Scope Creep Woahs

As learned in EDUC 6145, scope creep is the natural tendency to try to improve the project’s output as the project progresses (Pornty, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, & Kramer, 2008).  Although this may not sound like a bad idea and people may think it could lead to a better end product of a project, this is not the case.  Scope creep can upset clients that are not told how long the changes will delay the project or how much the cost of the project with rise as a result (Portny et al., 2008).

Several years ago, I was an active 4-H volunteer with a focus on raising sheep.  The 4-H program staff decided that it would be beneficial to hold a workshop for children on how to prepare their sheep for the fair as well as how to show their animals.  This was not a problem because there were adults available with expertise that could work with the children.  As the planning of this one day workshop continued, however, other volunteers came up with ideas for arts and crafts as well as games. It was decided that this event should take place over the course of two days instead of one and that the children would stay overnight in the dorms on the fairgrounds where the event was taking place.  By deciding to have this event over the course of two days, it required the need to provide breakfast, lunch, and dinner, in addition to other supplies which in the end added to the cost of the workshop.

Although the children had fun with the different activities and there ended up being follow through with the scope creep, there was not a complete focus on what the original objective for holding the workshop was.  The length of the workshop was dragged out from what was originally planned and the cost was higher.  When considering a project and developing it, it is imperative to focus on the objective that has been established for a better end result.  Additional aspects could be included with the overlying objective for the workshop but in the end, time would be taken away from the original purpose of the workshop, reducing its potential value.

Looking back on this project from a project manager perspective, I would have more carefully considered the purpose for holding the workshop.  Although staying overnight with friends and doing arts and crafts might be fun, it is important to stop and ask if these activities are important to the overall objective of helping children prepare their sheep for the fair.  It is important to provide opportunities for children to have fun so that they stay engaged, but this can be done with content associated with the workshop objective rather than creating other opportunities just for a “fun” factor.

 

Resource:

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.

The Importance of Communication

Communication is a complex topic.  Depending on the method through which a message is conveyed, the way that the audience interprets a message can change. Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, and Kramer (2008) state that effective communication involves sharing the right messages with the right people in a timely manner. In the multimedia presentation “The Art of Effective Communication, learners can see how the same message can come across in different ways, depending on the format in which it is delivered.  As Dr. Stolovich discusses, 93% of communication is not in the words.  Factors that can have an impact on communication include spirit and attitude, tonality and body language, timing, the personality of the recipient (Laureate Education, Inc., n.d.).

First, the message was conveyed through text in an email.  When observing the text, the observer has difficulty understanding the tone that the person is trying to convey.  There are no visual or auditory cues for the observer to pick up on the sense of urgency that there may possibly be.  Dr. Stolovich also says that in written communication, set purpose at the beginning (Laureate Education, Inc., n.d.).  In the email, this occurs because in the first sentence, Jane asks Mark what the ETA is on the missing report.  In the voicemail message, Jane seemed rather monotone.  As a result, just like with the email, there does not seem to be a sense of urgency with the missing report that is needed.  With the voicemail, there is more of a personal connection because of the voice but communication still seems to be lacking.  Through the three examples, the face to face communication seemed to be the best way for Jane to convey her intended message.  Between her tone and body language, there is a sense of urgency created that she really needs the reports that are missing from Mark.  In addition, going out of her way to go and talk to Mark directly helps demonstrate that the missing reports are crucial for her to proceed with her own work.

While the request is direct and it is stated that missing reports are needed, it is vague in all three situations as to what exactly the reports are that are needed.  More than one project could be taking place at the same time so it would be important to clarify exactly what the report is that is missing rather than Mark trying to guess.  In addition, Jane leaves it up to Mark as to whether he provides her with the missing reports or raw data.  This has the potential to lead to additional ambiguity.  After observing all three contexts of communication, it is important to be direct when communicating.  An individual must be specific with their audience about what they may need or want their audience to know.  By being vague, room for interpretation is left open which could potentially create additional work or create an unsatisfactory product with missing pieces.

Resources:

Laureate Education, Inc. (n.d.). Communicating With Stakeholders. Video presentation.

Laureate Education, Inc. (n.d.). The Art of Effective Communication. Multimedia presentation.

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.

Post-Mortem Analysis and Reflection

As a second grade teacher, instructional projects for me are different than what others may think of.   Younger students are the target audience compared to adults in the training world. Even at the elementary school level, however, there is a lot of design that takes place for the students to get the most out of the lessons that are delivered to them.

While reflecting back on some of the units that were taught, the unit on American Indians last year really sticks out as being an instructional design project that was a failure overall. The objective for Virginia with regards to American Indians is:

“The student will compare the lives and contributions of three American Indian cultures of the past and present, with emphasis on the Powhatan of the Eastern Woodlands, the Lakota of the Plains, and the Pueblo peoples of the Southwest” (Virginia Department of Education, 2008).

 As a teacher, and looking back through the eyes of a project manager, common mistakes were made that impacted the instructional design negatively.  One mistake that comes to mind is jumping directly from the conceive phase to the perform phase.  This mistake often happens when projects are on short time schedules.  When this is the case, project managers may at times think that jumping in and starting the work right away will save time.  The problem with this, however, is that the project manager may not have defined what activities need to be completed yet.  As a result, the project could potentially take more time in the long run because work may need to be redone because it was not satisfactory from the beginning (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, & Kramer, 2008).  The unit was originally scheduled to take place over the course of 4 weeks but with days off of school from snow days and holidays, the unit was forced to be crammed into a span of 3 weeks.  As a result, it seemed important to take a look at what the students needed to know for the test and get started right away with planning, cramming as much into the 3 weeks as possible.  This was a mistake because the objective requires students to compare the lives and contributions of the different groups but it seemed that it would work to teach each of the groups in isolation and then compare them at the end.  This was not the case, however, because students had difficulty making connections between the groups when bringing them all together.

Whenever planning a lesson or unit, I always plan with the end in mind.  That means, I consider what students need to know and be able to do by the time they have learned the material.  This reminds me of the concept of “backing in.”  Backing in, is when an individual starts at the end of a project and working back towards the beginning, identifying activities and estimating durations that will ultimately add up to the amount of time that the project has been given (Portny et. al., 2008).  This is interesting to consider because it goes against the standards based planning process that I have been taught by the school system that I work for.  To help better ensure success with units now, teachers at my school create unit plans.  These are developed in advance of a unit being taught as compared to single lessons being created and then made to fit together for a certain topic.  With developing unit plans, time is not as big of a negative impact now because they are created before the content is taught at all and then the more detailed lesson plans are created from them.

In closing, reflecting back on this unit was very eye opening.  It can be more clearly observed why this instructional project was not a success.  Although the project was not a success, a lot was learned from it that has since been used to make stronger lessons and units.  Even if a project may not turn out the way that we would hope, if we keep our eyes open, I don’t think anything is a complete failure.  As project managers or instructional designers, we can use the lessons learned from the failures to then build other stronger projects.

 

Resources:

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.

Virginia Department of Education. (2008). History and Social Science Standards of Learning Grade Two.  Retrieved from http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/history_socialscience/index.shtml.

Reflecting on the Future of Distance Education

Perceptions of Instructional Design

Distance education is a field that is constantly changing.  With new technologies that are created, people are given new opportunities for distance education as well as experiences that are enhanced by the evolving technology.  As a result, I do not think that distance learning is something that is going to go away.  Instead, over the next 5 to 10 years, I think that distance education will continue to gain momentum and acceptance in both the academic and corporate worlds.  Since 1990, distance education has gone from the edge of practice in the field to a mainstream way of educational practice (Saba, 2005).  George Siemens points out that one reason for the growing acceptance of distance education is that more and more people are having experiences communicating online.  He goes on to say that distance education will be impacted by:

·         New communication technologies

·         Contribution by experts around the world

·         Increased use of multimedia games and simulations (Siemens, 2012).

With today’s generation growing up alongside distance education, they will eventually be in positions for decision making and be comfortable with and accepting of distance education courses. 

10 to 20 years from now, I think that distance education will become common place and accepted.  As a result, as new technologies continue to be developed over time and people that are separated by time and/or space are better connected, the term distance may be dropped.  I do not think that traditional classroom courses will completely disappear, but technological aspects will be incorporated and as a result, the instructors in all types of courses will take on more of a facilitator role. It is important to remember that distance education is not for everyone and some people may learn better in a more traditional format which is why I do not think that distance education will completely take over. 

Improvement of Perceptions

As an instructional designer, an individual has a responsibility for improving societal perceptions of distance learning.  The way that people perceive distance education is greatly dependent upon the way that the course is designed.  There are a variety of good instructional practice principles that give structure for involving students in quality learning experiences.  These include:

·         Communicating with students

·         Collaboration among students

·         Active learning experiences

·         Prompt feedback

·         High expectations

·         Respecting diversity (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2012)

If these things are taken into consideration during the instructional design of a course, I think that it will naturally help societal perceptions of distance education.  In general, perceptions that individuals form about things throughout life are often formed by the previous experiences that the individual has had. By taking the time to carefully preplan a distance education program, an instructional designer can help ensure that experiences are successful and as a result, learners will see the value of distance education programs.

Needs for Continuous Improvement

To be a positive force in regards to continuous improvement in the field of distance education, it is important to stay up to date with the changes in technology that take place.  As new technologies are developed, alternative and possibly better learning experiences could be created compared to what an instructional designer may have already developed.  As a result, it is important to monitor and adjust learning experiences.  As a result, as I am created lesson in my current job as a classroom teacher I will try to keep up to date with new technologies as they develop as well as make sure that I follow the guidelines and recommendations for effective instructional design.  When designing experience it is important to make sure that experiences are embedded to make the learner comfortable.  If the learner is comfortable with the learning environment, they are more apt to take to it (Siemens, 2012).

 

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2012). The Future of Distance Education. Baltimore, MD: Dr. George Siemens.

Saba, F. (2005).  The Future of Distance Education: Research, Conceptual Development and Practice.  Retrieved from http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/Resource_library/proceedings/03_29.pdf

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

Transitioning to a Blended Course

In recent years, education has been turning away from a teacher-centered approach to more of a student-centered approach.  One method by which this has been done is a blended learning format.  With blended learning, online and face to face learning are combined and between 30% and 79% of the learning is delivered online.  A blended learning format requires active participation of the students through discussion, and discovery (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2012).  It is important to remember that when designing a distance learning course, one that was once completely taught in a traditional classroom might not be able to be used in its entire original form online (Simonson et al., 2012). As a result, care needs to be taken with preplanning along with consideration for the instructional design that goes into creating the blended course.  The attached user guide contains suggestions and considerations that should be taken into account when creating a blended course as well as how the role of the trainer changes from a traditional classroom course.

 

Reference:

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

User Guide for Distance Learning

Open Course Analysis

Introduction to Teaching and Learning Mathematics and Science is an open course through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  The web address of the course is http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/urban-studies-and-planning/11-124-introduction-to-teaching-and-learning-mathematics-and-science-fall-2004/index.htm.  According to the course description, this course is meant to provide an introduction to teaching and learning in the K-12 environment (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2012).  Throughout the various learning activities of the course, students examine the opportunities and challenges associated with teaching.

            There are a variety of factors to look at when planning and designing for distance education which are explored in Teaching and Learning at a Distance: Foundations of Distance Education.  Graham, Cagiltay, Lim, Craner, and Duffy (2001) suggested seven lessons for online instruction.  These lessons appear to be guidelines to use when preparing online instruction.  One of these lessons is that instructors should provide clear guidelines for interacting with students (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2012). The syllabus is what provides the students with guidelines for the course.  In fact, the syllabus is the most important course document that an instructor can create.  In the syllabus, there needs to be enough information so that the students can understand the course structure, expectations and assignments, as well as how they will be assessed (Simonson et al., 2012).  In the syllabus for this course, the instructor does provide a course overview and rationale and overview along with a brief explanation of the course learning activities that the students will be completing throughout the course.  This shows that there has been preplanning because the instructor is able to communicate this information to the students before the course even begins so that students know what to expect.  The syllabus for this course, however, does not explain how assignments will be assessed.

            There are other factors discussed in the course textbook that demonstrate careful planning and design as well.  This includes:

·         Clearly established learning needs that are built around specific outcome statements.

·         Variety in the teaching and learning strategies that are activity based.

·         Materials address the life experiences of the learners.

·         Participation is encouraged (Simonson et al., 2012). 

 

This open course follows a lot of these ideas to some degree.  For example, in the syllabus, it is clearly acknowledged that this is one of several courses that are for students who do not necessarily major in education but at times add on the course to their program (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2012).  Another thing mentioned is that most of the students have had little difficulty with math and science and have demonstrated that on assessments.  While the learning needs are clearly delineated, the outcomes are more difficult to distinguish because they are embedded in other information.  For example, in the syllabus it says, “As a result these courses are designed to provide students with maximum exposure to different teaching and learning styles, and provide them with encouragement and support as they pursue their interests in teaching. The course emphasizes the benefits of a constructivist approach, and the merits of hands-on, project-based, collaborative work. All too many traditional education courses lecture to the students about the virtues of such hands-on constructivist approaches. Instead this course in turn takes a hands-on constructivist approach so that students may experience these methods while they learn about them. This approach sometimes confuses students who are not used to such methods. The second semester explicitly addresses these issues, and students consistently demonstrate understanding of this material in their own practice teaching” (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2012)  In terms of the outcome, out of all of this text I was able to pull that students may experience methods as they learn about them.  When I have seen outcome statements before, they have been clearly separated so that they can be distinguished.  In addition, the learning is active because the students will be applying the knowledge they obtain through a variety of activities.

While the course does follow recommendations for online instruction that were discussed in the textbook, it seems as though they could have been followed to a deeper degree.  For example, although the course syllabus provides an overview of the course to the students, it does not provide a way for students to contact the instructor which would help to deepen the instructor-student interaction component that was discussed.  In addition, as already mentioned, it was difficult to extract the learning outcomes from the material that was presented in the syllabus.  As a result, this could make it more difficult for students to really understand what they should be able to do by the time that they finish the course.  It is made clear, however, who the target audience is for this course, which is important.  The audience for this course is those individuals interested in becoming teachers. 

Through the activities in this course, the learners are actively involved.  Pulleys and Gears is one assignment where students contrast paper and pencil mastery of content versus hands on mastery.  Flastplants is another activity throughout the course where students examine issues in experimental design and the scientific method.  The Prisoner’s Dilemma project allows students to explore technologies that have become widely used in the classroom and those that have not in addition how best to use technologies in the classroom.  Other activities include teaching mini-lessons, conducting analysis, and observations.  With this course, it is important to note that approximately 10% of class time is spent on lecture materials and the rest of the course time is dedicated to class or group discussions, hands on activities, and student-led exercises (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2012).

In conclusion, the Introduction to Teaching and Learning Mathematics and Science course contains a lot of the factors and qualities that demonstrates a great deal of preplanning and design has taken place.  As noted throughout this review, however, explanations could have been taken to a higher level with the course and assessment information could have been added so that students know in advance how they would be evaluated.  Overall, I think this would be a course were individuals still getting their feet wet in education could learn a lot.

 

Reference:

Massachusetts Institute of Tecnhology. (2012).  Syllabus.  Retrieved from

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/urban-studies-and-planning/11-124-introduction-to-teaching-and-learning-mathematics-and-science-fall-2004/syllabus/

 

 

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

Distance: Foundations of Distance Education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.

Virtual Tours and Technology Tools

With the current state of many school budgets, costs for field trips have often been reduced, calling on teachers to find other ways of bringing experiences into the classroom.  One way of doing this is through interactive tours.  In scenario 2, a high school history teacher located on the west coast wants to show her students some new exhibits at museums in New York City.  The teacher wants the students to take a “tour” and interact with the museum’s curators.  After the “tour,” the teacher would like the students to choose artwork from each exhibit and participate in a group critique of the artwork.   There are a variety of technology tools that could be used to help make this distant learning experience as success.

To interact with the museum curators in an asynchronous environment, podcasting is one technology that could be used.  Podcasting allows for audio and/or video material to be recorded and stored on the internet so that it can be played back using iPods, MP3 players, computers, as well as other electronics that allow for the playback of audio and/or video (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2012).  There are various benefits to using podcasts.  Using multiple forms of media in a podcast helps to enhance the learning that takes place.  Research has shown that using both audio and visual content helps learning increase significantly.  In addition, the research also shows that online students who use podcasts have shown more effective learning as well as greater satisfaction, autonomy, and motivation compared to students that do not use podcasts (The Technology of Distance Education).  This could be used because students could listen to thoughts and comments regarding the artwork in the different collections by the museum curators as the students look at the different collections.  In addition, the content could be paused or replayed as needed to help student understanding.  One example of podcasts being used in art museums is in the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery.  American Art staff produces podcasts that feature the voices of artists, curators, museum staff, lecturers, as well as students (Smithsonian Art Museum).  If a synchronous environment is available, videoconferencing is another technology tool that could be used.  With videoconferencing, audio and video is used so that the students and presenter can interact in real-time.  As the curator shows students different pieces of art, students would be encouraged to ask and answer questions as well as share their opinions and ideas (Smithsonian Art Museum). The Smithsonian Art Museum offers a variety of videoconferencing programs like this, showing that it can be successful. 

To help with the discussion component, a threaded online discussion forum could be used.  With a threaded discussion, the teacher posts questions that are related to the content being studied.  Students then posts comments and thoughts that they have relating to the question in a discussion area that is provided (Simonson et al., 2012).  The class should be broken down into smaller groups for discussion in this manner, however, rather than a whole class discussion forum.  Bentley and Waters (2006) established various guidelines for successful threaded discussions.  This included creating subgroups of 10-15 students for the discussion (Simonson et al., 2012).  This means of discussion is also beneficial because students can post as they think of ideas rather than trying to remember something until another day to be able to share with the class.

As I was looking around the internet, I found one example of a virtual tour that shows the actual inside of the museum and you can maneuver through the museum with clicks of the mouse and audio is also included.  This particular virtual tour is from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and can be viewed at http://www.mnh.si.edu/panoramas/.  Also, the Smithsonian Art Museum which has virtual tours and videoconferencing programs that were discussed can be viewed at http://americanart.si.edu/visit/about/.

 

Resources

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

 Smithsonian Art Museum. (ND).  Retrieved from http://americanart.si.edu/visit/about/

The Technology of Distance Education. (ND). Laureate Education, Inc.