Client: Park City, UT

Manager Training Modules for Park City, UT

My client for this project, the Municipality of Park City, UT, wanted to develop a series of e-learning modules on best practices in leadership. These trainings are geared toward those in managerial positions in the City, of all levels of leadership experience, and deliver baseline knowledge and skills for supervisors as a prerequisite for in-person leadership development workshops.

Park City issued an RFP for this project, which I submitted to and was selected for. I then collaborated with the SME, People Development Manager at the City, to develop four training modules in the LMS and e-learning authoring tool Absorb.

My process to design and deliver this material is outlined below. If you have any questions, please reach out!

All screenshots used with permission of the Municipality of Park City, UT.

Getting Started

I started this project by reviewing the very detailed outline my SME had created for her training series. She envisioned four modules and had sketched out learning objectives, content, and activities for each.

I read through this document carefully, noting any potentially incomplete information (such as instances where a learning objective was listed for a module but did not seem to have material within the outline that supported it, or vice versa) jotting down questions, and beginning to brainstorm a consistent structure and style for each module.

From there, I met with the SME to review questions, clarify details, and ensure I understood her vision for the training series. The next step was to bring it to life.

Look & Layout

After meeting with my SME, I had to create the visual building blocks for the training series. I was provided with the City logo, a style guide, stock photos of Park City and surrounding areas, and access to the City's CMS/LMS, Absorb.

Absorb presents information in slide format, and animations reveal content over a handful of seconds. The user advances through a module by clicking navigation buttons after completing a slide.

Check out the gallery below for some examples of the look and layout of each training module.

Slide Templates in Absorb Create

After creating a blank course in Absorb Create and specifying design elements—font name and size, header levels, City logo, brand colors—Absorb created a slide template library. I tweaked and updated these templates for every slide in all four training modules. My goal was to 1) ensure visual consistency within and across modules (i.e., having the City logo on every slide, using the same font color for all slide titles in a section), and 2) simultaneously prevent the training experience from feeling too generic or cookie-cutter.

Interactive Elements & Assessments

Key elements of any learning experience are interactivity and assessments, which ensure the learner remains engaged with the content and commits it to memory. To this end, I made many slides in the trainings—especially those that were text-heavy or complicated—interactive, requiring the user to click parts of the content to advance the slide and reveal information. Each section of a module also contained multiple opportunities for the learner to quiz themselves or reflect upon information they had just learned with formative assessments; and, each module concluded with a summative quiz.

See the gallery below for some examples of interactivity and assessments in the training modules.

Text Pop-Up

To prevent some slides from being text-heavy, I placed content in a pop-up the user could access by clicking a button. Not only did this reduce cognitive load, but it also helped keep them engaged with the material.

Click to Reveal: One at a Time

A key feature of Absorb is the click-to-reveal action. This functionality is created by "pausing" the slide, creating a button-click trigger that advances the slide until a new object appears, which pauses the slide again. This example was placed early in the first e-learning module, after participants had read several slides and watched a few videos. I wanted to force them to pause and truly digest each key trait of a leader, as these principles were the foundational elements of this module.

Expanding Upon Learning Materials

In addition to bringing my SME's vision to life, I also advised on instances where content could be expanded upon or turned into an activity. One notable example of this was a section of the outline on communication tools. Learners needed to know which communication method—a Microsoft Teams message, email, or meeting—was the most appropriate tool for a given communication topic or need, and then they would complete a quick activity to test their knowledge.

The gallery below illustrates how I enhanced the material in the outline to create a robust experience for learners, which my SME loved.

Communication Tools: Topic in Outline

This section of the outline was initially brief, introducing the idea of basing the communication tool on the message. I really liked this topic and thought it was an important skill for leaders to master, so I asked my SME if we could expand it. She was very open to this, so I began fleshing out the concept into both a full slide and an activity.