Prevention Strategies: Digital Citizenship
About
Prevention Strategies is a company that collaborates with the NCAA under the name itMatters, providing universities with resources on various student and student-athlete issues, such as mental health, concussions, sleep, and responsible drinking. We have been working with Prevention Strategies since I joined the company, and for several years prior. Because of this long-standing relationship, they were able to provide decent initial resources, usually in the form of narration notes. Our role was to take those notes and transform them into interactive and engaging e-learning.
Audience
College students and college athletes. Content needed to be fun, engaging, and relevant. We used authentic yet generic imagery of social media.
Starting Materials
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Messy yet thorough narration notes in a Word document
Process
Standard Process: We followed the same typical process as with our other projects.
Kickoff Meeting: During the kickoff, the client emphasized that they felt their narration was too long. They didn’t want the module to exceed 10 minutes, as it was important to maintain student engagement without losing their interest. My challenge was to trim the content without cutting any critical information.
Another key challenge was avoiding the “villainization” of social media. Although the content focused on avoiding negative situations online, like trolling or feeling left out, we didn’t want to sound “out of touch” by suggesting students avoid social media altogether.
This challenge has been a recurring theme with Prevention Strategies. For example, in another project on safe drinking, we didn’t want to tell students not to drink. Instead, we focused on ensuring they knew how to drink responsibly, as we understood that students would likely engage in drinking regardless.
Clarification Meeting: After kickoff and before scripting, we had a second call with the client to clarify questions I had. One key question was about the “Social Media Seesaw,” which I was unfamiliar with. This concept was based on a recent journal article about the pros and cons of social media. Initially, I struggled to visualize how and when social media would “tip” in one direction or the other based on their word document. Fortunately, the SME explained it in detail, allowing us to portray the concept effectively in the module.
Scripting: While scripting, I encountered a list of “What can you do?” tips, which I felt presented a good opportunity for an acronym. To streamline this task, I used AI, specifically ChatGPT, to generate a relevant acronym based on the list. I provided the client with three options, and they selected “REACT”—Reflect on how your digital spaces make you feel, Engage only with content that makes you feel good, etc.
Content Reduction: The original content contained a lot of repetition, especially the phrase “Make sure the good outweighs the bad.” This allowed me to trim down the script significantly, which was important since the client wanted to keep the module short.
Branching Scenario: Initially, we had planned a lengthy branching scenario centered around an online conversation. The conversation began with someone posting about the university’s new “clean environment” initiative, followed by others commenting either positively or negatively. The learner would be given options to respond, with feedback provided on how well they handled the situation. However, this scenario was ultimately cut due to time constraints.
508 Compliance
This module was required to be fully 508 compliant. The client has a dedicated accessibility department that reviews our modules during the Beta phase. We ensure compliance through alt-text, proper focus order, and closed captions. For this client, we prioritize building with accessibility in mind from the beginning—this means avoiding drag-and-drop interactions, which can be tempting but are generally inaccessible.
This particular module featured a lot of “swipe on” and “swipe off” text and images, which are typically not accessible, as learners need to be able to read onscreen text at their own pace, with or without a screen reader, without having to rewind. To address this, we made the content accessible by placing all of the text in an offscreen textbox that is readable by screen readers. This allowed the learner to access the information without compromising accessibility.
Notable Slides
Visual and Animated Elements
While I can't display them here, most of these slides featured a lot of movement, with large text, images, and icons swiping on and off the screen to maintain engagement. We used subtle animated backgrounds on some slides, while others had full-screen photos that moved slightly for added dynamics. One animation the client particularly liked involved spamming “thumbs up” and “thumbs down” icons across a social media page, illustrating the idea that “social media is engineered to manipulate our emotions and keep us engaged.”
Seesaw Example
We explained the “Social Media Seesaw” concept using an example of an Instagram post. The narration began, “How about this? You see an old friend post pictures of your group at the beach together from a few years ago.” On screen, a hypothetical comment thread unfolds, with friends reminiscing, making the learner feel good (seesaw tips up). But then, the conversation shifts to two of the friends going on Spring Break together without the learner, resulting in negative feelings (seesaw tips down). This realistic scenario effectively conveyed the emotional ups and downs associated with social media.
Your Personal Seesaw
In this two-part interaction, learners are asked to reflect on an online space they frequent. On the left side of the seesaw, they enter what makes them happy in that space, and on the right, they list what makes them unhappy. After submitting their answers, they see their responses and are told that strong positives can sometimes make negatives feel smaller, but in some cases, negatives can outweigh many positives. The learner can then manually tilt the seesaw using up and down arrows, adding happy or sad faces based on how much they click, as they reflect on whether their positive emotions outweigh the negatives.
Toxic Behaviors
To highlight the reality that there’s a person behind the anonymity of social media, we displayed an image of a dark silhouette being called names in comments. Over the course of the slide, the silhouette gradually fades away to reveal an unhappy young adult, facing away. This simple yet powerful visual was highly appreciated by the client for its impactful message.