eLearning Course
Project Title
Texas Pool Volunteer Training Course
About the Project
How can we deliver a quick and effective training solution for our volunteers?
Audience
Community volunteers new to the organization
Responsibilities
Instructional design
Tools Used:
Articulate Storyline 360, Google Docs
A local non-profit depends on volunteers for maintenance and operations help, but a pain-point has been how to provide effective and efficient training so that volunteers are prepared for their volunteer assignment.
The non-profit is the Texas Pool, a 168,000 Texas-shaped pool in Plano that has served as a community gathering place since 1961. It has the distinction of being the first Texas-shaped pool in the world, and is listed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The mission of the Texas Pool Foundation is the preservation of its historic site and community outreach.
It is estimated that in 2024, volunteers contributed 10,000 service hours to the organization, primarily by helping with events and clean-up days. The volunteers who donate their time are a diverse group–individuals, families, corporate, non-profit and student groups. While some are returning volunteers, most are first-time volunteers and require an orientation prior to their volunteer shift. The board of directors, also volunteers, expressed a desire in having an online training that could prepare volunteers for a positive experience and increase the likelihood that they would return to volunteer again in the future.
The Struggle
Working with Texas Pool board members as SMEs (subject-matter experts), I designed and developed an eLearning course to train new volunteers. This course provides effective training that is easily accessible to volunteers via phone, laptop or other device and can be completed in less than 10 minutes. This training provides the user an overview on the history of the Texas Pool, its importance as a community gathering place and what is required to be an effective volunteer. There is a required knowledge check at the end of the course. Users receive a score report that serves as proof of their training.
The Solution
Featured Projects
An Interactive Learning Experience
*LOTE=Languages Other Than English
Project Title
Improving Instruction with Edugence Data in the LOTE* Classroom
About the Project
They keep telling us data matters. Ok, so where do we find it and how do we use it?
Audience
World language teachers using Edugence to access semester exam scores
Responsibilities
Instructor-led training, instructional design
Tools Used:
PowerPoint, Canva, Zoom, Google Forms
In public schools in Texas, world language teachers are seeking ways to accumulate reliable student data to support the work that they do. Because language courses are not tested with standardized testing the way that core subjects such as English and Math are, finding reliable statistics to track learner progress is a challenge. And without quantifiable data, it is easier to make budget cuts to language programs, despite their value in educating today’s global learners.
Standards-based data will help legitimize the work within the district’s language program, provide compelling evidence of why languages matter, and provide teachers specific areas to target instruction to maximize student growth.
The Struggle
I designed an interactive learning program for world language teachers, using Edugence, a data warehousing management program, to improve classroom instruction. At the start of a new school year in August, approximately 30 learners attended an instructor-led training session that I delivered, which focused on creating reports within Edugence to analyze student results from semester exam data. Following the live-training, teachers were offered professional development hours in exchange for participating in a 6-month trial to utilize Edugence data to improve classroom instruction.
Teachers were asked to team up with a district colleague of the same language and level, and then worked together to identify a state-standard that presented a challenge for their students. These teachers then selected an instructional strategy to implement in the classroom to target this standard. They set a goal for student performance and tracked learner progress. Teachers were required to submit three meeting agendas and student samples as evidence of their work. The district’s language coordinator conducted a portfolio review and awarded professional development hours to participants.
The results were twofold–firstly, teachers worked with data to improve language learning and saw results. Secondly, the language coordinator collected work samples from teachers and their students, provinding her with valuable evidence to promote the district’s language program with stakeholders at the district and state level. The research-based strategies developed as a result of this learning experience provide legitimacy and a strong case to advocate for the role of world language courses in the secondary learner’s academic portfolio.