Reflections on Project Managment

Taking time to reflect on the successes and gaps in a project after seeing it through completion allows instructional designers to develop as professionals (Greer, 2008). Greer suggests a two step process, first distributing a series of evaluation questions to the staff, allowing individual quiet time for relection and note making, followed by a face-to-face group meeting to discuss the project and to make note of lessons learned and recommendations for future projects (Greer, 2008).

This summer I accepted a new position as a summer school instructor for the migrant education program in my county. I was asked to oversee the middle school students and told there would be 50-75 students participating in the program.

During the initial staff meetings, I was given a list of priorities and content that I would be expected to build into the program. I was also introduced to 3 staff members I would be working closely with. One was an instructor focusing on a particular content area; the other two were instructional aides.

Having the basic information for content, time, and learners, I began brainstorming with my co-workers to determine how we could create a program to meet the requirements defined by the administrator. We evaluated of each other’s background and experience, and the available resources. We drafted a sample schedule for classes and content, assigned responsibilities to each of the team members, and met again with the administrator. I was informed that the high school teacher would not be available for the first two weeks, and I was to adjust my plans to incorporate 20-30 additional students. We were able to do this with the addition of one additional instructional aide.

Having been given the approval for our approach, I began designing the instructional materials that would be needed for the course.

I created a schedule grid to distribute to the management team to assist them in understanding where I would have my students and what we would be working on during various parts of the day. With course materials ready we launched into the first week of summer classes.

The program ran very smooth, and I received acknowledgement from many staff that the program addressed the many instructional goals we were charged with.

Two weeks into the program, we were given additional instructional goals, and had to make adjustments to our plan. Because of the visual grid I had created the lead teacher was able to sit with us and very quickly identify how the changes would be implemented.

I believe that the project was as successful as it was because we worked as a team, identifying the various instructional goals, and using each team member as a critical component of the class rotations. The time we spent together planning and preparing for the program paid off in having control over what could have been a very chaotic situation with 100+ students and a wide range of instructional goals.

One area where I would strive for improvement is that during project definition phase, during which 2 key people were not available. Because of their absence, I was not aware of a few critical instructional goals, and some of the documentation that would be asked for at the end of the program. When they were able to work with our group, we were able to make adjustments, but the late alterations created some reworking and pushed us to making a choice between what one manager made a priority and what the other was asking us to make a priority.

The tracking phase of the project would have been more successful and required less backtracking had the stakeholder that was financing the project been more involved up front and able to work with the entire team to explain their needs. Because they worked one-on-one with various team members there was some duplication in the effort to track results, and some areas were overlooked.

Project close out was left to a single person, requiring a considerable amount of time to correlate results and to locate documents needed to meet the needs of the financial supporter.

As with many projects, the experience I had this past summer puts me in a better position to anticipate issues and be even more successful with the design for instruction in years to come.


Allen, S., & Hardin, P. C. (2008). Developing instructional technology products using effective project management practices. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 19(2), 72–97.

Greer, M. (2010). The project management minimalist:Just enough pm to rock your projects (special ed., pp. 42-43). Retrieved September 15, 2011, from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/courses/72033/CRS-CW-5693700/educ_6145_readings/pm-minimalist-ver-3-laureate.pdf

Project Management for 21st Century Learning Designs

Hello and Welcome to my blog.

I am an Instructional Design and Technology student at Walden University. This program is a compliment to my Masters of Education in Integrating Technology in the Classroom. I am a firm believer that we are on the threshold of a revolutionary change in our education system.

                   21st Century Schools explains  

                       WHAT a 21st Century Education is........

Sir Ken Robinson explains WHY there needs to be a change........

and I am learning HOW to make the changes necessary to provide the education options available to meet the needs of the 21st Century learners I will encounter in my career.

Join me as we explore this exciting revolution!


Carol Biegun, MSEd
gradute student
Walden University
Instructional Design and Technology

Reflection: The Future of Distance Learning

As we move through the 21st century we continue to see a rapid advancement in communication technologies and the multimedia industry. There is global acceptance of the use of the Internet for communications, and people are increasingly expecting information to be available on demand (Siemens, n.d.).


These changes present a unique opportunity to our outdated school systems and aging brick and mortar schools. With the demand to improve the learning opportunities for our children, and the decline in education funding I believe that there will be an exponential growth and acceptance of distance learning as the new norm for educating our citizens.

Siemens tells us that we can expect new communication technologies to continue to be developed (Siemens, n.d.). He explains that experts from around the globe can easily interact and collaborate with others with similar interests, via audio and video links that easily facilitate the interaction, and as the global experience with technology expands, there will be a coming together of Industry, Government, and Universities that will redesign education. Siemens projects a rise in the use of games, simulations and multimedia learning objects which will continue to improve learners’ motivation and the desire to engage in the learning process (Belanger & Jordan, 2000).

Based on the growth in acceptance of technology, I believe that distance learning will continue to gain popularity and acceptance as an equivalent means of acquiring knowledge. As an instructional designer I can assist in the development of a positive perception of distance learning by demonstrating a professional approach to designing courses. By demonstrating my knowledge of education theories and proven instructional methods in my design process I can show perspective users that there are high standards in place for the design of distance courses. When I have an opportunity to speak to those who have a negative perception or are inexperienced with distance learning I can explain these standards and encourage them to investigate distance learning opportunities available to them. In fact, I did have this chance during week 7 interviews and I have seen the progress in one of the young women I interviewed. She has come back to me to tell me that after speaking with me about distance learning she went online to investigate top learning programs in her profession. She was pleasantly surprised to find that her perceptions were unfounded and she sees there may be significant value in her ongoing training.

I intend to continue to remain involved in distance learning, as an instructor, mentor, and student. I am looking forward to seeing the evolution of our education systems with the emerging technologies that will allow courses to be easily adapted to meet individual learner’s needs.

References


Belanger, F., & Jordan, D. H. (2000). Evaluation and implementation of distance learning: technologies, tools and techniques (pp. 2-30). Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing.

Siemens, G. (Narrator). (n.d.). The future of distance education [Online video]. Baltimore: Laureate Education.

Converting to Distance Learning

Best Practice Guide for Converting a Traditional Course to Distance Learning

Peter Cheese, in his article “Netting the Net Generation”, identifies the characteristics of the recruits in the workforce as having grown up with new technology, being actively involved in networking and collaborating, and being instinctively able to respond to the demands of business in the Internet age. These workers do not expect to be employed for a lifetime with one company, and are known to actively seek out learning opportunities, enjoying a fast-paced and continuously changing job market.

Trainers in today’s corporations may look for creative ways to address the company’s instructional needs while meeting the needs of this “Net Generation” of workers. When considering the transformation of a traditional training course to a distance learning course, there are some considerations to be made.

To review the complete document go to http://www.scribd.com/doc/62774071  

The Impact of Open CourseWare

Open Course websites allow the general public to participate in an educational opportunity without enrolling, paying the university, and without the promise of earning college credits.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) began the OCW project in 2000, with the mission of advancing knowledge and to educate students. By 2007, MIT had placed content from nearly all of the 1,800 on campus courses in the online OCW program.

To investigate this form of education, I elected to monitor and assess MIT's open course Introductory Biology class Spring 2006 . The course is very well organized, with a complete syllabus and assignments accessible online.

Design for Distance Learning

When designing a course for distance learning it is recommended to consider all aspects of the course as a system, including the learners, content, materials, environment, and the technology (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright & Zvacek, 2009). All components must be equally accessible to all learners, and must be functioning efficiently to produce a quality learning environment.

During the initial phase of developing OCW, institutions developed courses by “adopting an archival strategy: capture as much course content as possible in as native a format as possible, and place those artifacts online in an archival structure” (Jansson, 2011). According to Jansson, there are few statistics documenting the real impact OCW is having on improving global learning, and OCW “does not provide the features that are emerging as best practices in online curriculums” (Jansson, 2011).

In the text, Teaching and Learning at a Distance (Simonson, et. al, 2009), some of the positive indicators of quality in distance education include an explicit statement of the purpose of distance learning, and having regular faculty overseeing the curriculum and actively involved in the development of the course. The OCW Biology course at MIT appears to have this involvement. What the course does not appear to have, is the support from academic advisors and technical support. Students taking OCW classes do not have access to MIT staff or resources beyond what is available at the course site. The red flag, as described by Simonson (2009), indicating a failure to follow best practices for distance learning, is the attempt to directly convert the MIT classroom course into a distance learning course without modification.

It would appear that even after 10 years, MIT is striving to find a way to meet learners’ needs by providing access to their course material, yet there is still need for evaluation and establishment of acceptable practices to assure the learner is being served in the most efficient and effect manner possible.



Some additional links to information on the MIT site:
The History if OCW at MIT http://ocw.mit.edu/about/our-history/

OCW stories http://ocw.mit.edu/about/ocw-stories/

OCW Courses at MIT http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/

References

Jansson, E. (2011, July 7). Open questions on open courseware. In Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved July 27, 2011, from http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2011/07/07/essay_on_unanswered_questions_about_open_courseware

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.

Selecting Instructional Technologies

Scenario 3: Asynchronous Training

In an effort to improve its poor safety record, a biodiesel manufacturing plant needs a series of safety training modules. These stand-alone modules must illustrate best practices on how to safely operate the many pieces of heavy machinery on the plant floor. The modules should involve step-by-step processes and the method of delivery needs to be available to all shifts at the plant. As well, the shift supervisors want to be sure the employees are engaged and can demonstrate their learning from the modules.

Recommended Technologies for Instruction

Selecting a course management system or the appropriate technologies for use with an online learning experience requires the instructional designer to take several factors into consideration.  After familiarizing oneself with the available technologies, the ID would identify the learning outcomes and experiences to be developed that will allow successful achievement of those outcomes. Once the course is developed, the individual activities should be matched to appropriate delivery methods using the available technology ( Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2009).  

In order to meet the demands of this instructional project I would recommend that the employer develop an online tutorial utilizing a pre test, tutorial, and post test. The course management system should allow for the tracking of the employees who have logged on and completed the training module, and successfully completed the post test. When the lessons are presented in a linear format, the learner is allowed to review the materials, take an assessment, and move forward to the next unit if they are successful in demonstrating their knowledge (Simonson, et.al, 2009).  Accommodations should be made for learners needing to repeat the tutorial if they are unable to show mastery o n the post test.  The tutorial should be developed as a narrated PowerPoint, and include the illustrations and videos to inform the learner of the proper and safe operation of the equipment.

To evaluate the learners, I would recommend that the ID use videos of role playing scenarios, filmed in the factory, to provide as near a real experience as is practical to demonstrate proper operation of the equipment and to explain situations that may arise that present a safety hazard. The video would be used to assess the decision making skills of the learner, asking the learners if they can identify how the worker should respond in a safe manner to the situation being presented.  Real experiences have the most impact on learning, yet the experience needs to be only as real as needed to create a learning experience (Simonson, 2009). Using a video will allow a realistic look at the workers’ environment.

Hosting multimedia modules and videos on a web page will make them available 24 hours a day from any location.  Employees from all shifts and in all locations would be able to log into the learning modules from any workstation, or from home if needed. Asynchronous instruction will allow the employee to progress through their required module at their own pace, repeating material as needed, and completing and saving assessments as documentation of the course completion.

Examples:

To view an example of a PowerPoint based training program you may view

http://www.free-training.com/osha/hazcom/Label/13.htm  In this online safety training course the lesson is arranged in a linear format. The learner progresses as long as they answer correctly. If the incorrect answer is selected, they are returned to the lesson for review.  In this example, a multiple choice test is given at the completion of the modules, with an option to enter the employee ID and email the results.

The courses offered at http://www.xilinx.com/training/free-video-courses.htm  are examples of instruction using narrated PowerPoint and allow the users to select which modules they will need to complete within the course. This flexibility allows the user to focus their effort in the area they need.

Resources

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.

Distance Learning

Personal Definition

I have always thought of distance learning as a means of a learner accessing content from outside of the traditional brick and mortar school buildings. Whether it was the earlier correspondence courses, or the newer virtual high schools or universities, distance learning meant the learning was done in isolation, using the materials provided by the school and being away from the instructor overseeing the lessons. As a young student, I recall seeing advertisements for art school or business schools. I understood this form of distance learning to require the student to be self driven and able to work on their own with little or no contact with the instructor.

Revised definition

Distance learning can take place from a remote location, or from a traditional classroom. In schools around the world, students are able to connect to online learning programs and work at an individual pace under the supervision of an instructor overseeing the learning lab. An expansion in my definition of distance learning includes students who are able to take virtual field trips using technology such as video conferencing, to enable them to carry on a live discussion with experts in the field being studied. Such access may have been previously unavailable to them due to cost and distance. Distance learning also includes the collaboration between two classrooms via a live video link. A single instructor can host a class with students joining in from a variety of locations, allowing collaboration between classrooms and improving the course offerings at many small schools. In summary, distance learning is any situation in which there is an exchange of knowledge with a separation between the learners, the instructor, or the materials.

The Future of Distance Learning

Our education system has evolved to include technology and improve access to remote learning. E-learning and the use of technology will continue to allow us to maximize productivity as workers are trained for new aspects of their careers using technology resources and distance learning. Younger students will perhaps be given the advantage to complete their secondary education requirement while working in a chosen field of interest. Distance learning has become a very popular method for providing synchronous and asynchronous training for employees when new job skills are needed or they elect to change careers. (Moller, et.al, 2008). Having worked with at-risk students and listened to their needs, I foresee a time when distance learning will routinely be used to allow a student to choose to go to work, and to complete their high school requirements under the supervision of an on the job training program. Based on my experience with these students I would agree with Moller that “Meaningful learning is more likely to occur when learners have access to a supportive community that encourages knowledge building and social reinforcement (Moller, 1998). This supportive community can be a network of learners in the same course of study, or a supportive group of fellow employees assisting the learner while they gain an education and experience in a selected career. Although e-learning is not a perfect solution for everyone, it does hold the promise of allowing a personalize approach to education that has previously been difficult to achieve. (Moller, Foshay, & Huett, 2008).

Moller, L. (1998). Designing communities of learners for asynchronous distance education. Educational Technology and Research Development Journal, 46(4), 115-122.

Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 1: Training and development). TechTrends, 52(3), 70–75.

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