Understanding the need: usable, experiential, self-learning modules for better employability outcomes

“I applied for many jobs in many industries. But I did not find any audio materials to study from and prepare for these jobs” — C. Bushan, visually challenged individual.

This was one of the most thought provoking statements that Renuka Sharma, Director of Content Development at ARISE Impact, heard during a visit to the SMART Center in Chandigarh, India in 2016. During her visit, she interacted with many differently-abled students and trainers. As they continued their research, the team spoke with 35 students and 10 teachers, all with disabilities, as well as 14 parents of differently-abled students. In addition, interviews were conducted with employers and human resources professionals who hire differently-abled individuals and managers who train employees with disabilities. Renuka and her team conducted an intensive amount of research, contacting differently-abled people who have been successful in jobs so that they could understand the issues they faced during their search for employment. Field visits were conducted primarily in the Indian cities of Bengaluru, Delhi and Chandigarh; with further visits conducted in Savannah (USA), Benin City (Nigeria), Delft (Netherlands) and Dhaka (Bangladesh).

Renuka Sharma, Director of Content Development, interviews a student at the SMART Center in Chandigarh, India.

One of the most resonating pain points of these individuals seemed to be the lack of access that they have to self-learning, audio resources. During the many conversations that took place, the following problem areas relating to employability of the differently abled were identified:

· There is a lack of self-learning content

· Many faced difficulties while facing interviews as they had struggled in giving basic introductions.

· The individuals faced many hurdles when writing their resumes, often having to seek help of sighted individuals.

· They had minimal knowledge about working in a team in the corporate world. Because of this, differently abled individuals often left jobs.

· There is a lack of online medium from where they can access resources.

· There is a lack of entrance exam course content in accessible format for the visually challenged.

· There is a lack of e-learning resources.

Hundreds of stakeholders were interviewed with the mission of understanding the needs of the differently abled individuals.

With these findings as the building block, the team at ARISE Impact got to work, researching and developing self-learning resources for better employability outcomes for the differently abled. Leveraging the organization’s proprietary SPECIAL Methodology, the learning modules were integrated with user stories for relatability and experiential context. The development of the modules took in to careful consideration factors such as: pace and pause, vocabulary, human narration and clarity. The end products were extensively tested for these parameters to ensure usability.

Kazi Siam, Programs Lead, conducts interviews at Baptist Mission Integrated School in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Srikanth Raviprasad, UX Content Advisor with Anika Futch at the Savannah Center for Blind and Low Vision

One year later, Renuka’s team is now ready to do a pilot launch of their self-learning modules this summer. The modules have been designed to positively impact the employment opportunities of differently abled individuals, empowering them to learn on their own. The bilingual modules will contain self-learning, experiential resources that cover life-skills topics such as communication and introducing oneself, and work-skills topics such as resume building and teamwork.

For more information on how to sign up to receive these modules, please email: contact@ariseimpact.org.