Plain Speaking: Communicating Clearly about Architecture and Historic Preservation

This course is in development for the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions (NAPC). It is a one-hour, asynchronous course that uses current multimedia design principles and scenario-based learning to teach learners who are professionals in architecture and historic preservation how to communicate about these subjects with non-specialists in these areas. Learners are professionals from across the U.S. who either serve on historic preservation commissions or work as staff members or advisors to commissions.

I am working as the only instructional designer for this project, collaborating with a longtime trainer at the NAPC and the chair of its board of directors as the subject matter expert.

This course demonstrates the use of current multimedia principles and scenario-based learning to build a high-quality learning experiene.

The example below models ways to revise thinking and writing so that they convey the specialist’s information to a public audience. It offers an example of the writing for them to consider and then offers an interactive way to view a revision suggestion that avoids overcluttering the screen or giving the learner too much information to process at one time.

This exercise tries to do something similar: offer rich information and interactive opportunities engage learners without cluttering the screen or offering too much information at one time.

In the exercise below, learners are given an opportunity to practice what they have learned.

This scenario asks the learner to evaluate how well a professional in historic preservation is conveying complex ideas using plain speech and visual aids. This exercise’s use of visuals engages the learner in the scenario without adding more detail than is necessary to convey the scenario clearly.

This class needs to be unmoderated since the NAPC does not have staff available to moderate classes taken by learners This exercise uses Storyline’s tool allowing the learner to add text, while the design lets them view the material they need to analyze. They make their observations and then compare them with expert observations. Ruth Clark (2012), among others, has demonstrated that offering the learner pportunities to reflect and compare their own responses to those of an expert results in greater learning transfer.

The project includes animated slides that teach some of the key principles.

[I’m putting a video here.]

It also includes a scenario-based final evaluation that uses the variable-based scoring feature to track two different skill sets across a scenario that might come up for a historic preservation expert in a public forum. The course objectives include both using plain language and finding common ground with people in the community. The scenario tracks both these skills across several situations. Some require the learner to translate complex jargon into plain language.

Others require the learner to read the room and show respect for/find common ground with members of the community.

All responses trigger immediate feedback.

At the end of the scenario, the learner’s scores are computed. If at least 85% of the plain language challenges and at least 85% of the audience intelligence challenges are answered correctly, the learner has fulfilled the course objectives.

You can view the full module here if you’d like to see more.

Reference:
Clark, R. C. (2012). Scenario-based e-learning: Evidence-based guidelines for online workforce learning. Wiley.