Audience: ESL instructors, ESL schools and businesses

‍Responsibilities: Instructional design, Learning design, action mapping, storyboarding, mockups, prototype, full build, visual design, eLearning development
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Tools Used: Articulate Storyline 360, Vyond, Adobe XD, Google Docs, MindMeister

Even the most knowledgeable educators occasionally find themselves stumped by a student’s question. Usually an instructor will just improvise an answer—or even dodge the question altogether. Not only is this unhelpful to the students, but when it becomes a habit, it can lead to bigger problems down the road such as low instructor confidence, less student engagement, negative school reviews—and if it gets bad enough, low enrollment.

Unfortunately many ESL schools lack a process for handling these potentially awkward situations. While good instructor training is crucial to prevent these situations from arising in the first place, having a back-pocket strategy can be a major confidence boost and help keep a lesson from falling apart.

From my conversations with educators and administrators, along with my own experience in the classroom, I devised a simple response process for a situation where a student asks a relevant but unusually difficult question. This led me to create a scenario-based eLearning module focused on training instructors how to manage difficult questions through a story-driven, realistic simulation.

The ADDIE model was absolutely crucial when creating this eLearning project. In the analysis phase, I collaborated with subject matter experts (seasoned instructors and administrators) to gather data and devise an action map, laying the groundwork for a text-based storyboard during the design phase.  
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After the storyboard received approval, I concentrated on creating high-fidelity visual mock-ups and used these to help transition to the development phase where I was able to build a prototype to demonstrate the eLearning interaction.
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Following full development, I sought feedback from peers and instructional design professionals to refine and ensure the eLearning's functionality and design consistency.

I created an action map that identified some of the most common mistakes instructors make when responding to a question they don’t have an answer to. I identified four high-priority actions Instructors should do in this situation, along with a specific learning goal: 100% of instructors will be able to demonstrate their ability to respond to challenging questions by applying a 4-step process that maintains classroom engagement and fosters a positive learning environment.

Responding to difficult questions is a practical skill that instructors can learn to apply spontaneously in their own unique way. Having a simple, back-pocket process can help instructors minimize bad teaching habits (such as making up answers, deflecting questions, or inadvertently making students feel bad about their inquiries), and instead maintain a confident, uninterrupted flow to their lessons.

Next, I scripted my eLearning experience into a text-based storyboard. This helped me outline the module into a linear branching narrative, including all the negative and positive consequences for each possible major decision.  
I decided to have the student ask a tricky, but relevant question: “If the prefix ‘in’ means ‘not’, then why does the word invaluable mean extremely valuable? Shouldn’t it have the opposite meaning?” This question needed to feel compelling and relevant, but also be unusually difficult. This gave a realistic feel to the learning experience in that most “hot-seat” questions feature a unique grammatical exception like this.  
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I also chose to include the most typical responses for each major decision point, as well as their likely consequence. I wanted learners to be confronted with the most common mistakes a teacher might make in this given situation, while also offering new and creative ways to navigate forwards.  

After the storyboard was perfected, I designed a style guide to help me stay consistent while I began experimenting with visual mockups. These mockups allowed me to experiment with visual elements and determine the specific design for each slide. I wanted to follow an organized, iterative process while building this experience, and the visual mockups helped lay the foundation for that process.

I really fleshed out some important details while creating my interactive prototype—including some fun “moments of delight” (such as the positive student reactions). I used a combination of Articulate Storyline and Vyond, and I found that the two worked well together.  
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It turned out that Vyond’s assets were all I needed for my particular scenario, so I supplied most of the visual content from that. I also had fun including various sound effects to enhance my moments of delight.  
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My prototype included my mentor introduction and the first decision point.  I included a mentor character to help guide my learners through the learning experience, providing them with immediate help if they get lost or confused during training.  

Once the prototype was approved, I transitioned to full development where I built upon my core ideas. Because of the detailed storyboard and prototype, I was able to adhere to a consistent pattern of development, making necessary changes depending on how the narrative changed.
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I used Articulate 360 to create a choice-driven learning experience where each decision made would have a meaningful, realistic consequence. I was able to program three unique consequences for each decision point, one positive and two negative, allowing the learner to feel more like an autonomous participant in the experience rather than a passive observer. I also relied on Articulate for all of my text fonts, prompts, and user interactions.
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I created my characters and environments in Vyond, and used various animations to create moments of delight for each positive consequence, as well as some animations to show what might happen if the learner makes a wrong choice.

After completing Linguistic Lifelines, I was able to share it with some of my colleagues at Valencia College, many of which were delighted to be able to learn a process that might bolster their confidence and strengthen their instruction.  
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I learned an enormous amount about some of the most relevant programs in the field of Instructional Design, such as Vyond, Storyline, and Adobe XD. In Vyond, I learned how to create seamless connections between animated scenes, add visual effects, transitions, and unique sound FX; in Storyline I learned how to use custom variables to allow for branching scenarios and various consequences, as well as how to effectively incorporate Vyond animations into its slides.

I also learned a lot about the power and effectiveness of storytelling in learning scenarios, specifically the power of incorporating memorable consequences into the experience.    

I’m excited to go deeper into my use of stories to create interactive learning experiences!