Goal 2.  Employs appropriate models for design and development of instruction, learning environments, and/or human performance improvement interventions.

 

Goal 2.1 Establishes a clear problem and/or opportunity and justifies the design and development of materials and/or processes as an appropriate strategy to solve the problem or take advantage of the opportunity.

 

                      In this narrative, I will show how I incorporated two specific design models to solve clearly established problems.  I developed a project, called Menu_Knowledge_Course.doc for a job related issue using the ADDIE model of Instructional Design.  This project, which was developed to teach menu knowledge to servers at a major restaurant chain, allowed me to focus on particular core competencies of a server. As I a result, I also had to analyze what tasks and product knowledge skills needed to be complete. I was also required to determine who the learners were, and how to go about determining the most successful methods of learning, as well as deciding which, if any, instructional media tools would be incorporated. Using the ADDIE model was appropriate in this instance because it required a much more detailed method of analyzing a specific training need through the Front End and Contextual Analysis portions.  For the Front End Analysis,  I used a mock Needs Assessment, based on interviews with Store Management and Trainers to determine what the greatest training needs were for servers.  The questions on questions that were put before Management and the training team were: 1.) What specific area needs most attention in New Server training, 2.) Identify one or two tasks that appear to be areas of weakness in server training, and3.) What tasks continually appear as areas of opportunity for experienced servers?. These questions helped me to frame the rest of the project by determining what training needs I should focus on in this project.  The answers to these questions from the Management team and the Employee Training Coordinator established the need to train servers on Menu Knowledge and Proper procedures for placing guest’s food order.

 

                      In the Contextual Analysis, I used an overview of the general characteristics of servers at three or four units of the Restaurant Chain that I work for. These characteristics include: a.)This group is 85 percent female, 15 percent male, b.)The age range of this group is 18-60, c.)The majority of this group possesses a high school education with a small number achieving at least some college coursework, d.)They are primarily Caucasian, and e.)They have all previously worked in the restaurant industry.  Other characteristic include: f.) Must have minimal computer skills, g.)Must recognize personal need for continuous training, h.)Must demonstrate ability to be flexible in scheduling, i.) Must have demonstrated need to improve skills, esp. in product knowledge and ticket ringing, as identified by current evaluations and input by coworkers, Management staff, or Employee Training Coordinator.

 

With the Task Analysis, I described two different tasks that need to be demonstrated.  One task was the describing the different examples of items from the Dinner Menu.  These include: a.) Country Dinner Plates, b.) Fancy Fixin’s, either with a salad and potato or three sides, c.) Salads/soups, and d.) the lists of vegetables that are served. The second task was the proper procedure for ringing a customer’s orders in.   This includes examples of all the major categories that were discussed in relation to the Dinner Menu.  With the Instructional Objectives document,  I listed the overall learning objectives of the training course.  These include objectives, such as 1.)distinguishing between Country Dinner Plates and Fancy Fixing plates, 2.) listing daily vegetables, and 3.) Demonstrate proper ordering procedures. 

 

With the Course Design Outline, I provide a brief outline of how the course was set up.  This includes a section on Country Dinner plates, a section on the two versions of the Fancy Fixins’ section of the menu, a section on the different vegetables that are served, as well as daily special vegetables.  Finally, I include a section on  how the servers will ring these orders in.  In the Instructional Prototype (Development) document, I listed the specific learning activities for each portion of the course. These include opportunities for class discussions on specific items that are offered and examples of different dinner combinations that are offered.  There are also occasions for learners to identify specific entrees that are prepared in different ways.  I also include activities that required students to apply the key material by providing their own examples of  Country Dinner Plates or Fancy Fixins, with their own entrees and sides.  I also provided explanations on how this program is to be implemented.  This includes examples of in store training classes and the development of a multi-unit training site in areas that have more than one restaurant.  This would aid in teaching servers from multiple units going through the course on placing orders, as it would have set of computers that are set up specifically for training.

 

The Dynamic Instruction Design (DID) model as described in the document DID_Instructional_Design.pdf is a model that can be used for effective training courses or learning modules.  The key components of this design model include, 1. Knowing the Learner, 2.) Articulating the course objectives, 3.)Establishing the Learning Environment, 4.)  Specify Teaching and Learning Strategies. 5.) List and Choose appropriate Supporting Technologies.  As I studied this design format, it occurred to me that DID lends itself more to classroom and online learning formats found in educational institutions.

 

In the project, Instructional Design Project Proposal.doc,  I employed DID model to convert material from a traditional classroom setting to a hybrid, online setting. For this course, the identified learners college juniors and seniors at private college who did not have an opportunity to enroll in an on campus session of the same course.  Some of the goals of this course include: Identification and illustration of major themes in Pauline Epistles, 2.) Name Key Hermeneutical principles , and 3.) Utilize Key Hermeneutical Principles in an Exegetical Study.  As stated previously, the learning environment for this course is an online, hybrid version of a previous class for students that cannot attend a traditional setting of the same course for a variety of reasons.  Some of the teaching and learning strategies that are employed include: 1. Submitting an individual summary of a Law/Gospel analysis of an assigned Biblical text in a Word document, 2. )  Group PowerPoint Presentations that identify major outline and themes of a specific Pauline  Book that has been assigned to a group, and 3.) Complete individual Exegetical studies on a chosen text.  I also identify the specific goals that each activity is related to.  For the identification of specific technologies, I employ current technologies, such as chat technologies, video conferencing, email technologies and discussion boards to provide in each activity.

 

I also used the DID model as the basis for a Distance Education course, entitled Distance_Ed_Course_Outline.doc that was a hybrid, online learning course.  Some of the course objectives for this course include 1. Summarization of the Clark/Kozma debate and how it applies to Distance Education, 2.)Comprehension of major issues in Distance Education, and 3.)Become Familiar with Copyright and Fair Use issues that relate to Distance Education.

 

For this course, I was also required to identify specific learning strategies, which included individual and group projects that incorporated Distance Education media and tools. An example of an individual assignment that I used  this for this course was  for the learners to provide  analysis papers discussing real life examples of how learners incorporated DE tools in their own work.  This was done in relationship an early discussion in the class outline related to a reading on the early history of Instructional Design and Technology by Robert Reiser(2001).  Another example of an individual project for this course was an assignment where the learners developed an analysis paper that listed the major points of the Clark/Kozma debate.  This was done during the first two weeks of the semester/

 

For this Distance Education Course, I also incorporated face to face discussions.   I included these types of discussions at the very beginning of  the course and on as  needed basis during the class when either the students or the professor determined that it was necessary.  This accomplished two things First, it allowed the class to get to know each other in a personal way on a periodic basis  Secondly, it allowed the teacher real life interactions and have real time assessment opportunities by observing nonverbal cues from the learners. 

 

In this course, I also required the students to participate in group projects to develop specific assignments.  The primary example of this activity was the development of a Request for Proposal using two different learning scenarios.  One group project was to develop a proposal to develop a project for a major restaurant/Retail Chain that was interested in transitioning their Management Development Coursework from a traditional Correspondence format to a Web-based, intranet Distance Education course.  The second project was to develop a proposal to develop a plan for a large, suburban School district to develop interactive coursework for their freshman level World Civilizations Class that is taught at their three High Schools.  These group projects were to be completed in three phases during the last five weeks of the semester.

 

 Finally, I also had to list the supporting technologies that each learning activity required.  These include videoconferencing, live chats,  discussion board responses and attachments to emails.  The live synchronous chats were done during the second four weeks of the semester, as well as needed at other times during the semester.  This required the learners to have access both to Black Board chat rooms during the beginning of the semester and Moodle chat during the remainder of the semester.   The video conferencing section was discussed during weeks ten through twelve.  This required the students to obtain trial software from OoVoo Video conferencing software in order to participate.  These technologies were listed at each learning activities where they were required throughout the semester.

 

 In both the Instructional Design Project and the Distance Education project, I was required to consider how this instructional design system could be used in developing different learning activities.  Also, I was not required to develop a needs assessment or a content/ task analysis as part of the development of the course, as these were preexisting courses that were undergoing the process of being converted from a traditional format  to an online/hybrid format.

 

In my Design I project, I developed a series of tutorials on blogging in Pivot_Blog_Tutorials.doc.  Through this project to teach blogging, I use the Pivot blog software as a form of instruction, collaboration, and assessment through the use of tutorials.  In this project, I demonstrate how to use the sections on blog posting and additional commenting sections, including attachment adding technologies, synchronous chat formats and other incorporated tools to foster learning, collaboration, and assessment.     

 

2.2 Justifies and defends design decisions based on established models and/or project-based contextual factors that dictate the need to not follow a prescribed model.

                         

In this narrative, I will discuss decisions I made in a specific project that take into account contextual factors that would force me to make design decisions that would deviate from a specific model using an interactive project designed for preschoolers, entitled, Ignite_Interactive_Project.doc, Throughout the entire Ignite project, I established how specific contextual factors influenced decisions regarding the Instructional Design model to be used. For example, one factor that influenced such decisions are state educational goals that were established for 3 and 4 year old students.  For this project, learning goals from the state of Kentucky and Tennessee were used.  I used these goals  to demonstrate how goals vary from state to state and how these contextual factors would influence changes in design.   One example of these specific state goals include  the math goal of demonstration of understanding of numbers, such as Counting in sequence activities and One on One correspondence activities.  Another example of a specific state  math goal is the recognition/description of shapes and spatial relationships through interactive recognition activities/games identifying positional words

 

............ Many of these state goals also required learning milestones that had to achieved by the learners.  For example, the first goal that I used was required to be accomplished during the month of September.  Another example of a milestone is that the second goal that I mentioned must be accomplished by the end of November. This required me to organize the material in a particular order to meet the state requirements and build on previous learning.

 

............ Another example of state goals influencing design decisions is that the Tennessee state goals even listed specific learning strategies to be incorporated.  Some examples of these include interactive learning games to teach antonyms, compound words, and synonyms.  Another example from Tennessee is the recommendation of the use of newspaper clippings, poetry in song and audio files to teach reading sentences.  Finally, the Tennessee state goals also require the use of interactive association games to teach association of antonyms, as well as reinforcing learning about cause and effect.

 

Another factor that influenced design decisions was time and scheduling concerns and the amount of expected vs. actual student, parent and educator participation.  Because of these, I decided to use specific interactive games on the computer or counting games during recess to encourage learning.  These same concerns also required me to include videoconferencing other web-based communication technologies for activities to meet with parents or community leaders who could aid in learning.

 

Another aspect that dictated changes in the use of a specific model was how outside stakeholders influenced the overall scope of the program.  These stakeholders include school boards or board of directors, financial investors, and accrediting agencies.  These groups ultimately needed to be involved in key decisions about oversight, administration, and budgetary concerns.  Other concerns included monitoring employee performance, as well as assessing academic performance.  To accomplish this, I had to include technologies that allowed for project collaboration,  effective marketing, updating information on building codes and state educational mandates.  These technologies include the use of Project Management tools like @Task.com, e-mail  technologies,  videoconferencing programs like OoVoo or Microsoft Messenger, and Content Management Systems, such as Blackboard or Moodle.

 

Goal 3.  Demonstrates skills with various media and other tools typically used in the development and deployment of learning and/or performance improvement technologies.

 

3.1 Uses a broad range of media and other tools effectively and appropriately to create interactive learning environments and/or compose, develop, and revise materials to promote efficiency in human performance or learning.

 

                  In this narrative, I will demonstrate how I included specific media  to establish an interactive learning environment to promote learning and performance improvement.  I will also demonstrate specific tools that I used to revise my website, as well as to show others how to revise their own. The tools and media that I will discuss include: 1.) the incorporation of interactive, web-based, flashcard games to teach using embedded characters, 2. ) instant messaging/chat technologies, 3.) the development of a Request for Proposal, 4.) three different Project/Portfolio Management tools that are used to oversee large projects 5.)Three different tools within Captivate 4 that I used to develop projects, and 6.) Notepad html code editing technologies.

 

             In Design of Interactive Learning Environments, I developed ReqDoc_LDeCuir.doc  which describes how I have incorporated specific tools or media like Instant messaging and chat capabilities, and web-based games into an educational setting and how they are to influence educational goals and learning activities.  The first tool that I incorporate is instant messaging, or synchronous chat capabilities.  An example of how I used  instant messaging was to allow students to work on group projects with other students during and after class. Another example of how I use this is to have students interact with teachers on specific assignment during class.  This is accomplished by having students ask the teacher a question about a shape or letter, or the teacher chatting with the student to guide them through a game. The teachers can ask individual questions to learners privately, or in a small group session. I also used this to allow parents to participate in parent teacher conferences and other situations where communications are needed to discuss program/ class activities that cannot be done face to face.

 

             Another tool that I included  in this project is computer based, interactive games, such as flashcard games and embedded characters to help guide students through learning activities. These activities provided for automatic assessment as they kept a record the number of questions attempted, amount of correct answers, and time required to complete an activity.  These technologies also allowed for automatic tracking and reporting of learning assessment to teachers, parents, and other stakeholders who are involved in this project. 

 

                 Another tool that is incorporated into this project is a math game that has one of the interactive guides describing a shape, asking questions about how many eggs the learner sees, or identifying a specific number.  The game lists several options and asks the learner to click on the answer.  This will display whether or not the answer is correct and assess how many answers the learner correctly answers, how long it took to complete the assignment, and provide the assignment grade.  This tool also maintains an ongoing record of the learners progress.

 

             The second example is a project that I developed for IT 580, entitled Re-Purposing and Reusing Training Materials Online.ppt. Through this project, I was introduced the basic concept in Project Management of developing a Request for Proposal.  This tool taught me to develop a professional tool that provided an Executive Summary and a detailed plan of how my group would develop a project that would streamline the Training Program for a Major Telecommunications company. This is a PowerPoint presentation which deals with a strategy to develop a knowledge management system for a business or other organization for the purpose of streamlining training and improving job performance.   This document demonstrates the need for streamlining training and knowledge management in order to increase Return On Investment (ROI).  It also helped me to demonstrate ways to evaluate current training programs to determine which programs needed to be updated according to Company Best Practices.

 

             In the Repurposing document, I also described how the Training Reorganization project would be organized according to a three staged approach, and discuss each stage in detail. One example of this includes developing a Strategic Phase that includes setting measurable objectives, obtaining support from Senior Management, placing key people on Knowledge Management team and identifying any cultural resistance to the change.

Jury #2 Cont’d