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Business Email Etiquette for ESL Learners
Project Overview
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I designed this course to highlight the importance of proper business email etiquette in professional communication. Leveraging my background in English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction, I aimed to create an interactive learning experience that helps non-native English speakers write clear, professional emails.
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Audience: ESL Learners
Responsibilities: Instructional Design, eLearning Development
Tools Used: Articulate Storyline
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Development
I created this concept e-learning course to help ESL learners master business email etiquette for successful professional communication. I wanted to tackle the typical challenges non-native English speakers face, including tone, formality, and clarity in email writing. Given the importance of these skills in the workplace, I aimed to provide practical, actionable guidance to help learners communicate confidently and professionally.
The goal was to create a structured, easy-to-follow course that would allow learners to differentiate between formal and informal communication styles, recognize the key components of a professional email, and avoid common etiquette mistakes. Through this course, learners would learn how to write emails with the appropriate structure and tone to improve their email communication skills in real-world business settings.
Objectives
The initial step in designing the course was to define clear learning objectives using real-world communication challenges ESL learners face. These objectives served as the foundation for the content and ensured that learners would gain practical skills they could immediately apply.
The course focused on helping learners:
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Differentiate between formal and informal email writing
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Identify the key components of a professional email
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Recognize and avoid common email etiquette mistakes
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Practice writing emails with the appropriate structure, tone, and language for different workplace scenarios
Learning Theories
I used a couple of different instructional design theories that influenced the structure and content of this e-learning course. Understanding these theories helped ensure that the course would be engaging for ESL learners.
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Andragogy
Since the target audience is adult learners, I applied principles from andragogy to guide the design. This theory emphasizes that adult learners are self-directed, bring prior experiences to learning, and are motivated by practical, real-life applications. I ensured the course content focused on real-world scenarios that learners would encounter. The interactive nature of the course allowed learners to reflect on their prior knowledge of email etiquette and build upon it in a practical, applicable way.
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Cognitive Load Theory
In designing the course, I also considered cognitive load theory, which suggests that learners can only process a limited amount of information at any given time. Given the short quiz with six questions (a mix of multiple choice, multiple answer, matching, and fill-in-the-blank), the questions were clear, concise, and directly aligned with the learning objectives. The course's structure and interactivity kept the cognitive load manageable by breaking down information into digestible chunks, ensuring learners could process and apply knowledge without feeling overwhelmed.
Interactivity
The course incorporated click-and-reveal interactions to present key information about proper business email etiquette. These interactions allowed learners to engage with the content that gradually revealed details about email tone, structure, and etiquette. The interactions were straightforward and informative, focusing on helping learners understand the essential elements of effective email communication.
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For visual appeal, I used AI-generated images from Articulates' AI tool. I chose these specific images for their relevance to the content and to ensure they complemented the course’s professional tone, creating an engaging workplace design.
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The interactive elements aimed to keep learners engaged while reinforcing the core concepts of business email etiquette, making the learning experience more interactive and visually stimulating.
Restructuring
The course used an existing template that initially contained approximately 40 slides. I leveraged this template’s pre-built structure to expedite the development process, modifying the content to focus on business email etiquette. I was able to preserve the framework while tailoring the course content.
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I restructured the slides to establish a logical flow, starting with foundational concepts and progressing to applied practice. Each section introduced a key aspect of email etiquette (tone, formality, and structure) followed by interactive elements designed to reinforce the material and engage learners. This structure ensured clarity and consistency across the course but also kept learners engaged through interactive click-and-reveal elements that offered instant feedback on their understanding.
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I focused on the visual design to foster a professional feel. I chose a clean, minimalistic layout with corporate-style images to align with the professional theme of business communication, making the course visually appealing and relevant to a workplace setting.
Seamless Build
The development process was straightforward using the template, which allowed me to streamline the course creation and focus on tailoring the content for ESL learners. The simplicity of the template meant there were few challenges in terms of course structure, and the main task was ensuring that the email etiquette information was clear and relevant for the target audience.
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By leveraging the template, I sped up development and maintained a consistent and professional design. I incorporated click-and-reveal interactions to break down essential business email etiquette concepts and used AI-generated visuals to maintain a professional and engaging look throughout the course.
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The focus was on delivering clear, actionable email etiquette information in an easy-to-navigate format, which minimized potential challenges and made the development process efficient.
Final Thoughts
Since this project is a concept course, direct feedback from ESL learners is unavailable. However, in a real-world setting, feedback would be crucial to gauge the effectiveness and identify areas for improvement. To evaluate whether the course is a successful learning tool, I would have incorporated the following evaluation methods to create a more complete and robust learning experience for learners:
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Learner Feedback: Conducting surveys or interviews with ESL learners after completing the course would provide valuable insights into their experiences, challenges, and perceptions of the course content, which would help ensure that the course meets their needs and expectations.​
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More Knowledge Checks: Implementing formative assessments throughout the course (beyond the quiz) would help track their progress and identify if they are absorbing key concepts. These could include practical exercises where learners apply email etiquette principles in various contexts.
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Practical Application Exercise: To gauge students’ understanding of the course material, I would incorporate an activity where learners write a formal email using the principles taught throughout the course. This exercise would allow learners to demonstrate their ability to apply proper tone, structure, and etiquette in a real-world context.​
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User Testing: Conducting usability testing with a small group of learners to gather feedback on the navigation, structure, and interactivity would allow further refinements. Understanding how learners interact with the course would be good, ensuring it is user-friendly.​
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Performance Metrics: If the course were implemented in an organization or educational setting, tracking completion rates, engagement metrics, and post-course performance on workplace communication tasks would provide insights into the course's real-world effectiveness.
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