Background
The Pan American Development Foundation (PADF) was working with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the Eastern Caribbean that focus on human issues related to the LGBTQ community, gender-based violence, public health, and the impact of climate change on vulnerable populations. Some of these NGOs were more seasoned with 20 years of experience, while others were nascent with less than 2 years of experience. The PADF team wanted to train leaders of these NGOs so they could better manage their NGO programs for lasting success.
Problem
This training needed to be both accessible to the NGOs scattered across the Eastern Caribbean and presented in a way that these NGOs would find relatable. The PADF team monitoring this project was based in the United States so they started their search for a solution there. However, they quickly realised that they needed a company based in the Caribbean region that understood Caribbean people.
Also, they had just secured a new Learning Management System (LMS) and needed a company that would help them create content they could upload to the system. The team wanted experienced instructional designers who could create a 45-minute course that included e-learning videos with either animations or voice-overs, as well as other forms of online learning material.
“Prior to One On One, we didn’t have an efficient way to get learning materials onto our LMS. One On One helped us create the course which then made it pretty easy for our IT team to upload everything.”
~Faisal Hassan, Program Manager, Pan American Development Foundation
There was also a very tight timeline — this 45-minute course needed to be completed within a month. Therefore, the PADF team needed instructional designers who would not only create exceptional Caribbean-specific content, but produce the content fast.
Solution
The PADF team provided One On One’s instructional design team with a PowerPoint presentation that had 40 slides of content relevant to the course material. The PowerPoint had previously been used for similar training but it was outdated and included case studies irrelevant to the Eastern Caribbean audience.
One On One’s instructional design team used the PowerPoint presentation as the base for their research. First, the team revised the case studies so that they were relevant to the Eastern Caribbean context. This required extensive research that required pulling information from multiple associations that dealt with the issues being discussed in the region.
A design plan was then created. It showcased an overview of how the content was going to be presented and the different tools that would be used to present it (videos, charts, illustrations, and so on). The team presented the design plan and revised content to PADF’s consultant in Ecuador who was a specialist in the topic. He was pleased and granted approval for them to proceed with developing the 3 modules of this 45-minute course.
Since the entire course was constrained to 45-minutes, the instructional design team used 4 videos to present the information in an attractive and succinct manner. There were also other supporting material including interactive courseware, short quizzes, and other tasks that helped make the course more interactive and engaging.
Additionally, the team got voice talent from the Eastern Caribbean to do the narration and explain information beyond what was visible on the PowerPoint slides. Another Eastern Caribbean voice over talented was also hired who portrayed a character in the videos and summarised what was covered at the end of each of the 3 modules.
Results
Many of the NGO leaders completed the course in one sitting. There were no hiccups in terms of their ability to access the course and learn from it. However, what mattered most to the PADF team was the ease of working with One On One’s instructional designers.
“One On One has solid customer service. The team is very meticulous and listens to feedback. We know that if we contact them, we’ll have a response within 24 hours and they’ll action our comments in a timely manner. The One On One team truly delivers great service and content.”
~Faisal Hassan, Program Manager, Pan American Development Foundation
