GAMIFIED SCENARIO eLEARNING
Journey into Communication
In this engaging course, participants embark on a transformative journey to enhance their communication skills through engaging missions set in unique interstellar environments.
Responsability
Instructional Design, eLearning Development, Authoring, Storyboarding, Visual Design
Tools
Authorizing Software: Articulate Storyline 360
Design: Figma, Canva Pro, Powerpoint
Animation and Avatars: HeyGen, ChatGPT, Canva Pro, Bing Image Creator
Audience
This course is tailored for working professionals in dynamic and evolving workplace environments. It’s ideal for individuals aiming to enhance interpersonal effectiveness, increase team influence, and navigate complex workplace challenges more adeptly.
The Problem
In today’s fast-paced work environments, communication is both a critical skill and a common challenge. Many professionals find themselves struggling to clearly convey complex ideas, listen actively, or inspire their teams under pressure. Misunderstandings can easily arise, leading to misaligned goals and disrupted collaboration. I noticed that while many professionals want to improve these skills, traditional corporate training often feels like an obligation rather than an opportunity for personal growth. This inspired me to create a course that not only addresses these communication gaps but does so in a way that feels engaging and rewarding, even after a busy workday.
The Solution
To tackle these communication challenges, I designed this course as a dynamic, self-paced journey through immersive workplace scenarios. Each mission is set in a unique environment—whether presenting a strategic initiative to the Galactic Council or resolving a resource conflict between Solarites and Lunarites. These scenarios are designed to let learners practice critical communication skills without feeling like they’re just going through the motions of corporate training. The course allows learners to choose which skills they want to develop first, giving them control over their own learning journey. This flexibility is paired with practical tools and strategies that can be immediately applied in their everyday work, ensuring a meaningful and impactful learning experience.
Course Structure
Planet Veritas: Verbal Clarity
Learning Objective: Develop skills to articulate complex information succinctly and confidently in professional settings.
Overview: In this mission, participants will present a strategic initiative to the Galactic Council. They will focus on starting with a strong introduction, simplifying complex details, summarizing key points, and inviting questions to ensure understanding.
Key Challenges:
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- Crafting an engaging introduction.
- Simplifying complex ideas for better comprehension.
- Summarizing effectively and facilitating Q&A sessions.
Planet Harmonia: Active Listening
Learning Objective: Enhance listening skills to accurately interpret and respond to spoken communication in the workplace.
Overview: Participants will resolve tensions between the Solarites and Lunarites over a rare mineral by practicing active listening techniques. They will learn to understand verbal and non-verbal cues, validate emotions, and foster open dialogue for mutual understanding.
Key Challenges:
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- Listening attentively to verbal and non-verbal cues.
- Validating and acknowledging emotions of the parties involved.
- Creating an environment for open and honest dialogue.
Planet Zenith:
Leadership Communication
Learning Objective: Apply leadership communication strategies to effectively lead teams and make critical decisions under pressure.
Overview: In this high-stakes underwater mission, participants will lead a team, ensuring clarity in roles and responsibilities while motivating team members. They will focus on building trust and making swift, informed decisions to ensure mission success.
Key Challenges:
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- Inspiring confidence among team members.
- Ensuring clear communication of roles and expectations.
- Making quick and effective decisions in a dynamic environment.
Learning Design
Design Methodology
I chose to use the Successive Approximation Model (SAM) for this course design because it offers flexibility, agility, and continuous collaboration, which was important given the variety of simulations and feedback loops I wanted to include. Starting with quick prototypes, I could rapidly test out ideas for missions, feedback, and UI/UX design with a small group of trusted peers and collueagues. By using SAM’s iterative design approach, I ensured that each aspect of the course was developed and improved upon continuously, incorporating feedback early and often to create the most engaging learner experience possible.
Learning Theory
Situated Cognitive Theory played a big role in shaping this course. From my experience as an experiential learning facilitator, I’ve seen firsthand how participants internalize concepts better by first engaging in a hands-on, immersive activity, followed by reflective discussion. In this course, learners are placed in dynamic, realistic scenarios where communication is key. They encounter communication challenges in various contexts and reflect on their performance through feedback, just as they would in a real-world professional setting. This approach helps learners feel the need for improvement before they dive into the theory behind their behaviors, mirroring the way adults learn best: by doing and reflecting.
Action Mapping
Action mapping was essential in identifying the core workplace communication issues learners face. My consulting experience provided insight into real-world scenarios, such as presenting clearly to clients, the struggle of active listening in team meetings, or making quick, critical decisions during high-pressure situations. Each mission in the course—whether it’s delivering a strategic initiative on Planet Veritas, mediating conflict on Planet Harmonia, or leading a mission underwater—directly mirrors these challenges. Action mapping allowed me to focus the course on skills that would genuinely improve workplace performance, making it feel relevant and practical for participant
Text-based Storyboarding
For storyboarding, I started with text-based outlines, breaking down each mission into detailed dialogue, actions, and learner decision points. The storylines had to be compelling and immersive, with each mission posing critical communication challenges. I used real conversations I’d encountered as a consultant, tweaking them to fit the futuristic, space-themed setting. I wanted learners to get drawn into the narrative, making their choices instinctively, and then seeing the impact of those choices unfold through feedback. This added a sense of adventure while keeping the learning objectives front and center.
Visual Design
The visual design of each mission setting was carefully crafted to immerse learners in distinct, atmospheric environments while supporting the communication challenges they would face.
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My Work
