Travel Safety & Cultural Awareness in Istanbul

Overview

This eLearning course was designed to provide visitors with essential safety strategies and cultural awareness for navigating Istanbul with confidence. Drawing inspiration from the city’s unique blend of history, modernity, and cross-continental character, I structured the content to be both practical and engaging.

The course opens with an inviting introduction, setting the tone with a conversational “Merhaba/Hello!” to immediately engage the audience. The goal was to make learners feel welcomed while reinforcing key learning outcomes: staying safe, avoiding common scams, understanding cultural norms, and interacting respectfully with locals.

By the end of the course, learners will not only have a stronger awareness of safety precautions but also a deeper appreciation for Istanbul’s cultural landscape—ensuring a smoother and more enriching travel experience.

My Process

I followed the Successive Approximation Model (SAM) to develop this course, allowing for an iterative and agile approach. The process began with in-depth research on travel safety guidelines and cultural norms in Istanbul, followed by rapid prototyping to quickly visualize the course structure. After gathering essential content, I moved on to storyboarding and scripting, ensuring a logical flow that incorporated interactive elements to maintain engagement.

I then designed and developed the course in Intellum Evolve, integrating multimedia and interactivity within the constraints of the free trial version. Multiple rounds of testing were conducted across different devices to refine usability and engagement. Finally, after incorporating necessary refinements and exporting the course from Intellum Evolve, I uploaded it to my Google Cloud Storage bucket and generated a public link for easy access and sharing.

Mood Board

Interactive Prototype

To maximize learner engagement, I incorporated a variety of interactive elements throughout the course. Scenario-based learning provides realistic situations, including a branching scenario where learners navigate a real-world business interaction. Despite the limitations of the free trial version of Intellum Evolve, I leveraged available interactive components such as MCQs, text reveals, flip cards, drag-and-drop exercises, and matching activities to encourage active learning.

To further enhance engagement and retention, I integrated multimedia elements, including high-quality visuals and AI-generated audio narration using ElevenLabs. While audio is not used throughout the course, it plays a key role in the introduction to create an immersive start and in a component focused on learning basic Turkish phrases. Additionally, I applied microlearning principles by structuring the course into bite-sized sections, making it easier for learners to absorb and retain key information.