Big Wins in the Little Years

eLearning Portfolio Case StudyProject Overview

Course Title: Big Wins in the Little Years

Authoring Tool: Articulate Storyline 360

Duration: 60 minutes

Target Audience: Caregivers of children ages 2–5

Development Time: 18 days

Modules: 7 modules + welcome and completion

The Problem

Caregivers of young children consistently misread behavioral challenges as defiance, manipulation, or willful noncompliance. This misread leads to responses that escalate the situation rather than resolve it — increasing caregiver stress, damaging the caregiver-child relationship, and missing critical windows for building the child's self-regulation capacity.

The underlying issue is not a lack of effort or love. It is a knowledge gap. Most caregivers were never taught to interpret behavior through a developmental or neurological lens. They respond to what they see rather than what is driving it.

This course was designed to close that gap — giving caregivers a repeatable, research-backed framework for reading behavior and responding to the underlying need rather than the surface action.

The Solution

Big Wins in the Little Years is a 60-minute self-paced eLearning course built in Articulate Storyline 360. It teaches five evidence-based strategies — Emotion Coaching, Transition Warnings, Language Building, Engagement Redirection, and Choice Architecture — through a constructivist learning approach that prioritizes application over information delivery.

The course moves learners through a deliberate arc:

Understand the science → Recognize the patterns → Practice the decisions → Apply the tools → Transfer to real life

Every module was designed so that learners leave with something immediately usable — a strategy, a script, a downloadable reference, or a framework they can apply the same day.

My Role

I served as sole project manager, instructional designer and developer on this project, working from a detailed storyboard to build the complete course in Articulate Storyline 360. This was my first full Storyline build following a foundational LinkedIn Learning certification course.

Responsibilities included:

• Managing all project aspects

• Interpreting and executing a complex storyboard specification

• Building all interactive elements from scratch in Storyline 360

• Designing and implementing a custom variable and trigger architecture for branching scenarios and sequencing interactions

• Applying WCAG 2.2 Level AA accessibility principles throughout the build

• Creating downloadable performance support tools including a PDF reference card and HTML resource library

• Troubleshooting platform limitations and developing creative workarounds

• Managing the full development lifecycle from setup through publish-ready output in 18 days

Instructional Design Approach

Learning theory

The course follows a constructivist approach — learners build understanding by applying concepts to authentic scenarios rather than passively receiving information. Every module moves from concept introduction to guided practice to independent application.

Bloom's taxonomy alignment

Content was deliberately sequenced to reach Bloom's levels 3 and 4 — application and analysis — rather than stopping at recall. Learners are not asked to remember what Emotion Coaching is. They are asked to identify when to use it, choose it over competing options under realistic conditions, and sequence it correctly under time pressure.

Scenario-based learning

Two branching decision scenarios place learners inside real caregiving moments with genuine stakes — a grocery store meltdown and a bedtime defiance standoff. Each scenario records the learner's choice, delivers expert feedback tied to the specific decision made, and feeds into a personalized debrief that reflects their pattern across both scenarios.

Transfer design

The course was designed with post-course application as the primary goal — not course completion. Every module produces something the learner can use beyond the course window:

• A five-strategy reference card downloadable as a PDF

• A behavior-to-need map showing when to use each strategy

• A curated resource library with books, podcasts, apps, and free web resources

• A commitment checklist that functions as a behavioral science implementation intention device

Technical Highlights

Custom sequencing interaction

Module 4 presented the most significant technical challenge of the build. The original specification called for a drag-and-drop sequencing interaction with five cards — three correct steps and two distractors — placed into three numbered slots in the correct order.

After encountering persistent reset and accessibility limitations with Storyline's native freeform drag-and-drop, I redesigned the interaction as a custom click-to-place sequencing activity. This required building a complete variable and trigger architecture from scratch:

• Five card objects each with Normal, Selected, Placed, and Disabled states

• A SelectedCard text variable tracking the active selection

• Three slot variables (Slot1Card, Slot2Card, Slot3Card) recording placements

• An AllSlotsFilled true/false variable enabling the Submit button

• A PlanScore numeric variable evaluating correctness

• Conditional trigger logic protecting placed cards from accidental deselection

• A full reset trigger sequence on Try Again restoring all objects, variables, and states

The result was a fully functional sequencing interaction that resets cleanly on retry, is keyboard navigable, and demonstrates procedural knowledge assessment rather than simple recall — a more cognitively demanding interaction type than standard matching.

Branching scenario architecture

Both branching scenarios use text variables to record learner choices (Path1Choice and Path2Choice) with a first-click-only protection condition preventing retry attempts from overwriting the original response. The debrief slide reads both variables and conditionally shows one of three summary layers — both optimal, mixed, or needs work — with feedback tailored to the learner's specific choice combination across both scenarios.

Timed assessment mode

Module 4 includes a learner-controlled Timed/Explore mode toggle satisfying WCAG 2.2.1 (timing adjustable). In Timed Mode a visual countdown progress bar built from stacked rectangles with staggered timeline animations creates a countdown effect without requiring a live timer variable. A cover shape technique was used to conditionally mask the timer in Explore Mode — preserving animation integrity while achieving conditional visibility, working around a Storyline limitation where changing object states to Hidden disrupts animation sequencing.

Downloadable HTML resource library

A styled HTML resource library was created as a web object embedded in the course, matching the course color palette (navy #1B3F6E, teal #2A8C7E, light blue #D6E4F0). The file was authored in plain text to ensure browser compatibility and packaged with the published SCORM output for LMS deployment.

Accessibility Approach

Big Wins in the Little Years was designed with WCAG 2.2 Level AA compliance as a guiding principle throughout the build, not as a post-hoc checklist.

Key accessibility decisions:

• Focus order customized on all interactive slides to support logical keyboard navigation and screen reader traversal

• All interactive elements — buttons, drag items, drop targets — include descriptive alt text communicating purpose and action

• Correct and incorrect feedback communicated through text labels and icons in addition to color, satisfying WCAG 1.4.1 (use of color)

• Timed assessment mode includes an Explore Mode toggle allowing learners to disable time limits before beginning — satisfying WCAG 2.2.1 (timing adjustable)

• Keyboard navigation instructions provided on the drag-and-drop slide with an accommodation pathway note for users who require an alternative format

• Color contrast verified across all palette combinations — white on navy (9.73:1), navy on light blue (6.05:1), and navy on pale blue (7.18:1) all meet or exceed AA requirements

• White text on teal #2A8C7E (3.54:1) used only at 14px bold or larger to satisfy large text threshold

• Timer elements removed from focus order and marked decorative — keyboard users see the visual timer but Tab navigation bypasses it entirely

Documented platform limitations: Articulate Storyline 360's native freeform drag-and-drop interaction does not support full keyboard navigation. This limitation was documented, a plain-language accommodation note was added to the slide, and the interaction was redesigned using a click-to-place architecture that achieves near-full keyboard accessibility within the platform's constraints.

Results and Reflection

What this project demonstrates

Instructional design thinking: The course reflects deliberate decisions about sequencing, cognitive load, transfer design, and assessment type — not just content delivery. The distinction between what the learner knows and what the learner can do in the moment shaped every interaction choice.

Technical problem solving: Every significant technical challenge in this build — the sequencing interaction reset, the timer visibility logic, the branching debrief architecture, the variable protection conditions — was solved by identifying the root cause, evaluating available options within platform constraints, and implementing a creative workaround where native functionality fell short.

Project management discipline: Completing a full multi-module Storyline course in 18 days as a first build required scope management, daily prioritization, and the judgment to know when to find a working solution and move forward rather than pursuing a perfect one that costs time the project didn't have.

Accessibility as a design value: Accessibility decisions were made during design and build — not added at the end. The course reflects an understanding that compliance is not a checklist but a lens applied throughout the development process.

What I would do differently

With additional time I would conduct a formal screen reader test using NVDA or VoiceOver, build a fully keyboard-accessible alternative layer for the drag-and-drop interaction, and run a Level 1 and Level 2 pilot with five to ten target learners before final publish to validate both satisfaction and learning outcomes against the Kirkpatrick targets established in the needs analysis.

Skills demonstrated

*Articulate Storyline 360 *Claude Sonnet 4.6 *Camtasia for audio files *Canva *Consistent branding *Variable architecture *Conditional trigger logic *Branching scenario design *WCAG 2.2 accessibility *Performance support design *Constructivist learning design *Bloom's taxonomy alignment *HTML/CSS Project management *Problem solving under constraints