exercise that can be printed and brought to the ILT

Learning Objectives 

Learners will be able to…

1) Name at least four benefits of kinship homes and kinship connections.

2) Recognize the foundational, leading kinship work of BIPOC communities.

3) Define “Kin First” and how it is more than a placement.

4) Identify at least four components of a kin first culture.

5) Describe the progress Kansas has made toward becoming a Kin First state, and what it needs to work on.

I was contracted to design and develop this learning experience in Articulate Rise 360 from a presentation provided in PowerPoint, along with other source materials. The end client, the Children's Alliance of Kansas, wanted to improve the learning experience for the target audience of child welfare professionals throughout the organization, who must take this pre-training prior to participating in the ILT to follow.

Text-based Storyboard

To help me map out the content and identify holes in the source material, I first created a storyboard in Microsoft Word. This allowed me to first focus on the writing, and then design the visuals and 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 referred to the client's website and an existing Rise course in the client's learning library to ensure consistency in style and flow with their brand.

Interactive Prototype

Once the text-based storyboard was complete, I used Rise 360 to develop a prototype consisting of the first chapter of the project, and submitted it along with the storyboard 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. 

Through this project I deepened my experience with Rise features. The end client was pleased with this first project, and I was immediately contracted to work with them again on an upcoming project.