The Case of the
"Drug Dealer"

Branching-Scenario E-Learning Assessment Module for College Course
The Problem
A competency-based Media Law & Ethics college course needed an assessment to test the students' ability to apply their knowledge in a new situation. Different concepts needed to be tested.
The Solution
A branching-scenario e-learning module was created to allow the students to apply what they had learned to a legal scenario. Different challenges were presented to the learner and what happened in the legal scenario depended on the action chosen. This allowed the student to make multiple choices regarding multiple legal concepts and see the results of their decision played out in the scenario.
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Responsibilities and Tools Used
  • Responsibilities: Course instructor, Subject-Matter Expert, Instructional Designer, and E-learning Developer
  • Tools Used: Adobe Captivate, Adobe Audition, MS OneNote, and Moodle LMS
The hardest part of this e-learning module was the creation of the branching scenario. Giving the students multiple options and then showing them the consequences of those options became overwhelming to think about. The solution was to storyboard the flow of the decision-making portion of the module. Using MS OneNote, I sketched out a flowchart of what options the students would have and what results would they see based on their choices. The results of incorrect choices were highlighted in red, and the results of correct choices were highlighted in green. The competency for being able to apply knowledge to a new scenario was set to be awarded when a student completed the e-learning module and made more good choices than bad ones.
E-Learning Module
Designer and Developer
The Decision-Making Flowchart Storyboard
E-learning module storyboard
Presenting the Choices

The decisions in the module were presented as multiple choice. Buttons with text were shown and each button navigated to another slide that would give the student a follow-up choice or a results slide. Upon reaching a results slide, a good choice variable was incremented by +1 if the results slide was the result of a good choice, or a bad choice results variable was incremented by +1 if the results slide was the result of a bad choice.

E-learning module question screenshot
The Results

The end of the module showed the results of the student's decisions. Two versions of the results slide were made: one showing success and the other showing failure. The results slide was programmed to compare the two choice variables, the good choices and the bad choices. If the bad choices variable was higher in value than the good choices variable, objects indicating failure, such as the man pointing his thumb down and the red text banner, were seen and success objects were hidden. If the good choices variable was higher in value than the bad choices variable, then objects indicating success, such as the man with his fists in the air and a green banner, became visible and the failure objects were hidden. The good choices and bad choices values were also displayed to the student using the variable value displays of "$$Success$$" and "$$Mistakes$$," respectively.

E-learning module results screenshot
LMS Tracking

The E-Learning module was published using SCORM 1.2 reporting, targeted for the Moodle LMS. Choices made within the module were tracked and visible as drill-down data within the LMS. The instructor was able to see which good choices were made and which bad choices were made. The students not achieving the competency were given the assignment of extra research based on the bad choices they made as seen in the tracking data. The assignment was to research more about why their answer was wrong and why the different answer was correct. The instructor then met with them individually to hear what they had researched.

Copyright 2023 - Kendal Rasnake
Memorable Learning, LLC
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