Learning Experience Design... Experience

As an experienced classroom educator and sales enabler, I am passionate about the learning experience.  As a classroom educator who already understood "the end from the beginning," I would regularly tell my students to "trust the crazy" as we worked through activities and learning experiences that I knew were essential steps to get them where I wanted them to go.

Using educational jargon, I strategically deployed backward design (big fan of Understanding-By-Design) principles to create outcome-driven experiences.  As a Canvas LMS user (with a brief stint on Moodle), I also employed research-based best practices to create premier online learning experiences.  I carry the same principles (and passion for those principles) to create a world-class Partner Enablement Program and support my current company's Sales Enablement program as well.

Below are examples of my direct work as well as work created under my direction (marked as such in notes):

Challenge:  Create a Partner Enablement Program from scratch.

Context:  My current employer was also in the process of building a sales enablement program that relied on clunky on-line courses and scheduled live sessions.  

Goal:  Create a cohesive, well branded, objective driven program utilizing the available tech stack (Canvas LMS, Canvas Catalog, and later Canvas Credentials)

Outcome: A partner enablement program involving product knowledge training, sales process training, marketing training, and post-sales/services delivery.  

Bonus Outcome: the larger enablement team followed my lead by re-branding their internal courses, hiring an instructional designer, and creating a more learner-centered program with well-defined outcomes.

Learning Journey Examples

Registration/Engagement

After signing as a Channel Reseller Partner, our team provides access to our Partner Portal and begins our onboarding process.  We walk them through the Certification Program and the Ongoing Enablement options and offer them open registration to our courses.

In the PDF below, you can see course listings and programs organized using Canvas Catalog (an available registration tool in the company tech-stack).

Future Plans to Improve Learning Experience:  Divide courses into smaller, faster, learning experiences.  Small courses would be linked together using Canvas Credentials Pathways (similar to other enablement tools where short-form learning experiences roll-up into larger certifications).

Course Home Page

The "first impression" for a course is very important.  We designed our home pages to be informative and provide clear instructions for learners.  The example below is a custom-designed course for a contract-client.  I had limited access (as a contractor) to visual resources and a very narrow timeline for completion. 

Course Flow

How learners progress through content must be clear.  Content must be broken into digestible chunks and presented in multiple learning modes (where possible).  Note the consistent module design:

• Naming Convention

• Clear Module Names

• Progress requirements (Mark as done, earn a specific score, etc)

• Learning Checks

• Clearly defined learning Goals

Some modules also contain 3rd party learning tools (Genially)

Future Improvements:  I am currently negotiating a follow-up contract with this organization to add additional video learning content and create a services enablement program. 

Learning Pages

Following the best practices of page design and leveraging quality visual tools (sometimes our internal team and other times taking our branding guidelines and creating the visual that I need) creates easily accessible and organized pages for learner consumption.

This page is from a Sales Enablement course introducing partners to our sales process.  The page is meant to be a reference tool after initial learning. 

Credentials and Recognition

Each course provides micro-credentials to participants.  These Credentials are issued using our credentialing tool: Canvas Credentials.  We design larger pathways allowing participants to earn smaller, focused recognition that combines to earn larger Certifications (Canvas Pathways).

While our system allows for individual tracking, this screenshot demonstrates the custom designed badges and a basic pathway construction.

Partner Experience

Our Partner Portal is a work in progress for improving user experience and learner experience.  Below is a sample "wire-frame" page using Sales Force Partner Community building tools.  

The button set up at the top of the page is universal throughout our user experience, helping our partners find resources quickly and effectively.