Taking Climate Action in Canadian Municipalities

A call was put out to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities pre-approved vendors to develop an eLearning course that would close the funding for the Municipal Asset Management Program (MAMP) under the Green Municipal Fund (GMF) and act as a lasting resource to achieve the program’s mandate.

A Framework was utilized as the foundation for the eLearning course, however, it needed to incorporate resources and practices that were developed over the MAMP lifecycle. In addition, all materials had to be FCM approved and of Canadian origin. A variety of source materials were provided including internally produced guides, tipsheets, best practices, and case study materials. One extra challenge with this project was the requirement to include an already established media and design element that personified a make-believe town that would continue its journey through the Framework to be taught in this eLearning course.

When AligneDesigns was engaged in the project, the needs and gaps analysis was completed by FCM, as well as a foundational design plan. The design plan and source materials were provided to the instructional designer and a ‘reverse’ feedback cycle commenced. The ID provided feedback and recommendations, while asking critical questions to encourage the thought processes of the SMEs to ensure they were satisfied with the design of the content.

The development of this content was extremely iterative. The instructional designer wrote one module at a time and submitted it to SMEs for feedback. After several modules were complete, the SMEs determined that content needed to move from one module to another and we restructured and cascaded changes forward as required. The last six modules followed a totally different structure then the first three modules, so we engaged in a second prototyping process by exploring innovative technologies to bring the make-believe town’s narrative come to life.

Once all English modules were approved in Articulate360 we transitioned to the translation of each module and the subsequent re-build in Articulate360 and approval process for the French versions.

AligneDesigns delivered a ten-module course called Building Climate Resilience Through Asset Management. This course was developed using Articulate360 at a Level 3 interactivity, and utilized both native Articulate360 narration and AI enhanced narration that supported representative voices of Canadian residents.

A wide variety of media and interactions were utilized in this learning experience as it was quite a long course and variety was necessary to maintain the engagement of learners. Some examples of interactions in this experience are interactive maps, custom mash-up videos, knowledge checks, and a fictional case study. This case study was the continuation of a make-believe town, that was taken steps further by creating characters that aligned to specific roles in the local governments responsible for asset management.

These characters applied the Framework being taught by discussing challenges, applying steps, and making just-in-time decisions in support of the process. All of the eLearning content was additionally supported by a reflective workbook to encourage learners to consider their own contexts in the lens of what they just learned.

This course is freely available by registration through the FCM website and hosted in their Moodle LMS for any Canadian public servant  operating in a municipal context that would like to take the training.