eJournal #6

Selecting Instructional Media

In your eJournal entry this week, identify the media that you’ll use to augment or deliver your instructional strategy or strategies. Provide rationales for your selections, whether those rationales are based on affordances or other media selection approaches.

For the Drug Free Workplace eLearning, I will be using several items. First, the lecture portion and audio script is in Microsoft Word. The storyboard was built in PowerPoint. The final product will be completed in Adobe Captivate and will have audio overlay. There will be video added in to the project which will be done by our Communications Department and inserted into Captivate. Pictures will come from photos.com. Fortunately, we have all of these materials, so nothing will need to be purchased. 

eJournal #5

Identifying Instructional Strategies

The steps in the instructional design process covered up to this point have been deciding what you are going to teach; the purpose of this assignment is to determine how you are going to teach the instruction. Aninstructional strategy refers to sequencing and organizing content, determining learning activities, and the content delivery system. A good instructional strategy takes into account what is known about facilitating learning via research in educational psychology—what theory or theories should you apply? However, in designing your instructional strategy, you have to go beyond naming the theory or methodology. At a minimum, you also need to identify the following three major components that when part of an instructional strategy will facilitate learning:

1) motivation: how will you engage and motivate your learners to learn?

2) prerequisite and subskills: what is that they will learn and in what order?

3) practice and feedback: how will you know that they have learned it? and how will you let learners know whether they’ve learned?

In your journal this week, solidify your instructional goals and think through what theories or methods you’ll draw upon to help learners attain them. Then begin formulating your instructional strategies. 

Motivation, Skills, Practice and Feedback

Motivating individuals in an online environment is a challenging task. Hopefully, the learners will have some intrinsic motivation to learn the material since it is relevant to their jobs. Since the Drug Free Workplace eLearning is a requirement of their employment within the first 45 days after new employee orientation, learners are motivated to complete it, and many others, due to the requirement. However, to actually encourage them to learn the material and learn from it is a different story.

To engage the learners in this new eLearning, I will include interactions where learners can click on answers and receive immediate feedback about their choice and how it relates to a drug free workplace. I will include learning scenarios based on specific incidents within the Department of Mental Health that are relevant to every person’s job level. They will read the scenarios and apply the policy when making their choice for the best action to take. Also, I will include some questions throughout the eLearning to see if they are understanding the content. Besides being interactive, the eLearning will be visually appealing. The current one includes a cat and dog talking to each other. Yikes.

The eLearning for Drug Free Workplace is in the following order:

Section I: Welcome

• A description of the eLearning
• How to navigate the eLearning
• Who to contact if the eLearning is not functioning properly

 Section II: The Process

• Content on process
• Scenario with interactive steps for process to follow
• Tabs with content: pre-employment, reasonable suspicion, follow-up tests
• List of drugs that are tested
• Alcohol test scenario/policy application
• Drug test scenario/policy application

 Section III: Timing of Tests

• Content on timing of tests
• Costs of tests to agency and employee
• Employee status during tests
• Transportation
• Refusal or tampering with a test
• Tabs with content: positive test results, right to justify, negative test results
• Confidentiality

 Section IV: Test and Application

• Required multiple choice test questions (base them on scenarios)

Besides what was mentioned above, the Department requires a multiple choice quiz at the end of the eLearning. Learners must make an 80% or higher in order to receive credit for the eLearning and receive their certificate. The quiz provides immediate feedback on what was missed and participants are allowed to go back and review the material. I am not a big fan of the end of learning quiz, which is why I’m trying to create more interaction and learning scenarios throughout the modules rather than rely solely on the multiple choice quiz at the end. 

eJournal #4

Analyzing Instructional Goals

Over the last couple of weeks, your analysis has focused on identifying an instructional problem, assessing needs, analyzing context, and determining characteristics of learners. In our class discussions, we’ve also explored a broader context than the school, institution, or organization for which you are designing instruction—examining the nature and scope of attitudes, skills, and abilities needed in the 21^st Century.

The result of these analyses should lead to the development of instructional goals broad, generalized statements about what is to be learned. Some like to think of them as a target to be reached, or "hit." They differ from objectives, which are clear and concise statements detailing what the learner will be able to think, know, or do as a result of completing the instruction. Instructional objectives also describe the context in which the newly learned attitudes, knowledge, or skills will be applied and any tools available to the learners within the performance context.

The formulation of goals and objectives usually comes in the design phase. However, prior to moving into that phase, instructional designers analyze various goals and subgoals for the types of learning required given the needs assessment, context analysis, and characteristics of learners. In your eJournal entry for this week, think through what types of learning will address your instructional problem and explore possible goals and/or subgoals for the instruction that you will design in the next phase of the process.

Special note: Make sure you consider existing curriculum (if any exists) coming from the state, approved at your school, etc. I’d like you to also reflect on the question posed by Ritchhart, Morrison, & Church: “What kinds of thinking do you value and want to promote in your classroom?”. You may also consider another question implied in the excerpt from their book, “What kinds of thinking are necessary to build disciplinary understanding?”

For more guidance on Writing Instructional Goals & Objectives, visit http://www.personal.psu.edu/bxb11/Objectives/

This is my goal:

• Employees will report any suspicious behavior related to drugs in the workplace.

These are my subgoals:

• Employees will identify agency policy which prohibits use of drugs in the workplace.
• Employees will read learning scenarios about incidents of drugs in the workplace.
• Employees will make choices regarding what s/he would do in a given situation related to drugs in the workplace.
• Employees will respond to feedback about choices made regarding drug incidents in the workplace.

I really have to stop and think about whether I’m delving into objectives or stating overall goals of the course. The eLearning I inherited on Drug Free Workplace really just tells the learners to “report any suspicious behavior especially if related to drugs.” However, upon further analysis, I think this is the one overall goal of the eLearning and does not include the subgoals. The subgoals relate to the reporting, but give different, observable behaviors. Again, when I get into observable behaviors, I am probably delving more into the area of objectives. 

As our authors state, “Complex learning centers on integrated learning goals and multiple performance objectives that comprise tasks found on the job or in life. These coordinated goals and objectives promote the application and transfer of skills that make up complex learning.” (page 117) Building on the goal and objective, in a logical progression, helps students "reconstruct existing schema to align them with new experiences." ( 118) All levels of Bloom's thinking are necessary to construct meaning; however, think of it as a cyclical process that can return over and over to different areas rather than a linear hierarchy. Understanding is constructed through a real or simulated environments and through solving  problems with varied structures, complexities, and abstractness.

eJournal Entry #3

Analyzing Learners

Last week’s journal entry focused on analyzing context and this week’s reading discussion probably gave you additional insights about the broader context than the system or organization that you are designing for. This week, focus more specifically on analyzing the learner population that you will target with your instructional design. You’ll find more specific information on the key considerations in analyzing learner characteristics on page 25 in The Instructional Design Knowledge Base. Feel free to find additional sources that describe the learner characteristics you need to analyze.

Special note: You should do some research to gather information for this analysis and include links or attachments of the sources that inform your analysis in your journal entry.

For this journal entry, I based my learner analysis off of the Dick and Carey ISD Model. The questions they use for the Learner Analysis are some of my favorites and really cause me to think about my audience/learners. (http://www.itma.vt.edu/modules/spring03/instrdes/lesson5.htm) 

The questions are:

1. What are the general characteristics of your target population? Examples include age, grade level, topic area, etc.
2. Are there any entry behaviors that are not specific to your goal, and yet you feel are required for your intended learners to possess? (Entry Behaviors)
3. Do the learners already know something about the topic? (Prior Knowledge)
4. Do they have a positive attitude towards the content and the delivery system? (Attitudes Toward Content and Potential Delivery System)
5. Is it reasonable to expect them to want to learn what needs to be learned? Is the topic likely to interest them? (Academic Motivation)
6. Is it reasonable to expect that they can learn what needs to be learned? (Educational and Ability Levels)
7. Do they have any general learning preferences? (General Learning Preferences)
8. Do they have a positive attitude regarding the organization providing the instruction? (Attitudes Toward Training Organization)
9. Are there any important group characteristics? How similar or diverse are they? (Group Characteristics)
10. How did you obtain this information regarding the learner characteristics?

The general characteristics of my target population are new employees ranging from 19 to approximately 65. They are mostly new and unfamiliar with the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services; however, they may have been employed by the Department previously or worked as contractors for a time. Mostly, few of the new employees have experience with policies and procedures of the Department. I am able to gather this information each month, since my department conducts the face-to-face portion of the new employee orientation.

While the new employees understand “Don’t do Drugs” and that the Department is a “Drug Free Workplace,” few really understand the policy and what this means to them as part of their job duties. They leave regular face-to-face new employee orientation with the basic knowledge of “Don’t do Drugs in the Workplace and report it if you see someone,” and the required eLearning takes it one step further into understanding the policy and how it applies to them. Basic behaviors that are necessary for them to begin the eLearning are reading skills and problem solving skills for the learning scenarios (which will provide them feedback if they are not correct choices).

Sadly, the new employees have to complete a series of eLearnings that will leave them with a negative attitude. This is due to a variety of reasons. First, the quality of the original, rapidly developed eLearnings in 2009 are such that they often make no sense, contain old, irrelevant information, and are visually scary. Second, navigating the eLearnings isn’t always clear and consistent from one to another. Someone thought it would be fun to put buttons in different places or not to put written instructions on what to do next. Third, the LMS that is currently being used is old, has many issues, and times out the learner. This creates great frustration on the part of the learner because s/he has to call the HelpDesk and have things reset. So, there is no positive attitude toward eLearning after they do a couple of them.

The learner comes into the eLearning with an attitude of “I know this, it’s about don’t do drugs in the workplace...duh.” This is hard to combat. There is little motivation initially to take the eLearning. This is something I will have to combat and attempt to create interest immediately and make everything relevant to their job. The eLearning will serve as further education for all employees ranging from Patient Care Assistants (PCA) within a facility to new Administrators within a facility or central office. The audience contains a wide range of education, job skills, and technology skills. This will be a further challenge since a PCA has a vastly different job and experiences with drugs in the workplace than the administrator will have who sits in central office. For this project, and the needs of the Department, the learners only have the choice of an eLearning which will include some lecture, activities, questions, and learning scenarios. 

eJournal Entry 2

Analyzing ProblemsLast week, you completed a technique to determine the root cause of the problem that you think your instructional design will address. The technique isn’t a formal procedure in instructional design, but it should have helped reveal some key considerations that designers make during the analysis phase. Determining whether there is an instructional need is an important step to conduct before jumping into designing instruction.

A performance analysis assists the designer (you) in determining the problem, coming up with possible solutions, and determining if the problem can be solved with some form of instruction. You will have to critically analyze the situation using a variety of tactics. The 5 Whys is a way to determine whether the problem is instructional or non-instructional. Once you’ve determined the problem is instructional, you should try to obtain multiple perspectives on what knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values are needed to address the problem—the goals or outcomes of the instruction.

A needs assessment examines desired performance as compared to actual performance. If people are performing at the desired level/expectation, then there is no problem, thus no need for instruction. If there’s a gap between desired and actual performance, instruction may be a solution to the performance gap. However, the designer must analyze what instructional needs would resolve that performance gap. For example, imagine that your school principal states that teachers need to integrate more technology in the classroom. As an instructional designer, you would need to obtain a clear picture of the principal's expectations in regards to technology integration and then go about determining the actual level of technology integration that's occurring in the classroom, as well as the level of technology other skills of the teachers.

Be sure to include both a performance analysis (to determine the problem and whether or not instruction is the solution to the problem) and a needs assessment (to clarify further what should be addressed by the instruction) in your Instructional Design Document. 

Analyzing Context
After assessing need and determining whether problem is instructional or non-instructional, instructional designers formulate descriptions of the system, environment, and organization in which the learning or instruction will take place and identify resources available as well as constraints. In your eJournal entry for this week, document your thoughts on the learning context for your instructional design project. Pages 24 and 25 in the Richey, Klein & Tracey text provide more detailed information on considerations for analysis of context. You likely will have to conduct some research to gather information about the school, district, or other organization that you’re targeting with your design to inform your analysis.

Special note: Next week’s analysis will focus on Learner Characteristics. Use this week to focus on system, environment, and organization.

Performance Analysis

The problem with the Drug Free Workplace eLearning is primarily instructional. To address the instructional issues, I am going to have to look at it from multiple perspectives. First, the policy is the key to the issue. It has been updated and the updates have invalidated all of the eLearning information. Second, the eLearning was done rapidly in 2009, and is missing items such as learning scenarios and real-life application for the learners. Third, the eLearning has not been evaluated by a SME in four years, so the information may not be current. Fourth, there is old information such as contacts that don’t work for the agency anymore. Fifth, the eLearning itself is not functioning accurately such as active links. Last, the questions are pathetic and an insult to the intelligence of any learner.

I’m not sure if I needed to get more specific into the actual eLearning. I can share the actual learner outcomes, modules, etc., since I worked with the SME this week to identify all of these items.

Needs Assessment

For the current, out-dated product, the learner does not have to do anything but click through the eLearning and answer five lower-than-lower questions. I do not even classify them as remembering level of Bloom’s. In order for learning to occur at the desired level and for learners to actually apply the drug free policy to real-life situations they may encounter, the eLearning needs to include instruction and learning scenarios with relevant questions placed appropriately throughout the modules. Since I am required to have at least five questions at the end of each module, I will make them more learning scenario oriented (what would be the best solution based on policy) rather than regurgitation questions.

There would be several needs in this project. First, I have to meet with the SME and evaluate what is currently in the eLearning, get relevant and appropriate scenarios from him, and be sure that I am understanding and teaching to the new policy. From there, I will need to be sure I have time to work in Captivate to come up with a prototype (we develop with SAM now instead of just ADDIE – although I really think I do a combo at this time). Then, I will need to work with the SME to make sure this prototype is what we both have in mind for a new product that reflects the learner practicing and applying the new drug free policy.

Basically, the goal is to educate the new employees on the Drug Free Workplace new policy. Throughout the eLearning, the employees will be asked to make decisions and choices based on learning scenarios and application of the process. Through their selection (of decisions and choices), feedback will be provided indicating whether the choice followed policy or did not (and why). There will be questions related to learning scenarios that will be “graded,” since that is a requirement of the department and not something I can change. The instructional delivery media/methods involve Adobe products. It will be primarily Captivate 7. At this time, we do not have any need to stay within a specific cost limit since it is being done in-house by me. I will track my time on it, but it is part of my job requirements to update and create new eLearnings. Constraints include time with SMEs, time with development due to other responsibilities, learning new items in Captivate 7, time for others to view and approve the new eLearning, and then time with IT to actually post the completed product for all to use. On the flip side, some of those items are my resources and are very helpful such as SME knowledge, learning more in Captivate 7, gaining approval of others (and having them see my work), and working with IT (this will eventually lead us to a new LMS). 

eJournal Entry1

According to Ryan (1975), “A systems approach is an operational concept, referring to a scientific, systematic, and rational procedure for optimizing outcomes of an organization or structure, by implementing a set of related operations to study an existing system, solve problems, and develop new or modify existing systems” (cited in Richey, Klein, & Tracy, 1975, p. 17). What is key here is that our primary purpose in applying instructional design models or processes, such as the ADDIE model, is to solve some sort of problem. When you introduced yourself to the class, you indicated a topic or subject area for your instructional design project. For your first journal entry, I’d like you to more fully explore what problem your instructional design project will address. You’ll use a systematic process for identifying the root cause of a problem; this process is known as the 5 Whys.

1. First briefly describe your intended project. You can copy and paste it from your introduction if you wish. Then state what the problem that your design project will address is. If you’re designing a new course or workshop, the problem might simply be that the course or training doesn’t exist. If you’re modifying instruction, state why. This is your first why.
2. Then determine and state why the problem you’ve identified is occurring or why that problem is a problem—your second why.
3. Now explain why that’s occurring (the cause) or why that’s a problem (unintended or undesirable effects)—your third why.
4. Then identify a fourth and fifth why if you can.
5. Now reflect on your process. Did this technique reveal any new insights for your project? Has it changed the scope, purpose, or focus of the project? Explain how or why. 

Additional Resources
Feel free to read more on the 5 Whys technique, where it originated, how and why its used in Wikipedia or all over the web, if you wish.

For my instructional design project, I will work on a Drug Free Workplace eLearning that is used for all new employees for the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. An eLearning exists, created in 2009, and needs to be completely revised, expanded, etc. to provide the required information with learning scenarios for the appropriate audience. 

The outdated eLearning is not giving accurate information to new employees and could become a potential legal issue for the Department. The original eLearning does not include any learning scenarios which does not allow the learner the ability to apply knowledge. Also, the eLearning itself is old and has issues. Links don't work, people listed in it don't work for the agency anymore, and the questions asked are lower than the lowest Bloom's levels (I'm talking sub-remembering if there was such a thing). 

Due to time constraints, lack of knowledgeable developers, and budget restraints, the eLearnings for the agency have not been updated since 2009. This was the first one targeted due to new policy changes and many complaints to our helpdesk regarding issues related to functionality and inaccuracy of information. Due to non-maintenance of the eLearnings, they are out-of-date, reflect speedy design (or lack of design) processes, and lack of any application and higher level questions. I was hired to 1) get our face-to-face training program up and running again and 2) begin revising all eLearnings that are available to new employees. I've accomplished goal #1 and now am moving my focus to eLearnings.