Milestone #1: Pitching Project

Project Pitch

I used the following PPT slide to present my evaluation and make my pitch to Best Choice Home Health Care.

 

Reflection

I presented my project pitch to my client Best Choice Home Health Care this week. The agency started in 2013, and in 2017, it went under new management. I am somewhat familiar with the agency, and met with the owner in the past. Since 2017, the agency been renovating, marketing and re-imaging the agency in order to stay competitive and meet the needs and demands of the community they serve.

The first thing I did before pitching the project was to gather all the relevant information such as client background, learning needs, key stakeholders and goals and outcomes of the potential proposed project idea.  After gathering the relevant information, I was able to initiate the plan to pitch the project idea, which would be a solution to the learning problem the agency is facing.

Overall, my approach to the pitch was to give the agency an overview of their current situation and give them what I believed was the best possible solution to the needs of their learners. I went in with the intention of working closely with the stakeholders from the agency by getting their input and using their guidance and feedback in the process. I presented my solution to the agency’s stakeholders, which included the owner and the director. It also included the nurse manager who is responsible for managing resources, clinical support and communicating with the home aides. The stakeholders were very engaged and interested in the proposal and possible solutions.

Their main needs were that they were looking for a solution to helping their home aides with the yearly certification renewal requirements. The state of Ohio requires that home health aides complete a 75-hour training each year in order to work for a Medicare or Medicaid health agency. Therefore, home health aides must possess certification showing successful completion of at least 75 hours of healthcare training. Currently, the client does not have any training material or test prep for their aides that is online based and dynamic. Therefore, with the help of an instructional designer, they would like to solve this problem by providing their aides with E-learning material that will give them the knowledge and training they need. They also wanted an online knowledge base for their aides to have access to which would give them all the important information they would need to succeed as home health aides.

With this in mind, I proposed that I create this training material using Articulate 360. This is a cloud-based e-learning management solution. It is very useful in creating custom and interactive online courses. It is a very dynamic platform, which allows for the incorporation of photos, videos and more. The plan I proposed would use this platform to create the clients required content. I showed them example projects that used Articulate 360 as a guide to how I would design their training material. The stakeholders were impressed and pleased with the proposed project ideas.

Overall, the project pitch went well. I was confident in my presentation and the plan I had as a solution to the client’s needs. Because of the current circumstances (Covid-19), we decided that it was better to meet on Zoom instead of on-site to reduce the risk and maintain safe social distancing. I would say my main strengths included knowing the background of the client and their specific needs from the conversations and email exchanges I had with their directory and administrator. This gave me the confidence to pitch the project idea to them and ensure them that I would take all their concerns and requests into consideration when developing the training program.

Overall, there were also areas in which I could have improved. I would have preferred to pitch the project in person but as mentioned before, that was not very feasible. Another concern was the time constraints. Since the summer semester is shorter than the traditional 14-week semesters, I had to work harder and implement strict time management protocols. This concerns me somewhat, and makes it somewhat more challenging to meet the project goals and desires of the client. I had to be realistic about the timeline and how much can be accomplished in the given time. The stakeholders were onboard and understanding.

At the conclusion of the meeting, we agreed on all the points after further discussion. The next step for us is to sign the Memorandum of Understanding, which will allow us to progress with the project.