Zoom Training Guide for Arizona Academic Decathlon
Technical Documentation
January 2021
The following interactive guide was created using Google Slides - allowing for an accessible form of instruction for all participants. The following images represent a reduced version of the full guide. The major aspects (title, introduction, dividers, and end page) were included to highlight all areas of importance.
Review of Design Choices
Software/Tool(s): Google Slides
Click directly on a page below to see a full-page, high-definition view.
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As with many other large-scale events, the Arizona Academic Decathlon needed to be transferred to a completely digital format because of the COVID-19 pandemic. With that being said, and because it was the first year that the event was held in such a different medium, the training material needed to be created in a space that was free, interactive, and whose updates synced instantly.
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One highly useful feature of using Google Slides is the ability to specify how a reader is presented the information. In this case, by customizing the URL, the training materials were only seen in Present Mode with interactive buttons that made the presentation act more as a e-text. This made for a seamless and professional presentation of the training information.
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One major consideration for this design was the technical ability of the average reader. Judges, coaches, and students who participate in Academic Decathlon can have a considerably wide range of technical ability. The choice in this case was to simplify the effort required from the user. A limited number of buttons were therefore included, and only symbols that are used often across most websites (i.e. “Home,” “Back,” “Navigation”) were included.
Title page of the guide (currently in its reduced version), where judges, competitors, and coaches each had their own designated color.
Introduction page. Describes that the guide is interactive (allowing users to directly click on the page to get to the page they are looking for.
Example of a "Divider" page in the guide.
Example of a technical how-to page. Created to ensure users understood how to use Zoom - including images.
Example 2 of a technical how-to page. Meant to demonstrate how a text-heavy instruction page would function.
Example 2 of a "Divider" page. Useful to transition into included checklists.
Checklist Example. Judges, competitors, and coaches were each offered their own checklists to make participation in the event as seamless as possible.
Closing page of guide.
Reflection
My involvement with Arizona’s Academic Decathlon included the creation of preparation documentation as well as working as technical support during the competition. As such, I was able to see this project from beginning to end - making it highly rewarding. I take pride in having created this documentation from scratch, aiming to make it aesthetically pleasing in addition to being informative.
I found the most tedious part to be organizing the information in a way that included a sufficient amount of supplementary screenshots (icons from Zoom, for example). With time and several rounds of feedback, I was able to ensure that the information was presented in the most appropriate way. Finally, I made three total copies, one copy for coaches/students, judges, and Zoom Coordinators. This made it so that each individual involved only had the most relevant information presented to them.