Program Structure

 

Program Structure

Vision

    The overall vision for the online curriculum was broken down into five lessons that begin with early 

on in marriage and how to keep marriage relationships strong. It is geared towards individuals and 

couples who would like to learn better communication and conflict resolution strategies. The title for 

the curriculum is ‘Communication and Conflict Resolution in Intimate Relationships’. Information 

from peer reviewed articles and experts in the fields of family relations and communication were used 

to design a curriculum that can be helpful to many. The goal of this curriculum is to help people like 

yourself to foster better communication with your partner. We will be posting five lessons on 

Blogger.com over the next two months. The first lesson will focus on communication. Then we will 

focus on conflict resolution and how communication is essential to managing conflicts. Third, we will 

learn about the importance of emotional intimacy in our relationships. Fourth, we will explore the need 

for positive self-esteem if we want to have good relationships. In our final lesson we will cover specific 

communication strategies to help increase the level of happiness and satisfaction in your relationships.

Social Media Platform

    This online curriculum was presented on Blogger.com. A digital copy of the flyer was posted on 

Instagram and Facebook and shared as much as possible. We also took the flyers and posted them on 

bulletin boards on the BYU-I Campus. We also advertised our program on the bulletin boards of our 

Church buildings. Family and friends were invited to participate and to also share with their 

acquaintances.

Length of Lessons

    The lessons took about thirty minutes to read and a new one was posted every two weeks. We used 

videos, filled out worksheets, wrote things in journals, and performed many other activities that were 

beneficial in increasing our communication skills within our relationships. The activities took 

anywhere from a few minutes to a few weeks to accomplish. Some assignments are meant to continue 

throughout their lifetimes to keep relationships strong.

Participation and Interaction

    This online curriculum was written with research and suggestions for things to help strengthen 

relationships and avoid pitfalls. We asked participants to give feedback and make comments as much 

as possible. We answered questions and gave more helpful information when needed. The participants 

were asked to interact by completing activities and referring to them during the next lesson. They were 

asked to let us know how the activities went and what they learned, or how things improved.

Feedback

    Blogger.com is user friendly and allows opportunities for participants to comment and ask questions. 

 Feedback was given and responses to questions were posted. We asked for participants to fill out 

questionnaires and let us know how we were doing. We wanted to know how we were doing and if the 

couples felt like the lessons were helpful and useful in their relationships. We used their comments and 

feedback to make our lessons more pertinent and user friendly.

Format

    The lessons start with early in the marriage relationship and the communication pitfalls that take 

place in the early stages of marriage and goes through different scenarios that come up when children 

come along and other stressors in marriage. We will focus on communication skills, how to improve 

our self-esteem and our spouse’s self-esteem, intimacy, and some other strategies to be successful in 

our relationships.

Action

    Participants were given an assignment to work on over the two-week time period between lessons. 

 These assignments were meant to strengthen the relationship and help the couple work on 

communication skills. We asked them to report back after the two-week period, during our next lesson, 

and started off the lessons with a follow up of what we had assigned the lesson before. Participants 

were also encouraged to post thoughts, comments, and questions at the end of each lesson. We 

responded and gave feedback as needed.

Materials

    The lessons contain videos, pictures, and examples of situations that most couples can relate to and 

feel they can learn from. We gave the participants exercises to do at home. Such things as writing 

things in a notebook, filling out worksheets and questionnaires, and doing things together with their 

spouse or significant other. We gave them informational and interactive videos and asked them to 

report back and comment and post on the lessons.

Partner Coordination

    Practicum partners worked together through Zoom, text, and email to coordinate the lessons and 

make sure the blog was user friendly, educational, and eye catching. We met several times a week to 

talk about revisions and corrections each one of us had made to the lessons and sometimes met over 

Zoom so we could discuss the changes we needed to make. We worked well together and found 

creative ways to make the lessons more appealing and pertinent to the audience we were recruiting.

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