Using Discussion Forums to Foster Interaction in Online Courses

One of the challenges in online courses, especially online courses that are asynchronous in nature, is creating opportunities for interaction among students and their instructor in a format that encourages iterative dialogue.  For online courses, the most widely use method for this kind of interaction is the discussion forum (Simonson, Smaldino, & Zvacek, 2015).  Boettcher & Conrad (2010) state that the discussion forum in an online course is the equivalent of a whole class or small group discussion in a traditional on-ground course.  Additionally, discussion forums allow students to engage in learning at higher intellectual levels than a focus that is solely upon the recall of information because they are interacting with other viewpoints and perspectives brought by their peers (Morrison, Ross, Kalman, & Kemp, 2013).

Think back on your own experiences of a student and reflect upon an online discussion forum you were involved in.  Did the prompt to which you were responding relate to the content presented in the rest of the module?  Was the discussion prompt written in such a way as to encourage critical thinking and dialogue?  How did you and your fellow students interact with each other?  Was discussion lively and robust or was there minimal interaction?

By Wednesday: After reflecting upon the discussion forum above, answer the following questions:

• Was the writing prompt effective?  Why or why not?
• If you could change the prompt to make it more effective in encouraging robust interaction, what would you change and why?

By Sunday: Read a selection of your colleagues' responses to the writing prompt.  Respond to at least two of your colleagues with the following:

• Support what your colleague stated with examples of your own.
• Take a "devil's advocate" view and respond to a colleague from a different perspective.
• Share something you learned from reading your colleague's response.
• Ask a question or make a suggestion.

Be sure to support your initial response and follow-up posts with academic resources from this module as well as adding some that you have researched on your own when addressing this topic.

Review the scoring rubric to understand how your work will be assessed.

References

Boettcher, J. V., & Conrad, R. M. (2010). The online teaching survival guide: Simple and practical pedagogical tips. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Morrison, G. R., Ross, S. M., Kalman, H. K., & Kemp, J. E. (2013). Designing effective instruction (7th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., & Zvacek, S. (2015). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (6th ed.). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

EIDT 6510 - Plagiarism Detection and Prevention

One of the concerns that always seems to be leveled at online education is that online education is rife with cheating in general and plagiarism in particular (Simonson, Smaldino, & Zvacek, 2015).  While this may be the case in some situation, as Dr. Pratt states in this weeks learning resource video, plagiarism exists just as much in on-ground courses as it does in online courses (Laureate Education, 2010).  To assist with the detection of plagiarism, there are several technological tools available to instructors.  Below is a list of just a few of these.

Turnitin: This is one of the more popular plagiarism detection programs on the market.  Turnitin allows students to submit their papers prior to submission to get a sense of whether or not their paper contains plagiarized sections.  The program scans the paper and gives a rating of how much similar content is contained in the paper.  It also goes into detail about which areas are possibly plagiarized and provides suggestions on where it may have come from.  Turnitin can also be used by instructors to check student submissions with the same results above.  In either case, Turnitin provides a robust scan of student work to detect possible violations.

Grammarly.com: While Grammarly is for the most part a tool to help students write better in terms of grammar and mechanics, it also provides a plagiarism detection service to both students and instructors.  Like Turnitin listed above, grammarly provides an overall rating of the submission and highlights specific portions that may be plagiarized.  This is another excellent choice for students and instructors that may be concerned about plagiarism in their classroom.

iThenticate: iThenticate also performs a scan of uploaded documents and/reports for similarity matches.  It then highlights specific phrases and/or sections that appear to be similar to other documents.  Again, instructors and students can take advantage of the service to detect problems in papers and act accordingly based upon the academic integrity policies of their specific institution.  In this case, as with the others, the software performs the scan relatively quickly and delivers easy to read results.

How can the design of assessments help prevent academic dishonesty?

While plagiarism detection is certainly of value, a better strategy would be to try and prevent plagiarism from occurring in the first place.  One of the best ways to prevent plagiarism in assessments is to design them with a clear and precise definition of what plagiarism is according to the academic integrity policies of the institution (Simonson, et al, 2015).  When designing an assessment, be sure to leave no doubt in the mind of students what plagiarism is in relation to the assessment.  Also, place this description/definition right into the instructions of the assessment, do not rely upon the student to read the syllabus or academic policies handbook.  Leave no doubt in the mind of the student.  A second strategy that could be used is provide separate but intensive instruction about plagiarism in the course (Jocoy & DiBiase, 2006).  Students that received specific instruction about plagiarism are half as likely to commit plagiarism than students that received no instruction related to plagiarism (Jocoy & DiBiase, 2006).  If possible within the confines of the course, having students analyze sample assessments for plagiarism can reduce plagiarism occurrences and give students a greater understanding of how to avoid plagiarism (Jocoy & DiBase, 2006).

What facilitation strategies do you propose to use as a current or future online instructor?

As an online instructor, I will facilitate a combination of technological tools (such as Turnitin) with some of the strategies listed above.  Specifically, I believe that one can never share information enough so I would design assessments with plagiarism definitions built into the instructions as well as provide a workshop early on in the course for students as a means of trying to reduce plagiarism when they get to the assessments.  I will have them look at samples and highlight and/or define the elements that are plagiarized as the assignment for the workshop.  This will of course need to be a graded assignment to ensure participation.  Additionally, I will provide tutorials on how to use turn it in so students can take advantage of the product before turning in their submission.

What additional considerations for online teaching should be made to help detect or prevent cheating and plagiarism?

In addition to what was listed above, I believe that one additional consideration that should be made is the opportunity for students to re-work their papers if plagiarism is detected.  In cases where the occurrence of plagiarism is relatively low, it is likely that the similarity is accidental and/or the student forgot to cite the appropriate work or did not cite it correctly.  In these cases, students should be directed again to the definition relating to plagiarism and offered the workshop once again.  The student can then revise their paper and run it through the Turnitin software again and see how it rates.  If it rates in the acceptable range, they can submit the paper as is.  If the paper is still in the unacceptable range, they will need to continue their revisions.  The student needs to be made aware that he/she must submit the paper for review prior to submitting it to the instructor.

References

Jocoy, C., & DiBiase, D. (2006). Plagiarism by adult learners online: A case study in detection and remediation. International Review of Research in Open & Distance Learning, 7(1), 1-15.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2010). Plagiarism and cheating [Video file]. Retrieved from: https://class.waldenu.edu.

Simonson, S., Smaldino, S., & Zvacek, S. (2015). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (6th ed.). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

EIDT 6510 - Week 5 Application - Impact of Technology and Media

For this week's blog assignment, we were asked to consider the impact of technology and media on setting up online learning experiences.  To that end, we were asked to answer four questions related to the topic given what we have read this week in our learning resources and our experience in designing an online learning experience in EDUC 6153.  My answers are below.

What impact does technology and multimedia have on learning environments?

The short answer is, a great impact.  Technology-based instruction offers many benefits over traditional teaching methods (Morrison, Ross, Kalman, & Kemp, 2013) and these benefits greatly change how education can be delivered in the online environment.  For example, the video in this week's video (Laureate Education, 2010) talks about how in a training course on presenting a sales pitch, Web 2.0 multimedia tools such as YouTube can allow students at a distance to present their pitch via video without having to travel long distances.  Clearly this is a far cry from the early days of having to give a class presentation while standing in front of the course at a lectern.  In addition, much of the technology included in the course management system we used to build our course allowed students to interact in ways that would not be possible otherwise.  For example, the use of blogs, wikis and discussion forums allowed students to interact with each other and with the instructor and have a great impact on the individual learner's feelings of connectedness and overall satisfaction with the course.

What are the most important considerations an online instructor should make before implementing technology?

When planning to design a distance education course, an instructor must first consider what makes up essential content that needs to be delivered to the learner (Simonson, Smaldino, Zvacek, 2015).  What are the important pieces of information that need to be delivered to the learner?  What activities will be created to deliver that information in a way that assists learners in meeting the learning outcomes for the course?  These are the first consideration that must be taken into account.  Once that is determined, an instructor needs to examine and evaluate the available technology tools and decide which those are best suited for the learning goals of the course (Boettcher & Conrad, 2010).  There are a vast number of tools available for use but not all of them will be effective for specific courses and activities.  It is the responsibility of the instructor or designer to make the appropriate choices that will best serve his/her students.  Additionally, the potential for learner interactivity must be considered (Simonson, et al., 2015).  In an online environment, interaction with peers and the instructor is imperative so what tools encourage said interaction?  These tools should be a priority in the planning process.

What implications do usability and accessibility of technology have for online teaching?

The implications for usability and accessibility are great for online teaching.  As an instructor or designer of a course, it is critical that you understand that the technological tools being used are intuitive for learners to use (Simonson, et al., 2015) or at least are easy to use with the help of a tutorial.  Additionally, the interface with the online course should also be intuitive (Morrison, et al., 2013).  If the students can't figure out how to use and access the course or the tools contained in the course, the experience will be a negative one and students may be less inclined to seek out further online learning experiences.  When planning for online teaching, instructors and designers should always try to put themselves in the place of the student and see if it makes sense and is easy to access and use from their perspective.

What technology tools are most appealing to you for online teaching as you move forward in your career in instructional design?

For me personally, I try to take advantage of the Web 2.0 tools that already exist as well as attempting to find new and better ways to deliver content and experience through gamification or simulations.  I believe with the prevalence of synchronous meeting tools listed in the course text (Boettcher & Conrad, 2010), creating group projects in which students can meet together synchronously can be effective.  Obviously there is the challenge of learners living in different time zones and/or countries that may not have the infrastructure to support such tools, but wherever possible, I believe synchronous meetings, if done properly can really add an excellent opportunity for interaction.  As for games and simulations, I believe that these will become more and more important as the gaming generation enters the education marketplace and competition for these students intensifies.  While there is no empirical evidence that shows adding games or simulations influences student achievement (Morrison, et al., 2013) there is no question that technologies such as these can present students with engaging experiences that may be closer to real world situations they may face in their workplace.

References

Boettcher, J. V., & Conrad, R. M. (2010). The online teaching survival guide: Simple and practical pedagogical tips. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2010). Enhancing the online experience [Video file]. Retrieved from: https://class.waldenu.edu.

Morrison, G. R., Ross, S. M., Kalman, H. K., & Kemp, J. E. (2013). Designing effective instruction (7th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., & Zvacek, S. (2015). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (6th ed.). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

EIDT-6510 Week 3 Assignment - Setting Up an Online Experience

For this week's assignment, we were asked to examine some of the factors that go into setting up an online course.  When designing an online course, decisions at the outset of the process can have positive or negative effects on the rest of the design and execution of the online course.  To that end, there are 3 questions that should be answered by an online designer prior to and during the very initial stages of analysis.

What is the significance of knowing the technology available to you?  As a designer working with an online learning experience, understanding and subsequently selecting the appropriate technological tools can make or break a course.  Simonson, Smaldino and Zvacek (2015) state that when an instructional activity is heavily reliant upon technology, selecting the right tool and platform is imperative.  To begin the process of analyzing and selecting the appropriate technologies, the course text suggests focusing first upon the essential tools you will need and then build your course around those tools (Boettcher & Conrad, 2010).  Essential tools may include the ability for students to upload documents of various type, access readings and videos and engage with discussion forums.  This of course is a baseline for what kind of technologies you will need.  Likely, you will want to really think about what you would like the student to do to make the course engaging and then include that in your analysis of what technologies are available.  Most Course Management Systems (CMS) that are available on the market today include all of these elements plus significantly more.  Knowing what each of these platforms has to offer will increase your ability to deliver engaging and effective courses.

Why is it essential to communicate clear expectations to learners?  One of the misconceptions of online learning is that there is less communication and guidance provided and that much of the time you are on your own to try and figure out what needs to be done.  Malcolm Knowles (1990) one of the foundations of andragogy states that course design must include clear descriptions, objectives and resources in order to be effective.  The course text restates this point by saying clear and unambiguous guidelines about what is expected of learners and the instructor can contribute to understanding and satisfaction in an online course.  In addition, Simonson, Smaldino and Zvacek (2015) further state that at the beginning of a course, it is important to guide students as to expectations for participation, use of tools and location of resources.  This cannot be stressed enough.  If students in an online environment do not feel that they are supported, do not understand the expectations or feel that their instructor is unavailable, the potential for attrition increases as does the likelihood that the student will view online education negatively.  Taking the time to ensure expectations and instructions are clear from the student's point of view can make all the difference between an effective online learning experience and a critical failure.

What additional considerations should the instructor take into account when setting up an online learning experience?  One of the most important things an instructor can do is work to create a learning community within the online course.  This was discussed previously in this course and others but it needs to be stressed again here.  The course text states that the goals of a learning community are to build knowledge and competencies within learners as well as build a network of mutual respect which includes the sharing of ideas and perspectives (Boettcher & Conrad, 2010).  In addition, a learning community encourages student and instructor participation which can in turn lead to a more effective online learning experience and higher satisfaction among learners (Simonson, Smaldino, & Zvacek, 2015).

Given all of the above, my own thinking on successfully launching an online learning experience haven't changed too much.  As someone already working in online instructional design as well as being an online learner myself, I have seen first hand when the elements listed above are employed and when they are neglected.  Understanding the technologies available has been something that I have stressed with my subject matter experts I collaborate with.  In some cases, they have desired to do something that the learning management system we use here at work can't handle and I have had to provide alternate suggestions.  Additionally, I have had to work with some SME's to ensure that they are clarifying instructions for students so that assignments and assessments are easy to understand and resources are easy to access and use.  Finally, I have been a part of some great learning communities in online courses and have worked to implement similar experiences into the courses I currently design.

References

Boettcher, J. V., & Conrad, R. M. (2010). The online teaching survival guide: Simple and practical pedagogical tips. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Knowles, M. (1990). The adult learner: A neglected species (4th ed.). Houston, TX: Gulf.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., & Zvacek, S. (2015). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (6th ed.). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

EIDT-6510 Learning Communities

As an instructional designer seeking to learn how to create engaging and dynamic courses understanding what learning communities are and how they impact student learning and satisfaction is imperative.  Drs. Palloff and Pratt (Laureate Education, 2010) define a learning community as way for students to come together to support one another and co-construct knowledge about the content of the course.  Additionally, learning communities create a dynamic where facilitators and learners are equal participants (Laureate Education, 2010).  Oftentimes, students in an online program struggle with feelings of isolation and separation that they may not feel in an on-ground face to face classroom experience.  Simonson, Smaldino and Zvacek (2015) state that learning communities in distance education environments contribute to greater student engagement and success.  Boettcher and Conrad (2010) further state that a learning community in an online course is just as important as faculty presence for keeping students engaged and successful.

What are essential elements of an online learning community?  Drs. Palloff and Pratt (Laureate Education, 2010) list five essential elements of an online learning community:

1. People:  Quite obviously a community cannot exist without people.  In the case of an online course, the people involved in the learning community would be the learners enrolled in the course.
2. Purpose:  A common purpose must exist among the people in order for a community to arise.  For example, in an online course, the common purpose of the people in the course would be to access and process the content and information.
3. Process:  This is the way in which the online course is designed that encourages the building of community.  This is the where the role of the instructional designer is key.  The activities within a course should always seek to foster and build the community among the learners.
4. Method:  This relates to the way that students will interact and communicate.  There must be some way for them to talk to each other else no community can exist.  Again this is where designers play a critical role.  A course should be designed to encourage as much interaction as possible among learners.
5. Social Presence:  Each learner should be able to establish their own social presence within the class and it is that presence that each learner interacts with in the course of communication.  Once again, the designer is key here in ensuring that students have the opportunity to do so.

How can learning communities be sustained?  One of the main ways to sustain a learning community in an online environment is to ensure that the facilitator of the course remains engaged.  For example, in discussion forums, learners want to know that the facilitator is reading and responding to their comments.  They want to see the presence of the facilitator.  A second way of sustaining a learning community is to create learning experiences that allow the group to continue to work together.  Group projects and student cohorts are just two examples of how this can be accomplished.

As stated above, learning communities can increase the engagement and success of students (Simonson, et al., 2015).  As a designer, it is important to look at some of the best practices presented in the text (Boettcher, et al., 2010) to create a positive experience for learners in the online environment.

References

Boettcher, J. V., & Conrad, R. M. (2010). The online teaching survival guide: Simple and practical pedagogical tips. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2010). Online learning communities [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., & Zvacek, S. (2015). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations for distance education (6th ed.). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Press.

EDUC 6135 - Distance Education Reflection Assignment

The Future of Distance Education

           

            Distance education has come a long way since the early days of correspondence study where students would receive materials in the mail, fill them out, and then mail them back to be graded.  As technology has advanced so has the ability to create and employ effective distance education courses and programs (Simonson, Smaldino, & Zvacek, 2015).  These advances have required professionals that design and develop curriculum to think about new ways of offering programs that may have traditionally been classroom based (Pina & Mizell, 2014).  This evolution has brought us to the present where, in 2013, one study showed that 70% of institutions indicated that online instruction was critical to their long-term plans (Simonson, et al., 2015).  This is the picture today, but how will distance education fare in the future?

            According to Simonson, et al. (2015), there is evidence that suggests that students are increasingly demanding to be allowed to take courses at a distance.  This seems to pan out with other evidence that exists regarding distance education at all levels.  According to Berge and Clark (2009), virtual schools are becoming more and more important as a means of delivering education from kindergarten through college and graduate studies.  I believe that in the next 5-20 years, these kinds of institutions will become more and more prevalent and, as more and more students complete their education via distance, perception of the usefulness and effectiveness of distance education will continue to increase.  Evidence suggests that perceptions about distance education are already changing According to Allen & Seaman (2007) who state that the proportion of people who felt that online learning outcomes were superior to face-to-face learning outcomes increased 34% since 2003.  Since that study was published 9 years ago, that proportion has most increased even more (Simonson, Schlosser, & Orellana, 2011).

            As an instructional designer, one of the roles that can be filled is that of an ambassador for distance education.  According to Simonson, et al (2015), a majority of people currently state that they would prefer to take a course in a face-to-face environment as opposed to taking a course via distance education.  There are many reasons for this attitude among learners.  Some learners feel that they would not be able to handle the workload of a distance education course (Dobbs, Waid, & del Carmen, 2009).  Others feel that their learning style may not mesh well with a distance education format (Dabbagh & Bannan-Ritland, 2005).  Still others feel that they will not receive the interaction they need (both with the instructor and peers) to be successful (Simonson, et al., 2015).

            To be a proponent for improving these perceptions, the effective instructional designer will engage in the creation of effective courses.  To address the problem of students feeling as if they cannot handle the workload of a distance education course, instructional design must take into account the general abilities of the class (Simonson, et al., 2015).  As the “tablet” generation matures and begins taking courses via distance, an effective designer will take this into account when designing distance education.  In addressing the learner’s perception that their learning style may not mesh with distance education, effective designers will address multiple learning styles in their design and help learners understand the context of the learning experience (Morrison, Ross, Kalman & Kemp, 2013).  Finally, instructional designers must take into account how learners interact now and in the future.  This may be completely different than what see now but in order to increase positive perceptions of distance education, ID’s need to analyze the potential for learner interactivity (Simonson, et al., 2015).

            How will I be a positive force for continuous improvement in the field of distance education?  First and foremost, as an instructional designer, it is imperative to assess new and better technologies for distance education as they become available (Simonson, et al., 2015).  An example of this is the advent of affordable virtual reality systems like the Oculus Rift.  As an instructional designer, how could this be used in a distance education context?  Additionally, professional organizations such as EDUCAUSE provide annual conferences where new technologies and techniques are presented as well as smaller workshops relating to best practices.  Keeping abreast of an implementing these best practices will greatly increase my ability to be a positive force for continuous improvement in the field of distance education.

References

Allen, I. E., & Seaman, J. (2007). Making the grade: Online education in the United States,

            2006: Midwestern edition. Wellesley, MA: Sloan Consortium.

Berge, Z., & Clark, T. (2009). Virtual schools: What every superintendent needs to know.

Distance Learning, 6(2), 1-9.

Dabbagh, N., & Bannan-Ritland, B. (2012). Online learning: Concepts, strategies, and

application. Columbus, OH: Merrill/Prentice Hall.

Dobbs, R., Waid, C., & del Carmon, A. (2009). Students’ perceptions of online courses: The

effect of online course experience. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 10(1), 9-26.

Morrison, G. R., Ross, S. M., Kalman, H. K., & Kemp, J. E. (2013). Designing effective

instruction (7^th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Pina, A. A., & Mizell, A. P. (2014). Real-life distance education: Case studies in practice.

            Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Simonson, M., Schlosser, C., & Orellana, A. (2011). Distance education research: A review of

the literature. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 23(2), 124-142.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., & Zvacek, S. (2015). Teaching and learning at a distance:

Foundations of distance education (6^th ed.). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing,

Inc.

EDUC 6135 Week 7 Application Assignment

This week we were asked to create a user's guide for an individual that is planning to move much of his training program (including all of the associated training manuals online.  To address this conversion, I created a user's guide that includes elements that the trainer will need to consider as he moves his training from face-to-face to a hybrid model.  In addition to taking the time to really understand the learners completing the training and creating learning outcomes that reflect what students will be expected to take from the training experience, the user's guide also covers how the trainer's role with change from being the "sage on the stage" to a facilitator of learning.  The user's guide also covers how the trainer should consider various technological tools and learning activities and how to encourage the learners to collaborate and communicate with each other.

Click here to view the PDF document of the user's guide.

The "Creeping Death" of Scope Creep

Oftentimes when you are working on a project, there comes a time when either some new policy or technology is introduced that can change the scope of the project mid-stream.  On other occasions, there is a desire to change the project as it currently stands because either the project manager, the project team or specific clients/stakeholders do not think the output is acceptable in its current form.  This is defined as "Scope Creep" (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, & Kramer, 2008).  Lynch & Roecker (2007) define scope creep as uncontrolled changes in the scope of a project or course as it was originally defined.  Regardless of how you define it, scope creep can cause serious problems with a project if not handled properly.

I have experienced this first hand, as I'm sure many instructional designers have, when designing a course for our cyber security master's degree program.  In this case, we began development of the course with one instructor but he was replaced with another instructor after we had already completed about 40% of the course development.  As you can probably guess, the new instructor wanted to change everything that had been developed previously because he didn't agree with the initial instructor's approach.  Naturally, this was a tad frustrating to myself as the project manager and the rest of the team because we were not given any additional time to complete the project, the deadline remained the same.

Specifically, the scope creep occurred mainly in the areas of assessment design.  As mentioned, we had already completed about 40% of the course, and had designed and developed assessment activities for those completed modules.  Now we were required to design and develop entirely new assessment activities which took longer than we figured it would because the new instructor was very exacting about how he wanted them presented.

As the project manager, I had to take a step back and assess the situation.  First and foremost, I worked to follow the steps laid out by Greer (2010): stay calm and pinpoint the exact change.  I must admit that i did fail somewhat on the first one because of the lack of flexibility on the deadline.  However, I did finally manage to stop throwing a tantrum and get down to work identifying exactly what the change was and defined what it meant.  Portny, et al. (2008) mention creating a change control system to handle scope creep and its ramifications.  This was something I did not do at this time but, having read about it in the text, believe it certainly would have assisted me and the rest of my team in dealing with the creep.  Another factor that Greer (2010) mentions is obtaining sponsor approval of changes and the corresponding changes to the project development plan.  This would have certainly gone a long way to help all of us, especially if the deadline had been revised to accommodate having to go back and re-work large sections, but no approval an altered deadline was forthcoming so we were stuck trying to get everything done in a much shorter span than we had hoped.  The end result was, while the course launched on time, none of us felt that it had the quality it could have had if our deadline had been extended just a week or two.

References

Greer, M. (2010). The project management minimalist: Just enough PM to rock your projects! (Laureate custom ed.). Baltimore, MD: Laureate Education, Inc.

Lynch, M. M., & Roecker, J. (2007). Project managing e-learning: A handbook for successful design, delivery, and management. London: Routledge.

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.

EDUC 6135 - Task Analysis and Instructional Objectives Matrix

When designing a course, it is important to have a solid plan of action and the Task Analysis and Instructional Objectives Matrix (see below) is a way of organizing thoughts and theories into a cohesive manner that can then translate into course design within the CMS.  In this instance, the matrix relates to the orientation course for the Applied Cryptography course students will be completing.  As you can see from the matrix, in module 1, students will be learning how to navigate within a course in blackboard as well as how to access audacity which they will need to fulfill some assignment requirements within the cryptography course.  Below is the matrix:

Task Analysis and Instructional Objectives Matrix Although none of the scenarios provides exact information to complete each cell of this matrix, you can find enough information to make reasonable, educationally-sound assumptions which you should be able to explain.
Scenario description: Scenario 3A - An online, fully asynchronous upper-level elective course. Students will be expected to regularly view and tangibly interact with multimedia presentations. Additionally, they will need to download and read several articles and eBook chapters. The trainees will also be expected to regularly participate in an asynchronous question and answer forum. To help build confidence and competence, each student will complete an online assessment each week during the course.  Note: The course is a graduate level course in Applied Cryptography which is a part of a Master of Science in Cyber Security and Organizational Leadership.
------------ Course setup and Module 1: Technology Tools Overview ------------
Task Analysis:	Goals & Objectives:	Applied Strategy:
Welcome: Purpose: To allow the students to understand the reason for being in the course, i.e. the “orienting context” as presented in Smaldino, et al. (2015), p. 133. Location: In an announcement link off the landing page. CMS page style used: The page utilizes the “Technology” template and the welcome is located on the “Course Information” content page. Content organization: Content is a narrative text of the welcome message. Content outline: I. Welcome II. What will be in the course III. How to proceed	Welcome: “Aim” or major goal for the Orientation Course: The major goal of the orientation course is to familiarize learners with the various technologies that will be used in the Applied Cryptography course so that they can be successful. Major Instructional Objectives or Learning Outcomes for the Orientation Course: 1. Examine the various technologies that will be employed in the Applied Cryptography Course. 2. Assess the rationale behind the selection of those tools. 3. Apply skills learned in the guided tutorials to access and use the selected technologies.	Welcome: Design considerations: When designing the welcome section, I ensured that the technology was relatively easy to use and navigate as well as the organization and requirements were clear to students. Theory considerations: Equivalency theory – In designing the welcome, I sought to create the equivalent experience a student might have on the first day of an on-ground class, an introduction by the instructor and covering of the expected learning outcomes of the course. References used: Simonson, Smaldino, & Zvacek, 2015.
Overview:: Purpose: The overview of the course is presented in the “Welcome” portion of the course. Location: The overview can be found on the “Course Information” page in the left hand navigation. CMS page style used: The page utilizes the “Technology” template and the welcome is located on the “Course Information” content page. Content organization: Content is a narrative text of the welcome message. Content outline: I. Welcome II. What will be in the course III. How to proceed	Overview: Learning Goal associated with Orientation as a whole: See above in the “Major Goal of the Orientation Course” section. Specific Learning Outcomes for the Orientation as a whole: See “Learning Outcomes for the Orientation Course” above.	Overview: Design considerations: See “Design considerations” above. Theory considerations: See “Theory considerations” above. References used: See “References used” above.
Module 1: Purpose: The purpose of Module 1 of the orientation course is to introduce students to the first four technological tools they will encounter as a part of the Applied Cryptography Course.    Tab design: The Module 1 Tab was designed to try and make it as intuitive as possible for the student.  For ease of use, it says “Module 1 – Start Here.” CMS page style used: Module 1 is designed using the “Content Area” page and uses the “Technology Template” to remain consistent with the rest of the course. Content organization: The heading for the main page of module 1 will be: “Getting Around Your Course.” The content is module 1 is organized in accordance with the guidelines presented in Simonson, et al (2015).  Content is organized following the structure mentioned below. Content outline: 1. Module Overview: What the student can expect to encounter in the module and the desired learning outcomes of the module. 2. Technology Tool #1: This section an introduction to, rationale for and tutorials on how to access modules within the course and the content contained within each module so that they can proceed through the course materials. 3. Technology Tool #2: This section an introduction to, rationale for and tutorials on the “My Instructor” section of the course so students can understand how to reach their instructor with questions. 4. Technology Tool #3: This section an introduction to, rationale for and tutorials on the “My Grades” section of the course so students can see how they are faring in the course. 5. Technology Tool #4: This section an introduction to, rationale for and tutorials on the use of audacity. Students will be required to record and submit answers to some of their questions within the course so this will provide them with some guidance on using it. 6. Module Conclusion: This will provide a wrap up for students highlighting what they learned in this current module, what they can expect in the next module.  It will also provide a link to the next module.	Module 1: Learning Goal associated with Module 1: The learning goal for Module 1 is to have the student become familiar with navigating in blackboard so they do not face challenges when taking the Applied Cryptography Course. Specific Instructional Objectives for Module 1: 1. Learn about how modules work within a blackboard course and how to navigate between and within those module. 2. Understand how to use the “My Instructor” tool to get in touch with the course instructor for help or questions. 3. Employ the “My Grades” tool to assess how you are faring with the course assignments. 4. Learn about audacity, how to download the software and use it for recording.	Module 1: Design considerations: In designing module 1, incorporated content guideline highlighted in Simonson, et al. (2015) who state that videos, visual presentations with accompanying audio are important to a well-designed course. Theory considerations: When designing module 1, I sought to incorporate equivalency theory.  If the students were taking this orientation course in a regular classroom, they would be receiving hands on tutorials on how to use the various tools.  For this online orientation, I have tried to create an equivalent experience. References used: Simonson, Smaldino, & Zvacek (2015).
Training: Purpose: To provide students with guided tutorials for the 4 technical tools presented in module 1. Location: The training portions for module 1 will be located in the module 1 content area, accessible by clicking on the CMS page style used: To remain consistent with the style of the rest of the course, the page utilizes the “Technology” template. Each technical tool will have its own content folder within the module. Content organization: Within the training content folder, the content will be organized as follows: I. Overview of the tool – What is it? What purpose does it serve? II. Rationale – Why was this tool chosen? Why does it matter? III. Guided Tutorial – Each tool will have a text document and a video tutorial showing how to access and use the tool in blackboard. Content outline: I. Overview II. Rationale III. Guided tutorials	Training: Learning Outcome (expectation) associated with tutorials: By the end of module 1, students will have an understanding of how to access and use the technical tools presented in the module in preparation for them entering the Applied Cryptography course. Specific Instructional Objectives for each tutorial presented: 1. Understand what each tool is and why it was selected and why it is important to success in the class. 2. Learn how to access the presented technical tools. 3. Discover how to use the technical tools by viewing the provided tutorials.	Training: Design considerations: Again, when designing the training portions of each module, I considered Simonson, et al. (2015) in that videos are important to successful course design.  Additionally, in using text documents and videos in conjunction, I am seeking to deliver the material in a variety of means as suggested by Simonson et al. (2015). Theory considerations: Once again, I am seeking to use equivalency theory to create an equivalent experience a student might gain in a classroom orientation program.  In a classroom program, students might be given textual directions and be shown how to use the tools in person.  Since we are working with an asynchronous environment, video presentations seem to be the best way to re-create that kind of interaction. References and cited materials used: Simonson, Smaldino, & Zvacek (2015).
Invitation: Type of invitation: Steps you follow to create learner access include: 1. Create the course in COURSEsites. 2. Collect email addresses from students in my project links group. 3. Use the “Invite” function contained within the users’ area of the course. 4. Insert all emails into the invite field and customize invitation message. 5. Click submit to send invitations.	Invitation: Steps your students have to follow to gain access: 1. Students must click on the link contained in the invitation. 2. Students must create a username and password (if they haven’t already) to access the course. 3. Once logged into the course, students can access the “Course Information” section to understand what to do next.	Invitation: Rationale for invitation type: Using the invite function within the course users’ area was the most intuitive way for me to invite the needed students to the class and I believe the easiest way for the students to gain access.

As you can see from the matrix, the course is currently broken up into a course information section, where students will find the overview of the orientation course, the overall learning outcomes for the course and then how to proceed.  Within the modules, the students will engage with 4 technical tools.  For each tool, students will view an overview of what the tool is and what it does, examine the rationale for why that tool was selected and why it is important and finally read some textual instructions and view a guided tutorial about how to use the tool when they engage in the actual course.  Finally, a course conclusion will help students reflect on what they learned and how to access the next module of the orientation course.

Reference

Simonson, M., Smladino, S., & Zvacek, S. (2015). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc.

EDUC 6145 - Communicating Effectively

This week we were required to view the delivery of a message in three different ways:  written, audio, and face-to-face verbal communication.  Each of these types of communication play an important role in any project and it is imperative for project managers to understand that interpretation of team members may vary across these different modalities.  For purposes of interpretation, we will discuss each of these three in turn and then discuss what these teach about effective communication for project managers.

Written message (email): Email is quite obviously ubiquitous in nature but can sometimes present problems because it is difficult for readers to pick up non-verbal signals relating to the message (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, & Kramer, 2008).  As a result, email communication can come off a bit cold as in this case.  When reading the email, my interpretation was one of panicked urgency.  Again, because I am left without a reference point for tone or expression, I can only interpret the message based on the words.  In this case, the writer uses language that implies an urgency on her part which therefore implies an urgency on my part: "really need," "ETA," "soon."  These words imply immediacy and my interpretation is that the person's assumption is that I will drop everything I'm doing to get her the needed information.  This manner of communication is also quite formal (or should be) and as Dr. Stolovitch (n.d.) states in one of this week's videos, formal communication may or may not fit well within the culture of the company or cause problems with communication of individuals.

Voicemail message: In this instance, I was able to hear the tone of voice of the person on the other end of the line and, while I still heard the urgency in her voice, I did not feel that the message was as panicked as it was in the email.  As Greer (2010) points out, attitude is a collection of feelings that are brought to a situation or relationship.  This is difficult to discern when reading an email, however, when listening to someone speak on the phone, it is far easier to determine their attitude about the situation because you can hear their tone.  As I mentioned, the tone in the phone call was still urgent, but my overall interpretation was that I didn't have to drop everything I was doing in order to get this completed.

Face-to-Face Message: When "discussing" the issue with the colleague face-to-face, there was an even better understanding on my part of the urgency of the situation.  Quite obviously, face-to-face discussion allows you to see non-verbal cues from the message deliverer that you miss in email or even voicemail.  Seeing the person's face and overall demeanor in person can assist greatly in de-coding the message they are sending, in this case, the level of urgency surrounding the completion of the report.  As with the voicemail message, I did feel as if there was urgency getting my report completed to help my colleague, but hearing her voice and seeing her in person gave me the impression that she was not as panicked as I suspected from the email message, rather she was simply sharing her deadline and hoping I could help.  Because of the face-to-face interaction and the demeanor of my colleague during that interaction, I felt more motivated to help her as soon as possible than I did with the email or voicemail messages.

So what can we learn from all of this as project managers?  Namely that we need to consider the means of communication, not just the message to be effective.  While email is a useful and formal method of communicating, it may not always fit best with the culture of the company or with the communication structure of the individual (Stolovitch, n.d.).  Voicemail can be helpful and useful but again it does not allow the person you are communicating with to pick up on non-verbal cues (Portny, et al., 2008).  Face-to-face communication may in many cases be the best way to communicate with an individual or team, especially if there is some problem or issue that needs addressing, as in the case we viewed.  As a program manager, your attitude about and approach to addressing problems and other issues sets the entire tone for the team (Greer, 2010) so in many cases this would be the best way to send a message and ensure that it was received properly.  Effective communication for project managers depends on the selection of the means of communication just as much, if not more than the message that needs to be communicated.

References

Greer, M. (2010). The project management minimalist: Just enough PM to rock your projects! Baltimore: Laureate Education, Inc.

Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.). Project manager concerns: Communication strategies and organizational culture. [Video file]. Retrieved from: https://class.waldenu.edu

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.

EDUC 6145 - Project "Post-Mortem" Analysis

The project that comes to mind when thinking about the Project “Post-Mortem” discussion that we find in Greer (2010) is the development of a course that was run in our cybersecurity Master’s program here where I work.

To give a little bit of context and background, the course was entitled “Applied Cryptography” and was the second course developed for our Mater’s program. The course was 7 weeks in length, entirely asynchronous and was planned and later developed by two different people and you can probably already see what problems arose in the course of the development. Additionally, we had a total of 16 weeks to completely develop the course from planning to launch in our LMS. The course ran and we received our student satisfaction surveys as well as feedback from the instructor from which we did our “post-mortem.”

General Questions (found in Greer, 2008, pp. 42-43):

1. Were we proud of the deliverables? In short, yes. Although there were significant challenges, all members of the team felt that the course was the best it could have been given what we had to work with.
2. What was the most frustrating thing? There were 2 actually. First, the person originally involved in the conceive and design phases (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton and Kramer, 2008) left the institution before the project moved to the start and perform phase (Portny, et al., 2008). This led to the fact that we had to find another subject matter expert for development which led to the second frustration, which was that he had very different ideas of what the project deliverables should be.
3. How would I do things differently? Obviously, trying to use the same subject matter expert through the entire development process would alleviate this frustration.
4. What was the most gratifying part of the project? For me it was seeing the course completed and quality checked and then launched live.
5. Which methods or processes worked out well? In hindsight, I believe that the process that worked best was the creation of the project plan, or the conceive and define phase in the course text.
6. Which processes were frustrating? For me personally it was the “perform phase,” (Portny, et al., 2008). This was where we had the most challenge with the new developer. It was difficult to compare performance with the plan because he was constantly desiring to alter the plan or discard it entirely in some cases.
7. If I could wave a wand, what would I change? Keep the same developer through the entire project.
8. Did stakeholders participate effectively? If not, how could we improve their participation? The major stakeholders in the project were the dean of the college and the director of the online development department (my boss). Unfortunately, the two of them didn’t see eye to eye on how the project should be developed and this caused friction between members of the development team about timelines and benchmarks. In terms of how to get them to work more effectively, I believe that allowing the dean to participate more actively in the day to day project work (at least from a high level) would give him better vision into why deadlines are set as they are and why benchmarks need to be met.

Given all of the above, what contributed to the overall success or failure of the project? The persistence of the members involved on the project team is what finally put the project into the successful category. There were many problems that arose that easily could have made the project a failure and it was only through the hard work and dedication of the team that the project succeeded. Though all members had some disagreement throughout the process, the knowledge that the course had to launch on time is what eventually brought the project to fruition. It just goes to prove that often projects, despite extensive conception and definition phases, can often go completely off the rails and it is up to the project manager (in this case, me) to try and pull success from failure.

In thinking about which parts of the PM process would have made the project more successful, again I would say that the project planning and creating specifications for deliverables phases are the most important. In this case, the project would have run smoother and had less challenge if we had gone back and done new project planning and creating specifications for deliverables sessions when the new developer took over. This would have made the project more in line with what he had envisioned and would likely not have been as resistant as he was when working with the original plan. As the major stakeholder in the project (all of the content for the course was of his design) that should have been clear, however, we were directed to stick with the original plan. Ironically, for the next time the course runs, we will be completely scrapping this course we build and starting a new project using the plan of the new developer.

References

Greer, M. (2010). The project management minimalist: Just enough PM to rock your projects! (Laureate custom ed.). Baltimore: 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.

Hello everyone.  Here's my mindmap of the areas in which I see future improvement and development in instructional design:

The Evolution and Future of Distance Education

Prior to this course, I had viewed distance education in a variety of ways.  When I was in graduate school (the first time) I took a course through what was then known as the distance education program.  For this institution, distance education was for the most part correspondence courses.  Granted, at the time, there were no real online learning platforms available.  However, the institution, since it had been running the program for quite some time before I took the course, stressed the individuality of learning and the flexibility of space and time (Simonson, Smaldino, & Zvacek, 2015).  In the event, the course consisted of audio tapes and several assessments that needed to be completed and then sent in to the institution to be graded.  For many people, this type of experience was the first exposure to distance education, especially since this has been around in some form for 160 years (Simonson, Smaldino, & Zvacek, 2015).

Also prior to this course, I have been working as an online course designer and have been a student for a year in this program.  Both of these experiences have given me a greater insight into what is currently possible in distance education.  As a designer, I have had the opportunity to participate in the ID process from the "back end," performing all of the analysis, design and development as courses are created.  I have experienced first hand the need to vary the degree and kind of interactions and feedback based on learner needs and challenges (Moller, Foshay, & Huett, 2008).  As a student consumer, I have experienced how instructional strategies are deployed within a learning management system which has in turn informed my design decisions.

One other area that I have been wrestling with much as a designer and also a student is the area of understanding the learning population.  Because of the nature of distance education (especially online education) I have some concerns that some students could be left behind due to the non-homogeneous nature of the learners (Huett, Moller, Foshay, & Coleman, 2008). As we went through our learning theory course at the beginning of the program, we analyzed many of the different styles that should inform our design but often we are limited by the technology being used (i.e. blackboard, moodle, etc).  While most of these platforms are robust, the concern that some students are being left behind always lurks below the surface.

After, reading the resources for this week, I feel that I have come to know the rich history of distance education and see through it's evolution where we are today.  Simonson, Smaldino, & Zvacek (2015) provided us with an excellent overview of some of the theories that relate to distance education and as a designer, I believe it behooves me to at least have a cursory knowledge of each of this.  For example, Fordist theory generally adheres to the philosophy that involves mass production of learning materials for mass consumption (Simonson, Smaldino, & Zvacek, 2015). While this theory certainly has some attraction, especially to Dean's and others with an eye on the bottom line, it certainly limits the ability of designers to create meaningful learning experiences for students of diverse learning styles.  After reading through the resources, I believe an ideal position for me as a designer would be one that incorporates some elements of all of the theories and is flexible based on the situation regarding the development.

As for the future of distance education, I believe that as designers we are living in an exciting and innovative time.  Already, there are so many resources available to assist in instructional design that didn't exist 10 or 15 years ago.  For example, where in the past many instructors would have had to settle for a basic narrated Powerpoint as a lecture, we can now film, edit and publish videos to the web with high definition picture and sound.  Additionally, there are more opportunities for synchronous online learning than there were previously (collaborate in Blackboard is one basic example) and I believe these tools will continue to improve in quality and ease of use so that even novice designers can get quickly up to speed with designing effective and quality activities.  Virtual reality is yet another tool that I believe we will see come into play in the education field.  While much of VR technology right now is limited to gaming (the Oculus Rift system comes to mind) the potential for using VR technologies to deliver all manner of education is exciting to consider.  Think of teaching a medical course via distance education using VR technologies.  Indeed, as a designer, it is an exciting time to be part of the field.

References

Huett, J., Moller, L., Foshay, W.R., & Coleman, C. (2008). The evolution of distance education: Implications for design on the potential of the Web. Techtrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning, 52(5), 63-67.

Moller, L., Foshay, W. R., & Huett, J. (2008). The evolution of distance education: Implications for design on the potential of the Web. Techtrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning, 52(4), 66-70.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., & Zvacek, S. (2015). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc.

EDUC-6135

Hi everyone!  Welcome to my blog.  My name is David Haigh and I'm an instructional designer at a University here in Southern California.  I work with a variety of different subjects in my course design from Business, Project Management, Cybersecurity, Education and Health Care Informatics.  I'm looking forward to learning with all of you in this course.  Feel free to subscribe to my blog!