Reflection on EDUC-6145

(Kelly, 2009)

Reflection on EDUC-6145 Project Management in Education and Training

At the conclusion of each course I am taking at Walden University, I am required to write a brief reflection on the course. This is the reflection I  wrote on the ”Project Management”class I just completed.

Rarely have I completed a course with the same level of enthusiasm for what I have learned. I have informally lead or managed many different kinds of projects over the years, but I have never felt I was good at it. In the past, I have written down my objectives, researched the topics involved, and have borrowed heavily from someone else’s plan, or better yet, found someone else to manage the project!

After taking this course, I’m already looking for ways to exploit and develop my new skills. I’m enthusiastic. I am especially enthusiastic about some of the online project management tools I have encountered over the past few weeks, and of those my greatest enthusiasm is for the tools that leverage online collaboration. My immediate plan is to start employing project management tools for the routine projects I manage all the time. Long-term, I think software tools can be over used. Sometimes a notebook and a pencil is the best tool for the job, but for now, I intend to leverage every project as an opportunity to develop my skills.

In the context of education and instructional design, I see potential for synergy in the similarities and differences between the disciplines of project management and instructional design. Design processes in any context involve iterative cycles of analysis, design, development, testing, and review of test results. Instructional design is no different. The design process involves testing and debugging, or in some contexts, trial and error. Design can be messy, and its results can be unpredictable. The messiness of the design process is where project management can assist. There is a danger that management objectives can stifle the design process, with quality suffering for the sake of a predictable timetable. However, planning of the development process with clearly defined objectives to prevent scope creep, can streamline the process without sacrificing quality. In practice, the structure provided by good management can benefit creativity by allowing the creator freedom to focus on design issues.

I have already used my project management knowledge to help a friend brainstorm an entrepreneurial project. When brain-storming, mind-mapping can be a great way to organize thoughts that seem to defy a standard outline. While there are some great mind-mapping software packages available, a pencil and paper is all it takes to begin a plan. Draw a circle in the center of a page, and put your main idea there. Then let the main idea sprout branches and roots, and see where the idea takes you!

Reference:

Kelly, Will. (2009, December 14). Project Management Tools: Beyond Gantt Charts [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://gigaom.com/collaboration/project-management-tools-beyond-gantt-charts-2/

Scope Creep

youngentrepreneur.com

Scope creep refers to changes to targeted objectives after a project has begun. In my experience it generally results from failure to clearly define objectives initially, although it has also happened after initial prototyping when others begin to see potential applications for the project that are outside the initially planned context. (Portny, et al., 2008)

As a programmer, I encountered scope creep in the form of program changes that really should have been handled as new projects, but were instead added to current or recently completed projects. As with most projects, a programming project has defined users and a defined environment in which the software will be used. Assumptions are made about the equipment that will be operating the software. Assumptions are made about the kind of data that will need to be stored, and whether that data will be stored locally, or on a network.

One extreme example of a programming project that was negatively impacted by scope change began as an unofficial proof of concept program by an engineer who felt software could be written that would save time by assembling a PLC program from a list of standard operations. The initial proof-of-concept was written to program one test machine that was not actually connected to any equipment. The program allowed an engineer to select from a group of pre-defined sets of instructions to create a program to operate automated heavy machinery. Then it read back the program to demonstrate the instructions were sent properly. Next the program was altered so that it could store its instruction sequences to a program file on a laptop. When I thought the project was complete, I was suddenly confronted with several requests that pushed the capabilities of the original test design. Engineers wanted to be able to connect to a variety of machines, including completely different kinds of machines that stored information in different ways. New subroutines had to be written for each kind of machine that the program would interact with.

Some engineers wanted to use the program for troubleshooting a PLC that was off the network. They wanted to be able to connect to PLC’s directly or over the network. Then they wanted security protocols added so that all engineers could see the program code on the PLC, but only certain engineers could alter programs and change them. After network security protocols were added, they wanted to have the same capability whether the computer was connected via the network or when connected directly to the PLC.

Other departments began using the program. Suddenly slow operation of the program (that was designed to test a concept, not to actually run in a production environment) was identified as a cause of production delays. With many more people using the program, there were demands to override security by people who may or may not have understood the safety issues involved in using the program. Meanwhile other departments were demanding to use the program to read parameters from a spec database to standardize machine setups and eliminate the step of having engineers write the PLC programs.

Finally it became necessary to stop all changes to the old program. A new programming project was properly designed to replace the old program, which eliminated many of the conflicting uses of the old program, such as the ability to run on the network and from a laptop. The old program was retained for its ability to display existing programs, but it was no longer used to write and store new PLC programs.

In hindsight, the prototype program should never have been put into use in a production setting. At that point, a new project should have begun, involving all departments that would be using the program, to insure safety and to ensure performance demands for all possible users and environments for the program were considered and planned from the beginning.

References:

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

Estimating Costs and Allocating Resources For Instructional Design Projects

Today’s blog assignment is to search for resources that would be useful in estimating the cost of instructional design projects. I began my search using Google Scholar with keywords like “Costing Instruction.” I found a number of useful resources that discussed the convergence of project management principles with instruction design principles, but nothing that directly discussed cost estimates. I broadened my search to include all web sites, but that search did not provide any useful resources either. Finally I searched specifically for the title of my blog assignment, “Estimating costs and allocating resources.” I got a couple of useful hits:

Estimating Costs and Allocating Resources In Instructional Design
December 2nd, 2010
http://www.ablsc.com/distance-education/estimating-costs-and-allocating-resources-in-instructional-design/

This link could easily be another student’s post from a previous session of the same class I am taking. The author discusses two links providing useful information about costing instructional design projects. The first link is a paper describing a step-by-step process to cost development of an instructional web site. The second is a report describing a similar process to cost a software development project.

How to Estimate Training Time and Costs
Posted on May 18, 2010 by Jenise
http://ridgeviewmedia.com/blog/2010/05/how-to-estimate-trainingtime-and-costs/

This link is also a review of other websites that discuss costing of instructional design projects. Its resources include a paper published by the ASTD on the cost of developing one hour of instruction. The next resource is a forum discussion on the time required to develop a course. The last article discusses how to track project hours. 

Then I tried searching the title of the last blog I found, “How to estimate training time and costs.” I found additional useful hits:

Simple Process To Estimate Times and Costs In A Web Project
by Antonio Lupetti
http://woork.blogspot.com/2009/02/simple-process-to-estimate-time-and.html

This link is a nicely illustrated guide to estimating the cost of a web project (not necessarily an instructional design project).

Estimating Costs and Time in Instructional Design
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/costs.html

The last resource may be the most comprehensive resource I found, and it is geared specifically to instructional design projects. It discusses budgets, development costs, and development hours, with a focus on the resources required to develop one hour of training.

Communicating Effectively

My assignment today is to blog about how I perceive a short message when it is delivered in an email versus over the phone and in person. The message states that a report is missing and that data from that report is needed. It requests an estimate about when the report can be ready, or more specifically, when the data that was to have been in the report could be provided. (“Communicating with stakeholders”)

Possibly because I have a minor learning disability, I did not perceive a difference in the message when it was delivered in different ways. I prefer email over the other forms of communication in this exercise, because I can get a general idea of the message at a glance, and I can re-read the details as needed for precision. I generally read everything this way, summarizing and outlining material on first glance, then going back for detail, the second time skimming over some paragraphs while focusing intently on others. I also prefer email because it presents the least interruption if I am in the midst of a project. Emails are often easier to handle quickly.

The voice mail example was my least favorite vehicle of delivery because I generally have to listen to voice mails repeatedly to catch all the details. Depending on the voice mail system, they can be tedious to use. Gathering the details from a voice mail can require replaying the message several times. I prefer a message I can interact with, like an email or a live person.

The last vehicle of delivery in the assignment was person-to-person. I have mixed feelings about person-to-person communication. One-on-one communication is effective for me, but I find formal meetings distracting and inefficient. If I need information from a meeting, I usually have to take additional time reviewing meeting notes and researching gaps in the notes to get the complete information I need.

References:

EDUC-6145-3 project management in education and training. (n.d.). Communicating with stakeholders: Blog assignment. Walden University. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4744643&Survey=1&47=6447422&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=1&bhcp=1&BrswrOK=1&PrevRef=http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn%3FCourseID%3D4744643%26Survey%3D1%2647%3D6447422%26ClientNodeID%3D984650%26coursenav%3D1&submit1=Continue

Learning from a Project “Post-mortem”

As a means to learning “best practices” on future projects, I have been assigned to write a project post-mortem about a personal or professional project that was not successful. (“Defining the scope of the project: Blog assignment”)

I decided to write about an instructional design project that I have discussed previously in this blog. The project actually went quite well, but it definitely had its rough spots. The need for the project became apparent when I decided to try using Facebook as a tool to give ESL students experience using English. The attempt to use Facebook failed because the students lacked the basic skills to use a computer. I created a seminar to teach basic computer skills to adult ESL students, with a focus on using computers for social networking. (Lloyd, 2010)

In his eBook “The Project Management Minimalist: Just Enough PM to Rock Your Projects,” (Greer, 2010) Michael Greer suggests conducting a project “post mortem” involving asking of team members to find out their opinions of the success of the project, and brining respondents together for a “lessons learned” meeting. Greer suggests general questions that are appropriate for a post mortem, and then suggests “phase-specific questions.” 

Below are my answers to some of Greer’s questions related to the seminar I created for my students:

The single most frustrating aspect of the project was the amount of material I wanted to cover, versus the time that was allowed to cover that material. In the future, I would plan a series of at least three seminars to cover the material I attempted to cover in one evening. However, the primary objective of giving students the confidence to continue to learn to use a computer was clearly achieved. Students who had never used computers previously, expressed the intent to purchase computers and to continue learning to use them on their own. The “hands on” activities that were planned to give students immediate experience using a computer worked well. Students who attended the seminar left with new skills that will benefit them for life. The discussion portion of the seminar was difficult to evaluate because discussions happened in Spanish, and I do not speak Spanish. The interpreter participated in the discussions and concluded the discussions by interpreting summary comments.

The planning of needs and feasibility tended to err on the side of providing too much material for a one-session seminar, however the material that was planned was necessary in order to accomplish the goals of the seminar. The only change I could recommend for the seminar would be to allow for more sessions in order to cover all of the material. I would not change the seminar content.

Original estimates of the time required to accomplish project goals were not realistic. The focus on physical skills effectively overcame much of the potential communication difficulty of an English-speaking teacher working with Spanish-speaking students. Materials were effectively translated, and although the language barrier hindered classroom discussion, the social learning aspects of the plan worked effectively with the use of a translator.

The time estimate was off because the educational diversity of participating students, and the effect of that diversity on the flow of classroom activities was not anticipated. Testing and timing of classroom activities was done with students who understood instructions, and were already familiar with using a computer. None of the actual students had ever used a computer. Some of the adult students had less than three years of education in their own language, while other students had some college-level training. More focus on knowing the students would have enabled more accurate planning of time required to complete the seminar.

References:

EDUC-6145-3 project management in education and training. (n.d.). Defining the scope of the project: Blog assignment. Walden University. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4744643&Survey=1&47=6447422&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=1&bhcp=1&BrswrOK=1&PrevRef=http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn%3FCourseID%3D4744643%26Survey%3D1%2647%3D6447422%26ClientNodeID%3D984650%26coursenav%3D1&submit1=Continue

Greer, M. (2010). The Project management minimalist: Juest enough PM to rock your projects (Laureate Education Ed ed.). michaelgreer.biz/?page id=636

Lloyd, David. (2010, June 26). Reflection on EIDT-6110 Advanced Instructional Design [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://rechargepoint.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-08-23T16:29:00-07:00&max-results=7

Reflection: The Future of Distance Learning

(Auld & Pantelidi, 1999)

At the conclusion of each course I am taking at Walden University, I am required to write a brief reflection on the course. This reflection is for the ”Distance Learning” class I just completed.

Reflecting on perceptions of distance learning in our society brings to mind an informal survey I recently took of friends on Facebook. I invited negative responses, but friends with negative attitudes are not likely to express them to me. On the other hand, I have friends who enjoy debating contrary opinions.

Respondents seemed to agree that the rigor and value of education, whether online or face-to-face, relates to the commitment and effort of the student more than it depends on how instruction is delivered. (Neuhauser, 2002) One respondent discussed the perceived rigor of online learning versus the perceived rigor of face-to-face learning, stating that both appear to be equivalent, but questioning whether online learning is as effective because of an assumed lack of student-teacher interaction. This assumed lack of interaction with online learning seemed to permeate the discussion. A couple of respondents made the point that physical contact between students and between student and teacher has social value that transcends its educational importance. There was also discussion that some subjects that require hands-on activity cannot be adequately taught online.

I agreed with respondents about the need for need for interaction with students. “Teaching" without interaction is really just self-study. Interaction is a necessary element of education, but the separation of distance and time that distinguishes distance learning allows for a level of learner involvement and direction that is rarely possible in a traditional face-to-face setting. (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2009d)

Respondents felt instructor interaction and learner motivation are important features of learning in any format. Issues unrelated to education such as work schedules would be the primary reason a student should consider online education versus education offered in a face-to-face format. These opinions were consistent with principles discussed in our course text. (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2009d)

The consensus of the discussion was that distance learning is more appropriate for some learners than for others and for some subjects than for others, however studies of self-identified visual, auditory, and tactile (hands-on) learners have shown no significant difference in success with online learning versus face-to-face learning. (Neuhauser, 2002)

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

            Adult learners clearly benefit equally from distance education as from face-to-face education. The evidence concerning K-12 learners is not as abundant, nor is it as clearly established. (Means, Toyama, Murphy, Bakia, & Jones) It seems clear that an evolution toward more online and blended (face-to-face education supplemented with online learning resources) will be the continued trend in the near future. It is my expectation that the trend will be for more blended learning in earlier grades.

            It seems unlikely online learning will ever fully replace face-to-face learning, especially for early grades, and especially for the learning of “hands on” skills that require human contact, but I expect to see continued expansion of online and blended learning in most fields of study, especially in secondary education and beyond.

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

            I believe in keeping a balanced view of the appropriate use of distance learning, realizing that no one format or vehicle of education is inherently superior to another. Distance learning certainly has a place in public education. I expect to see its expansion primarily in the area of blended learning supplements to classroom courses, and for the education of those who for numerous reasons cannot or choose not to participate in public school classroom education. (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2009a)

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

            I believe it is important for people to understand that distance education is just as effective as face-to-face education in most scenarios, and that blended education has been demonstrated to be generally superior to either of the formats. (Means, Toyama, Murphy, Bakia, & Jones)

What are your thoughts on the future of using multimedia to enhance and deliver instructional content?

            It is my opinion that multimedia can enhance learning, but the “core” of a well-designed instructional plan depends on much more than multimedia. It depends on providing learners with the information and the context with which to construct their own understanding, individually, and as part of a group. Learning is enhanced when it involves social interaction, whether that interaction is real, or whether multimedia simulates that interaction. Different kinds of learners need different kinds of instruction, and multimedia can help provide this necessary variety, but it is not possible to meet the needs of every learner. Learners are ultimately responsible to construct their own understanding, using the resources that have been provided. Multimedia provides resources that can be more effective than text and images alone. (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2009b)

Resources:

Auld, L, & Pantelidi, V. (1999). The virtual reality and education laboratory at east Carolina university. The Journal, 27(4), 48-55. Retrieved from http://thejournal.com/Articles/1999/11/01/The-Virtual-Reality-and-Education-Laboratory-at-East-Carolina-University.aspx

Means, B., Toyama, Y., Murphy, R., Bakia, M., & Jones, K. (2010, September). Evaluation of Evidence-Based practices in online learning: A meta-analysis and review of online learning studies. Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development-U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.pdf

Neuhauser, C. (2002). Learning style and effectiveness of online and Face-to-Face instruction. The American Journal of Distance Education, 16(2), 99-113. Retrieved from http://www.personal.psu.edu/khk122/woty/LearnerCharacteristics/Neuhauser%202002.pdf

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009a). Definitions, history and theories of distance education. In Teaching an learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009b). Foundations of distance education. In Teaching and learning ata distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009c). Teaching and distance education. In Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance learning (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009d). The student and distance education. In Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

DISTANCE LEARNING CONVERSION: BEST PRACTICES GUIDE

From time to time, various classes in the course I am taking at Walden University require me to write blog entries as a way to demonstrate my ability to apply what I am learning to a practical issue. In my current class,”Distance Learning,” I am required to write a best practices guide for converting existing face-to-face courses to a distance-learning or blended (face-to-face with distance learning elements) format.

Ideally, a distance learning course should be designed from the beginning as a distance learning course. Principles of sound instructional design require knowing the learner, knowing the learning environment, knowing the subject content, and planning instruction with all of these perspectives continuously in mind. If a course is to be effectively converted to a distance learning format or a blended format, the process must not ignore these perspectives. (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Susan, 2009)

Instructional development happens in cycles of Analysis, Design and Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. Conversion of a course from a face-to-face format to an online or blended format will require repeated iterations of these steps until the process is complete. It is not realistic to assume that an existing course can be effectively converted to a different presentation format without these proven design stages and adjustment. In each design step give consideration to:

• Continuously connect old learning with new using social interaction between learners and the facilitator.
• Triangulate on learning objectives with a variety of instructional media.
• Know the learner. Know the environment. Know the topic.
• Create a pleasant and professional learning environment.
• Use what works, not what’s new.
• Balance variety and economy.

(Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Susan, 2009)

Click here to see the full guide.

Reference:

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Susan, Z. (2009). Instructional design for distance education. In Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.