During my work as an educational content designer, I encountered various topics and types of learning designs. Through my study of the concept of design, its tools, and theories, I was able to create numerous learning journeys in their various forms, whether they were self-directed learning journeys or classroom learning journeys.
However, in spite of my knowledge and understanding of the importance of incorporating “interactivity” into educational content design and ensuring it aligns with the learners’ needs, I used to face a personal challenge, which was my inability to determine the appropriate type of activities for learners when designing the learning journey.
Many questions used to linger in my mind, causing me hesitation and consuming a lot of time and effort during the design process. These questions included:
Is the content structure and sequence appropriate?
Are the activities suitable for the learners?
When should I schedule breaks? How do I determine the learners’ learning capacity?
When should I begin the assessment process?
Despite my creative abilities to develop interactive activities, these questions among many other fundamental questions made me skeptical of my design until I experienced FIRST-ADLX Framework, learnt about the holistic map, and started to apply what I had learned in my design and facilitation of different learning journeys.
Here is the holistic map that was designed for the learning journey of the medical team (nursing department) in the LEVIS Program.
Current Status
Learner Persona
I collected information about the learners, including some demographic information:
- Number: Between 8 and 10 learners (some may be absent from certain sessions due to work commitments)
- Gender: Mixed (both males and females)
- Age group: Between 35 and 40 years old
- Occupation: Nurses participating in a learning journey for the first time
- Institutions: Learners belong to three different institutions
- Country: Egypt
I didn’t stop at collecting demographic data about the learners; I also designed an initial meeting with three main objectives:
1- Building rapport, fostering interaction, and breaking the ice
2- Gathering information about the main challenges faced by learners in their daily lives, especially regarding common misconceptions and false beliefs about various diseases
3- Identifying the main learning outcomes I should design based on the information and stories shared by the learners
The first meeting was more like a gathering of friends. I didn’t design complex activities; instead, we engaged in casual conversation, and I posed a series of questions to the learners to extract the information I needed. I invited them to introduce themselves and share their names, years of experience, and the institutions they work for. I also asked them to share pleasant stories from their experiences and how they dealt with these situations. I inquired about any common misconceptions they’ve heard from patients how they handled these situations or what they usually do to address different misconceptions. I also conducted a pre-assessment to assess their knowledge of non-communicable diseases by asking about the cases they studied during their education and what they know about them. For example, when one of the learners mentioned a story about an elder man who refused to take blood pressure medication due to the belief that it was harmful, I explored the reasons behind these beliefs and their approach to addressing them.
For a better analysis of the current status, I recorded the meeting and extracted the following points:
- The learners see:
- People deal with them as if they are tireless machines
- Elder people, with steadfast beliefs, that are not open to discussion
- People from various backgrounds who have different beliefs and look at things from different perspectives
- Patients families who perceive things differently
- Exhausted colleagues who lack time and energy for conversation
- The learners hear:
- Patients saying: “My family is used to doing this.”
- Patients saying: “I don’t believe in the effectiveness of vaccines and medications.”
- Department heads saying: “Your job requires readiness around the clock.”
- People around them say: “Your job is exhausting because you are responsible for patients’ health.”
- The learners feel:
- Exhaustion because they often have to work multiple shifts
- Fatigue and boredom because of answering many unnecessary questions (questions asked by patients about specific conditions) and discussing misconceptions believed by their community members, who refuse to accept any other facts
- Embarrassment and confusion when addressing topics that are considered to be sensitive in our communities
- A lot of psychological pressure
- The learners think of:
- They need to overcome embarrassment and shyness and convey information accurately and suitably to the patients, taking into consideration their age, environment, and beliefs
- They need to communicate more with their colleagues to discuss problems and solutions
- The learners say and do:
- They avoid directly addressing certain embarrassing matters.
- They say that they are not machines or robots.
- They assert that they don’t have the right to request a break as their job demands constant commitment around the clock.
- Main challenges they face:
- Discussing sensitive topics, especially in our Arab societies, such as personal hygiene before and after a surgical procedure, cancer and early detection of certain types of cancer, reproductive health, and more.
- Answering many questions that may be illogical (inherited traditions and beliefs).
- Primary needs and desires:
- Releasing this psychological stress
- A period of recovery and rest
- Opportunities to discuss challenges, exchange solutions, and share experiences
- Learning how to deal with elder people and their misconceptions and beliefs
eXperience Description:
I also designed the desired and undesired descriptions throughout the whole journey:
Desired:
-Developmental
-Impactful
-Fruitful
-Motivational
-Effective
-Entertaining
Undesired:
– Boring
-Demotivating
– Useless
-Discouraging
-Ineffective
eXperience Environment
- Duration of the whole journey: 2 weeks
- Number of synchronous sessions: 7
- One-hour introductory session
- 4 learning sessions, each lasting 2.5 hours, covering four different topics: reproductive health, personal hygiene, infectious diseases, and breast cancer. Note that each extended to four hours due to the need for frequent breaks to accommodate some participants leaving for urgent work or addressing emergency medical cases.
- Fifth session: Discussion on the importance of communication, challenges, and solutions
- Final session: Reviewing and preparing for an awareness campaign in addition to the celebration
- Asynchronous interactions on a WhatsApp group, which included:
- Pre-introductory session interaction
- 4 educational materials sent after each of the synchronous sessions
- A task sent after each session