Time Management eLearning Course

This  eLearning course was designed and developed following the ADDIE process. 

Analysis

For this project, I addressed a growing problem that many businesses face with their employees: Time Management. This topic is multi-faceted, as their are many different ways to approach this issue. I researched a variety of strategies and settled on four unique techniques to use as my learning objectives in my course. These four strategies support different types of time management problems that employees may face. After I completed this needs-analysis, and wrote my learning objectives, I created an action map to think through the flow of the entire course.

Design

Once I understood the learning objectives, along with the actions steps and practice activities to support the goals, I was ready to draft my design document. This design document would serve as a guide to explain my audience, learning objectives, topics, modality, and how success would be measured for this blended training solution. From there, I drafted a project plan and timeline to keep the project on track. Finally, I drafted a visual storyboard. Since I originally planned on doing a text-based course, I drafted a visual storyboard to show how I would balance the text and visual graphics of each slide. 

Development

Although the structure of my process followed the ADDIE model, I applied the iterative approach of the SAM model as well. This eLearning Course had three iterations. As I learned to apply both visual design elements and aspects of the Adult Learning Theory, my project took on three, distinct phases. 

During the first iteration, I learned how to balance visual design with the content I needed to present to the learner. The way course was presented did not engage the learner and ultimately, would not have been an effective course. 

You will notice in the second iteration how I focused on visual design elements such as balancing whitespace with the design in the background. I also had specific font pairings and a color scheme that was more consistent throughout this course. This version is distinct because I used audio to help balance the amount of content on the screen with all of the information I needed to deliver to the learner. 

In the third and final iteration, I adapted my project to fit the branding for a fictional company, called Peak Leadership. Through Tim Slade's eLearning Designer's Community, I participated in a Design Challenge with the topic of Time Management in a remote setting. I used the style guide and learning goals to redesign my entire project. Along the way, I tried to incorporate more storytelling with the use of characters and speech boxes to present the information. I created four characters with four unique, problems and showed how each time management strategy could be used to help each character work more efficiently and feel better. I also had scenario based quiz questions at the end to assess the learner's knowledge. 

Implementation

This course is published using Amazon Web Services, with an HTML format. If I were publishing this for a specific group,  using a Learning Management System there are a few key steps I would complete. First, I would set up custom emails to be sent to the learners at specific times. I schedule an email to be sent 3 days before the training, the day before the training, the day after the training (if overdue) and after the training is complete. In the custom email I would explain why the training was important and how it would benefit them on the job. This would help the employees to go into this course with a positive mindset that this could really help them if they take their time to really connect with the course and think about how they can apply it to their own lives. 

Evaluation

I would evaluate the success of the program in a few ways. First, I would measure the open and click rates and the completion percentage to ensure that all employees took the course. Then I would look at the results of the quiz scores. Lastly, I would send out a short survey asking employees to rate their experiences and name one of two things they learned from taking the course.