In 2018, Women Building Futures (WBF) received funding to develop a program to train Team Leads across Alberta to provide support to students to ensure their educational success. Many of the WBF’s learners face very real obstacles to their education, including: securing affordable childcare, poverty, domestic violence, mental health, and literacy, language, and learning challenges. The Leading through Compassion Program was designed to foster a Team Lead’s compassion and empathy. The program:
- Requires that Team Leads walk in the “virtual” shoes of learners to gain an understanding of their unique needs and lived realities
- Clarifies the roles and responsibilities of the Team Lead providing support in two key areas: 1) coaching students one on one, and 2) the facilitation of WBF’s Best Practices Curriculum.
The program embraces a learner-centered and transformational approach to learning by harnessing the power of personal narratives, asking meaningful questions and requiring participants problem-solve real-world examples. The Leading through Compassion Program is comprised of:
- 3 moodle courses, 16 units of learning
- 45+ videos capturing staff and student narratives
- 12+ multimedia enhanced case studies ranging in complexity
- An on-line toolkit that houses the Best Practices curriculum
- A collection of related activities, practical resources and reflection questions
Video
Learner Manual
Leading through Compassion In Moodle
Project Management
- Hire subcontractors, includes: writing and editing RFPs, reviewing proposals, selecting vendors, creating contracts)
- Manage development team (Includes: 2 main content experts and 8 content contributors, videographers, multimedia specialist, additional instructional design support, graphic designers, and the LMS administrator)
- Create and manage budget
- Manage overall project deliverables and timelines
Program Planning and Development
- Work with the content experts to articulate program goals
- Conceptualize overall educational design, program name and feel
- Develop overall program plan (2 versions) and refine selected version
- Design and develop units of learning (including learning outcomes, videos, case studies, activities and assignments, learning resources and tools, questions for reflection)
- Write and edit course content
Videos Production
- Recruit video production team
- Create video list for production, identify interviewees and schedule interviews
- Develop guiding interview question sets to align with learning outcomes
- Interview staff and students during filming
- Review all video
- Provide feedback to videographers during post-production
Case Study Development
- Develop case studies in collaboration with SMEs
- Write and edit case studies integrating feedback from SME
- Provide feedback to multimedia developer (includes selection of images and voice actors)
Learner Manual
- Write, compile and edit learner manual
- Provide feedback and guidance to graphic designers
Best Practice Toolkit Online
- Mentor fellow instructional designer in preparation of the Best Practices curriculum for conversion to online delivery
- Design templates for build-out in Moodle in collaboration with instructional designer
- Advise multimedia developer on how to build out curriculum in Moodle
On-line Development
- Work with LMS administrator to customize Moodle in preparation for build-out
- Build-out program online
