I received some unfortunate news yesterday. After a mid-day call with my employer I learned several positions, including my own, would be eliminated based on the economic downturn and uncertainty relating to Coronavirus.
My time with Traliant was amazing and had such potential, and I’m ready to find a similar role! If you’re looking for help with your training initiatives, reach out. We can arrange a time to discuss how my talents and skills may align with your needs. Of course, you can see samples of my work here at my blog, and I’ve also uploaded an fresh résumé.
In addition to Instructional Design and Articulate Storyline work, I’m open to other projects. With a background in recruiting and hiring, I’d be glad to apply my Human Resources AND design skills to help you re-format and re-design your own résumé to something more attention getting! Also, I miss designing corporate communications similar to the newsletter example that is here. If something like that would help in your organization, let me know. I could also apply this background and skillset to helping you freshen up other HR and communication forms, too.
I hope things are back to normal soon. Above all, I hope we all stay healthy and safe. In the mean time, I’m pressing forward with an aggressive job search, enjoying extra time with my family, taking time to update my blog, and hoping for the best- for us all.
Today’s post is a different them than usual, but still touches
on an interesting design and communication tool…
If you’ve read any of my posts (especially those where I discuss design concepts), you know I’m a big fan of visually engaging training and presentations. This goes beyond presentations and training design, though. Whether it is a part of a presentation, included in a job aid, or simply communicating other information (newsletters, posters, etc), a well-crafted visual image can easily improve understanding.
Recently, my husband and I visited with a local healthcare provider. As new patients, we were offered an abundance of text-based documents explaining all sorts of programs and policies within the healthcare system’s clinics, hospitals, and other facilities. As I looked through a given pamphlet, I turned a page to realize the medical field uses a recognizable and well-designed visual tool to facilitate comprehension and communication: the Wong-Baker FACES.
More than likely, you are familiar with the Wong-Baker
FACES, even if you do not know (until now!) their proper names. You have visited the doctor’s office or a
clinic and seen the numbered faces ranking pain, correct? Zero face is smiling while face number ten is
crying with a deep, intense frown.
Developed by two healthcare professionals, this pain scale was initially
intended to help children communicate their pain level. A child may not be able to rank his or her
pain on a scale of 0-10, but he or she can understand the cartoon faces- happy
to neutral to terribly upset. Since
being adopted, medical practitioners have also found the Wong-Baker FACES to be
helpful when treating patients of any age who may not know how to count or have
impaired brain function. Further, the FACES
can also be helpful when patient and practitioner do not speak a common
language.
I had seen those simple cartoon faces many times prior, but looking through the hospital brochure with a trainer’s perspective brought new appreciation. They’re a simply designed, easily understood communication tool that will help nurses, medical assistants, physicians, and other caregivers assess, understand, and respond to patient needs. In short, the Wong-Baker FACES may be a near perfect visual aid and job aid. Do the job aids and communication tools you create facilitate understanding and help learners/employees perform their jobs in the most efficient manner? If not, find inspiration in this visual tool, widely-accepted among medical professionals.
To learn more, visit the Wong-Baker FACES Foundation
website: https://wongbakerfaces.org/
In my previous role, I worked in the company’s Human Resources Department, and like many other functions, we answered the same questions routinely. How do I update my direct deposit? When will I accrue more vacation time? What is the 401K match and when is it distributed? How to I bid on internal vacancies or job positions?
To address the department’s frequently asked questions and the common questions that new hires presented, I developed similar Storyline productions that we housed at the department’s intranet site.
The simple production featured a collection of buttons the learner could peruse via scrolling panel.
When the button was clicked/selected a layer appears, as dictated by the slide’s trigger panel.
The demonstration here features simple information regarding my current place of residence- Durham, North Carolina. You could easily feature new hires FAQs and department FAQs (as mentioned above), but I think this design would also work well with a compliance topic’s FAQs. It is another great example of Articulate Storyline’s flexibility to create engaging and interactive learning resources.
Even though my new role focuses on computer based training and online learning, I still pay close attention to any classroom style activities that would be helpful tools for a designer’s or presenter’s arsenal. I participate in a community choir, and this past weekend at our fall retreat the event organizer had our group play an ice-breaker game, and I immediately recognized it as something I would re-create in a classroom setting.
The presenter would select a color, then persons wearing a shirt that color would stand. Each standing person would take turns answering the same simple, get-to-know- you questions: where would you take your dream vacation? What was your favorite live concert? If you could have an unlimited supply of any food, what would it be?
I also realized this could be formatted for more strategic interaction. After a detailed presentation, divide into teams based on shirt color. Then the presenter can give each group a strategic, critical thinking question based on the information that was just reviewed. A few broad examples are listed below:
Based on the information you just heard, how would you respond to scenario X?
When you are applying or following the procedure we just discussed, what challenges should you expect? How can you prevent or resolve that challenge?
When you are applying or following the procedure we just discussed, what resources or tools are available to help you better succeed?
Like any classroom activity you will need to fine tune this to your group, their needs, and their learning objectives. This might not work as well in an environment where you training participants wear uniforms. I would focus on primary colors, so you may want to be prepared on how you address non-primary colors. (Persons wearing prints or patterns should be assigned to the predominant color.)
When I was in a role where I would help coordinate and plan classroom training events, I often heard pushback from presenters- it will be too chaotic to divide into groups, I don’t know how to add an interaction, it just sounds too complicated. I don’t know if it could get an easier than the exercise I described above. Your group divided themselves into “teams” when they dressed for work- all you have to do is build the questions and let the student teach themselves!
As mentioned in my last post, my favorite training focuses
on the behavioral change required based on policy or procedures changes or
“missed” performance markers. In effect,
what should the learner to better or do differently after he/she/they complete
the training?
I also understand why it is important to include policy text
in a lesson. When there are new
guidelines or rules, you want to take every chance possible to review that
information, but let’s face it- how many times do people pay attention to text
heavy, lengthy policy slides? That’s why
it is important to build engaging and interactive training to help the learn
grasp and practice processing new information.
(My background is in Human Resources.
More than once, I have handed an employee policy to review and
acknowledge and then watched as they sign the form without thoroughly reading
the document.)
In the past, I’ve offered the following example to project stakeholders
and subject matter experts when discussing how to include policy.
Include a few slides that give a high-level
review of the policy- why it is in place or why it is updated, what the person
should do new or differently, and what may happen if the person fails to abide
by the policy.
The fourth slide in my example features a
scrolling panel with the entire policy text and an acknowledgement button.
Be sure your lesson includes scenarios, simulated
conversations, decision-making, true/false slides or other interactions to help
the learner apply and practice the new skills.
Your lesson design could route as follows: Introduction, DOs/DON’Ts, acknowledgement,
interactive content, conclusion/review.
Your lesson design could also route: Introduction, DOs/DON’Ts, interactive content,
conclusion/review, acknowledgement.
Regardless of where you place the acknowledgement
in your design, hopefully your LMS is capable of tracking the user’s
interaction with the button.
You could also add a second button- “I need more
practice regarding how to apply this policy”.
When clicked, the user would repeat the more interactive content.
With many projects, a designer’s biggest challenge is balancing the subject matter experts content needs and expectations with solid instructional practices. I think this example does exactly that!
Teaching new policy isn’t my favorite use of online training. I would rather develop lessons on behavioral
change and focus on what should the learner should do differently based on the new
or updated rules and related procedures.
But I get it- sometimes an online learning lesson is the easiest and
most efficient way to disseminate information and details regarding a new
guideline.
There are plenty of details to consider when you design this
sort of information heavy lesson, but you will always want to include some sort
of acknowledgement interaction. The next
two posts will demonstrate few ideas you may be able to apply to confirm learners’
understanding and acknowledgement of the policies you are teaching and
demonstrating.
Today we’ll look at the built-in, graded question format “check many”. You may typically use this type of slide during a quiz or interaction to check a learner’s competencies. (For example: Select all the vegetables: carrots; celery; apples; strawberries; onion; spinach; grapes; potatoes.) For the design purposes briefly mentioned above you could add this type of slide to a policy tutorial to have the learner acknowledge his/her understanding of the policy, procedure, or guideline discussed during your lesson.
You can use the link at the bottom of this post to see this in action! Just remember, if you’re using this type of acknowledgement be sure to set up the course reporting to track this slide- either as part of the graded quizzing OR tracking for completion. (Select whatever may work best for your needs, your learners, your LMS, and other tracking/reporting considerations.)
Visit again soon! In the next post, I’ll demonstrate my favorite way to collect a policy acknowledgement during a lesson.
With my previous employer, preparing for instructor led events felt like it was never ending- even though we only hosted training on a quarterly basis. With each training session, I looked at a lot of PPTs prepared by our subject matter experts. Professionally speaking, I adore these people. They’re knowledgeable, passionate, and ready to share their vast amounts of information and ideas. Unfortunately, they are not designers, and it is hard to think of PowerPoint as a visual media when you haven’t been trained to do so. Sometimes this shows in their PPT work.
I’d like to tell you about something unusual that happened as we prepared for a session earlier this year. A speaker who had been added to the agenda contacted me with his drafted presentation. He’s one of those above mentioned SMEs who could go for days and days and has forgotten more about the industry (transportation) than I’ll ever know! He stated he’s not a strong PPT user, and he asked for ideas to improve his design.
This got me to thinking- what simple tips could I pass on
should a similar situation occur? Here
are 5 quick reminders to help you get started with more solid design.
1) THINK BEFORE YOU
START:
Before you even open PowerPoint, think about the engaging
and well-designed presentations you have witnessed. And don’t limit your thinking to
presentations- consider billboards and magazine advertisements, flyers, movie
or concert posters, and other visual media that have captured your attention
lately. What can you do to make your own
presentation look that nice or flow that well?
Think about the themes and tone and appropriate colors, backgrounds,
fonts, and images related to that tone.
A great practice is to “mind map”- brainstorm and then
visually organize your ideas and thoughts on the topic before you begin your
true design work. (You can simply use
“mind map” as your search term to learn more or to find templates to help with
this process.)
After your mind map sessions are completed, create a
storyboard. This doesn’t have to be
complicated or artistic. It is merely a
rough draft or rough sketch of how you want each slide to look and flow. Sometimes, I truly draw a slide complete with
sketched images and graphics. Other
times, my storyboard may only be a few sentences about the graphics, text, and
ideas I want to include on each slide.
2) CONSIDER YOUR
SCREEN RATIO:
I feel like I talk about this a lot, so please bear with me
as I repeat it (again). Most modern
technology uses a wide screen format.
Think about tilting your phone or tablet into landscape mode when you
stream a video. If you’re watching a
modern production, it will fill the screen.
If you’re watching an older video you’ll see two dark bands at each side
of the screen to fill the margin.
Similarly, if you use the inappropriate screen ratio with
your presentation, the computer/device will fill the margins with a dark
color. It is not the most visually
pleasing, and it is wasting space you could be using for your design and
content!
To format your PowerPoint to a widescreen format, visit the
DESIGN tab and click PAGE SETUP. A
dialog box will appear, and in the drop down labeled SLIDES SIZED FOR select
16:9
3) REDUCE TEXT,
REDUCE TEXT, AND THEN REDUCE TEXT SOME MORE:
I get it. You have a
lot to say, and it is an important topic.
But it is important to remember your audience will listen to you or read
the slide; they cannot do both. (This
isn’t an insult to their intelligence; it is simply how science has proven the
human brain to work.)
It is a common mantra
among skilled presenters and designers, and I wish I knew who thought and said
it first: “Your slide is complete when
there is nothing else to remove!”
Opinions varying, but I prefer to limit slides to 20 words or less. It can sometimes be difficult for SMEs who like to copy and paste from their policies, procedures, or manuals and guidebooks (yes, that happens) to grasp this design principle. One solution is to create more slides with less text. Another option is to create keyword only slides and provide great handouts for note-taking.
Instead of using statistics in a text format, add images and
graphs. One of my favorite solutions to
a statistic or number is demonstrated here, using an icon or symbol to
represent a figure. This is example
shows a money icon to represent a revenue figures.
If you’re insistent on text heavy slides, there are ways to still have a creative and engaging presentation. (We talked about that in an earlier post.)
4) HIGH QUALITY
IMAGES
Some things from the 1990s are cool again. (Or maybe the grunge look and sound never really
went away.) Some things from the 1990s,
like clipart, should not be resurrected.
You can create a big impact by choosing high quality IMAGES and PICTURES. Invest in a subscription to a stock art sight. Use public domain images. If there is a hobbyist photographer on staff, ask him or her to help you capture some solid pictures.
5) AVOID CHEESY
ANIMATIONS AND NOISES
Well-crafted animations and transitions take time to
master. Similar to clipart, animations,
transitions, noises, and other effects can easily fall flat, feel dated, or
feel forced. Don’t give up on
developing this skill, but think carefully about what you choose to publish or
present. Also, if you’re limiting your
content as mentioned above in point 3 (reduce text!) you shouldn’t need too
many animations since there will be a limited about of information on your
screen already.
Sheryl Crow once offered that advice, although I am rather certain she wasn’t offering career guidance. Regardless, a change has done me good!
This week, I joined a fast-growing company that specializes in Human Resources and compliance training productions. There are a lot of positives that come with this change:
The position is 100% remote. It wasn’t an issue to commute to the Charlotte area monthly with my previous employer, but that role did limit me to living in the Carolinas. Now, if my husband’s career opportunities take us to another state or location (or if we simply want to move), I won’t have to change employers.
I’m part of a training team. Regardless of what you do, it can be difficult to be a team of one. Previously, anything I wanted to learn in Articulate or regarding training and instructional design, I had to learn on my own. Budgets for conferences and continuing education were limited.
Now, I’m a part of a content design team, and I am already learning from my new colleagues. Also, it is neat to see persons specializing in one content production area (design, scripts and writing, video production, technology support), and I look forward to learning more about each piece of this puzzle from my new co-workers.
I’ll get to continue balancing training design and HR knowledge. I think this is a task where I can excel. Further, I worked too hard to earn my Human Resources certifications to give them up. I’m excited to have found a career where I can continue pursuing HR knowledge while also becoming a more effective and efficient training designer.
The company is fast-growing. During my own research, the interview phase, and the on-boarding process it has been near unbelievable to see their growth data over the last few years. It is evidence of that the training market is growing and that there is demand for solid, well-produced training tools. Equally as important, that growth is a big clue that my new employer is doing it right!
While I was initially hesitant to join a company that is still relatively early in its life-cycle, I’ve realized this is the type of opportunity that does not come around often. I’m excited to grow and develop with the company.
The culture appears to be amazing. Yesterday, another designer mentioned how it is imperative to produce training that suits learners across the disability spectrum; I was proud to hear that is a priority. My own supervisor has been nothing but supportive in responding to my questions and concerns of the last few weeks. Other staff members have provided reassurances, including two other designers who took time to schedule a phone call to tell me about their roles, average work days, frustrations, and triumphs as I progressed through the interview process. The Chief Learning Officer was quick to praise their “no jerks” culture during our call days after I began the application process.
Simply stated, their culture has a lot of similarities with that of my beloved former employer.
The last few weeks have included some sleepless nights, worry, and frayed nerves. Change can be hard. More than once I wondered if I was making the correct decision. I have little doubt now, and I am transitioning to a phase of reminding myself to be patient as I learn a new company, their processes, and their expectations. I can be my own worst critic and have to remember I must learn to (figuratively speaking) crawl, walk, and then run forward. One thing is certain, this is positive change and will do me good!
It is one of the hardest and most frustrating functions in my job- coaching Subject Matter Experts who will make presentation on their PowerPoint and presentation design. These people have an impressive amount of knowledge- both company specific and industry related- and they are also very passionate about what they do. Are you also struggling to convert your text heavy presentation to a more facilitated, activity-based, and engaging event? I’ve provided a few suggestions below, but the possibilities are near endless!
Is there any portion of your presentation where you’ll make a list? Instead of presenting this as an organized list on your PowerPoint, why not have the group brainstorm the correct items for your list? Have a volunteer write down the correct items your group brainstorms onto a whiteboard or flipchart. Once the group has brainstormed all the correct answers, you can move to subsequent PowerPoint slides to explain the details of the list. Better yet, design a non-linear PPT so you can discuss each topic as the group suggests it!
Do you have slides that include a lot of text? Have the learner silently read the slide or text, underlining or highlighting key words and phrases on his/her handout while they are reading. You remain silent when they are reading. When they are finished reading, discuss the text as a group.
OR You can split the group into 3 or 4 teams to discuss what they have read. Be sure to walk around the room to provide guidance, facilitation, and ensure each group remains on topic. Have each group make a list of the top three to five takeaways from their reading. (Select an appropriate number based on the length/complexity of the text.) After a few moments of discussion, take charge again, and the whole classroom can discuss the reading. Each breakout group can speak for a moment regarding one of the key takeaways, and each group should present a different idea. You can certainly elaborate and provide further guidance on what they learned in the reading.
Is the group going to read a text introduction before moving into any activity? Have the group stand up when they have finished reading the introduction or instructions. Once each learner has finished reading, they’ll be standing, and ready to move into the more kinesthetic portion of the lesson.
Again, there are countless ideas you can try to take your presentation text-based to activity-based. Think outside the box, and if necessary, adapt an idea you like to make it better suit your needs and your audience. Search for other suggestions until you find what works for you. Just keep trying- like any other skill, working as a facilitator instead of a lecturer takes practice, practice, and more practice. The sooner you begin, the sooner you can master your facilitation skills!
The article I’m sharing first appeared in my news feed a few weeks ago, and I’ve read through it several times since then. Having began my career in more of a Generalist role, I understand how difficult it can be to balance policy and training. This is especially true when the policy or training isn’t well written, which can even happen in highly functioning organizations.
As the writer states, maybe we’ve missed a vital point, having been unable to view the lesson that preceded the question. I’m hoping Best Buy will respond, and she’ll be able to amend this article or write a follow-up. From the outside looking in, I feel like input from an Instructional Designer would certainly help in this situation.
Sometimes our role goes beyond designing and developing training. Sometimes we need to play the role of Louise, not necessarily to be contrarian, but to ensure project success. (Check out the article and the author’s reference to humorist Dave Barry.) As I often tell Subject Matter Experts, sometimes we don’t see the hole or error with a process policy until we sit down to discuss it in depth, step by step to begin training design. In my opinion, it is part of the the designer’s job to fill in those holes to make sure a learner can easily grasp each step and each piece of new information.
The last thing you ever want as a designer or presenter is eye rolls from your audience. I’m worried the Best Buy employee who shared this via his/her Twitter feed is a little less engaged with the organization, his/her function, and especially with the training process. Again, here’s hoping the author will hear back from Best Buy, and we can find clarification on this policy, this lesson, and the differences between greeting and welcoming customers.
Do you have thoughts on the question example and semantics in the article or the balance between well-written policy and well-designed training? Share this in the comments area!
