Living Spaces
This client needed a course on the topic of Living Spaces. This was essentially a course designed around introducing a product range a was one of eight similar courses. I have chosen the living spaces conservatories as the example to show here but the others covered windows, doors, garages etc. These courses were used by the sales teams in order to help them learn about the latest products.
Course Features
Here are some of the features I included in the course design, along with my reasons for including them and the benefits they provide.
1. Feature
Filmed content showing the sales practices used when presenting these products to a customer.
Benefit:
The benefit of seeing the sale process was that it allows the sales learners to pick up what different techniques to deploy in different scenarios. It also allows them to see which parts of the product should be shown at the various different stages of the process.
2. Feature
Making use of graphics to present the information and interesting transition and slides.
Benefit: Since most learners are required to take this course each year, why not make it interesting. The graphics and animation really help to do this and keep them interested from beginning to end.
Click Image to Launch Demo
3. Feature
Not many learners are fans of having a quiz thrown at them at the end of the course so I made sure that I tested their knowledge throughout the course with small questions and made it clear that there was a quiz coming at the end.
Benefit: This allowed the learner to come prepared and ready to take on the quiz at the end. It resulted in a higher pass grade.
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4. Feature
Rather than just give a definition of Quid Pro Quo harassment, for example, I created a scene to illustrate it. I also showed the case studies being played out in a series of scenes, rather than presenting them with just text or narration.
Benefit: By showing learners concepts in action, as opposed to reading about them or hearing a narration about them, the information is conveyed much more quickly and the learner is more likely to retain it.
Published Sample
Here’s a published sample of the course so you can get an idea of the tone, pacing, narration, and overall presentation as the learner sees it.
Click Image to Launch Demo
Why Does This Course Work?
- Interesting Character and Point of View: It’s easy to get pulled into the content in an enjoyable way once you’re interested in a character and a situation. Our well-meaning sometime-harasser was just the right man for the job.
- Humor: I couldn’t stand the idea of creating a deadly-earnest sexual harassment course. It’s a serious topic, but it’s also fine fodder for carefully-crafted humor. And it works!
- Good Illustrations of Concepts and Scenarios: I illustrated concepts by showing people in real situations rather than just talking about them. Those details and visuals keep learners interested and engaged.
- Results: The client was so happy and excited about this course that they made promotional posters and emails using Arlo’s image, and it went over extremely well with learners.
What Was My Role?
- Instructional Designer: To make the information “stick” I chunked this course into smaller, targeted lessons and organized and presented them in the context of a salesperson’s day and the company’s sales process. I also designed the flexible navigation and free practice features so that learners could feel more like masters of their own training destinies. Basically, I designed the whole course.
- Course Developer: I developed it in Articulate Studio ’09. Articulate Storyline was just being released as I started the development process, but the client wasn’t ready for it at that point. Dan Sweigert also did a lot of work in the development process.
- Writer: I took what was essentially software documentation and turned it into training that was easy and conversational in tone. Then I threaded it into scenarios I wrote in order to give the tasks real-world meaning.
- Visual Designer: I designed and developed all of the graphics with the assistance of Dan Sweigert, who worked on development. Some of Dan’s visual gems include the riding-in-the-car scenes and the at-home scenes.
- Voiceover Artist: That’s me!