Project Background
Course Features
Published Sample
Why does this course work?
What was my role?
Project Background My client needed to train new employees on their sales mobility software and hardware. Their existing online training was abysmal, featuring:
With my job cut out for me, I got to work. |
Course Features Here are some of the features I included in the course design, along with my reasons for including them and the benefits they provide. |
1. Many Short Lessons = One Big Course I split the content into 16 shorter lessons, each of which contained two or three tasks. Since the course was intended for salespeople who are always driving on the road, I went with an old-fashioned on-the-road theme and made a table of contents that showed the details of all 16 lessons, and made it look like an old road map. Benefit: The shorter lessons let users get in and out more quickly. For new employees, this keeps them from being overwhelmed with too much new information all at once. For more experienced employees, they can refresh their knowledge by dipping into the exact lesson they need to see. And the map, the design of which they love, helps them quickly find the lessons they need. |
2. Lessons Put in the Context of the Learner’s Day I knew context would be key to making this a successful course. I placed the learner in a position that replicates him using this mobile device each day, literally from the time he wakes up in the morning to the time he goes to sleep at night. It’s also presented in the context of the company’s sales process. Benefit: By presenting information this way, the learner is able to much more easily take it in and successfully apply it on the job. It also keeps the learner highly motivated, since this becomes a sneak peek into what his life is going to be like as he uses this mobile sales device each day. |
3. Freedom of Navigation Not only do learners have the freedom to pick the lessons they’d like to see, but once they’re in a lesson they always have the option to jump ahead to practice a task, or try the graded quiz for all tasks – or wander anywhere else they’d like in the lesson, for that matter. Benefit: Since we most easily learn the information we seek out ourselves, giving learners the freedom to move where they want and when they want simply helps them learn. A new user of this device may prefer to challenge himself by jumping ahead to practice a task before it’s presented, then jump back and see the presentation itself. A more experienced user might decide to try the graded quiz first, then go back and review the things he missed. No matter what, that freedom is empowering, and who doesn’t want their salespeople to feel empowered? |
4. Lots of Practice Especially with software, there’s no substitute for hands-on practice. I designed practice exercises for each task that learners can repeat as many times as they’d like. Benefit: Not only does free practice let the learner try out the task, but the appropriate (and sometimes silly) feedback helps him remember the right answer. Even if you can’t remember the right answer later, there’s a good chance you’ll remember the corny hint and figure it out. Free practice is also non-threatening and, as its name suggests, freeing. |
5. Sense of Humor Not many courses will show a salesperson peacefully snoring away in bed after having synced his mobile device in preparation for the next day, or taking pictures of his boss in a variety of compromising positions. But I did. Benefit: For me, if I’m taking a buttoned-down, joyless course I have a terrible time paying attention. Everyone likes a little humor thrown in. When we first gave a sneak peek of this course to managers during a meeting, they laughed and hooted and loved it. Why wouldn’t they? All it takes is a touch of in-context fun to lighten the load (your learner’s cognitive load, in this case) and make the information easier to digest. |
Published Sample Here’s a small sample of the course so you can get an idea of the tone, pacing, narration, and overall presentation as the learner sees it.* |
(*Note that the buttons that let you jump around in the course have been disabled in this clip. If you’d like to see the complete lesson, I presented it as part of SolutionFest this year and you can read my blogpost about it and access the full lesson using the link at the bottom of that post.) |
Why does this course work?
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What was my role?
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