Supporting LGBTQ Youth's Mental Health - eLearning Module
Brainstorming
As the final project for the MSIDT program I knew that we were going to be asked to develop a fully realized e-Learning module on the subject of our choosing. From the start of the program I knew that I wanted to develop an e-Learning module that was designed to better prepare mental health care providers for working with the LGBTQ youth population in order to meet this particular demographic's unique mental health needs. Taking into account the disparity between heterosexual youth and their LGBTQ youth peers I felt this was an important e-Learning module to develop in order to prepare mental health care providers to provide quality patient care for both heterosexual and LGBTQ patients. For this module I wanted to focus on three areas: the unique challenges that LGBTQ youth face that negatively impacts their mental health, how the mental health care provider can design a safe space for their LGBTQ youth patients, and what supportive services the mental health care provider can recommend for their LGBTQ youth patients.
Planning Stages
For the first phase of development I focused on developing a flowchart in order to map out the overall flow of this learning module. Once I had mapped out the content I shifted my focus on designing the storyboards to map out the design of each slide, the content, and the various interactions. On the slides that had interactivity I designed multiple slides to show the default state of the slide and then a second slide was designed to show the state of the slide after the interaction had occurred.
Once the flowchart and storyboards can been completed I began working on the Design Document for the entire project to submit for approval. The Design Document consisted of me documenting the Project Scope, Learner Analysis, Learning Objectives, Form of Assessment, Responsibilities/Timeline, Usability Testing, and the Style Manual.
Feel free to check some of the documents I created for this project.
Alpha Prototype Development
After the design document had received the instructor's approval I began development on the Alpha of the product. For this stage of development I first focused on putting all of the written content onto the corresponding slides and then adding the assets to accompany the written content. After the assets and written content was added to the slides I began working on implementing the various user interactions such as click-to reveal and drag-and-drop.
After I was happy with the design of the slides and the interactions I began testing the usability to ensure everything was working as it should. Of all the stages of development I would have to say that usability testing took up the most amount of time so that I could ensure everything was working as it was intended. Once I was done with the development with the Alpha Prototype I submitted it for instructor and peer review.
Feel free to check out the Alpha Prototype below.
Beta Prototype Development
After I had received the instructor and peer feedback from the Beta Prototype I began development of the Beta Prototype. For the most part the feedback was positive but there were some areas that needed refining (i.e. customize negative feedback on the Knowledge Checks, decrease the amount of bulleted text, alter how information is presented, and eliminate any glitches). This phase of development was easier than the Alpha Prototype in some ways but also more challenging in ways that I was not anticipating.
The Beta Prototype was easier because quite a bit of the feedback I was already expecting and had been thinking of how I wanted to address it and had a clear idea of how I would accomplish it within the confines of the authoring tool. However, there was some feedback I wasn't expecting and didn't have a clear idea of how I was going to incorporate the feedback into my learning module. During this time I did a lot of experimenting with the written content, design elements, and how I could improve the content presentation to ensure the user will engage with the learning material. Additionally, I took this time to refine the graphical elements of the e-Learning module by refining the images I was using and the layout.
Overall, I am very happy with where the Beta Prototype is at this time. Once I receive feedback regarding the Beta Prototype I look forward to further refining this project for the final Gold Product.
Feel free to check out the Beta Prototype below.
Final Instructional Product Development
Development of the final instructional product begun in spring 2021 after a much needed break. I started the final stage of development by reviewing the feedback I had received from instructors and peers during the Beta phase of development. Once I had incorporated the revisions from the Beta phase, I began work on developing and refining the final product. Overall, this phase of development wasn't as challenging as Alpha and Beta phases since I had a firm understanding of what worked well and what didn't based on the feedback I received from instructors and peers.
Once development of the final instructional product was complete I sent the e-Learning module out for review to the subject matter experts (SMEs) to review the content of the module and instructional design experts (IDEs) to review the instructional design elements of the e-Learning module.
Key Takeaways
After planning this e-Learning module for so long, I have to say that it was a little surreal to FINALLY begin development. One of my key takeaways from this project is how different a product can become from what was initially envisioned. There are a number of reasons for the changes made, such as, peer feedback, realizing an element wasn't working out, or simply coming up with a better idea.
I really enjoyed my time working on this project as I was able to merge my instructional design skills with my passion for healthcare equity. Development of this project really forced me to refine my skills with Adobe Captivate and the other tools that I used in the development process. With that said, I can't wait to finish development of this project this upcoming spring and share the final product here.
