Creating a learning event to support awareness of Citizens Rights for UK WA nationals living in Italy
"Dealing with Passport Stamps
Leaving and Entering Italy."
Portfolio
Overview
Details
-
Type:
- Date: April 2023
Tools
- Articulate Storyline 360
- Adobe Illustrator
- Figma
- Inkscape
Skills
- Instructional Design
- E-learning Development
- Graphical Design
- UI/UX
TL;DR
- Getting a stamp in your passport.
- Which documents can be used to demonstrate residency.
Intro
Context
The UK left the EU at the stroke of midnight on the 1st January 2021, Brexit day.
The legal framework for the separation was outlined in the Withdrawal Agreement (WA).
The WA included the protections afforded to EU citizens living in the UK and UK citizens in the EU. The WA was only signed in February 2020 leaving less than 12 months for the transition period. Even after two years, there remains a lot of confusion and misunderstanding. This confusion and uncertainty remain on both sides, both citizens and government officials.
This project focuses on UK citizens living in Italy. Specifically, those whose rights are protected by the withdrawal agreement. In this project, they will be referred to as UK WA CItizens in Italy.
Background to Project
The UK embassy in Rome and the Italian Government have worked to resolve many of the problems faced by UK WA Citizens living in Italy.
Yet there remains a continuous level of confusion and uncertainty around many issues.
In this project, I address one of those problems that persist even today. The process of entering and leaving the EU via an Italian airport. The particular problems are around Passport Stamps and suitable documents to prove residency.
UK Embassy’s “Living in Italy” guide gives clear guidance on the issue of passport stamps.
Your passport may be stamped on entry and exit. This will not affect your rights in the country or countries where you live or work. If a passport is stamped, the stamp is considered null and void when you can show evidence of lawful residence.
Many UK WA Citizens remain concerned about the issue. In some cases, they have confronted the official who has stamped their passport. For one citizen the consequences were very serious.
Development
Instructional Design
The Analysis of the situation
Meet the typical user
This is Rachel Appleby. She represents a typical learner for the Passport Stamping issues. Rachel has residency in Italy under the Withdrawal Agreement.
Rachel has idea of what is going on with regards to passport stamps. She has not been able to attend a UK Embassy town hall meeting. She’s found the Living in Italy guide somewhat difficult to navigate.
The problems the learning event needs to address
- Passport stamps are null and void as long as you have a valid Residency Document.
- A Carta di Soggiorno is the best evidence of your rights to residency under the Withdrawal Agreement. The Attestatizione di Soggiorno from the Comune is also acceptable. Then any evidence of you living in Italy from before 1st January 2021.
- The Carta di Identità is not considered a valid residency document.
- Avoid confronting Italian Law Enforcement. If you think your rights have been affected then you should contact the UK Embassy.
What are the key considerations?
- A lot of information already exists. The information needs to be communicated in a way that learners will be able to engage and find it easy to access.
- Dealing with adults with various life experiences and backgrounds. It is not possible to assume everyone will start with the same knowledge and experience. This means avoiding any condescending ‘teaching’ tone.
- Learning in context would be preferable. It needs to be realistic and meaningful to the user. To engage memory retention.
The Solution
A set of branching scenarios that will challenge the learners’ prior knowledge. The scenarios will also help reinforce the key content for the learning event. Branching scenarios allow the user to explore the implications of actions. Within a simple interactive environment, users can explore different solutions to the challenges.
The event will be informative, and let users see the outcomes of their chosen response. Feedback will only be shown after the final option has been undertaken. This gives the learner more agency to choose how they will solve the conflict that has occurred.
In addition, an on-screen helper will be provided. The helper will give the user official advice to help the user make the right decisions.
I used Miro to map out clearly all the options, outcomes and feedback for the two scenarios.
Planning
To begin with I selected a colour palette and the typefaces for the project.
I selected to work with Open Sans. It is a clean and well-styled San Serif font, it scales well which was essential to this project. Open Sans offers a range of additional typefaces that I could utilise for the Headers.
I designed the colour palette to appear simple. However, I developed it to give an intrinsic emotional response.
Black was an essential colour, as it signifies authority. An authoritative appearance was needed to help the learner listen to the advice.
Besides, the black I used a mid-tone green and royal blue. The green helped signify both safety and Reliability. The Blue helped give trust and honesty to Bea and the outcome titles.
Within Figma, I began to prepare the layout for the project. This helped me create a good balance between graphics and text. Before moving over to Articulate Storyline 360 to build out the project.
Images from the Final Production
Development Problems and Resolutions
Sourcing Graphics - Making them Relevant
A lot of graphical elements exist for passport control in general. However, few exist for Italian Passport Control. So with Illustrator I was able to manipulate existing content to serve the purpose.
This included manipulating the uniform to be more representative of Italian state police. Italian state police monitor passport control in Italy. I also manipulated the facial expressions of the officers. This helped to add emphasis to the message in the question or outcomes.
The stamps were also manipulated from existing vector graphics to be more relevant.
Design and appearance are key ingredients in creating a realistic environment. Using generic Passport Control images would have been less convincing to the user.
Radio Buttons - Making them more Accessible
Articulate Storyline allows you to add a text label to a radio button. However, the text can not be used to select or deselect it’s respective radio button. I was able to change the states of radio button and label on the ‘hover’ and ‘selected’ states. The ‘selected’ state did not persist on the label part of the button.
I overcame these problems by I created a transparent rectangle. The rectangle sat behind the radio button and the label. I was then able to use this rectangle to trigger the various states of the radio button with it. I was also able to replicate the selected state I desired. This meant the selected radio button and label had a green rectangle around it.
This was important as I am creating this for a wide demographic of users, both in age and technical ability. Adjusting the standard interface gives easier mobile use and better visual signals. Accessibility is about making everyone’s lives easier.
Feedback Delivery - Creating a simple delivery system
It was essential to deliver meaningful feedback to each question in the scenario. This was complicated by the perameter of only showing feedback at the end of each scenario.
The solution was to create a variable called “Feedback”. Each option from each question would get a value. The values were derived as follows:
Q1 Opt. 1 = +1 Q1 Opt. 2 = +2 Q1 Opt. 3 = +3
Q2 Opt. 1 = +10 Q2 Opt. 2 = +20 Q2 Opt. 3 = +30 etc..
At the end of Scenario 1, if the ‘feedback’ variable was equal to 11, 21, or 31 I would show Q1 Option 1 feedback. Again depending on the variable I would then show them either Feedback for Q2 Option 1 if the value was 11. Feedback for Q2 Option 2 if the Feedback variable was 22, and so on.
E-Learning Development
- Articulate Storyline 360
- Adobe Illustrator
- Figma
- Inkscape
The Project
Useful Terms
It is assumed that the user/learner has a good idea of the terminology being used.
It’s likely if you’re viewing this project as a sample of work, then here are some useful terms:
- Withdrawal Agreement (WA) – the agreement signed between the UK and the EU member nations. It sets out the relationship between the UK and the EU post-Brexit. It contains details on Citizens’ rights following the end of the transition period. It covers both EU citizens living in the UK and UK citizens living within the EU.
- UK WA Citizens – I’ve used to refer to UK citizens covered by the Withdrawal Agreement living in Europe. (Or in this case Italy)
- Carta di Soggiorno – is a Residency Card provided by the Italian Government. It’s important to note that it is not compulsory, just highly recommended. The Card contains many security features to prevent forgery.
- Attestazione di Soggiorno – Is a residency document provided by the local comune (townhall). It attests to the holder’s right to residency.
- Carta di Identità – Is either a paper document issued by the Comune, or a plastic card issued by the government. It is just that though, an ID document.
What Next?
Further Project Development
Firstly, to achieve optimal outcomes with scenarios, there need to be more than two. Ideally, I would produce more similar passport stamping scenarios. These would be distributed on a semi-regular basis over an extended period of time. Repeated practice helps to embed the learning. It also allows for other situations to be explored.
Secondly, utilise the feedback value and push it out to a database. This can and should remain anonymous. It will still likely need a level of consent or awareness. Yet, the data will help to give a better understanding of how the learning objectives are being met. It would also indicate where more awareness should be placed in future efforts.
Thirdly, the project could be scaled up to tackle many of the other issues faced by UK WA Citizens living in Italy. Examples include:
- Dealing with local ASL (local health authorities.).
- Dealing with requests by Comune to register a UK WA’s Carta di Soggiorno.
- Dealing with registration of work contracts.
As well as many other issues that have arisen and will arise going forward.
