Microlearning Course

Problem-Solving Conversations - Quick Tips

Learn how to conduct a problem-solving conversation with new teachers

Problem: New teacher mentors need to be able to shift from a consulting role of "putting out fires" to a coaching role, guiding mentees toward self-directed learning. When problems arise mentors often jump towards solution thinking prematurely. Many mentor training programs lack the tools and resources mentors need to facilitate coaching conversations, leading to frustration in both mentors and mentees and higher turn-over rates.

Solution: This microlearinng coruse is designed to introduce mentors to a conversation framework they can use to facilitate problem-solving conversations with their mentees. Learners will learn more about the three main components of the conversation framework and engage in a pulse-check assessment with a call to action at the end of the course. This microcourse is designed in 7Taps, a microlearning platform that is user friendly, accessible and ideal for just in time learning. This is a concept project demonstrating how microlearning can be used to support deeper learning.

Big Picture: This microlearning course is not a stand-alone solution, but rather one piece of a larger intervention. After completing the microlearning course, learners are called to engage in a scenario-based elearning module (in development) in which they use a job aid to work through a simulated problem-solving conversation with a mentee, providing an opportunity to practice and apply what they have learned in a low-stakes environment with support. Learners will also receive a hard copy of the job aid to use in real-time. A follow up live training session will provide an opportunity for learners to use the skills they have developed through the self-paced elearning with a peer and receive real-time feedback and targeted support. The overarching goal is to move mentoring conversations to the coaching role at least 60% of the time to increase new teacher retention rates.

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Details

Type: Micro-learning
Client: Demo project
Audience: New teacher mentors
Responsibilities: course designer, subject matter expert, course developer
Date: December 2022

Tools

7Taps
Canva
Freepik.com

Skills

Instructional Design
Storyboarding
eLearning Development

The Design Process

Here we see an image of the action map created in Mindmeister. The business problem is in the center with desired actions webbing out in different directions. Some actions have sub-actions listed and possible solutions. The main focus for this learning solution has been colored green as the focus of the course.

Snippet of action map. Click the image to view the full document.

This image of the course design document outlines the learning objectives, topic, audience, modality/learning material and measurement/assessment for this course.

Snippet of course design document. Click the image to view the full document.

Initial Design

This concept project is based on a real life problem in a real school district. I began by conducting a needs assessment to identify, measure and prioritize gaps in the current training program. Through interviews with current mentor teachers I found many mentors were not comfortable facilitating problem solving conversations with their mentees and most said they would benefit from more training and support in this area. All agreed they would like to move their conversations from the consulting to the coaching role to better support their mentees.

I used action mapping to outline the business goals, desired actions and possible solutions to the problem. Through this process I was able to identify six main actions that would support the business goal and decided to focus on problem-solving conversation facilitation for this course. I then created a course outline including learning objectives, learner profile, assessment strategies, and desired actions.

Storyboarding

After creating a high-level outline, I transitioned to drafting a text-based story board outlining the course goals, content and assessment. As I worked through this process I decided to break the learning objectives down into two different learning solutions to narrow the focus and provide digestible chunks for the learnrers. My goal with this microlearning is to introduce the framework and set mentees up for success in the scenario based e-learning. I continued to iterate and change based on microlearning best practices and learner needs.

This image of the text-based storyboard includes the course title, learning objectives, authoring tools, and the text, media, navigation, button and technical notes for the course.

Snippet of text-based storyboard. Click the image to view the full document.

This image shows the mood board created for the project. The colors vary from darker to lighter shades of teal and blue, a dark gold, black, white and an off-white. In total there are 4 shades of teal blue, one shade of dark gold, and one shade of off-white.

Snippet of Mood board.

This image shows the course card preview images in 7Taps. We see 14 cards with text and images. The course cards are off-white with dark teal text. The corse introduction card is dark teal with off-white text.

Snippet of an early iteration of the course in 7Taps.

Interactive Prototype

I created an interactive prototype in 7taps using an iterative approach. I chose to use 7Taps as it is accessible for the learner, "bite-sized", and includes assessment and user analytics. This platform seemed like the perfect way to deliver just-in-time content to users who are busy and can be easily pushed out on social media or email as a refresher course.

I sourced graphics from Canva and Freepik.com for this project and developed a custom pallet, keeping the colors, formatting and style consistent with the other course components. One challenge I faced during this phase of the process was the limitations of 7Taps. The program limits 15 "cards" per microlearning, which really pushed me to distinguish "nice to know" from "needs to know" information and be very intentional about how I presented content and assessed learners.

Development

After receiving feedback, I made some changes to the layout and configuration of the course to increase accesibility. I added a simple icon graphic on each page to symbolize each step of the conversation framework, changed the anonymous poll to a quiz for anonymity and better user data, and added a brief scenario at the beginning of the course to introduce the problem and goals. I also edited the assessments to be more targeted. The end result is a quick, accessible, effective introduction to the problem-solving framework that sets learners up for success in the next phase of the mentor training program.

This image shows the course card preview images in 7Taps. We see 14 cards with text and images. The course cards are a light blue with dark teal text. The corse introduction card is dark teal with a circular pattern and off-white text.

Snippet of a second iteration of the course in 7Taps after feedback and revisions.

The Finished Product

Results and Take-aways

From the 7Taps facilitator dashboard the facilitator is able to see user analytics including open and completion rates as well as assessment results and data by user or question. One challenge with this platform is the users are listed as "anonymous user" in the dashboard. The data would be best utilized for a overall pulse check rather than individualized targeted interventions.

I learned a lot about designing effective and engaging microlearning courses through this project and look forward to incorporating them more in the future.

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