Blended Learning for Company Employees
Overview
This concept project is a branching scenario intended for global business executives, leading diverse teams. Cross-cultural communication directly influences the relationship between the leaders and the employees. The tutorial takes the learner through a conversation with a virtual coach who guides them through proper US business etiquette situations. It challenges the learner and requires them to find a solution or to make a choice and then presents the consequences. The tutorial was developed using Rise 360.
Business Problem
This project imagines employees of a global company who work in diverse multinational remote teams and are challenged by different cultural attitudes to business meetings. Business professionals based in Latin America and Europe have a different attitude to some important aspects of business communication that may seriously affect the relationship between the team members and business outcomes. The US-based decision-makers have also noticed increased miscommunication with their overseas colleagues. They came to me asking for soft skills training that would help them build more effective cross-cultural communication within the company to maximize meetings productivity.
Solution
Having observed several in-company meeting recordings, I communicated with their SMEs to work out a strategy to raise their awareness about intercultural differences and the importance of building effective cross-cultural communication at work. I suggested that eLearning training and virtual instructor-led training would be a solution. First, the eLearning course encourages learner’s autonomy and prepares them for a follow-up instructor-led group discussion with their fellow workers. For instructor-led virtual training, I suggested role-playing activities in breakout rooms to allow the participants experience cross-cultural communication in a more positive way.
Design Theory
Inspired by Ruth Clark’s “Scenario-based e-Learning” approach, also called “case-based learning” and John Dewey’s “learning by doing” approach, the course begins with minimal information and plunges the learner into the conversation scenario.
