The Johari Window

The Johari Window is a self-awareness building tool that is often used in leadership training. International Paper, a large international company, requested a 20 minute, self-paced eLearning course for their Leadership Institute. For this project, I acted as Project Manager and Lead Developer, but I supported all aspects of the project from design to evaluation. I led a design team in completing subject matter expert interviews for a needs assessment, instructional analysis, storyboarding, and developing the course in Articulate Storyline.

Instructional Analysis Diagram

I translated information from the needs assessment into an instructional analysis diagram to highlight course objectives and the knowledge and skills required for learners to accomplish each objective. This step allowed us to verify direction with the client before storyboarding the course.

Animated Avatar Content Presentation

Based on the needs assment, we understood that the stakeholders desired an on-screen avatar to present the content in a friendly, non-academic fashion. I used Vyond.com's whiteboard animation character creator to design the avatar and animate the course content. The avatar set the tone for the course and added interest to the content presentation. I created and voiced the example video below.

Reflection

Reflection is a large part of developing self-awareness. The company stakeholders wanted opportunities within the eLearning course for learners to reflect on their connection to the content materials. Accordingly, I developed this interaction where learners could type their responses to reflection questions directly onto the page. All the reflections were aggregated and presented at the end of the course for learners to download or print.

Knowledge Checks

The company stakeholders expressed desire for several knowledge checks interspersed strategically throughout the course. The checks helped learners to regulate their learning and maintain engagement. I wrote and built knowledge checks in the form of multiple choice, drag and drop, and matching questions. Each question provided learners with immediate correct/incorrect feedback and provided hints and explanations to scaffold learning.

Results

The Johari Window training is scheduled to launch in January 2021. An abbreviated version of the Articulate Storyline course can be seen here on the SCORM Cloud platform. Initial usability testing with members of the target audience revealed that users appreciated voiceover narration of content on each slide and interactive knowledge checks and reflection points throughout the course. One person commented that the avatar and animation "made it easy not to zone out." Others liked the ability to reflect and see their reflections at the end. Overall, participants felt the training was a good lead into other leadership training resources available at the company.

The University of Memphis College of Education’s Instructional Design & Technology (IDT) department contacted me this summer to initiate a project for a course that would give students an opportunity to interact with a corporate client. A group of four students were selected to work directly with me to create an e-learning course for about 2,000 managers worldwide. We had an initial meeting to determine the topic of the new course and then went to work. Jaclyn stepped up as the group’s leader and I was fascinated to watch her move the group from a collection of instructional designers to a project team that showcased individual strengths and talents. Jaclyn led the instructional design and development from inception to completion serving in the dual role of project manager and lead developer. In her project manager role, Jaclyn made sure every milestone was met and skillfully guided the group through changes and time management pressures. In her instructional design lead role, Jaclyn managed content acquisition and decision loops for visual elements that ultimately delivered an excellent product. My organization was so impressed with the level of professionalism that we initiated a conversation with the University to arrange for a gift to the IDT department to recognize the exemplary work the team delivered under Jaclyn’s leadership.

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