This scenario-based training is a part of the teacher training program series which helps English language teachers improve their classroom management skills to create an engaging, learner-centred lesson.
Audience: Newly hired teachers of English as a second language (ESL teachers) at FPT University. These teachers are both native and non-native English speakers who have less than 12 months of teaching experience. They are teaching beginner/elementary/low-intermediate English learners.
Responsibilities:
Instructional design
Text-based and Visual storyboards
Action mapping
Course design and building
Tools Used: Articulate Storyline 360, Adobe XD, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Mindmeister
Imagery resource: Freepik, Adobe Stock
Overview
This project was proposed to FPT University client who would like to hone their ESL teachers’ repertoire of classroom management skills.
Despite their Bachelor’s degree or certificates in TESOL (a qualification in English teacher), almost all new ESL teachers find themselves having difficulties in managing the classroom. A specific area of pitfalls in classroom management is the poor/ineffective management of teacher talking time, which includes (1) unclear instructions, (2) running commentaries (ie. saying out loud unnecessary things), (3) and ineffective responses to students’ responses.
A discussion with the Faculty of Foreign Languages revealed that poor classroom management skills had led to low reviews and ratings from students. Students did not see the values from the lessons and thus, they failed to enjoy them albeit the teachers put time and effort into creating thorough lesson plans. Students’ feedback not only affected the teachers’ self-esteem but also impacted the reputation of FPT University. Hence, the faculty needed a solution to this.
After talking to those new teachers and reviewing the observation notes from teacher trainers, I was able to conclude that not knowing how to manage teacher talking time results from the lack of management skills. These teachers usually find it difficult to anticipate different scenarios happening in the real classroom and therefore they act based on their own instincts, which results in unexpected learning outcomes. Therefore, I proposed a scenario-based E-learning simulation with the aim to help novice teachers practice making appropriate choices and decisions in a risk-free environment.
Process
I started off by interviewing new ESL teachers at FPT University to understand what and how they thought and acted in their class. I then drew an action map based on the insights from the interview, the observation notes from teacher trainers (who were my subject matter experts - SMEs), and my background in English language teaching. A text-based storyboard was then created and sent off to the SMEs for approval. On receiving feedback, I created visual mockups, a visual storyboard, and a functional prototype. Several rounds of revision were happening in the background, which contributed to the creation of the final product.
Action Map
Although there were different areas new teachers should pay attention to in order to deliver engaging lessons, I and the SMEs decided to focus on one specific area in this project. The goal then was to help novice teachers make more conscious choices over how and what to talk to students. To achieve this goal, teachers are expected to perform certain desirable (and observable) actions in the class. With the inputs from SMEs regarding these highly prioritised actions, the action map was finalised. This action map captured what would be learned and practiced in this scenario-based project.
Text-based Storyboard
After identifying the highly desirable actions performed by the teachers, I moved on to write a text-based storyboard where my client could see the actual events which would happen in the simulation. This storyboard detailed how users were led to the events, what choices they could make, and the consequence for each choice. I also included in the storyboard a mentor who helped users make the right choice and programming notes that required interactions from the user’s end.
Visual Mockups
I used Adobe XD to create the visual mockups, which helped my client get the feeling of what the simulation looked like. As my client preferred real photos, I selected the photos that best reflected the situations in the simulation. After my client approved the mockups, I moved on to creating a visual storyboard.
Visual Storyboard
The visual storyboard was where I combined the text-based storyboard with the visuals to produce a complete storyboard with full details about the copy, visuals, buttons, programming notes, etc. This visual storyboard was then used as the main guideline to design the final product.
Interactive Prototype
Before creating the full simulation, I developed an interactive prototype by using Articulate Storyline 360. This prototype was treated as a demo that showed my SMEs the real experience of the project. Specifically, the SMEs got a chance to enter their names in the first slide, ask for help from the mentor, choose an option, and see the consequences. We then met to discuss what needed changing. I collected all the feedback and prepared for the full development.
Full Development
With the sign-off from the SMEs, I developed the full project.
