The Case of the Creepy Scope

As I do not have any professional project management experience, I must draw upon my personal life for an example of scope creep affecting a project. When my wife and I were looking for a house in Atlanta (via FL) one of my non-negotiable items was a finished basement. Once we found and purchased our house, I began remodeling the basement. My wife and I created a budget together based on the items and functionality that I desired out of my man cave. As I began installing equipment and arranging furniture, I kept “envisioning” improvements that I could make as I went along. This resulted in me making frequent trips to Home Depot and multiple purchases on Amazon.com. In addition, I returned furniture and attempted to custom build a theater platform.

This became a point of contention between my wife and I; I spent much more than we had agreed upon when we created our project budget and I was spending far too much time in the basement, which was not fair to my wife. As the manager of the project, it would have been beneficial for all involved if I had performed more research during the planning phase of the project; this would have prevented me from finding the next best item that caused me to repeatedly change my mind about the direction of my basement project. 

Helpful Instructional Design Links

Link 1: http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/costs.html

This site offers an overview of the instructional design project management process, detailing the potential pitfalls and trials that designers may run into throughout the design process. It is a brief, but concise site that focuses on speeding up the design process while minimizing errors and improving efficiency. These tips can be used to help both novice and veteran designers streamline their design process; it is especially helpful for those, like myself, that have no process as of yet.

 This site specifically addresses budgeting in an instructional design project. The author breaks down the process using a specific example, but also offers the average development time for multiple types of design projects and estimations for the amount of time it takes for instructor preparation, offering valuable guidance for beginners such as myself. I recently started my own social media and instructional design consulting company and one of my struggles has been determining pricing; this site is an invaluable source and will help me determine my pricing.

Link 2: http://www.bnhexpertsoft.com/english/products/advent/module4.htm

This site offers an overview of the instructional design project management process, detailing the potential pitfalls and trials that designers may run into throughout the design process. It is a brief, but concise site that focuses on speeding up the design process while minimizing errors and improving efficiency. These tips can be used to help both novice and veteran designers streamline their design process; it is especially helpful for those, like myself, that have no process as of yet.

The Art of Effective Communication: Interpretations

This exercise proved to be quite interesting; the written message seemed to be extremely wordy and came across as timid. The message felt as if the writer was almost afraid of being a nuisance or pest. The voice-mail was an entirely different story; it started off with the same tone of timidity, but quickly became assertive and borderline demanding. The speaker’s voice emphasized the importance of the report data that was needed. The face-to-face video seemed to take a step backwards; it did not give off the same feeling of timidity as the written notice, but it did not seem as assertive as the voice-mail  The speaker’s body language and ending smile lacked assertiveness as well, making the request seem less important.

This exercise is attempting to illustrate the importance of communicating with your team members in the appropriate manner for the appropriate situation. When dealing with many different people that each have potentially different personalities (and work ethics). It is imperative that, as a project manager or instructional designer, you communicate both clearly and effectively so that your team can operate smoothly. It is especially important in a case such as this, in which a deadline is in danger of being missed; one cannot afford for a team member to misinterpret the level of urgency of the requested task. This could be the difference between success and failure. When I take on either of these rolls I will have to make a conscious effort to maintain a clear and concise line of communication with my team members, especially in relation to meeting deadlines on project deliverables.

Post Mortem Of A Failed Project

I took on a household project in 2008 that, in retrospect, should have been left to professionals. I decided to build my own custom home theater in the basement of my home in Atlanta. I had a rectangular shaped 30 x 14 foot room in which I wanted to build a three level platform in order to simulate stadium seating for watching movies and entertaining guests. I performed my “research” by looking through multiple home theater magazines and web sites. I was on vacation and planned to begin and complete the project in 13 days (the amount of time that I had left before returning to work).

Unfortunately the project was a complete and utter failure. If I had any knowledge of the project management process (or common sense) I would have been a lot more thorough during the planning phase of the project, make sure that my research was more thorough. If I had performed a feasibility study I would have realized several things:

·         I did not possess the  carpentry skills that were required to complete this project

·         I did not own some of the required tools needed to complete this project

·         I did not even attempt to set a budget for the project, thinking that whatever money that I spent would pay for itself in the end.

·         I did not research the design specifications for the type of platform that I was building

When I measured the area for the platforms I did not account for the crown molding at the base of the wall. I measured and cut three platforms, but had to re-cut each of the platforms to adjust for the molding. Additionally, I had to purchase a particular type of electric saw and a much higher grade of wood that I had previously anticipated, for durability purposes. When all was said and done, the upper platform collapsed under the weight of the seats because I did not build the proper support structure underneath. The project ended at that point because I could not justify the cost of starting the project over (to my wife, LOL).  If I had properly researched my project, looking at blueprints of other similar projects; setting an appropriate budget, which would have included determining the proper tool set and properly pricing the required wood. In short, my project required management.

The Future of Distance Learning 

 

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

In the fall of 2005 I enrolled in a brick and mortar M.S. program in order to advance my teaching career and, of course, my salary. I had previously enrolled in the same program the prior fall, but was forced to withdraw because of a back injury sustained in a car accident. When I was finally able to begin the program, I was hard-pressed to earn my degree as quickly as possible, as a promotion was all but guaranteed to me. My graduate enrollment advisor informed me that I had the choice of taking the majority of my classes either face-to-face or online. I had never taken an online class before; additionally, every educated person that I knew would make light of online courses, usually poking fun at commercials from schools like the University of Phoenix. I was quite reluctant to sign up for any of the online courses, fearing that I would not receive that same quality of instruction that I would receive in the brick and mortar classes. This attitude was not uncommon among the general populace for the majority of the next decade.

Today, things are quite different. A decade later, people’s attitudes have changed immensely towards distance learning, particularly with full time professional adults that do not have the time or scheduling flexibility of a younger person. Due to the fact that I am a public school teacher, I am surrounded by professionals that can only get a significant pay raise by attending graduate school. I found that a lot of teachers spend much of their adult lives in graduate school in an attempt to improve their quality of life and. This has led to a large number of adults that don’t have any choice but to enroll in a distance learning program. What I have noticed in my profession is that over time there has been a gradual change that went from teachers justifying their choice to attend an online program, almost ashamedly, to the present where we routinely discuss the rigor of our programs and often express shock and awe when we encounter a graduate student that has chosen to attend brick and mortar classes.

 

The Instructional Design program that Walden offers is a completely different experience than the online courses that I participated in almost a decade ago. Programs such as Walden’s show that while not perfected, distance learning has seen a significant amount of refinements, making it my personal choice for graduate education. Due to both the rapid growth and change in perception of distance learning I can only surmise that the field will continue to grow in both quality and scope. I also believe that distance learning will become an integral part of undergraduate and high school education. I don’t think that it is too far-fetched to see a teen parent at home with their new born engaged in a remote course instead of missing out on valuable educational time. Also, with the rapid increase in mobile technology, it is almost assured that the “instant gratification” populace that is currently emerging will also demand to have their education a la carte; tools such as the iPad will most likely play an integral role in the growth of distance education.

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

As an instructional designer it is my responsibility to show learners that distance learning is not only a credible form of education, but in some cases, a superior one. What it all comes down to is the fundamental building blocks of education: effectiveness and validity. As a designer of distance courses it will be my responsibility to design courses that are engaging, informative, enlightening, challenging, and effective. I feel that one of the reasons that online learning still suffers from a negative perception is partially due to course designers that “phone it in” or so to speak. If a course designer takes the path of least resistance and makes the minimal effort when designing courses, it will be apparent to the learner, as well as clients. As an Instructional Designer I must strive to make every course an experience that each learner would love to return to.

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

I recently applied for an Instructional Design position at a well-established company in my local area. One of the most attractive aspects of this company is the fact that employees are encouraged to continually educate themselves and attempt to innovate when designing courses. While fulfilling a contract is always the primary goal, employees are given the liberty to try new approaches and strategies. In a position such as this, I would most definitely use the opportunity to find and implement new ways to engage learners and improve the current methods of transferring knowledge remotely. The key to accomplishing this would most definitely lay in time spent performing research, as well as studying the research of others.

A growing segment of distance learning is Open Course web sites. These are free sites in which individuals can view courses that range in subject matter. These sites generally do not require registration, but in turn, they do not offer credit or certification of any kind. I have chosen to examine a Stanford Law School course focusing on the bias of beauty that is prevalent in business practices. This particular course is offered in a video lecture format, lastly approximately one hour. This course is accessible via iTunes and can be retrieved from http://itunes.stanford.edu/.

As Stanford is one of the most respected academic institutions in the United States, if not the world, I had high expectations when I began this Open Course. Despite the fact that it was a free offering, I expected it to at least resemble an actual course from mainstream academia. It did not; what I was greeted with was an hour long video of a class lecture with more faults than merits. Admittedly, the subject matter offered in this course was quite interesting, if not entertaining, but it was more than obvious that this was not designed to provide a learning experience, but more of an opportunity for those participating to become more enlightened and perhaps encouraged to seek more knowledge on their own.

It was quite obvious that this course was not tailored towards a true distance learning environment. The list of course attributes that are conducive to distance learning is quite short:

·         Accessibility: The Stanford courses are readily available on iTunes, making them accessible to just about anyone that owns a computer with internet access

·         Low Tech Equipment Demands: Participants do not need items such as scanners, cameras or microphones

·         Asynchronous Courses: Learners can participates in Stanford courses any time of day, stopping and starting as desired

These are in accordance with teachings of Dr. George Piskurich in which he emphasizes the importance of considering the learners access to technology (Piskurich, 2012) and similar emphasis stated in our course text (Simonson et al., 2012).

The shortcomings of Stanford Open Course offerings, in my opinion, are quite numerous:

·         There are no visual aids to assist with information transfer

·         There is an absence of interactivity

·         Collaboration between learners is not an option

·         No Consideration of Audience

With the complete absence of some of the core design principles that should be included in distance learning planning, I believe that it is more than obvious that remotely follow the recommendations listed in our text. As I watched the Open Course it felt no different from watching a video on YouTube. There was no interactivity during the course and there were no optional follow up activities provided for the distance learners’ enrichment. The absence of any sort of assignments whatsoever left me feeling more entertained than educated, which is not the purpose of a program such as this. While this type of distance module has it’s uses and does contain excellent information, I am not sure if it warrants the label of “course” in anything but the most loose of definitions.

Collaborative Training Environment

"A new automated staff information system was recently purchased by a major corporation and needs to be implemented in six regional offices. Unfortunately, the staff is located throughout all the different offices and cannot meet at the same time or in the same location. As an instructional designer for the corporation, you have been charged with implementing a training workshop for these offices. As part of the training, you were advised how imperative it is that the staff members share information, in the form of screen captures and documents, and participate in ongoing collaboration."

 

When creating a distance learning module, assessing the use of technology is an essential component of the planning process (Simonson et. al, 2012). Although cloud computing has been around in some form for the better part of a decade, it is only recently becoming a widely recognized as a viable tool for not only document sharing, but collaboration in its’ truest form; this is a benefit for designers as it alleviates one of the most critical hurdles in distance learning. The major hurdle that designers face when implementing the use of one of these applications is the uninitiated that may resist change. In order to best address the needs, there are two performance tasks that need to be addressed: information sharing and ongoing collaboration. There are a variety of options to address these needs that range in price and complexity. The key is to find an effective low-cost option that is not too complicated for the average worker to master in an acceptable time frame.

There are multiple methods for sharing information via the internet, but I believe that Google Docs would the most cost effective application for this process. A lead Google account would have to be created and then the desired document folders would have to be shared with all of the collaborators in the company. Google Docs will allow those granted access to save notes, voice notes, screen captures, picture files, documents (office files, PDF’s etc…). Google Docs also allows individuals to review, edit and share items in real time which would satisfy the client request for information sharing.
 

The Senior Instructional Designer at the University of Alabama has successfully integrated Google Docs into both online course development and professional development for the faculty, stating that Google Docs serves to eliminate the difficulties of collaborating across great distances and multiple time zones.  Additionally, a team of Florida State University professors researched the benefits of using Google Docs for distance learning and presented their findings at the Columbia State University Learning “Now “ Frontier Conference. Their presentation was called Google Docs: A Robust Hub for Online Collaboration; in this presentation they emphasized the affordability, wide compatibility and robust online capabilities. Google Docs addresses one of the major concerns of distance education practitioners, the amount of interactivity/collaboration that is possible in a course (Beldarrain, 2006), is appropriately addressed and should be sufficient for most collaborative scenarios over distance.

Distance Learning Mind Map