Case study 1:

Frontline: Changing Lives

Client: Frontline

Location: London, UK

What they do: They are a charity who recruit, train and support social workers through the delivery of a 2 year Masters level programme.

My role: Writing/ Instructional designStoryline and Rise buildsGraphic designConsultancy

Goal for the project. Due to the global pandemic that hit 2020, Frontline needed to quickly move their training online. Usually, their students would start the Master's Programme with a 5-week summer residential at a University, but due to Covid, this was not possible. Therefore Frontline has had to quickly adapt and create an online learning experience for the 450 students recruited to start their training in the summer of 2020, and the students already in years 1 and 2 of the programme.Due to their Digital Learning team being a small team of two, they needed extra resource to help make this happen, so I was recruited to help them out for 2 months (plus two other contractors for a few weeks of this time). I was also asked back for a second phase to help wrap up some extra pieces of learning and amends that were required after the summer programme had run.

The challenges/measure of success:The main challenge was the speed at which we needed to respond to the situation and produce the learning. We were also working with SMEs, many of which had little or no prior understanding of eLearning and how to provide the materials.

The process: At the start of the project, I produced some templates and guidelines to ensure consistency in what we were to produce, and at the end of the first phase had spent some time putting together guidelines for the academics that were to be providing content for future modules.There was a blended approach to this project with live lectures, modules and the integration of apps such as Padlet and discussion boards. All the modules and links were loaded to Moodle.I worked on approximately 17 modules in total, either producing them fully myself or working with one of the other designers. The modules were built in a combination of Rise and Storyline, depending on the level of complexity needed for the content and navigation.

The outcome: The project has had good feedback from all involved and I have personally had feedback thanking me for ‘making the process easy’ and enjoyable, and being very flexible with my time.We managed to create a successful project in a short timeframe and I enjoyed working on the project.

“Working with Helen has been one of the easiest things I have done over the last 6 months. Helen brought a wealth of knowledge, style and enthusiasm to her designs, she helped us go from zero e-learning to building a portfolio of engaging and appealing modules which are used by our 450+ students and staff. Helen helped us implement standards, create templates and training materials, nothing seemed to daunt her! With patience of saint and such a friendly approach, the whole experience of working with Helen has been one I couldn't recommend highly enough!”

Helen Axe, Digital Learning Manager

I was proud of what we managed to achieve in such a short time and the response from the staff delivering the course has been very positive. It could have been a really tricky project juggling so many contributors (especially from a distance) and technologies that were new to them, but the team made me feel really included and we all helped each other with any difficulties. I think this shows in the final outcome!