3.....2....1....Ready to Launch!

                It seems fitting as I begin this blog, that I am watching Apollo 13.  I mean, if ever there were a film about the necessary preparation for a launch, it is this one.  This week's blog is about the launch (or the first few days) of an online course.  What are the considerations that one must consider in their design that will provide an experience that is engaging, and meaningful to the students?  Here are a few questions and answers that address the launch of an online course.

Why is it essential to communicate clear expectations to learners?

                If you do not know where you are going, how will you ever get there?  Attrition is a concerning factor in online education (Palloff, & Pratt, n.d.).  If learners are frustrated because expectations are vague, then they are not likely to stay with the course.  Clear expectations are especially important for those who are new to the online environment (Conrad, & Donaldson, 2011).  Clear expectations are also a reflection of a high level of planning and reflect application of distance learning theory (Smaldino, Simonson, Albright, & Zvacek, 2011). 

What is the significance of knowing the technology available to you?

                Knowing the technology available allows the instructor to be creative in ways that can create an environment that is engaging and fun.  The experts in this week's video (Palloff, and Pratt, n.d.) speak to the importance of keeping the environment from being too serious.  Multi-media tools that allow for audio and video content can enrich the environment and keep learners engaged with the instructor and with each other (Palloff, & Pratt, n.d.).  Technology is also a way for online learners to protect their privacy if that is their desire.  Dr. Pratt mentions using an avatar in the online setting rather than one's actual picture (Palloff, & Pratt, n.d.). 

What additional considerations should the instructor take into account when setting up an online learning experience?

                There is much to consider when setting up an online course.  Besides using technology and establishing clear expectations, the instructor needs to establish themselves in the course community in a way that makes them more relatable (Palloff, & Pratt, n.d.).  The use of technology can help with this task.  Instructors must also take the time to get to know their students.  Something as simple as using the names of students in a post and remembering something about the students can make the difference for many (Palloff, & Pratt, n.d.).  Instructors must also create an environment where students understand their role in the community.  Asking good questions of students that move discussions forward and add depth to the conversations is an important job for an online instructor (Palloff, & Pratt, n.d.).  Finally, the online instructor must create an environment that is safe and respectful of the needs of students (Palloff, & Pratt, n.d.).

References

Conrad, R., & Donaldson, J.A. (2011) Engaging the online learner: Activities and resources for 

     creative instruction. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Howard, R. (Director) (19950. Apollo 13 [DVD].

Palloff, R., & Pratt, K. (n.d.). Launching the online experience [Web]. Retrieved from https://class.

     waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=2_1&url=/webapps

     /blackboard/execute/launcher?type=Course&id=_1375244_1url=

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance:

     Foundations of distance education (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson

Sitting alone, watching an online video about creating an online community. Hmmmmmm...........A bit ironic I think.

               The questions posed to us in this week's prompt have to do with what we learned this week about becoming a more effective online instructor.  The focus of this blog posting is a synthesis of a video about "Effective Online Communities" (Palloff, & Pratt, n.d.).  Ok, I am trying not to be overly critical here, but I have to admit.  I am feeling pretty grumpy about this assignment, and here is why.  To begin, based on what I have studied in the resources this week, and from the Walden distance learning course, as well as many books I have read for classroom instruction, I am being told again, and again that distance/online instruction must be engaging (Conrad & Donaldson, 2011), meaningful (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2012), and community driven (Palloff, & Pratt).  Well, as I watched the video of two people talking at me for 44 minutes, it occurred to me that even though the content was meaningful (in order for me to pass this course, and further my knowledge base), it was neither engaging, or community driven.  In fact, I feel that way about pretty much every video I have ever watched in the Walden video library. 

                Now, I understand the videos have a purpose in terms of establishing a base of knowledge in order to further the discussion that will follow in the online community.  My question to the group is why as an adult learner must I be subjected to such presentations?  Just because I am an adult does not mean that I love watching content like this.  The presenters in the video spoke of the concern of attrition with online learners (Palloff, & Pratt, n.d.), Dr. Pratt even went so far as to say that some types of learners will never be able to succeed in the online environment (Palloff, & Pratt, n.d.).  Well, when I sit down and watch some of the content presented, it is not hard for me to understand why some people walk away.  Now, some folks might say that the content is not in itself the heart of the learning community; it is the members of the community that drive the content.  Well, I am going to have to disagree with you.  In order to be a solid contributing member of the community, one must know the content, which means reading the text, as well as watching and synthesizing the video content.  This is very difficult when the content presented is often dry, and extraneous. 

                So now what?  I think this week's video presentations have brought about a completely new set of questions for me as a future online designer and instructor.  For instance, how do I sustain an online community when the content is delivered in a way that is not satisfactory to the learners?  The short answer is design new content (I have included the video I made for my orientation to eighth grade distance learners that will be working with a group of classroom students.  I think it really sums up what an online community looks like through my eyes.).  However many online instructors are facilitating courses they did not design.  Maybe the answer comes down to the shared responsibility to the entire group.  Maybe that is the whole point to the dry content.  Maybe Walden feels like if we see this type of content enough we will come together as a community and find ways to help each other get through the content and create a greater learning experience (Palloff, & Pratt, n.d.).  Or maybe these videos are cheap to produce and if we really want to get through the program, we will sit, watch quietly and alone and then get on with our lives.

 

References

Conrad, R. & Donaldson, J.A. (2011). Engaging the online learner: Activities and resources for 

     creative instruction. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Palloff, R. (Writer), & Pratt, K. (Writer) (n.d.).  Online learning communities [Web].  Retrieved from

     https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=webaps/ 

     blackboard/execute/launcher?type=Course&id=_1375244_&url=

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance:

     Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson

New State, New Job, New Course!

Hi All!

     Well here we go!  Week one of the Online Instructional Strategy course, and it's time to warm up the old blog again.  A lot has changed for me over the last couple of months, I have started a new job, moved back to MI, and am now starting another new class with Walden.  Looking forward to it, and hoping I can stay sane.  :)

Man, That's Creepy

Some Background

     In early December of 2011, an email went out to every middle school teacher in the district.  The email was a search for middle school science teachers who would be willing to serve on a district wide committee that would be responsible for choosing the new middle school science resources for the district.  The district secondary learning specialist, the math intervention-learning specialist, and the district school technology specialist would lead the committee.  The committee would be comprised of   two science teachers from each middle school. Ideally, each school would have enough teachers that an application process would take place and teachers would be selected from the application pool.  As it would turn out, only one teacher from my school volunteered to be on the committee, which still left one more person that would need to volunteer from my department.  When I proposed this to my department at our monthly meeting, there was no interest.  So being the department chair, I went ahead and volunteered to be the second representative.

Some More Background

     The expectation for teachers who are part of this committee would be several days off the floor in order to take part in committee activities.  These activities would include defining criteria of the resources to review, narrowing the resource publishers to no more than four by the end of December, review of resources and publisher presentations, and a recommendation of the chosen resource to the school board by the first week of April 2012. 

Creeping up.

     This project experienced several different forms of scope creep.  The first began after the second meeting in Mid December.  At the end of the second meeting, the teachers voted and approved a group of four publishers who would present their resources in mid January.  The scope creep occurred when our project manager informed us that two other publishers, who were not part of the original review, would be added to the presentations for review in mid January.  Because of the extra publishers, a second day of review and presentations would be necessary in order to gather needed information. 

     The second instance of scope creep occurred at the end of the second day of presentations and review.  At this time, the committee narrowed the choice down to two different publishers.  One that was technology based, and the other that took a more project based approach to science instruction.  At this time, the committee was asked by the committee leaders to pilot one group of resources or the other in order to gather data that could then be shared with the group in a meeting that would take place in early February of 2012.  This would add a considerable workload to the members of the committee, as they would need to incorporate these resources into lessons that had already been planned and designed.

     A third occurrence of scope creep took place when the committee met in February.  Despite the intention to pilot the resources, some teachers did not receive the resources from one of the publishers in a timely fashion.  As a result, a few of the committee members could not provide the feedback that was requested at the January meeting.  To go along with this, the committee leaders were informed by the head of the district learning services that the committee would need to do a full alignment comparison of each resource to the new state standards.  In the end, this alignment would mean yet another day off the floor, and would add yet more time to our timeline.  Already it was becoming obvious that we would not be able to meet the original district deadline of early April.

     Two final instances of scope creep would occur once we were finally able to complete the standards alignment comparison, and make the recommendation.  The first came once the recommendation had been made by the committee.  It was at this time we were informed we would need to take a much larger role in the presentation of our recommendation to the school board.  Originally, we were informed that all we would need to do was make our recommendation.  The school board revised this, because on the initial presentation by the committee leaders, the board decided they wanted to be able to question committee members and gain a greater understanding of our thinking behind the recommendation.  The second instance would come when our presentation was bumped from the meeting in early May to the end of May due to other district business.  In the end, our recommendation was approved over a month later than originally projected. 

Hindsight is 20/20

     From my perspective, I am not sure most of the scope creep could have been avoided.  I really feel like the project manager did an above average job of monitoring the project (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, & Sutton, with Kramer, 2008) and trying to stay ahead the inevitable scope creep.  One might point to the addition of the two publishers as avoidable scope creep, however it would turn out the recommendation by the committee would turn out to be one of the resources that was added late in the review process.  As far as the other scope creep that occurred, those were instances that came from outside influences such as district superiors, school board requests, and the state department of education.  In the end, one change that could have been made in order to reach the original deadline would have been to start the process sooner.  The original delivery date of early April was going to be tight even without any type of scope creep.  Starting the process sooner seems like a logical, but it is unknown whether the leadership team was available to begin the project process sooner.

References

Portny, S., Mantel, S., Meredith, J., Shafer, S., Sutton, M., & Kramer, B. (2008). Project management:

     Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Learning to Walk

 

            There are many areas in education and instructional design in which I feel very comfy.  Project management, and specifically the territory we are entering now (schedules and budgets) is like learning a new a new language for me.  From the start, this class has been intimidating.  Though I am getting more comfortable with the language and the thinking process, it has been a struggle.  Therefore, in my search for this blog assignment, I looked for web sites that cast a wide net when it comes to project management.  The two web sites below are sites that allow one who is new to project management to gain insight in a variety of project management topics and resources. 

Allabout project management

            The title of this web site pretty much tells the story.  It is a web site that covers the basic topics of project management, and breaks down each into various resources and sub topics.  There are also links to scheduling and budgeting tools that could prove to be very useful for a novice project manager.

Project Connections

This web site is also a jack-of-all-trades web site for project managers.  Though it does cover various PM topics, it focuses on articles written by project manager experts.  Though some of the articles are far beyond the scope of my knowledge and experience, I did find some articles and ideas that are more in tune with where I am as a project manager.  

Wait....What?

 I am thinking back to an email that a colleague of mine responded to last year.  I can't remember exactly what the topic was, but it was addressed to all of the eighth grade teachers and to our assistant principal.  The email was a response to an email conversation that had to do with some discipline issues with students.  One of my colleagues responded very passionately to the email.  Words were sent out in all caps, there were countless exclamation points, and many bold and highlighted words.  As I read, all I could think was "wow, that is one mad eighth grade teacher".  As it would turn out, the email did not sit well at all with the assistant principal.  He was furious with this teacher.  He felt this email was completely out of line and very unprofessional.  As it would turn out, the teacher didn't mean for the email to sound angry, she just wanted to make some points about the topic.  What this teacher did not take into consideration was how this email would be perceived.  For many an email with all caps and many exclamation points means anger.  This is not effective communication.  This was also a pretty tough lesson for my colleague.

With as much technology as we have today, and as connected as we are as a species, it is fascinating to think that we still can have a difficult time communicating with one another.  If I have learned anything over the past couple of weeks about project management, I would say I have learned this; project management is an art form that mixes organization, vision, facilitating, management, leadership, responsibility and communication (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, & Sutton, with Kramer, 2008).  Maybe the most important of all of these pieces is communication.  A project manager has been likened to the conductor of an orchestra (Stolovitch, n.d.).  I would describe communication as the conductor's baton.  The baton is a tool that can greatly help the conductor because it helps clarify the music.  (Thompson, personal communication, May 16, 2012).  Communication is the same type of tool for the project manager.  Good communication helps create clarity in a project. 

For this week's blog post we were asked to interpret a message delivered in three different modes.  These modes were the message as an email, a voice mail, and as a face-to-face conversation.  We were then asked to synthesize our perceptions on the message in each mode.  The message is being sent from one worker to another, and the subject is a missing report.  The worker sending the message needs the report because they need data in the missing report to finish their own report by a given deadline.  Here are my initial thoughts on each mode immediately after seeing or hearing each mode.  I decided to have a little fun with this part, and delivered my thoughts in the modes presented to us in the blog assignment media presentation.

Email Response

The message seems pretty calm and straight forward.  The author is saying they need something very soon, and they are somewhat apologetic by saying they understand the recipient is very busy etc.  There is nothing in the email other than the text that says this is important.  In other words, no all caps exclamation points, bold or flagged comments.

Voice Mail Response

Face-To-Face Response

In the end, a couple of things can be taken away from this week's blog prompt.  First, of the three types of communication demonstrated this week, the one that seemed most effective to me was the voicemail.  The message was professionally conveyed with a tone of seriousness and without the apologetic nature that seemed to show itself in the face-to-face conversation.  The second take away from this week is that communication is as critical piece of the project process and cannot be overlooked.  One has to consider the experiences and of each stakeholder, and communicate in ways that will are most effective for the stakeholder.  In other words, it will be very important to get to know the stakeholders and communicate with them in the manner they are most accustomed and comfortable (Burdovich, & Achong, n.d.).

References

Burdovich, V. (Writer), & Achong, T. (Writer), (n.d.).Strategies for communicating with stakeholders[Web]. Available from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=/webapps/blackboard/execute/launcher?type=Course&id=_551248_1&url=

Portny, S., Mantel, S., Meredith, J., Shafer, S., Sutton, M., & Kramer, B. (2008). Project management: planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NH: John Wiley & Sons.

Stolovitch, H. (Writer) (n.d.) Project management and instructional design [Web]. Retrieved from             https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/framset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id-2_1&url=/webapps/blackboard/excecute/launcher?type=Course&id_51248-1&url=

Here Comes the Bride

Ok, so I have been wracking my brains over the last couple of days, trying to think of a project I have lead that would be appropriate to talk about for this blog discussion.  To be honest, project management as presented in this course is pretty foreign to me.  I have planned a thousand lessons, helped out with more than one large scale school or district project, but on the whole I have never taken the reigns as a project manager.  Or so I thought.  It did not occur to me until I had a conversation with my sister last night when she reminded me that I planned my own wedding.  She added, “as far as I’m concerned, that’s a project and a half” (Brothers, personal communication, May 9, 2012).  I chewed on this bit of information for a little while, and reflected on the process of planning my wedding, and yeah, she is right, I was the project manager for my wedding, and that was a pretty big project indeed. 

So let us break this wedding project down, and see how I did.  I am going to do this based on the questions that were posted with this week’s blog assignment from an article on project post mortem (Greer, 2010).

1.  Are you proud of the finished product?  Yes I am.  The wedding went off without a hitch, and to this day I get a lot of compliments on how fun the wedding was, and how everyone seemed so happy that day.  I have added a link to see some pictures of the final project.  Feel free to have a look.

The Wedding

2.  What was the single most frustrating part of the project? For me, the most frustrating thing was being so far away from many family and friends who were part of the planning process.  For instance, my aunt from Michigan made my dress.  It is tough to do a fitting when you live a thousand miles apart.  It did require some extra travel for me in order to get this done, but it was well worth the time.

3.  What would you do next time to avoid this frustration?  I am not sure I would have done anything different in this case.  I made the choice to have my aunt make the dress, and so I knew I would need to plan a time in the summer to make sure I could visit for a fitting.

4.  What was the most gratifying part of the process?  For me the best part was watching everyone interact, and enjoy him or herself.  I worked very hard to make sure that everyone had what he or she needed to really enjoy the experience.  I feel like we took great care to satisfy all of the guests, kids, adults, family and friends.

5.  If I could change anything about the process, what would I change?  There really is not anything I would change.  We accomplished the goal of having a really fun wedding that would honor the vision shared by my husband and I, but would also satisfy our families in terms of the formality and grace of the ceremony.  We did this in a way that provided an excellent experience for our guests, and we did so well within our established budget.

6.  The stakeholders in this wedding took a very active part in the process.  To be honest, this wedding was more for my family and close friends than my husband and I.  The two of us were very content to have a private ceremony in the Denver county courthouse, but we also knew a wedding was something our families really wanted.  So we went ahead and planned the wedding.  The stakeholders took an active role in many ways.  As stated earlier, my aunt Julie made my dress.  My sister (the maid of honor) took care of all of the travel arrangements for my Michigan family to come to the wedding in Denver.  My mom arranged to have a wedding shower when I was visiting Michigan the summer before my wedding.  My aunt Carol and Uncle Phil made and decorated our wedding cake.  A group of close girl friends of mine took charge of decorating both the ceremony and reception areas, and my sister-in-law helped design and print our wedding invitations.  I took care of securing the spot for the ceremony, and reception.  I also made arrangements for the catering, bar, DJ, and on-site babysitting for our friends and family with young children.  My husband managed the budget, and he and my brother-in-law had the all-important job of selecting which beer would be served at the reception.  In all, this was a very team oriented project.

In reflecting on this week's discussion of controlling scope creep, I would say I did a pretty good job.  Did we experience scope creep?  Yes, particularly when it came to the guest list.  As stated in this week's video "Overcoming Scope Creep" Dr. Burdovich discusses how difficult it can be to control scope creep when supporters are asking for little favors here and there (Van Rekom, Achong, & Burdovich, n.d.).  It feels the same when your mom is asking you to invite just one more of her friends or distant cousins.  It can be very hard to say no.

The good news is that the wedding was successful, and I can now look back on that project from the viewpoint of a project manager.  Would the information I am learning in this class have been helpful in the project planning process?  Absolutely.  Who knows, maybe if I succeed in this class, and become a successful project manager and instructional designer, I can apply those skills and become a wedding planner.  Or maybe not.

References

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

custom ed.) Baltimore: Laureate Education, Inc. (p. 42-43)

Van Rekom, P. (Writer), Achong, T. (Writer, & Burdovich, V. (Writer) (n.d.)  Practitioner voices:
Overcoming "scope creep" [Web]. Retrieved from
https://class.walden.edu/webapps/portal/framset.jsp?  tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=/webapps/
blackboard/execute/launcher?type=Course&id=_551248_1&url=