A bear safety eLearning experience designed using authentic scenarios.
Audience: Explorers looking to travel into bear country and brush up on their safety tips before adventuring
Responsibilities: Instructional design (action mapping, storyboarding, mockups, prototype, full build), visual design, eLearning development
Tools used: Articulate Storyline, Figma, Canva, PowerPoint, Mindmeister, Google Docs
Adventurer’s Bear Safety Challenge
The Problem
For this project, I used myself as the subject-matter expert after remembering a common issue I found on a trip last summer. One of my main interests is hiking, specifically in national parks. Whilst traveling to Glacier, Yellowstone, and Grand Tetons National Parks, it became apparent that too many explorers are not up-to-date with bear safety information. Some were even approaching grizzly bears on the trails. There are many bear-related incidents that occur in this country due to a lack of information.
The Solution
To combat this lack of knowledge that can lead to serious consequences (i.e. injury, death, or euthanizing a bear), I brainstormed knowledge that one needs to know when exploring bear country. I consulted with a true SME, an acquaintance who volunteers at state parks, about the vital information one needs to know before venturing into bear country. I designed an eLearning that is scenario-based in order to make it enjoyable, while still having consequences for incorrect choices, rewards for correct choices, and an authentic experience.
My Process
For this project, I also leaned on the ADDIE model to provide structure. I used the information I received from my SME, but also my own knowledge of this subject, to work on the action map that would help me design the text-based storyboard for the design phase. The storyboard was extremely helpful in creating the visual design elements. For the development phase, I made an interactive prototype and had a few professional instructional designers review it and give me feedback. Once I made the changes to the prototype, I developed the full project. In my case, I was able to receive feedback on the full project by asking peers and some professional instructional designers to test out the full project. I have many peers who enjoy traveling and hiking who found the training helpful to brush up on their knowledge, and were surprised to find they got some of the questions incorrect on the first try. The training was effective in reminding them of their prior knowledge, and teaching some new information.
Action Map
I created the action map for this eLearning based on the vital information that will keep one safe if encountering a bear in the wild. I decided to focus on two main categories of bears, as we do not see polar or panda bears in the wild around here. I also wanted to have the scenario-based eLearning focus on general bear safety measures that can prevent attacks, as well as what to do if a bear does attack. The types of bears have differing approaches to safety methods, so I made sure to include that. General safety, black bear attack, and grizzly bear attack became my three high-priority actions that I wanted users to understand in the eLearning.
Text-Based Storyboard
This was a critical step, as the text-based storyboard works as a blueprint for the rest of the project design. I visualized the flow of the eLearning in terms of introduction, scenario questions, and a conclusion.
I ensured the training captured accurate actions and appropriate incorrect choices for the questions. I wanted the incorrect choices to still seem plausible, as there is a lot of misinformation about bear safety.
Instead of introducing the information first and having users then click on correct choices, I designed this training to put users directly into the context of an authentic experience. The challenge of testing their bear safety knowledge and then receiving feedback during the activity allows the training to instruct in a way that users will remember.
I had a professional instructional designer review the text-based storyboard and provide me with feedback before moving on to the design elements.
Visual Mockups
After receiving feedback and adjusting the text-based storyboard, I got to work on the style guide and design elements, as well as some wireframing. I used a combination of Figma, Canva, and Powerpoint for this step. Figma allowed me to easily iterate between different types of designs. The font for this project is the font used by national parks, and the design colors match the outdoorsy/ woodsy tone of the project. I used Canva’s Dream Studio to create AI backgrounds and characters. This was a fun part of the project to iterate through various design styles for each part of the eLearning.
For this project, I wanted the mentors to be park rangers and for the scenes to look semi-realistic. I felt that this would give the eLearning a more authentic feel.
Interactive Prototype
My favorite part of this project was importing the designs from PowerPoint into Articulate Storyline 360 and creating the interactivity elements. I used Storyline to make the design come to life through triggers, layers, and buttons. In this project, there were more layers required for the feedback slides. I needed to deepen my understanding of layers, which I found intriguing.
I created a prototype first that included the title slide, introduction to the challenge, and first scenario with the correct/ incorrect consequences. My first scenario was a “select many” response which was fun to make on Storyline.
After asking for feedback from professional instructional designers, I made changes to the prototype design and other elements, and then began working on the full project.
Full Development
After receiving feedback and making some design and interactivity changes, I was ready to finish out the full project. I found this project more challenging to work with on Storyline, due to the creation in PowerPoint beforehand. In another project I made, there were less elements on the timeline, thus it was easier to create triggers and layers. For this project, I gained a deeper understanding of Storyline’s many features, such as layers, states, triggers, and variables.
My favorite part of this project was creating the freeform style questions. I found the select one/ many and drop & drop questions to be tricky at first, but then perfect for the amount of customization they can give you. For example, on my first attempt when previewing I noticed that I had not given the learner more than one attempt to answer, yet the ranger tells them to try again. I had to go back and edit this function to allow more than one attempt. I felt that this project gave me a chance to showcase something I am passionate about subject-wise, and deepened my functional abilities in Storyline.
