Internship Week Five

Week of June 9.

This week I spent working on the learning matrix. I have it to the point that it just needs a few additions of new technology by working with the content from the earlier course.

Reflection

There is a lot of work left to be done. But the process has a good start. I think that the matrix will serve well as a content guide to analyze the new Flash based course. A preliminary analysis suggests that there are gaps in the delivery of the content as well as a significant content gaps in the newer course.

A start has been made on learner characteristics and the instructional strategies that will be used. Assessment materials are already developed and are included in existing instructional materials. Some of these assessment materials may have to be adapted somewhat to accommodate a different delivery method and additional content.

The next steps to take it will be a comprehensive review of the instruction that has been presented in both the old and new courses and evaluation of how well these instructional materials meet the needs the department currently has. Also left to plan and storyboard is any additional/missing content and any new content which is not included in the new course will need to be developed to the point of the story board.

Mike

Internship Week Four

Week of June 2.

This week was spent completing the learning and teaching analysis. I also spent some time reviewing the principles of instruction that relate to computer-based instruction.

Workers have a gap in performance. New workers have a difficult time applying the formulas and mathematical learning to real world work situations. This is a brief description of the gap between current and desired performance. The goal for the learners is to demonstrate mastery of the concepts for both engineering and equipment operator jobs and to be able to demonstrate proficiency with those concepts and content by completing exercises and problems which simulate real-life job situations.

The constraints of the situation of the learners require that learning be easily deliverable across a wide geographic area with a minimum necessary interaction from an instructor to assist students as they progress through the course. Feedback is a critical component of this type of learning which is quite linear in its progression and requires sufficient understanding of each level before progressing to the next. Because of this it will be important to have embedded questions in the instruction which provide formative assessment for the learners as well as an opportunity to practice. It's important that the summative questions are realistic and are directly related to on-the-job experiences workers will have to promote greater transfer.

I also started working on the learning matrix for the material. The instructional content that exists in the original print material fits extremely well with the objectives of the department currently. It has formative assessment and summative

Reflection

As it was the case during the 520(IDT520) course I found that this process is a rather exhaustive. I hope that this is in relation to the amount of content. The workbook that is outdated from 10 years ago is well done and has the content well defined. It has served well as a guide for creating a learning matrix. There are a few new technologies that have to be included. GPS for example was not something that was a commonly used technology then, but is now.

Mike

Internship Week Three

Week of May 26.

 

This week I received feedback from my advisor regarding the process that was being followed for the internship. He recommended that in light of the fact that the instruction are already created that it would be easy to focus instead on starting with what was there instead of completing the entire ID process. This was excellent advice. I shifted my focus from looking at the gaps in the instruction to following the ID process.

Documentation of the ID problem was reviewed. Input from the SME was considered. The SME felt that it was important to build upon what was already created, pointing to both the older print material and the newer flash instruction as a good start at meeting the objectives. The existing print material and the newer flash instruction will be evaluated to see how well they meet the objectives. Once that part of the ID process is completed. His concerns for the instruction being applicable and transferable will become part of the objectives for the course.

The start point for this will be the same as it is for any other ID project. The first step is conducting a needs assessment. This was an interesting question for me because the original problem to assess current your materials and look at the gap between what existed and what was needed and assist in designing the new instruction. However the ID process is more comprehensive than that and requires starting with the difference between desired performance and current performance. This also requires performing a learner analysis.

Input from the SME was a critical part of understanding the learners. This SME has many years of experience working with the Department of Transportation as well as the goals of the educational component and how it works with changing roles and needs of the transportation workers.

Reflection

It was a nice change in perspective this week. I was reminded how easy it can be to lose focus on the process and was reminded of the importance of following the process. It's very tempting to assume that the need with which you are originally presented is the need that actually exists. It's an important part of ID to reprocess. This can reveal missing information or misinformation and ensure a more complete alignment between the needs and the end product. I feel determined to make sure that all the process as completely and accurately as I can and still get a product completed in the time frame allowed by the short semester.

Mike

Internship Week Two

Week of May 19.

This week was our first face-to-face meeting. I drove out to Bismarck on Friday the 23rd and spent some time during the week reviewing the instructional material that is on the company website.

Review of materials that have been developed so far. What has been created is Flash based instruction which is sound in its approach, flat though, lacking much a variety in its presentation. In other words, it is completely aligned with the expectation what might have of corporate mandated instruction. Under most conditions, one would certainly not choose to engage with this material unless it was tied to incentives. What it lacks is more dimensions. With the addition of examples, especially multimedia clips demonstrating the application of the principles being taught, interests and retention could definitely be improved. Transfer would also be enhanced if concrete examples were embedded in the media which related in direct and meaningful ways with the experience of the learner. Julie did tell me that they are considering adding some voice to the Flash as it is now.

The meeting in Bismarck was first an overview of what the existing educational Flash material covered, then what the differences between the Flash presentations and older, less updated, (10 years since last reviewed and updated) paper based educational material covers.

We identified the learners:

There are primarily two groups of people who will be using this instruction; technical users who have engineering backgrounds who will use it as a review, and non-technical users who are tasked with learning a new set of job skills.

And the purpose of the instruction:

The purpose of this instruction is the beginning of a comprehensive educational program within the departments for certification. The goal is to have workers from all departments qualified to perform the job functions that have been traditionally limited to only one group.

The initial goal is to design a module that will serve as a template for future modules.

Follow-up will be performed by the SME to determine which problems are most common and the material can address. Once he has identified a few problems that can be addressed Julie and I will decide which we can most readily address with revisions and additions to the existing materials.

Plans at this point are to talk by the end of next week about what the SME has for us to look at, and in the meantime I am going to familiarize myself more fully with the existing Flash documentation and the paper based older material. The goal is to have something decided on by the end of next week or the middle of next.

Reflection

It was a great experience to meet Julie face-to-face as we have taken classes together in the past. It was interesting to see how the direction of the project evolves as our understanding of what it will serve to do is deepened. Knowing a little history of the organization from the perspective of the SME gave us insight into the learners and the approach they are likely to have towards the courses. I am excited to have a few things to examine and to determine which are most readily addressed by the instruction.

Internship Week One

Week of May 12.

This week was a set up and planning week. Major events were finding that there was an opportunity with XXX and working with Julie.

On our first phone call we talked about the scope of the project and the internship. We talked about what the ID problem is and what the desired outcome is. The workers have a gap in performance. New workers have a difficult time applying the formulas and mathematical learning to real world work situations. There is currently an existing paper based handbook that helps with this that is not in compatible with the new flash based instruction that has been and is currently being created. What is desired is finding out what those taking the new training need in work experiences that relates to the formulas and concepts that they are learning in the math courses, and creating connections between this material and how it applies to work situations. It is desired that this new instruction will be integrated with the flash content delivery if possible.

Paperwork was submitted to be approved, it was edited and created and approved to advisors with a short series of emails.

An email invitation to come to Bismark to meet with SMEs came out on Wednesday, I called and left a message for Julie on Thursday.

Friday she called me back and we discussed the purpose of the meeting. We had a preliminary discussion on the learners and what their likely needs. The Primary learners are ND DOT new employees. The secondary learners would be town and county workers. We also talked about some of the potential logistics for the trip to Bismarck, possible lodging and drive reimbursement.

Reflection

This has been a fun experience for me so far. From both a personal and ID perspective, I have had to be proactive in finding opportunity. This has drawn on my communication skills and social networking. The ability to communicate and to work with others in a collaborative way are, I think, critical skills both professionally and as an IDer. The meeting we set up is another real life experience meeting SMEs in a practical situation where an IDer would be expected to interact as part of a team to create a solution. For me, I will be focusing on what the perception is of the problem, what is the desired performance and the current performance, and who is the learner. I think that out of the meeting I will be starting to have a better feel for the content of what is being taught, and how this content may be best presented to the learner. Of course, all of this is within a system I am learning about with its own way of seeing issues and ways of solving problems.

 

Another Website…

I am working on creating a website that has examples of the work that I have done in ID. The URL is http://www.idtspecialists.com/ it's a work in progress. It's fun putting things together in a new way. Well, usually. Have to admit that a few of the embedded files did not act as I thought they should initially. I think the major bugs are worked out, now to make it pretty and design a navigation that I like.

My Blog

I hope to use this space as a place to share my discoveries about learning and things I think are cool. For those interested, I am a graduate student at the University of North Dakota in the Instructional Design and Technology program. The address of the program is http://idt.und.edu. For anyone who is wondering what Instructional Design is, there is a nice brochure in PDF format that gives a decent abbreviated description of what IDT is. I am taking two summer courses this semester, one is my internship, and the other is on the use of technology in the classroom. I love what I've learned in this program and the chance I have to make a difference in how well learning happens. I think this is a very exciting and growing field. More to come later.

 

Mike