Running a Parent-Teacher Conference

Scenario-Based Mini Course

This is an eLearning concept project designed to help new teachers effectively navigate parent-teacher conferences. Good teachers know how to interact with parents and guardians, creating a positive connection between home and school.
Audience: New TeachersMy Responsibilities: Instructional Design, Graphic Design, Action Map, and StoryboardTools I Used: Articulate Storyline 360, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Mindmeister, Figma, and Google Docs
Experience the Full Project

The Problem

The client is ABC School District, a large school district just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They were concerned that the majority of parents and guardians were unhappy with their child’s parent-teacher conference. These unhappy parents and guardians were ultimately pulling their children out of the school district. The lower enrollment resulted in reduced funding from the state, forcing the district to find other ways to fund vital programs.

The Solution

After completing a needs assessment, talking to upper administrators, teachers, and parents, I determined that the problem came from a lack of skill and knowledge from the teachers in the district. Therefore, I proposed multiple in-person trainings and a scenario-based eLearning experience. This write-up highlights the scenario-based eLearning.

My Process

I developed this scenario-based eLearning experience from start to finish. To accomplish this task, I followed the ADDIE framework for instructional design and created an action map, a text-based storyboard, visual mockups, and an interactive prototype. After reviewing and testing the prototype, I moved on to create the final version of the project.
Action Map
For this project, I served as the subject matter expert (SME), drawing upon the seven years of experience I have teaching students, interacting with parents, and running parent-teacher conferences. The action map has the project/business goal in the center with the high priority actions branching out. Its main goal is to focus on what actions people need to do to reach the goal in the center. In this case, the focus is strictly on the actions needed to change the behavior of the teachers in the ABC School District in regards to running conferences more effectively.
Click on the image to view the full action map
Text-based Storyboard
Once the action map was complete, I identified the high priority actions that could be used for the questions and some possible consequences for completing these actions incorrectly.
The actions and consequences were crucial in the development of the text-based storyboard. While writing the storyboard, I focused on creating an experience that would truly immerse the learner in a parent-teacher conference, giving them a chance to try new things and make mistakes in a risk-free environment.
This project also includes a mentor character which allows learners to access information when they feel they need it, rather than giving it to them up front.
I sent the storyboard to the client for feedback and began working on the visual mockups.
Visual Mockups
With the storyboard sent to the client, it was time to brainstorm my visual ideas using a moodboard. With the moodboard for reference, I designed a style guide, outlined wireframes, and created mockups of each slide type to maintain consistency throughout the project. During this stage, I also utilized Adobe Illustrator to animate the characters for the project. The visual mockups were sent to the client for feedback and any changes they might have.
Interactive Prototype
After the storyboard and visual mockups were approved, I began constructing an interactive prototype using Storyline 360, including several interactive slides as well as the first two scenario-based questions.
The prototype was sent to the client to collect feedback on the project’s functionality and final visual design.
Full Development
After applying the client’s feedback of the prototype, I began developing the rest of the project. If you take the time to experience the project for yourself, take special note of the mentor character, Principal Gearhart, and the success meter that shows how the parents are feeling as you take them through their parent-teacher conference.
Experience the Full Project

Results and Takeaways

After all of the in-person trainings and this eLearning experience are implemented, I will evaluate the trainings and the impact they have had on the district. To accomplish this, I will provide surveys, and talk to teachers and administrators to hear their opinions. Using their feedback, I will make any changes that are needed. Then after teachers conduct parent-teacher conferences using what they have learned, I will review the data. Hopefully, the district and I will see data including improved satisfaction scores on the parent conference survey and an increase in student retention within the school district.
Although this was a concept project, I did share the final version with a few teachers and principals for their feedback. You can read their testimonials below.

Testimonials

The training A.J. developed was fun to complete, and it really gave me some great insight into how I will run my parent-teacher conferences in the future.
Teacher
I would love to have en eLearning like this that all of my newly hired teachers could experience.
Principal
A.J. was great to work with, and the training he created was valuable professional development.
Teacher
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