Concussion awareness education: a design and development research study

This research study looks at the design and development of an online concussion awareness education module. The Keep Your Head in the Game: Concussion Awareness Training for High School Athletes, or Brainbook, is a stand-alone e-learning module designed to run for fifty minutes and to be highly interactive using short video clips with associated comments as well as polling features to allow students to experience the content as they are learning. It was designed to provide the instruction through a framework that resembles social networking to increase relevance and engagement to the high school student-athlete population it was created for. The content is delivered through the presentation of an online conversation or a "feed" where characters with varying attitudes towards concussion, with contributions from a doctor and professional athlete, discuss concussions from their experiences and beliefs. The instructional goals of the module are to increase the athletes understanding and personal application of the causes and effects of concussions, and to motivate a change in attitude and behavior related to the perception, recognition, and care of head injuries. The design and development of this online educational module followed the tenets of design and development research as determined by Richey and Klein (2007), where the tasks of completing the design and development of the product were combined with studying the process. The study focused on what could be learned during the phases of design and development, identifying challenges that were encountered designing education that resembles social networking, testing the effectiveness of the module in relation to meeting the instructional objectives, and creating guidelines and best practices that contribute to the field of instructional design.

This design and development project was found to be a success by the design team, the client, and outside entities. Findings of the study include a breakdown of the most impactful decisions made by the design team in the design and development process, the results of the team member and client interviews to provide additional insight into the process, and results from the student athlete post-module design and attitude surveys informing if attitude change indeed occurred as a result of this educational intervention. Brainbook also received much coverage in the media and has progressed on to version 2.0, additional measures of success of the project.