Introduction
As the leading IT partner of the project we wanted to create an easy to use platform to help caregivers improve their knowledge on the various soft skills topics without too much effort. The learning platform would be centered around the ten soft skills that we set out in this project, namely empathy, assertiveness, the ability to empower and motivate other people, general problem solving, stress management, creativity, patience, communication skills, observation skills, and thickness of skin. All other partners of the project started out by creating learning modules for each of the soft skills. Each of the units in the modules guide the user through a better understanding of the soft skill. All modules focus on contexts in which senior caregivers may face certains challenges.
Design
We set out to create a fun but professional looking design for the platform. The platform would allow users to sign in with their Google accounts of email addresses, just like was implemented in our diagnostic tool. The idea still centered around the results of the diagnostic tool. When a caregiver would first sign in, they would be asked to go through the diagnostic tool questions to guage a first level of their understanding of the soft skills. The caregiver would then be guided to a dashboard where they can find all the learning modules freely available to them. These are sorted by relevance: for example, if a caregiver scored lower on a soft skill during the assessment questions, then the learning module for that particular soft skill would be placed more on top in the dashboard.
Development
After creating a design we ourselves and all partners were satisfied with, we started developing the platform. Starting by extending the codebase of the assessment tool, we build the platform on top of it.
Caregivers are also able to gain soft skill badges on the platform. These badges are a sort of certification for the caregiver that they scored really well on an assessment of their soft skill knowledge. By navigating to the page with the badges, caregivers can read their diagnostic feedback again and even download the badges they have already gained. They can use these downloaded badges anywhere they want to boast about their knowledge of the soft skill!
So far the platform contains the interface text in all partner languages and the learning modules only in English for now.
After the initial development phase, we gained feedback from all partners involved about bugs and mistakes in the module content which have been updated onto the current version of the learning platform.
Next steps
We are now in the process of translating all learning modules into each partner language. Then all the translated modules will become available in an update on the platform.
Hope you are all as excited as we are!
The Odisee team.