Identifying the Function of Behaviour
This eLearning course guides users through a scenario-based experience where they learn how to identify the function of a student's behaviour.
Responsibilities: Instructional Design, eLearning Development
Target Audience: Resource Teachers in British Columbia
Tools Used:
- • Articulate Storyline
- • Vyond
- • Adobe Illustrator
- • Adobe XD
- • MindMeister
- • Audacity
Overview
I designed this elearning experience for Resource Teachers. Resource Teachers support students with additional learning needs and part of their role includes implementing interventions for students exhibiting challenging behaviours. These interventions are implemented often without understanding the function of a student's behaviour, leading to the behaviour not being addressed and sometimes intensifying.
This has negative implications for school boards, as it can increase costs for specialized programs, increase teacher turnover, and lead to a decrease in enrollment numbers.
Many Resource Teachers are unaware of the steps they should take to address challenging behaviours. I designed and developed this eLearning course which allows users to navigate through these steps in a scenario-based, interactive learning experience.
Process
Action Map
After narrowing down the performance problem, I worked closely with the subject matter expert. We determined the key actions that resource teachers need to take to appropriately deal with a child’s challenging behaviours. Once the actions were mapped, we began to imagine the story and scenarios for the eLearning simulation.
Text-Based Storyboard
I used storytelling techniques to design a realistic scenario-based learning simulation. The simulation invites users to make the same decisions and perform the same actions that they would have to perform on-the-job.
The learner experiences the simulation from a resource teacher’s perspective. They are approached by a classroom teacher, who is looking for help with a student exhibiting challenging behaviours. The learner must make decisions, record observations, and successfully create a behaviour support plan to support the student.
As the user navigates through the learning experience, they have optional assistance along the way from a mentor named Alex. Whenever the learner is unsure of how to approach a scenario or wants more information to understand a required task, Alex is just a click away.
A key feature of this course is an interactive video experience that allows the user to observe a student in a realistic classroom setting. The user can pause and play the video as needed, and they are prompted to use a chart to record their observations.
The text-based storyboard captured all components of the story, including scenarios, consequences for user choices, video scripts, and other additional details.
Visual Mockups
Once the text-based storyboard was complete, I used Vyond and Adobe XD to create visual mockups of key slides. I laid out the characters, backgrounds, and props in Vyond. Then I imported these proposed designs into Adobe XD, where I could quickly prototype how the slides would appear in Storyline. I collected and incorporated feedback throughout this process to ensure the designs were user-friendly. This process resulted in designs that were visually appealing with good contrast, balance, alignment, and spacing.
Visual Storyboard
After finalizing the designs of key slides, I created a visual storyboard which showed how the course would look and function. It includes on-screen text, programming/animation notes, and on-screen graphics.
Interactive Prototype
Next, I created an interactive prototype to test the functionality of the proposed design. I created the videos in Vyond and imported them into Storyline, which is where I then programmed the interactivity. Next, I delivered this prototype to my audience for feedback.
Full Development
After applying feedback from the prototype, I moved on to creating the final product. Most of the slides in this project required timing Storyline elements with the videos created in Vyond. I used triggers, layers, and states to create seamless interactions between the two.
During this phase, I also created two narrated videos for the student observations. I used Audacity to record and edit the vocals, and then I imported them into Vyond. I also included sound effects to make the experience more immersive.
Final Product
This project has been shared with teachers and is receiving a lot of positive responses. Teachers like how interactive the learning experience is and how they get to practice a skill that is useful in their workplace.
Throughout the project I learned a lot about integrating Vyond videos into Storyline. I loved using the two to create an interactive learning experience that was relevant and engaging for learners.