— An important set of considerations at home,
in the community, and at work
CLIENT: Homeland Security Emergency Management Agency (HSEMA): Washington D.C.
PROJECT: HSEMA Preparedness Training
Teleologic developed a set of contextualized situations for people who live and work in the Washington
D.C. metropolitan area. The client wanted to broaden the way and contexts where citizens consider themselves as responsible
for all-hazards preparedness planning. Three realistic scenarios were developed where learners would view the problems
through three perspectives-at home, in the community, at work. In this case, learners were asked to assess their risks
using one possible formula, and they were challenged to use their imaginations to predict possible complications and plan
The client's learners were primarily D.C. district workers and their families, whether they resided in the city or commuted from the outskirts. The on-line exercises could be accessed by themselves or they could be used in conjunction with other learning materials including a preparedness workbook and on-site training.
D.C. district workers ranged significantly in education levels, technological sophistication and comfort, motivations,
even socio-economic levels.
How could Teleologic use its network-based learning principles to effectively motivate a widely diverse learner population to engage the learning?
How could Teleologic develop material in such a way that it was simultaneously relevant to a large population of diverse learners?
How could Teleologic encourage the learners to think in different ways about situations -- including trying to imagine and anticipate possibilities?
How could Teleologic help people who lived and/or worked in the District of Columbia increase their ability to assess risks and their levels of preparedness in multiple contexts?
Brief scenarios to set the context for learners were used to establish relevance for learners. Different
perspectives for engaging the same three scenarios were developed to try to include some "lens" for viewing and engaging
the material that had interest and personal or professional relevance for diverse learner groups.
Purposeful: What is the client trying to achieve?
- Create an effective online learning environment to encourage D.C. public workers to become better preparedness planners.
- Complement print and face-to-face training methods with a substantive and attractive on-line engagement/activity.
Learner-centric: How will the learners' needs be addressed?
- Scenario-based application of preparedness thinking.
- Engage learners through the use of strategies and techniques they can choose to control the types of engagements available. One version contains appealing graphic, Flash, multimedia elements. Another version is offered in a more text-based format.
Visually Meaningful: How does the graphic identity and supporting visual elements support the purpose?
- Flash-enhanced version is visually appealing, using colors and tabs that are intuitive and associated with widely appealing on-line interactive environments.
- Colors and visuals appeal to D.C. workers and residents as members of the Capitol Region as well as closely aligning preparedness with patriotism.
- The tabs for each perspective reflect a slicker, game-like interface to encourage "doing" or "acting" in the environment.
- Realistic audio and photographic imagery for enhanced realism.
Technologically Appropriate: How can technology be used appropriately to achieve the client's outcomes?
- A blend of multimedia elements including animation, user interaction, photo and schematic imagery, and audio elements were utilized to create a complete "experience" in a relatively low-bandwidth package.
- To further support all learners of various technological comfort levels, a text-based version of the same material was also created.
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