Impacts of HIV on transgender communities
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Division of AIDS (DAIDS) partnered with the DAIDS Cross Network Transgender Working Group and PowerTrain to develop the DAIDS Transgender Training Curriculum for HIV Research. This curriculum is intended for staff and stakeholders across the NIH-funded HIV/AIDS clinical trials networks and aims to teach about the impact of HIV on transgender communities.
Advancing inclusion of transgender individuals
The DAIDS Transgender Training Curriculum for HIV Research includes five web-based training courses.
The DAIDS team needed contemporary, engaging, interactive web-based training (WBT) to promote inclusivity of transgender individuals within the HIV/AIDS Clinical Trials Network. Understanding those needs, PowerTrain provided:
- An upgraded WBT interface with a more contemporary look and feel.
- New screen types to escalate learner retention and interest.
- A variety of knowledge checks (e.g., multiple choice, multiple response, true/false, scenario-based, reflections).
- Custom illustrations for interactions/activities.
- Real-life stories from the point of transgender individuals provide context for terms and concepts learned.
- Audio narration for all courses; to provide authenticity, the narration for the stories was recorded by an individual who is a member of the transgender community.
- Videos (and their transcripts).
- PDFs for both 508 Compliance and to reduce screen content.
- Selectable icons to access additional text and audio.
- Navigation to glossary, menu, and links to external resources.
Award-winning courses
With PowerTrain’s thought-provoking and engaging learner design, the DAIDS Transgender Training Curriculum was recognized as a bronze winner in the Horizon Interactive Awards (categories: Health/Human Services and Training/E-Learning).
A narrative-centric approach to inclusivity
As it was vital that the courseware promote inclusivity, awareness, and empathy, PowerTrain’s design team ensured diverse photo representation of people who identify as transgender and took a “story-first” approach for defining terms and concepts. All key terms were presented within the context of a transgender person’s story, with a corresponding approved graphic image and a “Words Matter” icon that users could select to read the technical definition of a term. Stories were always in the point of view of (and narrated by) transgender characters, based on real experiences of transgender people within the DAIDS Cross Network Transgender Working Group.
With this story-first approach, the training promotes empathy and emphasizes the cultural context and implications of terminology rather than strictly focusing on the definition.
“I appreciate all the time and effort your whole team has put into this! It’s been great working with you!”
— Health Specialist, Division of AIDS
Fully integrated with the DAIDS LMS
DAIDS partners with PowerTrain on multiple other online healthcare training initiatives.
PowerTrain also supports the DAIDS Learning Portal LMS, which allows for a fully integrated curriculum planning, evaluation, and eLearning development experience.
Future-forward learning
The DAIDS Transgender Training Curriculum exemplifies PowerTrain’s commitment to producing instructionally sound web-based training that is highly interactive, contemporary, and relevant. In addition, all courses developed for DAIDS are Section 508 Compliant (accessible) and employ responsive design so that the courses function properly on both desktop and mobile devices.
