Sales eLearning Refresh
Audience: Sales makers at Dell Technologies working with customers interested in support services for their business.
Responsibilities: Project Management, Instructional Design, eLearning Development, Visual Design, Voiceovers, Video Editing, Collaboration with SMEs and global stakeholders, Agile Development
Tools Used: Articulate Storyline 360, Camtasia, Audacity
Overview
A product marketing manager at Dell reached out as they were looking to refresh a pre-existing sales training covering details regarding the SupportAssist service within the Dell Technologies support portfolio.
This project was interesting as I was early in my career as an Instructional Designer, asked to take a team member’s work and update both offer details and design guidelines to better communicate with current learners.
It was the perfect opportunity for me to work in Articulate Storyline while communicating with SMEs and stakeholders to drive this project to completion.
Process
Even though this was an eLearning refresh, I still consulted with the primary stakeholders and SMEs in a kick-off call to ask questions regarding the audience, modality, length, and description to better understand the scope of the project.
After learning why the course needed a refresh (major updates in the offer details), I set a tentative timeline with all stakeholders involved to set dates for when deliverables such as supporting content, scripts, drafts, and reviews would need to be completed.
I then spent time studying the existing Storyline file in detail, seeing the flow of the training, and gaining an understanding of the decision-making process of the original designer, also making notes of my own personal feedback that I had. During this time, a review link in Articulate was shared with stakeholders in order to get their feedback on which scenes needed revisions. I exported all the comments made and began to work in Storyline to complete the refresh.
Storyboard + Prototype
I recognize that this was not a traditional instructional design project, as there was a Storyline file already in place to work in. Yet, I still created a text storyboard to document changes for specific scenes. The storyboard helped me organize my thoughts and stakeholder feedback, as well as showed me which scenes would require the most work in refreshing.
The course flow had the following structure: Intro, Offer Overview, Offer Differentiation, Customer Demo and Selling Tips, Resources, and the Knowledge Check at the end.
I would then go on to prototype certain changes in a new version of the Storyline file, starting with the SupportAssist Overview section, as that area had the most updates needed.
Full Development
Something to note for the development of this refresh was that I had the luxury of time. This meant that I had the opportunity to practice agile development as I could edit and take multiple steps at once while continuously collaborating with stakeholders, instead of waiting for one section to be finished and reviewed before moving forward.
Results and Takeaways
Feedback from both internal and external teams was positive as I shared my completed project. Even under corporate brand guidelines, viewers positively commented on how they saw my unique touch to the refresh, while still honoring the good work my team member did.
This project was immensely helpful in my growth as an Instructional Designer for the following reasons:
Real-world experience in Articulate 360 and agile course development: While I’ve previously spent time working in Articulate 360 and got a feel for the different programs in its portfolio, this was one of my first real-world, corporate experiences working with Storyline and Review 360. It was also one of my first times developing a course using an agile model. Whether it was my inexperience or the nature of agile development itself, I’m not sure, but I do remember the pages of feedback and comments I received from my peers. I did not take these for granted, as the lessons learned in best practices for Storyline, design principles, and executing learning theories have stuck with me since.
Cross-group and global collaboration with SMEs and stakeholders: For the most part, I do agree that general project management skills are transferrable to roles involving instructional design. Yet, this project showed me just how different it was in working with SMEs and stakeholders while having minimal prior knowledge of the technologies and products involved. This is where I truly realized how important it was in obtaining buy-in from SMEs and stakeholders, and that my job was to package their expertise into a form that learners would best grow from, both in knowledge and experience.
My biggest takeaway from this project was the confirmation it gave me in wanting to pursue a career in Instructional Design. Even though I faced many challenges from the theory to the execution of instructional design, the culmination of so many different skills and activities had me highly engaged throughout the entire refresh process.
