How to Wash Your Hands.
Participated in a case-study where I was asked to create an effective learning solution for teaching Manufacturing Associates how to wash their hands.
Cepheid is a molecular diagnostics company based in Sunnyvale, CA. The company creates testing kits that are used by major hospitals to diagnose various diseases such as COVID-19. There are various manufacturing lines that are operated by Manufacturing Associates.
As an Operations Instructional Designer, it is my responsibility to create a course that is engaging, understandable, and informative.
I was provided the opportunity to present my skill set by completing a case study where I was asked to create at least one storyboard for an e-learning course related to washing your hands.
My Role: Operations Instructional Designer
Team Size: 1 person
Platform: Desktop
Target Audience: Manufacturing Associates at Cepheid
Year: April 2022
Problem Statement
I was provided a PowerPoint presentation with the following scenario:
Imagine that you have been asked to create an e-learning course or an instructional video on washing your hands.
Create a set of storyboards for one lesson of your recommended learning solution.
How can I create a set of storyboards for an e-learning course regarding hand-washing?
Process
Everyone learns with a combination different manners: auditory (hearing), visual, and/or kinesthetic (hands-on teaching). It is my responsibility as a designer to accommodate these methods when developing the storyboards. Therefore, I decided to create a set of storyboards for an e-learning course rather than an instructional video. Since the training would be online, it allows the designer to spread the message in a cost-effective manner. Yes, an e-learning course can be dense but thanks to software(s) such as Rise, and Articulate Storyline, you can incorporate checkpoints and activities to retain engagement. In a video, as a viewer, you won't be able to engage with it directly. Another benefit is that you can enable tracking on an e-Learning course. This allows the designer to check the learner's status, determine at what point the learning course was stuck, and adapt the training based on provided feedback.
This course utilizes ADDIE (Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, Evaluate) method and the Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction, more specifically:
- Event 3 (Stimulate recall of prior learning)
- Event 5 (Provide Learning Guidance)
- Event 8 (Assess performance)
Before I created the course outline, I analyzed the information provided by the CDC and created the following learning objectives:
- Understand how germs spread from person to person and from surface to person.
- Identify the 5 steps of washing hands properly using water and soap.
- Recognize the key times to wash hands.
- Identify what can be used as alternative if water and soap are not available.
- Recall the benefits of hand washing.
Design Process
After reviewing the 'Hand Washing' page, I was able to condense the content into three categories:
1. Germs and How They Spread
2. Washing Hands
3. Hand Sanitizer
From there, I was able to design the course outline shown below. This allows me to prioritize the important information to include in the course.
After creating the outline, I was able to determine what kind of activities to include in each lesson. Based on Events 3 and 8 of Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction, I decided to include knowledge checks and scenario-based activities so that the learner will be able to recall what they learned in the previous lesson.
From there on, I was able to develop the following story boards for the e-learning course. I split my storyboard into three sections: Content that will be shown on the screen (where I will go into detail on what will be included), Interactivity & Programing Notes (where I will note down what types of interactions will be used), and Slide Mockup (how the final slide will look like).
I included important information in each section. Let's take the Interactivity & Programing Notes as an example.
Under the section titled "Steps on How to Wash Your Hands", I knew that I wanted to include a process slide since there were multiple steps involved. In each step, you have the opportunity to view detailed information.
For the section titled "Key Times to Wash Your Hands", I included a Scenario based questionnaire. This activity allowed the learners to check if they understood the material mentioned before.
Conclusion
Since this was a case study for a hypothetical situation, I did not get a chance to publish (implement) my course on to our Learning Management System-Compliance Wire. However, I did get feedback (evaluation) from my fellow designers at Cepheid on how to take my design skill-set to the next level.
