Aspiring Instructional Designer
Instructional Design
Background
The Iowa Gravel Series (IGS) is an organization that organizes endurance bike races on road and trails across the state. Its mission is to connect people through its events. The IGS is expanding and came to us when they needed help scaling their volunteer training efforts. They also indicated that they wanted to provide better service to its riders.
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The Instructional Design (ID) Team comprised three members: Maryam Hussain, Karyna Mangusheva, and Raul Rodriguez.
Analyses of Learners and Environment, Tasks, and Learning Requirements
The ID Team collected data by interviewing the SME and the IGS founder.
The main volunteers at the races are aid station workers, sweeper(s), registration assistants and a photographer. The critical volunteers are aid station workers and sweeper(s), so the ID Team focused on these two roles.
IGS volunteers vary in their experience levels – some have experience volunteering for other races, some have experience racing or cycling, while others have no related experience at all. Volunteers comprise a diverse range of individuals aged 18 to 65. Volunteers tend to be male – about 75% male – because cyclists tend to be male as well. Volunteers typically have a high school diploma and may have some college education. Finally, volunteers are highly motivated and cooperative.
The ID Team conducted task analysis for the aid station and sweeper. Aid station: 1.1 Pick up supplies at start/finish line. 1.1.1 Travel to aid station at a certain mile marker. Prerequisite: How to drive on country roads. 2.1 Set up tent, table, chairs, snacks, food. 3.1 Watch for riders 3.1.1 Refill water as riders pass and take. 3.1.2 Refill food/snacks as riders pass and take. 4. 1Provide mechanical assistance to racers. Prerequisite: How to do bike maintenance 5.1. Provide medical assistance to racers. Prerequisite: How to identify and provide first aid for dehydration, heat exhaustion and other illnesses 6.1. Tear down station once all racers have passed through/or sweeper passes through. 7.1. Travel to finish line 7.1.1. Deliver supplies back to start/finish line. Sweepers: 1.1 Drive the route. Prerequisite: how to drive on country roads, how to use a Garmin or similar divide to load map, how to read course map 2.1. Pick up signs along the way. (avoid picking up signs on routes that double back) 3.1 Locate racers / bikes on course. 3.1.1. Provide mechanical assistance, as needed. Prerequisite: How to do bike maintenance 3.1.2 Pick up racers and bikes, as needed. Prerequisite: How to load bike onto pick-up truck or attach it to vehicle. 3.1.3 Provide medical support, as needed. Prerequisite: How to identify and provide first aid for dehydration, heat exhaustion and other illnesses 4.1. Return signs, bikes, racers to start / finish line.
Lesson Plan
Download full lesson plan (pdf)
Instructional Materials
Through interviews with the SME, the ID Team learned that providing medical support was part of the responsibilities of every IGS volunteer role. While volunteers aren’t required to be CPR certified, they may encounter medical problems during a race while stationed in a rural, isolated location. It’s important for them to know basic steps to follow and who to contact in an event of an emergency.
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We concluded that a basic training with a job aid is appropriate for aid station task training and medical support training. We decided to not include a separate training for the sweeper role because it wasn’t complex enough to necessitate a training and since there is typically only one sweeper, it wouldn’t help scale the training. We recommended an instructor-led training, however the client request us to also make a slide deck with voice over for volunteers who aren’t able to attend the live training. Developing a full elearning training was not possible because of time constraints.
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Instructor-led Training Slide Deck (pdf)
Self-Paced Training Slide Deck (pdf)
Instructor Guide (pdf)​
Aid Station Job Aid
Medical Problems Job Aid
Reflections
Through this experience, I was able to gain experience working with a SME and further my collaboration skills. We had to deal with working virtually across different time zones, overcome time constraints and competing priorities from the client. Overall, it was a positive experience that allowed me to apply instructional design principles to practice and gain experience with the instructional design process.