Development Proposal Wk7AssgnJacksonSL

Development Proposal

Wk7AssgnJacksonSL

                      Career Development Plan

Name: Sonya   Jackson	Current Position: Instructional Designer		Immediate Supervisor:  Duane Bohar
Areas of   Strength
ü  Relationship building – especially with clients and with fellow   team members.ü  Very organized with great attention to detail.ü  Able to quickly assess difficult situations and find good   solutions. ü  Ability to solve complex problems ü  Implementation of key objectives and initiatives into training ü  Experience with multiple projects and using Project Management Career Goals:   To be the   Director of Training with Alliance Residential Company
Areas of Improvement		Areas of   Development
ü  Being more vocal with fellow colleagues when I feel   they are getting off track on a project.ü  Infusing more positivity within the officeü  The ability to better articulate to senior   management on ideas and team building.		ü  I would like to work on building my confidence – especially when   trying to influence team members who now report to me (and who were former   colleagues). I could use self-assessment after each encounter to determine   growth.ü  I also would like to build my confidence when presenting to senior   managers. I could use role play to build these skills.ü  I would also like to develop my skills in developing people. I   don’t feel I know how to be a “coach” to my employees. ü  I have had the opportunity to lead some small projects and would   like more formal knowledge and experience in project management. I could   benefit from job rotation.
Goals		Next Assignments
Long Term Goal- To become a project manager with Alliance Residential Company   Short Term   Goals- To become more confident   with colleagues and Senior managers.		To assemble a team in the company University   for an excellent employee experience in training and development by 2014.

High-Tech Training

“In Chapters one and two we learned of the role training and development plays in plays in helping companies to execute their business strategy and deal with forces influencing the workplace.”(Noe, 2013).  So from the beginning Noe let’s us know how important training and development is to business’ and with that comes the vital use of technology.  Stolovitch tells us that we can realistically expect results from the use of technology in trainnig and development as well.  “More than 60 years of overwhelmingly answers what we can realistically expect from using technology in learning.  Media and technology can substaintially improve the efficiency of training and learning, which is extremely important.” (Stolovitch & Keeps, 2002).  

Here are the four pieces of technology I would like to highlight:

A. Podcast Podcasts are “web-based delivery of audio and video files.”(Noe, 2013)  Podcast are one of the trainings that can be considerd reusable and save time and money over canstantly redesigning and producing the same one over and over.  Podcasts assist the visual learners in understanding and concretely transfer learning.    B. Webinars Webinars are “live web-based delivery of instructions to trainers in dispersed locations.” (Noe, 2013) Webinasrs are the just in time training that can be delivered right to the desktop.  This is realitively inexpensive since there is no travel, it is readily accesible, just-in-time delivery. I attend webinars in order to sharpen my technology skills in the classroom and using it with my students.  C. Chat rooms and Discussion boards Chat rooms and discussion boards are “electronic rooms or message boards on which learners communicate.  Communications between learners can occur at the same or different times.  A facilitator or instructor can moderate the conversations, which may be grouped by topic.” (Noe, 2013)  These are a great way to monitor and create learning.  There is no delay in learning you can build and respond to other learners and recieve instantaneous feedback to questions and answers.  My daughters teacher as well as Walden use these technologies in order to futher discussions and learning through discussion.  D. Social Media Social Media is “online mobile technology used to create interactive communications allowing the creation and exchange of user-generated content. They include wikis, blogs, networks, such as Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn, microsharing sites such as Twitter, and shared media such as YouTube.” (Noe, 2013)  Social Media is known for it’s rapidity of delivery.  You can instant message others and they recieve the message very quickly.  It can aslo be simultaneous to multiple learners.  They are also very easy to update with new information.  I use social media, liked LinkedIn to connect and keep abreast of my industry adn the leaders in our industry.  

In the article I choose to highlight technology in learning is an article from Bized.  To summarize it in a few words thew article talks about companies creating a position  called a CIO or Chief Informational Officer.  This signifies the importance of technology in the business world.  The author mentions that the use of tecnology in training and development is no longer nice to have but a must have.  Business schools have begun to train future Cheif Executive Officers and CIO’s with the same skill sets in order for them to ne day be one and the same office. 

References:

Shinn, S. (2012). The Intersection of BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY. Bized, 11(6), 18-23. Noe, R. A. (2013). Employee training and development (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill. Stolovitch, H. D., & Keeps, E. J. (2002). Telling ain’t training. Alexandria, VA: ASTD Press.

 

Do you want to know the truth about training?  Training is a learning related action that company’s use to achieve its business strategies.  What I mean by that is training affects your bottom line.  Training for you means your business strategies are now aligned with your company’s goals, actions and policies.  This means “just in time trainings” received from other employees that create bad habits are a thing of the past.  You can now control and refine that training.  Training helps employees gain knowledge, new skills and perspectives.  This helps reinforce the value of learning and its importance for the business.  Training helps improve the employee’s performance and again your bottom line.  There is a saying at Campbell’s soup that goes, “Soup warms our hearts But learning raises the profits. 

My Scope Creep Dilemma

 

A project that I have worked on, in my personal career, where I have experienced scope creep is our first project in this class.  I looked at the assignment several times and just felt overwhelmed each time I took a glance at it.  That was my scope creep moment because once I started the project kept growing and evolving.  I did not know where exactly I was supposed to stop.  I ended up doing more than the minimum.  Once I turned the project in I thought about the words Vince Budrovich, “Scope creep is inevitable; build in time and money to deal with it ahead of time and best is the enemy of good.” (Budrovich, 2012).  I ended up doing my whole project minus the schedule and resource allocation charts and a few other minor things during the first week’s project.  Portny describes scope creep as the natural tendency of the client, as well as project team members (me), to try to improve the projects output as the project progresses” (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton and Kraemer, 2008).  That was my issue, I was constantly trying to make the project look better and better and when I turned it in I just finally stopped and posted it like it was.  When I got my comments back, it was only the scope that was highlighted.  I felt good about the project because that meant I would only have to tweak it throughout the course.  On the other hand I did a lot of work because I wanted my project to be good and I was the enemy of myself.  If I had just included the minimum work in my Statement of Work that Dr. Romano required I would have been just fine but I just kept thinking there had to be more because that was the minimum. 

 

References:

 

Budrovich, V.  “Voices of Practitioners: Overcoming Scope Creep”. 2012. Retrieved from Laureate Education Inc.

 

Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

    

Helpful Websites

NAME: Estimating Costs and Time in Instructional Design.

URL: http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/costs.html

DESCRIPTION: 

This website gives you some great information on how to estimate the time you will need to build in to your schedule to make it work for your project.  It also gives you an example of producing a video and just how to do it and how much it costs.  This website lets you know where you can even get free photos to use in your venture.

 

NAME:  Estimating Costs and Time in Instructional Design

URL:http://sas.byu.edu/training/documents/EstimatingCostsandTimeinInstructionalDesign.pdf

DESCRIPTION:

This website gives you most of the same information as the previous website I’ve written about but a little bit more.  This website gives you some great examples of how long it takes to develop eLearning courses.  It also gives guidelines for interactive multimedia instruction.

NAME:  Examples of Project Schedules

URL:  http://www.brighthubpm.com/templates-forms/49745-examples-of-project-schedules

DESCRIPTION:

This website gives you tools you can use in our trade as a Project Manager.  It gives examples of software PM can use when creating a schedule.  It gives you a link to an article on how to create a master schedule, detailed schedule and a milestone schedule for your assignment.  It is great for showing examples of how to display schedules.  Here are more of what the website has to offer:

• Examples of Project Schedules
• Components of a Project Schedule
• How Good Is Your Project Schedule?
• Defining the Project Schedule Hierarchy
• Visio 2007: How to Design Project Schedules

These were some great websites for me to view and reassure me of just how many examples are out there that I can use to learn from and many tools to use in the displaying my work or schedules.

The Art of Effective Communication

How did your interpretation of the message change from one modality to the next?

In the email Jane wrote to Mark, it sounds like she is sincerely asking for his report so that she can complete her assignment. She knows he has been busy but she really needs his help right now in completing her report. Her wording makes it seem as though if she doesn’t get his report she will miss her deadline soon. As I listened to the message and saw the face-to-face conversation her tone and body language seemed as though she was really frustrated and at wits end by his delays in getting her the report. She sounded like she had repeatedly asked and had gotten no response from Mark.

 

What factors influenced how you perceived the message?

In an email you would have to type in all capitals or be blunt with the other party in order to know if someone were yelling or being rude to you. In a voicemail you can listen for tonality and know if the caller is intended to be rude or too direct. When you talk to someone face-to-face you can see their body language and hear the inflections in their voice and know exactly what they are trying to say to you when being addressed.

 

Which form of communication best conveyed the true meaning and intent of the message?
I believe the face-to-face message conveyed best how Jane was trying to communicate the importance of getting the report she needed from Mark. She expressed how her report depended on his and how she was not trying to rush him and he could just send her the data if he could.

 

What are the implications of what you learned from this exercise for communicating effectively with members of a project team?

The implications I can reflect on and use in the journey are many. Jane employed Stolovich’s tactics for effective communication. Jane remembered the spirit and attitude in which she was delivering the message. She also used the correct body language and tonality so that Mark would not feel pressured or intimidated by her request and she uses the correct timing in stating she needed the report or data soon so her report would not be late. Jane’s communication was clear and concise and helped him as well as her try to stay on target and not get off schedule. Jane makes the purpose of the email clear, states the situation and included a possible solution. She was also business-like and friendly during the communication. You have to be a diplomat in order to keep the lines of communication open among the team. You cannot alienate team members because you have your own personal agenda. Troy Achong states, “Everyone has an agenda and it is not the same as yours.” (Achong, 2012) You have to be willing to take a back seat sometime and not always voice your opinion. Remember it is for the good of the project and not your ego. No one knows everything and your ideas are not always the most insightful or profound.

References:

Stolovich, H. (2012). Project Management Concerns: Communication Strategy and Organizational Structure. [Video]. Laureate.

Ertmer, P., & Quinne, J. (2007). The ID Casebook: Case Studies in Instructional Design. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Achong, T. (2012). Project Management Concerns: Communication Strategy and Organizational Structure. [Video]. Laureate.

Post-Mortem

In our last class Distance Learning we completed a 3 Module course opener; this is what I will be analyzing as my Post Mortem review.  What contributed to the success of the project was the fact that the Overview was very colorful and appealing to the eye, but this is one time I wish I had used more text to describe the icon snippets I used in my Overview.  

General Post Mortem Questions

• I was not so proud of my deliverable project work product I published in Distance Learning.  I wish I had prepared better and included more engaging content in the last two modules.
• The single most frustrating part of the project was deciphering the Fair Use rules in order to embrace the inclusion of videos, instead of linking them to my project.
• The way I would do things next time to avoid this frustration is to take time to find engaging content earlier in the process so that I could either gather permission or find  videos that are easy to use with Fair Use.
• The most gratifying part of the project was actually learning how to use and publish to a Course Management System.
• The CMS worked particularly well.
• Finding videos that catered to the Fair Use policies for videos we could use freely.
• If I could wave a magic wand and change anything about the project I would add in more engaging content for the learner and plan better.

I think I could have created a scope of the work involved and come up with a timeline for the project to be completed.  Defining the scope would have made me, “define my deliverables, or what work would be performed.” (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton and Kramer, 2008).   I am not very good at filling in the blanks so when the project is clearly defined is wonderful for me.  I can then frame all project activities to be sure the true desired results can be accomplished.” (Portny et. al., 2008).  

References:

Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Refelection

Reflection

What do you think the perceptions of distance learning will be in the future (in 5–10 years; 10–20 years)?

I believe the perception of distance learning will be drastically changed in the future due to many aspects of increasing online activities.  Siemens gives several of those factors in his presentation.   He mentions,” that the growing acceptance of distance education will be fueled by the increase in online communication as a practical experience with new tools and the growing comfort level with online discourse and the ability to communicate with a diverse set of global groups.” (Siemens, 2012).  This will allow distance education to make great advances in the field and continue to capture and engage learners.  

In 5-10 years I see distance education taking over corporate America.   When it comes to training and video-conferencing corporations could be equipped to rarely travel and train.  Because of the great saving businesses will have in decreased travel they will continue to implement online training.  Also, because they can now video-conference globally they are not limited to only face-to-face communication.  In 10-20 years distance education will be a staple in the field of education. “In fact, our results might even be more relevant since other fields typically have a higher percentage of female workers, group that is said to benefit greatly from distance education in the future.” (Schmidt & Gallegos, 2001).  With this statement being said you could have distance education in more single parent households than ever. 

How can you as an instructional designer be a proponent for improving societal perceptions of distance learning?

An Instructional Designer can be a proponent for improving societal perceptions of distance learning by knowing our craft and creating excellent courses and trainings to be used by society.  Piskurich mentions best practices for ID’s and we know that is a great way to change perceptions.  First, “knowing our software and being familiar with technology.” (Piskurich, 2012).   Nothing would be more detrimental tom our craft if we fumbled through our software and technology with our classes, creating confusion and appearing to be disorganized.  Next, “Activities and applications must be the heart of our courses.”(Piskurich, 2012).  Distance Education has to be engaging and worth the time of our busy clientele.  If it is not the will opt for the traditional classroom.  These are just a few ways an Instructional Designer can be a proponent for improving societal perceptions of distance learning. 

How will you be a positive force for continuous improvement in the field of distance education?

I can be as positive force for continuous improvement in the field of distance education for many of the aforementioned practices and for many reasons of my own.  As I was once told by a wise professor, “persistence” is the middle name of ID’s. I have learned that is true for most cases when I am learning new software or new concepts.  The more I delve or am persistent when I investigate the subject matter the more I learn and know.   There is nothing more important in a field of being a professional and having integrity.  I can be a positive force by being a lifelong learner and ever evolving in the field.

References:

Article: Schmidt, E., & Gallegos, A. (2001). Distance learning: Issues and concerns of distance learners. Journal of Industrial Technology, 17(3). Retrieved from http://atmae.org/jit/Articles/schmidt041801.pdf

Siemens, G. (n.d.). The Future of Distance Education. Retrieved June 23, 2012 from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_549515_1%26url%3D

Piskurich, G., & Chauser, J. (2012). Facilitating Online Learning. Laureate Inc. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_549515_1%26url%3D.

Open Courseware Evaluation

The Open course I chose was an MIT Biology course and it is wonderful. If you do not know I teach Physical Science, Scientific Inquiry and Biology on a High school level. I will be using this not only as a resource but as an educational link for students to use to research projects. Here is the URL: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/biology/7-01sc-fundamentals-of-biology-fall-2011/biochemistry/types-of-organisms-cell-composition

Does the course appear to be carefully pre-planned and designed for a distance learning environment? How so?

This course seems to be very well organized. Me being a Biology teacher this touches on all our standards that we must teach according to the State of Arizona. Dr. Piskurich talks about the importance of writing objectives during the analysis phase of ADDIE. He mentions how the Subject Matter Expert is the master, while we as Instructional Designers are the apprentices. The MIT Professors and Teacher Assistants are the SME’s. The Subject-Matter expert is qualified to provide information about content and resources relating to all aspects of the topics for which instruction is to be designed (Morrison, Ross, Kemp and Kalman, 2011). We must confer with the SME in order to identify the problem that needs to be fixed or the training the SME wants the trainee to learn. These professors were a great example of good guidance on this website. The objectives are clear and well thought out. The only thing that I would change in the course objectives is that I would change the verbs to action verbs in order to test for understanding using a formative assessment. “Formative assessment is the refinement of of the instruction itself” (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright and Zvacek, 2012), this is so I can clarify any misconceptions. I love the technology usage and the formatives in this courseware.

Does the course follow the recommendations for online instruction as listed in your course textbook?

This course does a great job of matching technology to the course. One of the greatest challenges in teaching Biology is the fact that you always want to show the students how the cells work or how the DNA is made. The video links made this possible within the course there was always a video to go with each section. There were about 5 professors and 3 teacher assistants to go along with the course. These people serve the purpose of “keeping students informed constantly.” (Simonson, 2012). When you encountered the check yourself assessments you had to know the material and not just have memorized it by rote memory. This course does an excellent job in following the recommendations for online instruction as listed in our course textbook.

Did the course designer implement course activities that maximize active learning for the students?

 

 

 

This is one of the activities that the learner is challenged with during the check yourself phase of the instruction. Each section has the objectives clearly listed so you know exactly what they want you to accomplish. There is a linked video that can be watched to further reinforce what was just read or reviewed. The thing I would change about this section is to embed the video instead of linking it to the page. This gives the learner easier access to the technology if they are still unfamiliar with the technology.

Overall, I was very impressed with this course. It was well designed with some great Subject Matter experts. There were a few design issues that I would have addressed but I loved the interactively of the course and the resources it linked to the course.

References: Fundamentals of Biology. http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/biology Laureate education, inc. (n.d.) Developing online courses. Multimedia program. Retrieved on May 29th, 2012 from: https://class.waldenu.edu/ Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & & Zvaeck, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed). Boston, MA: Pearson. Piskurich, G., & Chauser, J. (n.d.). Planning and Designing Online Courses. Morrison, Ross, Kalman and Kemp. 2011. Designing Effective Instruction. 6th Edition. John Wiley & Sons, INC. Beldarrain, Y. (2006). Distance Education Trends: Integrating new technologies to foster student interaction and collaboration. Distance Education, 27(2), 139-153

 

In an effort to…

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.

There are several distance learning technologies that would work for this situation. What instantly comes to mind is a LMS that utilizes a Prezi slide show with embedded questioning and a quiz on the end of the presentation. Another, piece of technology that comes to mind is an online CMS, with safety videos and quizzes. Once you take the quiz, your boss will be emailed what you made on the quiz. The two main pieces of technology that I will focus on are the prezi slide show and the CMS online course.

An LMS would make sense because, “they first emerged in government and corporate world and are educations versions of CMSs” (Simonson et. al. 2012). I will use Prezi and give it a Constructivist view by using scaffolding to take the employees step-by step through use of heavy machinery on the plant floor. Once they are finished with the presentation they would have to take an assessment and pass. Once they passed their supervisor would be able to track the employees achievement from the LMS. LMSs are commonly used to track individual achievement (Simonson et. al. 2012)

The second piece of technology is an online CMS that allows you to watch safety videos that take you step-by-step through the safety training modules. I would also embed formative assessments along the way to check for understanding. Once complete I would give them a summative assessment to be reported to their supervisor. If the learner does not pass they have to retake the module until they pass the formative assessment for each safety training module.

URLs:

http://www.slideshare.net/Prezi22/safety-and-quality-in-dermatology

http://www.scsi-inc.com/safety-management-systems-complete.php

References:

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.