My Instructional Design Journey.
While recently living abroad, I had the opportunity to apply my experience in learning from academia to training development for corporate clients in a variety of industries.
Some of these included:
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Automotive
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Aerospace
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Plastics, or adhesives, advanced materials, and coatings
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Flow designers for the homogenization of food products (i.e. milk, yogurt, and plant-based products)
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Risk prevention and certification for fire safety and explosion
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Patent and intellectual property attorneys
The diverse backgrounds of these trainees brought to the language learning process opportunities for me to explore new fields of interest. Most importantly, I gained new perspectives on the vast and complex situations in which adults with a global mindset learn. Topics of interest included:
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Intercultural Competence
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Human Resources Management
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Talent Development and Retention
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Employee Engagement
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Change Management
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Labor Relations
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Safety, Health, and Environment
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Manufacturing and Line Management
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Quality Assurance Auditing/ISO Standards and Certification
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Sales and Marketing
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Engineering Design
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Research and Development
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Presentation of Company Assets to International Customers
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Career Change Preparation - Job Searches, Interviewing and Resume Writing.
Interaction with these professionals inspired me to pursue a new career in learning!
A Design Portfolio
Instructional and Training Systems Design Project
The artifacts you will discover by scrolling down highlight some of the concepts in the theme of Learning Technologies and Instructional and Training Systems Design as part of design projects for completion of the MasterTrack Certificate in Instructional Design at the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign (2021). Each course emphasized the application of theory to practice by designing solutions to hypothetical challenges or opportunities identified by stakeholders.
For Instructional and Training Systems Design, a team of four instructional designers-in-training collaborated to respond to the business needs of a global leader in the health and beauty industry potentially seeking to improve its onboarding training program for diversity and inclusion. We applied an innovative model to update content and build a curriculum that would be virtually accessible via the company LMS and portable devices to more than 39,000 full-time employees at this Japanese multinational cosmetic company.
The proposed eight-hour online course is composed of four stand-alone training modules that teach and reinforce the importance of Diversity and Inclusion.
Learning Goals of the course focus on:
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Building Awareness
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Applying transparent and fair practices
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Fostering an environment of inclusion and diversity within the organization.
The course aims to develop knowledge in all managers to understand the unique needs of those they oversee to foster more productive communication, empower all employees, continue the company's diversity initiatives, and ultimately lead to greater business outcomes.
The Framework and Learning Outcomes
The Smith and Ragan (2005) framework established the parameters by which the design team constructed its training modules. To maintain thorough and rigorous alignment of instructional design best practices (i.e. analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation) designers utilized tables and graphic maps.
Module 4 - Developing Intercultural Competence was the focus of my design project throughout the Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace executive proposal. Highlights from the project are included. The prerequisite map below illustrates a task analysis of the learning process and objectives trainees would accomplish to achieve the terminal learning objective of the training.
Terminal Objective of Module 4 Training: Upon Completion of Module 4, learners will be able to model appropriate strategies regarding intercultural competence in their daily communication and management techniques, both in person and virtually, to cultivate an inclusive workplace environment at the levels of standards outlined in the company philosophy.
Training Content
Module 4: Developing Intercultural Competence is the fourth pillar of the Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace course developed for a leader in the health and beauty industry. It is a two-hour online training module designed for the company's LMS.
Adult learning theory, and developmental and instructional learning theories were applied to the training module. Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction and Bloom's Taxonomy were emphasized. Horton's (2012) Absorb-Do-Connect framework for instructional design also guided the structure of the training module.
Learners are introduced to leading frameworks related to intercultural competence. Video content, case study vignettes, and readings feature workplace scenarios and information showcasing how knowing about intercultural competence, intercultural sensitivity, and cultural intelligence impact relationships within multicultural teams and with global partners. Managers absorb knowledge and build awareness of the challenges their teams may encounter in culturally diverse situations.
In addition, learners are introduced to strategies they can implement with their teams to improve intercultural communication. With real-world scenarios, learners determine whether or not appropriate strategies are applied.
By connecting information about knowledge and attitudes, learners build their ability to model and promote new behaviors that can lead to increased team effectiveness, innovation, and higher performance as well as quality service to clients, and better business outcomes.
Assessment
A criterion-referenced assessment instrument was selected for the project. The design team aimed to address the Five C's in our assessment model (congruence, completeness, consistency, confidence, and cost). During and post-assessment test items were used.
During-Instruction Assessment: Learners complete formative assessments to ensure their readiness levels are appropriate to engage in new instruction. Test items include True/False, Multiple Choice, and Short Answer.
These during-instruction assessments align with the Enabling Objectives. If trainees are not able to display mastery during these formative assessments, defined as 80% accuracy, they are cued to re-engage with the content, so they may learn. By vertically aligning the rigor of instruction, trainees can be engaged within the Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky, 1978). Furthermore, this process allows the course content to inherently differentiate for learning that is appropriately challenging for all.
Post - Instruction Assessment: Applying intercultural knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes is a developmental process occurring over time. Therefore, to reflect overall mastery of the learning objective, learners must achieve a score of 14/20, or 70%, on a rating scale with five criteria used to assess the learners response to the final prompt.
Final Prompt:
How do you plan to develop intercultural competence in your business interactions with colleagues or clients representing other cultures and apply these strategies with your team?
Please use knowledge from Lesson 1 and Lesson 2 from the training module as a rationale for your plan.
The rating scale contains criteria related to learners' expression of knowledge presented in Module 4: Lesson 1 and Lesson 2. Each criteria will be followed by a Rating Scale ranging from “Exemplary” to “Not Expressed” to indicate learners’ application of knowledge and level of engagement at the time of instruction to choose appropriate strategies and apply them to their daily interactions and management techniques to improve intercultural interactions or to effectively resolve challenges with intercultural exchanges or contexts.
____Exemplary (5) ____Competent (4) ____Developing (3) ____Emerging (2) ____ Not Expressed (1)
A “Bonus” Criteria is included for responses containing suggestions for creating resources or solutions to resolve existing or potential challenges encountered in intercultural exchanges in the workplace.
With responses provided during the training and results from the CQ Intelligence Survey, learners collaborate with their Human Resources Specialist and manager to develop a Personal Development Plan to enhance their intercultural competence in future intercultural exchanges and contexts as applicable to their professional circumstances.
Training Module Highlights
Browse through highlights of the pilot training presentation of Module 4: Developing Intercultural Competence developed for a hypothetical client inspired by the training needs of a leader in the health and beauty industry as part of the MasterTrack Certificate in Instructional Design at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign.
