Adult Learning for Transitioning Teachers

Adult Learning for Transitioning Teachers (Storyline 360)

Problem: K-8 teachers that are transitioning into instructional design and corporate training need to learn about adult learning theories. There are so many theories about how adults learn.  Where should they start?

Solution: This course focuses on andragogy as a starting point for transitioning teachers to learn about adult learning theories and principles.  By building on prior knowledge, the course introduces Knowles’ Principles of Andragogy (adult learning theory) in comparison to pedagogy (child learning theory).  Learners experience the new information through a lens of experience and insight to optimize understanding.  All multiple-choice selections display a description of an andragogy principle for repeated exposure to increase retention.

This course was created for my portfolio, so the focus was on design and development using Storyline 360.

Process: Outline – Assessment – Storyboard  – Design – Develop – Finalize

Outline: First, I created an outline by listing learning objectives, topics to cover and ways I envisioned introducing the content.

Next, incorporating the backward design process, I thought about how I would assess learner comprehension.  I created a document with a list of the adult learning principles my learners will be able to identify and describe by the end of the course.  I defined each one and created a real-world situation which lends itself to the application of the adult learning principle.

Storyboard:  Finally, I created a text storyboard.  I started by listing the learning objectives at the top of each slide.  After listing all of the content the learners needed to reach the objective in each slide, I brainstormed possible ways to present the content such as infographics, interactions and videos.  I added, combined, separated, removed and changed slides to include the content and how I was thinking of presenting it until it flowed.  After refining the text storyboard, the slides with learning objectives were broken down into topics and topics were broken down into specific modes of content presentation.  Now I was ready to design and develop each slide on Storyline 360.

Design:  I really enjoyed creating this course on Storyline 360.  It was like everything I wished Microsoft PowerPoint and Word could do, Storyline could do!  Using the Velocity template, I easily kept text styles, font, color schemes and slide layouts consistent and pleasing to the eye.  Using the Content Library 360, I was able to create engaging ways to frontload new content and assess understanding using interactions like tabs and processes. E-Learning Heroes was my go-to resource to explore solutions to trigger problems.  I liked experimenting with characters to create scenarios that demonstrate real-world examples of andragogy.  I wanted the examples to be very clear and repetitive so learners will absorb and retain the content.

Finalize: I went through the course several times to tweak all the processes until everything was functioning properly.

I really enjoyed using Storyline 360 to create this course. There are endless possibilities to create and customize learning experiences with Storyline 360 and so far it is my favorite e-learning authoring tool!

Click “Start Course” below to see the full course.