Multimedia eLearning Development
Empathy-Driven Employment Experience Design: From Theory to Practice
Professional Diploma in Instructional Design — Digital Learning Institute (2025/2026)
Fictional client: PeopleFirst Solutions
Embedded Files
The Brief
The Brief
PeopleFirst Solutions, a mid-sized organisation operating across Europe and MENA, identified a persistent gap between what they promised employees through employer branding and what those employees actually experienced at work. Managers and HR professionals were being asked to lead engagement initiatives without the tools or frameworks to translate good intentions into consistent, relational behaviour. The organisation commissioned a targeted digital learning programme to close that gap — and this project documents the full instructional design process behind it.
My Approach
My Approach
Good instructional design starts before any tool is opened. My process followed a deliberate sequence:
Personas → Outcomes → Structure → Modalities → Scenarios → Assessment
1. Start with the learner, not the content
1. Start with the learner, not the content
Five research-informed personas, built from survey data across organisations experiencing high attrition, surfaced three consistent design constraints: limited and unpredictable time, a need for cognitive clarity, and varying accessibility requirements. These constraints shaped every decision that followed.
2. Set outcomes that demand performance, not just recall
2. Set outcomes that demand performance, not just recall
Learning outcomes were written at Bloom's Levels 2–4, moving learners from understanding relational concepts to applying and analysing them in real workplace contexts. Each outcome was benchmarked using the SMART framework to ensure measurability and support progress tracking.
3. Build architecture before building content
3. Build architecture before building content
The course uses a Core and Spoke model: a linear pathway through six modules ensures conceptual progression, while optional live sessions and community discussions allow learners to extend engagement without making it mandatory overhead.
4. Design for cognitive ease at every level
4. Design for cognitive ease at every level
Within each module, content follows a consistent eight-block instructional flow — context, discovery, scenario, feedback, reflection, integration — repeated across every section to reduce cognitive load and support predictable navigation.
Project Artefacts
Project Artefacts
Learning Outcomes & SMART Table
Learning Outcomes & SMART Table
Learning objectives are built on two frameworks working in tandem: Bloom's Taxonomy defines the cognitive demand, while the SMART criteria translate that demand into specific, measurable learner actions — giving each objective both instructional rigour and practical accountability.
Learning Outcomes and SMART framework.docxContent Map
Content Map
A modular content map translating learning outcomes into a structured programme — linking each module and its topics directly back to the capability it is designed to build.
Content-Map.pdfRise 360 Module Prototype — Module 1: Empathy at Work
Rise 360 Module Prototype — Module 1: Empathy at Work
This first module covers Course Orientation, Section 1 (Empathy as a Business Advantage) and Section 2 (Defining Employment Experience Design). Demonstrates the eight-block instructional flow, Storyline interaction blocks, and WCAG-compliant build.
Scoping Document
Scoping Document
It captures the strategic brief, learner analysis, outcome alignment, and modality rationale that shaped the course direction before any content was written.
Madalina Manolache Scoping Module 1_23_11_ final.pdfWireframe
Wireframe
It represents the visual blueprint of the learning journey, mapping instructional moments, media types, and learner flow across the module
Madalina Manolache Wireframe Final.pdfStoryboard (extract)
Storyboard (extract)
It represents one section of the full Rise 360 storyboard, showing how design decisions from the wireframe were translated into screen-level content and interaction design
Madalina Manolache Rise 360 Storyboard v.2.pdfInstructional Video — What is Employment Experience Design?
Instructional Video — What is Employment Experience Design?
Narrated explainer created in Visme, grounded in the video storyboard and script. Closed captions and transcript available in the Rise version. Designed as a standalone micro-asset for repurposing across the wider programme.
Scoping Document
Scoping Document
Madalina Manolache Video Based Learning Scoping 24_11_2025.pdfWireframe
Wireframe
Madalina Manolache Instructional Video Wireframe 23.11.pdfStoryboard (extract)
Storyboard (extract)
Madalina Manolache Instructional Design Video Storyboard v 2..pdfReflection
Reflection
This project sharpened something I already believed but needed to prove to myself: that the quality of a learning experience is determined long before anyone opens an authoring tool. Working through scoping, wireframing, storyboarding, and scripting in sequence showed me how each stage communicates intent to SMEs and stakeholders — and how much ambiguity gets resolved on paper rather than in development.
The challenge that pushed me most was staying firmly in the instructional design role rather than slipping into developer mode. It meant prioritising rationale over output, and making sure the decisions I documented were ones I could defend — not just execute. That shift in mindset is one I carry into every project now.
Tools used: Articulate Rise 360, Articulate Storyline 360, Visme, Heygen, Mural
Approach: ADDIE, Bloom's Taxonomy, Cognitive Load Theory, Mayer's Multimedia Principles, UDL
Accessibility standard: WCAG 2.1
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