Process Job Aid and Supporting Documents

This job aid was created to help employees and lead volunteers master the process of receiving dry goods.

• Responsibilities: Instructional Designer, Project Coordinator

• Target Audience: Employees and lead volunteers at a mid-west food bank

• Tools Used: Microsoft Suite, Google Suite

Instructional Design Process

A needs analysis was completed by another project team. After discussing the extant data with a project liaison, my team started this process by interviewing a food bank representative. This meeting set tone and we were presented with why closing this performance gap was so important: "Solving hunger doesn't start with food-borne illness".

After working with a safety and compliance SME, we were able create a solid task analysis that leveraged a detailed review of the process at hand. We knew the jargon-filled task analysis was not learner friendly so opted to create performance requirements that highlighted the step necessities. From there we were able to create a user-friendly job aid that focused on the key steps of receiving and inspecting dry goods.

Keeping in mind technology restraints and learner profiles, my team decided that a word-processing based job aid would best suit the client's needs. We wanted the job aid to be simple, easy to follow, and make use of photos from the real job site. We created three variations of job aids and selected the option that best captured the client's needs.

A performance assessment instrument was created for the client. The client can use this document to provide feedback to their employees using systematic and measurable methods. The tool uses performance requirements researched during the task analysis phases to identify mastery. Remediation procedures are included.

Results and Takeaways

This project was a joy to work on. I was able to be a part of the training process that ensures people have access to one of life's biggest necessities.

Working with the food bank allowed me to take a step back and create a learning solution that did not involve technology. Our client needed a learning object that could be distributed to volunteers, hung up in a communal area, and stored in a work area binder. At beginning of the job aid creation, we work-shopped templates and ideas using various e-Learning platforms before realizing that a fancy program wasn't needed. In today's instructional design world, we've been taught to explore gamification and scenario based learning but sometimes, all learners need is a well-constructed job aid that highlights the critical needs of a step-by-step process. This is especially true when the personnel rapidly changes, and the skill is relatively simple.

While this project was fulfilling to work on, it did have some limitations. We were a remote-based team in the era of COVID and had to hash out some ground rules before digging too deep. We also had to rely on interviews and extant data to make informed decisions. In a perfect world, job observations would have been completed to make sure we completely understood the task. Overall, we were able to still produce a learning object that met the clients expectations and began to close the gap.