Can You Communicate Efficiently in a Team Environment?

Scenario-Based eLearning Training

Overview

Human resources is a group of people who are specifically responsible for managing a company's entire employee experience. The HR department needs to communicate successfully to develop procedures and policies for recruiting and hiring employees, listen to employee concerns, and accept all constructive feedback. 

I met with current employees, whom expressed their frustrations about the lack of communication and team work within the company. The employees stated that due to lack of information, they don't always know what to do or what their role is. I confirmed the need for training and decided to develop a scenario-based eLearning to help improve team communication throughout the HR department.

The Human Resource department already requires online training for new employees, so this will be a good addition to their hiring process and it is the most cost effective way to provide access to the training for all current and new employees.

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. 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, and finally, developed the final product.

Action Map

After speaking with current employees and teams within the HR department, the need for training was clear. Meeting with the team individually and together, gave me a better understanding of the communication expectations within the teams, and the common mistakes that are happening. With this information, I used MindMeister to develop an action map.

Text-Based Storyboard

I created a texted-based storyboard for this project, using my action map as the ground work. All choices and consequences in this scenario-based eLearning were derived from my action map, based on information from the current employees, and the common mistakes that are causing problems withing the HR department.

The text-based storyboard includes a breakdown of the scenario by prompts, questions, answer choices, and consequences. 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

Before creating my visual storyboard and prototype, I created some visual mockup slide layouts in Adobe XD. I selected a color scheme and front type that aligned with the company's brand, and I used Adobe XD to experiment. I sourced some vectors and from there I used Adobe XD to edit the vectors, make quick edits, and experiment with color palettes before moving to Articulate Storyline. 

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, this prototype consisted of the introduction and the first two questions based on the template I created on Adobe XD. I also included the appropriate triggers, states, and other programming notes that would bring the eLearning training to life. After multiple revisions, I perfected the layout, buttons, and functionality of the eLearning before moving on to full development.

Full Development

Once I was fully confident with the look and functionality of my prototype, I built the rest of the scenario-based slides and iterated on them until all states, triggers, and visuals flowed together nicely. At times, the full development of this project was challenging, but it was also extremely gratifying. I am so please with how it turned out, and with how much I learned during the process.