Help Them Hike Safe

Scenario-Based eLearning Project

I designed this immersive, story-based learning experience to help park employees learn how to have conversations with park visitors to guide them towards making safe decisions about hiking and camping. I worked with a real Subject Matter Expert to help solve an actual problem however, the names of the park, campsites, and trails have been changed for this public version of the project.

Audience: Seasonal Interpretive Rangers, Office Staff, and new Park Rangers at Foothills State Park
Responsibilities: Instructional Design, Action Mapping (Needs Analysis), Storyboarding, Visual Mockups, eLearning Development
Tools Used: Mindmeister, Google Docs, Canva, Google Slides, Powerpoint, Storyline 360
KPI: Rescues of lost or injured hikers and campers will decrease by 20% in 2023 as compared to 2022 (measured by the number of accident reports completed by Park Rangers)

The Problem

There has been an increase in park visitors getting lost or injured due to making poor decisions about which trail to hike or where to camp.

Park Rangers have noticed an increase in park patrons in need of help, especially after the park closes at sundown. In most cases, the need arises from hikers who are still on trail after dark, lost or injured hikers, or unprepared backcountry campers. Not only is this a safety concern for park visitors, but it is also causing funding issues. When Park Rangers have to stay late or return to work in the middle of the night, this causes them to require overtime pay, which cuts into the budget that should be used on park improvements and public programming.

The Solution

Employees will have better conversations with park visitors and guide them towards appropriate hiking and camping options.

After analysis with the client, we determined that purposeful conversations with park visitors could help decrease the number of Ranger rescues due to injuries, lost hikers, and unprepared campers. Visitor Center staff, Seasonal Interpretive Rangers, and Park Rangers should strive to have verbal conversations with as many park visitors as possible. I proposed multiple scenario-based eLearning experiences where employees could practice navigating conversations with visitors and work on steering them towards appropriate trails and campsites.

My Process

Following the ADDIE model, I designed and developed this learning experience from start to finish. I created multiple iterations of each step until I was confident with the final product. I received frequent feedback to help guide my design and development decisions.

After the client accepted my proposal of an eLearning solution I wrote a detailed Design Document, worked with the SME to create an Action Map, drafted a storyboard, designed visual mockups, and developed a minimally viable version of the product.

Design Document

First, I created a design document in Google Docs. This design document included details from the “Analysis” step of the ADDIE process. I detailed the problem and the proposed learning solution and wrote objectives using Bloom’s Taxonomy. I then went on to analyze the target audience, describe the training and deliverables that I would create, and explain how the park would need to follow-through after the experience. I also included how we would measure the success of this project in the evaluation phase.

You can read the entire document by selecting the button below.

Action Map

After thoroughly analyzing the needs of the client, I worked with a Subject Matter Expert to create an action map for the project. The SME was a seasoned park ranger who was very familiar with the problem as well as the various trails and campsites available at the park.

I placed the measurable performance goal in a text box at the far left of the document. We worked together to identify the observable tasks and actions which park employees would need to do in order to reach that goal. I organized the actions under three main subsections and proposed that each of these sections be a separate training module so that employees would only need to dedicate 10-15 minutes at a time to this training.

I find Cathy Moore’s strategic action mapping to be very useful for identifying key tasks and behavioral changes that should be addressed in order to reach the business goal. By creating an action map together with the SME, I can ensure that we focus on the most important points and do not include irrelevant information. This helps keep the training succinct and meaningful for the learners. Prioritizing actions also reduces cognitive load and makes the information easier for the learner to retain and comprehend. I referred frequently to the Action Map throughout the rest of my design and development process to avoid scope-creep and keep the project on task.

Text-Based Storyboard

After identifying the actions that needed to be taken in the Action Map, I worked with the SME to develop a story based around these actions. It was important that the story be realistic and similar to actual conversations that park employees might have with park patrons. As the employee works through each conversation, they are presented with many choices and shown the real-life consequences if they do not choose correctly. I also added a mentor character to help guide the learner throughout the experience.

I enjoyed diving into the finer details while creating the storyboard for this project. The storyboard was an important step in the design process as I planned out exactly what would be a part of the final deliverable. Carefully crafting the text-based storyboard helped me ensure that I was following best-practice instructional strategies and applying what I know about Adult Learning. For example, I went through the storyboard to check that I had included a learning activity for most of Gagne’s 9 events.

I presented the storyboard to the SME for revisions before beginning the development of the slides for the learning module. His feedback helped ensure less revisions later in the development process.

To read the complete storyboard for the first mini-module, please select the button below.

Visual Mock-Ups

During the storyboarding process, I also began to develop visual mock-ups using Canva. I chose to start developing these rough drafts simultaneously with the storyboard because it helped me to envision the characters and scenes that I was creating in the text. I went through several iterations until I decided on a set of characters, scenes, and colors that I liked.

Once I had decided on a set of slides and characters that I liked, I put together a style guide to help me as I developed the course and then edited all of the elements to match that guide. After creating the individual elements, I continued to create my slides in Canva. I started by creating the title slide, and templates for an introduction slide, question slide, feedback slide, and the mentor character slide. I could then copy each of these templates and add the text I needed for each slide. This made the development process much faster.

MVP/Prototype

Before building the course in Articulate Storyline, I decided to put a minimally viable version of this project together in Google Slides. This would also serve as my prototype for development later in my process. There are definitely some limitations by using this platform instead of a traditional eLearning authoring tool. Although it lacks the “bells and whistles” I was able to add with Articulate Storyline I feel that this minimally viable product would serve the purpose of training current or new employees on this topic.

I completed the first mini-module and received feedback from the SME. I made changes at his suggestion and then shared the module with other SMEs and received positive feedback on the content.

eLearning Development in Storyline 360

Finally, it was time to develop the course in Storyline 360. I really enjoy working with this powerful authoring tool. I used my Google Slides prototype to help guide my development process. After creating the introduction slides and a few of the slides for the branching scenario, I asked fellow instructional designers to review my project and offer feedback before I continued with development.

I received very helpful feedback from my peers and from more experienced instructional designers. I used their critiques to improve the course before continuing to build the branching scenario. For example, I removed a voice over during the introduction that was just reading text on the screen. I also made changes to the design to keep the artwork more consistent. This required re-designing some characters in PowerPoint and changing the character used for the park visitor entirely. I also changed the question format to look more conversational and included more diversity in the characters.

You can see some of these changes in the screenshots below:

After I was happy with the first few slides of the interactions, I copied those slides to continue developing the branching scenario until it was complete.

This published version of the eLearning project only includes one conversation. The fully developed course would include several conversations with various park visitors where the learner will have to help steer each one towards making the safest decision for themselves.

You can view the project by selecting the button below.

Takeaways

I learned quite a bit about the instructional design process and my own capabilities in the creation of this project. I will keep these lessons in mind as I continue to improve upon my skills.

Problem Solving

I ran into several problems while putting the project into Google Slides. I needed to make it impossible for the user to advance through the slides without following the correct prompts. I used the power of Google to help me solve these problems quickly and moved on with creating the project how I had envisioned.

I also found that there was a bit of a learning curve when developing in Storyline. However, it was not difficult to find the solutions online and work through my problems quickly.

Visual Design

It took several iterations to get to a visual design that I feel looks consistent and appealing. I hope to continue developing my visual design skills and add more tools, such as Adobe Illustrator, to my toolbox soon.

Adapting and Changing

The timeline I had originally set for this project was accelerated when I landed a job interview so I adapted and changed my plans in order to meet the deadline. I asked myself what I could eliminate in order to get the project finished quickly. I decided that, at this time, an introduction video and audio throughout the course were not necessary. I also decided to use Google Slides rather than Storyline for the initial prototype because it was a tool I was already familiar with and could readily access. The company I was interviewing for was also a Google Partner for Education so I wanted to demonstrate my skills in the Google Suite. I believe that this demonstrates my ability to adapt to quickly-changing circumstances and make adjustments on the fly.

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