Writing eLearning on 'sensitive' subjects

eLearning is just the medium. The words are the same as e.g. writing a book, or an article.

Start by writing those words down.

Make sure you are constantly reviewing with the SMEs and others.

Does that make sense?

Bruce

I have but to be honest it is not easy going and a little boring but hey see attached.  To veiw save the Zip to your desktop then view the player.html.

Take Care

Clare

That's how i would do it with pretty much any cours and I'm probably worrying a bit unnecessarily on this as i've not as yet completed the TNA.

This subject being quite delicate, my initial thoughts seem to be around a basic text and test approach

Thanks for this Clare. Did you put this together?

Howie: if you give a bit more information on the topic and your concerns, we'll be able to give more helpful feedback.

A few suggestions till then:

• Have the situations reflect real life (there's an honesty in that that most learners will appreciate and relate with)
• Exploit the emotional situations inherent in the material to get the learners involved, to make them want to do whatever it is you are telling them to do
• As far as a visual look, what places do the situations in your course take place? Another way regarding visual look is to think about the objects and textures the subject brings to mind (stickers, crayons, dolls, etc.)

I agree with Daniel, you can use a real life situation to emotionaly engage the user. You don't only have to reach them at an intellectual level.

I assume that the course is supposed to help learners recognize and act on situations of child abuse. If that's correct, then it seems like scenarios that simulate the types of situations learners will face would be the best approach, since that gives learners the chance to practice what they need to do. If you write those scenarios with the subject matter experts, they won't be trivial.

Emphasize to the subject matter experts that you want the situations to be as real and complex as possible, and ask them to identify common mistakes. Include those common mistakes as appealing options in the scenario so learners can choose them and learn from them.

I recently helped with a course about recognizing and preventing child sexual abuse in the tourist trade. It's almost 100% scenarios that require learners to make decisions in common grey areas. Feedback is detailed, explaining why one option is better than another. There's not much information presentation; instead, the course focuses on giving learners practice in recognizing and responding to situations.

The client chose an illustration style that's reminiscent of graphic novels, with a dark feeling to it, and the illustrations show the perspective of the learner. For example, if the learner is working the front desk of a hotel, we see the man who's checking in with a young girl as if we're behind the front desk. 

Good luck!

Cathy,

Is it possible for us to see one or two screenshots from the course?

I think that getting the right "tone" is essential in a course such as this, and it's definitely a situation where custom graphics is the way to go.

Many thanks, in hope.

Bruce

Thanks for the advice all. Cathy, can I echo Bruce's request for screenshots?

I'll ask the client!

Thanks Cathy

Hello, Howie,

I worked on a child protection training about a year ago. The content was given to me, and I couldn't make any changes to it as the content had already been approved by the state. The only thing I did have control over was the look and feel. I am attaching some screenshots of the course to give you an idea. I think if you have the opportunity to create scenarios that cover the grey areas, that would be really helpful.

The course I did had four sections, and each section had a different color scheme to break it up. I basically took photos and edited them in Powerpoint using the various artistic effects. I hope this is helpful in giving you some ideas. The following are a hodge podge of slides.

Lesley - love the look and feel there

All "serious", but visually interesting.

Bruce

Thanks for these Lesley. The screenshots are really helpful

Found this on the internet - go to slide #21 "The Ties That Bind".  A serious subject done in storytelling mode.

http://wcwpds.wisc.edu/foster-parent-training/m4/player.html

Just another perspective. The training group I used to be a part of last year (Compassion International) needed to create a course on child protection. Rather than go the route of dark imagery throughout the course the design focused on how innocent and joyful children are. The photos of children in the course were vibrant and full of life. Dark colors were used sparingly as the ultimate purpose of the course was to motivate children's workers in third world countries to report child abuse and even be able to detect it via child behavior etc.

I remember feeling like the course kept the value of children in mind as it presented some very difficult subject matter. Care was taken with some of the very intense subjects.

M@

Creative thought