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Curriculum design document

Customer Service Communication Foundations

A blended learning plan for building professional phone and email communication skills through practice, feedback, and authentic assessment.

Learning need

Who this is for

The course supports people moving into phone based and email based customer service roles.

  • School leavers and career changers, 18 to 40
  • Retail or hospitality experience
  • Limited call centre experience
  • Limited customer email experience
  • Ideal class size of 6 to 12 learners

Learning outcomes

Learners will be able to

  1. Demonstrate professional etiquette across customer calls and written correspondence, including greetings, tone, pacing, hold and transfer procedures, and closure.
  2. Interpret verbal and non-verbal cues to assess a customer's emotional state and underlying needs.
  3. Adapt tone, language, and response strategies to suit a range of spoken and written customer situations.
  4. Apply de-escalation and active listening techniques to resolve complaints and manage escalations professionally.
  5. Evaluate the effectiveness of different communication approaches and identify improvements for future interactions.

Design rationale

Why it is sequenced this way

The unit applies constructive alignment, with learning objectives, activities, and assessment criteria that relate to one another (Biggs and Tang, 2011).

The cohort includes adult learners drawing on existing experience in hospitality and retail, so the design uses experience based, problem centred learning (Knowles et al., 2015).

Face to face and synchronous sessions follow Kolb's experiential learning cycle, where learners practise through role play, reflect through debrief, and identify takeaways they can apply later. The assessment uses authentic simulated customer interactions, aligning with assessment for long term learning (Boud and Falchikov, 2006).

Session plan

Blended learning sequence

Face to face learning

Communication and phone basics, 2 hours

20 min
Customer tone and emotional state

Pairs use an iceberg worksheet to separate what they can hear from what the customer may feel or need.

Facilitator focus

Capture patterns on the whiteboard and connect visible cues to possible underlying needs.

10 min
Example call

Learners listen to an angry customer call and note tone, feelings, agent actions, etiquette, and resolution.

Facilitator focus

Use the board to compare customer emotions with agent actions.

10 min
Debrief

Learners add one customer cue and one agent action to the board.

Facilitator focus

Guide discussion on what worked, what escalated, and why.

60 min
Call role play

Groups of three rotate through agent, customer, and observer roles using scenario cards and an observation checklist.

Facilitator focus

Brief the room on roles, offer a pause option, circulate, and note examples to use in the debrief.

20 min
Group reflection

Learners discuss what worked, what was hard, and what they will use in future calls.

Resources

Whiteboard, markers, scenario cards, learner instructions, and observation checklist.

Synchronous online learning

Email communication basics, 2 hours

20 min
Housekeeping and tech checks

Learners confirm microphone, camera, platform access, and shared expectations.

Facilitator focus

Check access, explain session flow, and set online participation norms.

15 min
Email best practice brainstorm

Learners research email communication practices and draft a checklist for the breakout task.

Resources

Personal device, internet access, and Miro board.

10 min
Debrief

Each learner shares one key takeaway.

Facilitator focus

Collate shared points on the Miro board.

50 min
Rewrite a poor customer email

Groups of three rewrite poorly worded customer emails in breakout rooms.

Facilitator focus

Provide examples, organise breakout rooms, and run two timed rounds.

25 min
Compare and explain

Groups compare rewritten versions and explain what they changed and why.

Resources

Miro board and email examples handout.

Asynchronous LMS learning

Customer service and emails, 2 hours

10 min
Phone communication videos

Learners watch customer service phone examples and take notes.

Facilitator focus

Embed video resources in the LMS.

15 min
Short reflection

Learners write 50 words on one customer service tip and how they will use it.

LMS setting

Submission required, complete on submission.

25 min
Scenario video analysis

Learners watch a poor and strong customer service example.

Facilitator focus

Connect the video to empathising, positive scripting, active listening, requests, and plain language.

20 min
Reflective activity

Learners describe the difference between poor and strong communication and how they will apply the stronger approach.

LMS setting

Submission required, complete on submission.

25 min
De-escalation read and apply

Learners choose two de-escalation techniques and explain what they would say or do in a refund complaint scenario.

Facilitator focus

Embed the reading and scenario prompt in the LMS.

25 min
Rewrite a poor email

Learners rewrite a defensive customer email into a warm, clear response with next steps.

LMS setting

Reveal a model answer after submission for self-comparison.

15 min
H5P branching activity

Learners choose responses in a customer scenario and see the consequences of each choice.

Resources

LMS and H5P branching scenario.

Assessment strategy

Authentic performance tasks

Assessment task 1

Simulated call

Learners pair up and each record a 5 to 7 minute customer call as the staff member. They choose from a billing dispute or escalation scenario.

  • Professional phone greeting and closure
  • Appropriate hold, transfer, or summary techniques
  • Evidence of reading customer emotional cues
  • Adapted tone and language
  • Active listening and de-escalation
  • Clear resolution or next step

Assessment task 2

Written customer response

Learners choose one customer email scenario and write a 150 to 250 word professional response that resolves the situation or sets out clear next steps.

  • Professional greeting, subject line, and sign-off
  • Acknowledgement of the customer's concern
  • Tone adapted to the customer and situation
  • Clear language without jargon or defensiveness
  • Resolution, ownership, and timeframe

Scenario briefs

Practice mirrors the workplace

Scenario A

A dispute

The customer has been charged for a service they say they cancelled two months ago. They have been told different things by three previous staff members. They are calm but firm, and they want this resolved on this call.

Scenario B

The escalation

The customer has already spoken to two staff members today. They are angry, they have said they are going to leave a review, and they are talking over the staff member in the opening.

Rubric focus

What quality looks like

Call task, 25 pointsPhone etiquette

Greeting, pacing, hold and transfer process, closure, and professional warmth.

Call task, 25 pointsReading the customer

Interpreting verbal cues, identifying underlying needs, and responding with judgement.

Call task, 25 pointsTone and language

Adapting language to the customer, situation, and emotional state.

Call task, 25 pointsDe-escalation and active listening

Using listening, empathy, boundaries, and next steps to reduce tension.

Email task, 25 pointsProfessional structure

Subject line, greeting, closing, and sign-off are complete and appropriate.

Email task, 25 pointsAcknowledgement and tone

The response recognises the customer's concern and matches the tone to the situation.

Email task, 25 pointsClarity and next steps

The response is plain, non-defensive, and clear about outcome, ownership, and timeframe.

References

Frameworks used

  • Biggs, J., and Tang, C. (2011). Teaching for quality learning at university (4th ed.). Open University Press.
  • Boud, D., and Falchikov, N. (2006). Aligning assessment with long-term learning. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 31(4), 399-413. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602930600679050
  • Knowles, M. S., Holton, E. F., and Swanson, R. A. (2015). The adult learner: The definitive classic in adult education and human resource development (8th ed.). Routledge.
  • Kolb, D. A. (2015). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development (2nd ed.). Pearson Education.

AI declaration: Claude was used to help find references, brainstorm activities, refine learning objectives, and refine the marking rubric activity.