English Explorers
Tutor Training Guide
This dynamic eLearning course was designed to ensure that new hires at English Explorers are aligned with the company’s values to improve student satisfaction and employee retention.
The Problem
English Explorers is a fictitious online English language learning platform that hires tutors from all around the world to teach English in a fun, conversational manner.
English Explorers hires experienced tutors, however, there has recently been several negative reviews from students about the new tutors. Instead of focusing on fun and friendly conversation, the new tutors are prioritizing drilling vocabulary, tough grammar, and finishing the lesson slides on time. These are likely learned behaviors from their previous, more strict companies. This has led to a decrease in bookings for new tutors, complaints from students, and an overall decrease in revenue for the company.
The hiring manager contacted me to resolve this performance problem.
The Solution
I met with the hiring manager to discuss the current onboarding measures, which included a 30-page PDF listing the goals and values of the company. The information was overwhelming, with no use of graphics or chunking of information to make it more digestible. There was also no requirement to ensure that tutors were actually reading the manual, and no evaluation methods to assess the retention of information.
I proposed an eLearning course that would display this information in a more direct and visually appealing way. The course would include a summary of the goals and values and a scenario-based experience so that the tutors could apply this knowledge in an almost identical environment to where they would need to apply the skills. In her book, Design for How People Learn, Julie Dirksen highlights that creating training in an environment similar to where the learner will be using the knowledge will increase the chances of retrieval in the real situation. An online eLearning course is also be easy to distribute to the learners as many live in different countries and time zones. This way, the learner is able to go through the course on their own time and at their own pace.
The client accepted my proposal and we proceeded with the project.
My Process
I was guided by the ADDIE model during this process. There were many iterations that occurred at each step in order to ensure that I was happy with the learning experience.
I began the project by consulting with the SMEs – I met with the hiring manager and some of the tutors at the company to gain a deeper understanding of the problem and to define goals for the course.
Action Map
To determine the best solutions, I utilized Cathy Moore's action mapping method. This was very helpful in my meetings with the SMEs to determine target behaviours that would help solve the defined problems. Once we had our list of goals, we discussed typical scenarios that were getting in the way of reaching these goals. This helped me to come up with the four student scenarios, each one demonstrating how the negative behaviour led to a negative consequence. Once this was done, I could move to the next step.
Twine scenario outline
Text-based Storyboard
I created a storyboard to serve as a blueprint for the rest of the project. This helped me to organize the flow of the project and identify the areas where I would need to add content. I was able to create a cohesive setting for the course – a rocket travelling through space, touching down on new planets to represent sections of the course. This was a simple yet entertaining way to keep the information engaging for the learners.
I utilized the company’s current manual and reduced the information to shorter, more impactful points. I also made notes here about possible graphics that would go with each point to enhance the reinforcement.
I used Twine to develop the branching scenario portion of the course. This program allowed me to create a functional prototype that focused solely on the choices and paths that the learner would go through. I really enjoyed using this tool and can see that it would be extremely useful for sharing with clients before proceeding in the design process.
Design Assets
Mayers ‘Multimedia Principle’ states that people learn best from a combination of words and pictures. With this in mind, I knew that I wanted to ensure the course was visually appealing, and included visual elements that were logically connected to the information.
I created my own graphics, characters and assets using Affinity Designer. This allowed me to keep a consistent visual style throughout the course, and I was happy to have the creative control and flexibility.
Style guide created in Affinity Designer
Visual Mock-Ups
Once the text-based storyboard was revised and approved by the hiring manager, I began creating the visual mock-ups for the scenario in Figma and Affinity Designer.
I decided to use both programs to gain experience and familiarity with each one. I ended up using Affinity Designer more at this step since I was creating the assets within the program. In the future, I will develop a low-fidelity mock up in Figma first, focusing on the layout of each slide before getting carried away with visual elements.
The mock-ups allowed me to experiment with different layout styles, colours, and fonts. I created many iterations of each section of the course until I was happy with the result.
Mock ups created in Figma and Affinity Designer
Interactive Prototype
Before finalizing the full project, I began developing an interactive prototype in Articulate Storyline 360. This allowed me to explore the types of animations I was going to use, and gave me a better understanding of the capabilities of triggers and variables. I iterated on all the slides until the animations and triggers flowed seamlessly together. I also made sure to keep track of the types of animations I was using, to keep the feel of the course consistent.
After getting feedback from the hiring manager, it was time to move on to the final development stage.
Full Development
This part of the process was guided by all of my previous planning, so it was quite simple to put the pieces together and develop the course. I enjoyed this part as it was fun to finally see the project come alive!
Results and Takeaways
The hiring manager was extremely pleased with the outcome of the project. It was sent out to all existing tutors for feedback. Many said that it was engaging, entertaining, and helped them understand the goals and values of the company more.
Since the rollout of the program, English Explorers has received many positive reviews from students, bookings for teachers have increased, and overall the company has developed a stronger, united community.
I am most proud of the visual design elements throughout the course. It took time for me to learn how to create vector graphics, but I now feel that I can be a much more creative and flexible Instructional Designer. I am very excited to combine my visual design skills with my newfound development skills and create more engaging projects.
I really focused on the user experience during the development of this course. I wanted to give the user a lot of freedom to go through the course at their desired pace. I was tempted to add more narration, but ultimately decided against it due to this reason. I also made sure to give the user an option to review each scenario by reading a scripted version instead of replaying the entire animation. My goal is to ease the frustration some learners may feel when they are forced to sit through dull training material.
I made sure that the course remained engaging for the user by including personalization options, such as being able to input their name (which is utilized many times throughout the scenario) and choose an avatar. This helped me gain a deeper understanding of the possibilities of triggers and variables.
I completed this project with a heightened sense of confidence and accomplishment. I found that the problem-solving aspects of developing this course were extremely rewarding.
