Are you a Kentucky expert?

 Overview

This learning experience aims to increase the learner's knowledge of Kentucky state history while virtually traveling to six locations throughout the state. Learners must visit each destination before putting their knowledge to the test in a quiz. Users who correctly answer less than half of the questions are sent back to the beginning and must revisit each location before trying the quiz again. This means that everyone who interacts with the learning experience must demonstrate sufficient knowledge of Kentucky history in order to complete the course. This format ensures the effectiveness of the learning experience by not allowing users to move on until they have met expectations.

My Process

I set out to create an interactive, visually-appealing learning experience which would teach the learner facts about my home state of Kentucky. When deciding what type of learning experience would best suite this goal, I imagined the instructional context to be a required training that users complete individually rather than an in person training done with a large group. With that in mind, I wanted each user to have to exhibit sufficient knowledge of Kentucky facts before exiting the experience. A company using this learning experience could receive a report of employees' scores, but with this design, employees also cannot get through the experience without scoring higher than 50%. This helps ensure maximum effectiveness of the learning experience. The company could adjust the minimum score requirement based on their goals. 

In order to make the experience as interactive and engaging as possible, I wanted users to be able to easily navigate the learning experience without any additional instruction or context outside of what is given. Instructions for how to interact with each slide are given after a few seconds so that the learner knows what to do next after reading the content. Additionally, users are told to visit each location before moving on to the quiz. I designed the experience so that users must visit each location and cannot just visit one location six times. Once each location has been visited, a message appears asking if the learner is ready to take the quiz. If they are, the "yes" button takes them to the quiz. If not, the "no" button returns to the Kentucky map with the addition of a button in the bottom corner which will take the user to the quiz once they feel ready. The quiz contains 8 questions about Kentucky facts. At the end, the user will see how many questions they answered correctly. If they correctly answer at least 5, they are congratulated and allowed to exit the experience. If they answer less than 5 correctly, they must return to the map and view all six locations again before retrying the quiz.

There are many aspects of the learning experience that contribute to its visual appeal. The colors used on each slide fit the scheme of the background image, creating cohesive themes and variety. The color of each location icon changes and the name of the location appears above when the user hovers over a location pin. The color of the pin changes once it has been viewed to remind the learner which locations they have visited. The photo in each location slide reflects some aspect of its location, which can help users differentiate between each location in their memory.

I have created this project and website as a way to showcase my skills, not as a project made for a company. This project and website are proof of my ambition and ability to deliver quality work. It is highly effective and interactive as a result of triggers, variables, layers, and states. This project shows my ability to successfully design and create quality, engaging, detail-oriented learning experiences.

I appreciate you taking the time to view both my website and project, and I hope that you will reach out via the form on the Contact page of this website.