Savvy Start: Packing for STAC – a 4-H Teen Events Dress Code Primer

Project Summary

The project was to create a short, engaging, teen-friendly guide to choosing appropriate clothing for various events within the Idaho 4-H State Teen Association Convention (STAC). When the group initially met, our stakeholders indicated they would like a more in-depth, interactive e-learning course utilizing a traditional LMS. The prototype course created for the Savvy Start therefore included slides with narration, short quizzes to check for understanding, and interactive activities to keep youth engaged.

How Feedback Was Used to Revise the Storyboard

As we discussed the initial prototype/storyboard and our intended audience, we realized that teens are highly unlikely to log into and complete unnecessary coursework during summer break, regardless of the levels of interactivity and gamification. The discussion then turned to other modes of delivery including a roleplaying YouTube video, a TikTok series (unrealistic as our State prohibits us from using that app on any University-owned devices), and an e-mail with an attached infographic.

In the end, we concluded that an SMS-delivered series of messages with links to additional information would be the best way to reach our teen conference attendees. Once we recognized that microlearning was likely the best fit for our intended audience, we were able to begin working on both the initial short messaging pieces and the supplemental materials. We decided to keep one of the interactive activities from the original prototype (the drag-and-drop packing game) as one of our summative assessments for the course, as well as the idea for an infographic learning aid from the brainstorming process during the Savvy Start.

Summary of Learning from Savvy Start Process

William Faulkner famously said that “In writing, you must kill all your darlings,” and this Savvy Start was definitely an exercise in that. One of the subject matter experts on the team and I had put a good amount of time and effort into our initial prototypes based solely on the request from our stakeholders. While the prototypes were well received overall, during the course of conversation, the larger group collectively began to realize that we were headed down the wrong trail in terms of course delivery and we had to discard much of our work. The consolation is that I believe we now have a much stronger course because it is focused more on the delivery needs and preferences of our learners and therefore has a greater chance of reaching them and changing behavior, which is our true objective.

Storyboard Iterations