Safer Spaces: A Sneak Peek at the Development of the Safer Spaces Training Course

2 min read

“At the beginning stages of conceptualizing the course, we decided to focus on the end. What do we want people to be able to do as a result of this course?” said Holly MacDonald of Spark + Co and instructional designer for Safer Spaces. “Once we had a clear idea, we started building out a skeleton and filling in gaps.”

“One of my company mottos is ‘trust the process,” said Jessica Whelan, Bunderfost Creative. “When I was asked to start designing the brand logo for Safer Spaces, we started with collecting as much information as possible, then created project pages, mind maps – everything that came to mind related to the project. From there, the program brand naturally started to unfold.”

Equally important was choosing the right course delivery format. “This isn’t just a compliance course – it’s a course where we want to raise awareness of sexual harassment and encourage a shift in mindset,” said Andrea Hinck, go2HR. “It was important for us to create an emotional connection between the student and content through impactful storytelling.”

“The narrative approach was important,” agreed MacDonald. “You don’t change behaviour through facts – and this course is all about changing behaviour.”

After a series of in-depth sessions with the Working Group, the project team spent the next six months shaping the course content, refining the storyline and building out the details of each module. They met regularly to brainstorm, troubleshoot and solicit further input from stakeholders on specific topics within the course. There were lots of one on one meetings with specific individuals and requests to review content and apply different lenses to the material. This training is dealing with a very sensitive topic area and it’s critical to do so in a thoughtful and respectful way.

Finally, the finished course was ready for testing and a final round of feedback was requested from the Working Group before launch. The course, designed for employers and supervisors –launched successfully in March. The next installment of Safer Spaces – a frontline worker-focused training course – is the next area of focus for the project team and is scheduled for release in early 2023.

Keep an eye out for our next blog post, which discusses key steps towards developing the Safer Spaces education and training course, including revisions and edits, and ways the team kept motivated throughout the process.