This eLearning experience welcomes new volunteers to the public library and introduces them to some of the basic information they will need to understand in order to be a successful and helpful volunteer.
Overview
Audience: New volunteers to the public library
Responsibilities: Instructional Design, eLearning Development, Visual Design, Storyboarding, Action Mapping.
Tools: Articulate Storyline 360, Mindmeister, Canva, and Adobe XD.
Problem and Solution
In this concept-based learning experience I spoke with librarians (my subject matter experts (SMEs)) who had a high turn-over of volunteer staff. While they ultimately said they didn't mind the high turn-over in volunteers they did mind the time they spent training new volunteers about their library, patrons, and the ways the volunteers could be most effective.
An eLearning course seemed the logical way to educate new volunteers on some of these important tasks and information. By making the course virtual and asynchronous it would free up significant time for the librarians and allow them to take on more volunteers than they could usually accommodate and train.
Action Mapping
I consulted with several different librarians at several different libraries and used a composite of their feedback to create my new volunteer orientation training for the fictitious 'Tamanend Public Library.' In consultation with my SMEs I created an action map that focused on the knowledge and skills that a volunteer would need to be successful and self-sufficient in the library. The action map also allowed me to focus my training. I was able to decide that some information and skills were not necessary to the training. Items like library hours and rules for the makerspace were items that volunteers would easily have on hand as they worked and would not need to memorize. Th action map allowed me to decide which areas I would focus the training on.
Text-Based Storyboard
Once the action map was completed I consulted with my SMEs to create a text-based storyboard. I wanted to make sure that the eLearning experience used conversational language that would be approachable to a variety of volunteers. I also wanted to include real life examples for responses and suggestions that would appear in the training. I was able to use the story board to check back with my SMEs to make sure that I was on the right track before I began to work on the visual mock ups for the project.
Visual Mockups
When my SMEs and I were happy with the text-based storyboard I was able to move on to visual mockups. I utilized Adobe XD to get a sense of what I could achieve visually and to make sure I had a cohesive look.
I created a custom color palette to utilize throughout the project and used similar elements and styles to make the experience fluid and immersive. A priority for me was making sure that the background was not distracting from the training, and that I was able to make a realistic looking 'call number' sticker. I utilized Adobe XD to play around with the different iterations and decide on the ones that felt the most natural and authentic.
Interactive Prototype
I took my mockups and text-based storyboard and used them to begin the creation process in Articulate Storyline 360. I worked on creating the experience through the 'shelving' informational topic because I had not worked with the drag and drop functionality in Articulate Storyline 360 previously and wanted to make sure it would work as I had envisioned. I shared my initial prototype with SMEs and received feedback.
In response to the feedback I received I made some changes with button placements, and made some changes to the states of certain objects before finishing the development of the project.
Final Development
As I worked to finish the development of the eLearning experience I continued to adapt. The most significant change I made to the project as I worked was adding a help screen to the 'call number test' slide. I realized after showing the project to some potential users who were not regular library users that the amount of information for this 'test' might be difficult to recall, and an aid would increase the learners success and confidence.