Project Showcase:
Case Manager Scenario-Based eLearning Solution
Context
Individualized Education Program (IEP) case managers play a critical role in ensuring that students with disabilities receive the support and services they need to thrive. IEP team decisions are highly consequential for local education authorities, who often spend 25% of their budgets on special education and can face costly legal liabilities when processes are not working correctly. Graduate degree programs for case managers typically cover theoretical foundations of special education rather than the practical tasks and conversations that IEP case managers experience on a daily basis. The demands of the role are multifaceted, requiring a deep understanding of legal compliance, collaborative communication, and real-time problem-solving.
Problem
Traditional training methods often fail to fully prepare case managers for the dynamic and complex challenges they face daily. Case managers frequently encounter scenarios that require quick, informed decisions to balance legal requirements, educational goals, and family collaboration. Without adequate training rooted in practical, real-world application, missteps can lead to compliance risks, strained relationships, and diminished outcomes for students.
Solution
I developed a scenario-based eLearning solution immersing participants in realistic, interactive scenarios in simulated IEP meetings. The solution emphasizes real-world application, enabling users to practice decision-making and problem-solving in a risk-free, engaging environment. This innovative approach promotes consistency for students and families while enhancing compliance and risk management for the organization.
Responsibilities
Focus group facilitation
Risk and compliance analysis
Multimedia design
Scripting
Prototyping
eLearning development
Solution Development: Preparation Phase Artifacts
Empathy Map
An empathy mapping exercise was completed with case managers in groups away from supervisors to promote transparency and vulnerability. The needs identified in the empathy map provided an initial inventory of targets for the learning solution.
Eisenhower Matrix
Learning targets from sessions with case managers was examined by a group of supervisors to prioritize the case manager concerns in terms of importance and urgency, highlighting the riskiest and costliest items to address first in the learning solution.
The eLearning solution was alpha protoyped as a scenario-based eLearning product that would simulate IEP meeting environments. This prototype was circulated for feedback, and supervisors were animated by the design. They provided some additional areas of learning, indicating that the follow-up and iterative touch point elements of successive design were turning up additional value throughout the development process.
Solution Development: Design Phase Alpha Prototypes
The course was beta prototyped in Rise utilizing the web-based scenario block. One scenario was included in the beat protype to ensure that the format would translate appropriately and to avoid wasting time on unnecessary development. Crucially, the beta prototype included interactive elements as shown in the functional demo inset in the mobile frame in this section (check it out!). The beta prototype was circulated for feedback to mobile devices for both case managers and supervisors. Supervisors again responded with scenarios they would like to include from recent days, which was simple to accommodate given the lightweight development in Rise.
Solution Development: Design Phase Functional Beta Prototypes
Course Overview
To induce the sense of the ebb and flow of an IEP meeting, scenarios were collapsed into narratives, requiring the user to respond to questions in a sequence that imitates the real flow of conversation. For instance, a parent in the scenario will ask questions in a line of inquiry about literacy, first expressing a concern, then sharing some observations, then asking for solutions, and finally requesting an additional specialist service. The IEP case manager has a chance to respond at each turn and receives feedback on their responses.
Impact Analysis
IEP meetings are dynamic, and there is no set of desired outcomes that can be standardized since the program itself is intended to be individualized by law. Thus, follow-up surveys with case managers and supervisors were issued to gauge perceived value. Feedback was positive, and supervisors continue to request that new scenarios be added to the deck to standardize responses to complex requests.
Deliverable Solution: eLearning Course Overview and Impact Analysis
Takeaways
As interactions become more conversational, the complexity of the task of standardization of the organization’s voice rises.
As interactions become more strained, the maintenance of brand voice becomes more challenging.
Scenario simulation is highly imperfect, but it does draw on different cognitive-linguistic skills sets and occasions the participant to think about a situation in a manner that has a more realistic connection to the actual interaction being modeled.
Organizations can shape their voices through scenario simulation most effectively by updating simulations with the most relevant, flavor-of-the-week content possible. If the organization is going to be a part of the conversation, it needs to talk about something interesting.