Bloodborne Pathogens

An interactive elearning designed to help employees comprehend bloodborne pathogen safety and stay safe while maintaining a risk-free environment

Audience: All staff who have the potential of being exposed to Bloodborne Pathogens in the workplace.
Responsibilities: Instructional design (action mapping, storyboarding, mockups) visual design, eLearning development
Tools Used: Articulate Storyline 360, Adobe Illustrator, Google Docs, Vecteezy

The Problem & Solution

The Problem:

With roughly 1000 employees in the organization that need bloodborne pathogen training, How do we create fun engaging training modules that will help employees quickly learn and remember the most important aspects of bloodborne pathogen safety?

The Solution:

While working with a subject matter expert (SME) trained in the OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1030. standards, it became clear that there are eight important steps that can be trained in module one. These insights inspired me to create an interactive eLearning that would allow employees to be engaged and learn these eight steps quickly. This type of interactive eLearning allows the learner to experience, memorable events with the goal of implementing proper practices in the real world moving forward.

My Process

To bring this project to fruition, I utilized the ADDIE model framework. During the analysis phase, I collaborated with our subject matter expert (SME) to gather essential information and create an action map, which laid the groundwork for my storyboard as I progressed to the design phase. Throughout the design phase, I maintained ongoing consultations with the SME to design the eLearning story's flow within the storyboard.

Upon approval of the storyboard, I shifted my focus to visual design, producing high-fidelity mock-ups. After receiving approval for the visual design, I transitioned seamlessly into the development phase by creating a prototype to demonstrate the eLearning interactions. Subsequently, I proceeded to develop the entire project.

Once the eLearning module was fully developed, I sought feedback from peers and instructional designer co-workers to evaluate the project. This feedback allowed me to implement iterations and ensure smooth functionality and consistent design throughout.

Action Map

I consulted with our lead Bloodborne Pathogen site trainer as my SME. Together, we developed an action map that identified common areas overlooked by workers. Throughout this process, we identified recurring issues with bloodborne pathogen safety guidelines. The main issue: There is simply too much to easily remember. This discovery enabled us to establish the learning goal for the eLearning: new workers will understand and adhere to eight simple bloodborne pathogen safety guidelines 100% of the time by regularly reviewing and putting them into practice.

Subsequently, the SME highlighted the eight most critical steps for bloodborne pathogen safety, which serve as the foundation for this eLearning:

Be Aware. Treat all blood and body fluid as if they were infected with BBP.
Read and Know. Adherence to protocols for handling blood and other potentially infectious materials.
Know color codings. Correct labeling and signage for biohazard areas and materials.
Use proper personal protective equipment.
Proper hand washing.
Proper disposal of sharp objects.
Proper disposal of Personal Protective Equipement and soiled materials.
Safe handling and cleaning of contaminated surfaces and equipment.

Text Based Storyboard

Once the action map was complete, it was time to design the flow of the eLearning story through the text-based storyboard. This step was significant, serving as the blueprint for the overall development of the project.

I began by visualizing the story of the eight steps of bloodborne pathogen training. considered how to tell this story in a more visually appealing way.

The storyboard went through multiple rounds of feedback from my instructional design peers and the SME. This was my favorite part of the storyboard process, as I could make iterations based on how the story and actions were received by other elearning developers on my team. Collaborating with them and getting a fresh perspective on my work is essential to ensure consistency, functionality, and the overall flow of the eLearning experience being brought to life.

Visual Mockups

Once the storyboard received approval, I advanced to the visual design phase. Using Adobe Illustrator, I created a mood board and style guide. The style guide incorporated the colors specific to the bloodborne training and featured a font selected to complement the project's tone.

Next, I developed wireframes to establish the formatting for each type of slide (title, mentor guidance, question, consequence, etc.). This step facilitated a smooth transition into designing high-fidelity mockups. This stage was particularly significant and exciting, as it provided a tangible sense of the project's final appearance. After receiving feedback from other professional instructional designers and making necessary formatting and visual adjustments, I felt confident in the visual design and proceeded to the prototyping phase.

Interactive Prototype

I developed an interactive prototype to collect feedback on the functionality of the interactions before diving deep into full production. I loved this part because it allowed me to test concepts and really get a feel for how the animations and interactions would work. The initial prototype included the animated title slide, the drag and drop Personal Protective Equipment slide, a dynamic animation slide and a drag and drop response slide.

Using Adobe illustrator and assets from vecteezy, I created new illustrations and modified existing images to create a custom look and feel to perfectly fit the needs of this training.

In Storyline, I focused on the design, animation, programming and placement of all assets. This included button prompts that were customized based on functionality in a scene, incorporating hover states to the buttons, creating animated sequences, and programmed effects for desired responses and interactions.

Full Development

After collecting all of the feedback from the storyboard, wireframe, mockup, and prototype, it was time to finalize the full eLearning module. This eLearning project has been a great success, with over 1,000 employees having successfully completed the module. The feedback has been fantastic, with responses such as:

"This is fun and easy to remember."
"What an enjoyable training."
"I've never had bloodborne pathogens presented this way. I like it."
"You and your team should create more simplified training like this."

I included this training in my portfolio because it was a project specifically assigned to me for improvement. The SME and my fellow instructional designers were immensely helpful and supportive, providing incredibly valuable feedback. One of the key features of this eLearning was the simplicity of the design. Don't be fooled by its simplicity, the programming and interactions are complex and robust, which I feel really helped the clean simplicity come to life in a wonderful way.

EXPERIENCE THE PROJECT