Project Lead ISD Blogspot

Using Technology to Enhance the Online Learning Experience

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 13 Dec 2015 20:30:00 +0000

Using Technology to enhance the Online Learning Experience

Build on something your colleague said.
Explain why and how you see things differently.
Ask a probing or clarifying question.
Share an insight from having read your colleague's posting.
Offer and support an opinion.
Validate an idea with your own experience.
Expand on your colleague's posting.
Ask for evidence that supports the posting.

Return to this Discussion in a few days to read the responses to your initial posting. Reflect on what you learned in this activity and/or insights you gained this week.

Discussion Rubric

Quality of work submitted	4 - Above Standards A = 4.00; A- = 3.75	3 - Meets Standards B+ = 3.50; B = 3.00; B- = 2.75	2 - Approaching Standards C+ = 2.50; C = 2.00; C- = 1.75	1 - Below Standards F = 1.00
Support for position	Includes 3 or more pieces of evidence (facts, statistics, examples, real-life experiences) that support the position statement. The writer anticipates the reader's concerns, biases or arguments and has provided at least 1 counter-argument.	Includes 3 or more pieces of evidence (facts, statistics, examples, real-life experiences) that support the position statement.	Includes 2 pieces of evidence (facts, statistics, examples, real-life experiences) that support the position statement.	Includes 1 or fewer pieces of evidence (facts, statistics, examples, real-life experiences).
Evidence and Examples	All of the evidence and examples are specific, relevant and explanations are given that show how each piece of evidence supports the author's position.	Most of the evidence and examples are specific, relevant and explanations are given that show how each piece of evidence supports the author's position.	At least one of the pieces of evidence and examples is relevant and has an explanation that shows how that piece of evidence supports the author's position.	Evidence and examples are NOT relevant AND/OR are not explained.
Sources	Includes 4 or more sources. All sources used for quotes, statistics and facts are credible and cited correctly.	Includes 3 or more sources. All sources used for quotes, statistics and facts are credible and most are cited correctly.	Includes 2 or more sources. Most sources used for quotes, statistics and facts are credible and cited correctly.	Many sources are suspect (not credible) AND/OR are not cited correctly.

Essentials of Setting up the Online Learning Experience

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 04:26:00 +0000

Essentials of Setting up the Online Learning Experience

One way of describing a course is that it is a set of learning experiences designed to guide learners as they acquire and are assessed on a specific set of knowledge, skills, and attitudes. There are a few questions that you should consider as a instructor, in order to facilitate an effective and engaging online course (Boettcher, 2010).

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

Technology is the medium from which you will facilitate your course. It provides you the ability to offer and customize your course to fit the outcomes you have determined. Additionally, technology allows additional interaction to be conducted or inserted into the course as well. However, you need to keep in mind what technology your students will have access too, as not to create an undue burden, or create interactions that can't be accessed by everyone, due to technology limitations.

Why is it essential to communicate clear expectations to learners?

Clear expectations is an expectation that the learners actually have for the instructors. In an environment where most of the learning can be self directed, it is

Many teachers come into the profession with expectations that are so high that no student would be able to meet them. When this occurs, everyone gets frustrated. It causes both the students and the instructors a great deal of difficulty, because they find that they can not get what they need from their students, and their students can not get what they need from their instructor

The first rule about expectations is that students must understand what they are, what they mean, and how it looks to meet them; you should read them out loud and not assume students know how these translate into actions.

When expectations are put into practice, they promote responsibility and togetherness. Things have a tendency to work better.

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

I feel you have just as many consideration you have to take into account as when teaching a f2f course, some the major ones are:

- Communication; how and with what regularity.

- Grading; create rubrics, clear direction.

- Student interactions; how much independent of group collaboration do you want.

- Resources; from where are the additional course resources accessed.

- Textbook and software requirements; what is needed, will students be able access digital copies,

Online learning has revolutionized the classroom, it comes with its own unique set of challenges, but with some forethought you can facilitate a very successful online course.

Resources:

Boettcher, J. V., & Conrad, R. (2010). The online teaching survival guide: Simple and practical pedagogical tips. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Video: Laureate Education (Producer). (2010). Launching the online learning experience [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Image. (n.d.) Retrieved from: http://interactiveservices.com/2013/12/e-learning-development-choosing-the-right-technology/

Week One: Online Learning Communities

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 04 Sep 2015 02:22:00 +0000

Over the last few years, the number of postsecondary institutions offering distance education courses has grown tremendously. For example, in 2003, 81% of all institutions of higher education offered at least one fully online or hybrid course, up 25% from 2000-2001.

How do online learning communities significantly impact both student learning and satisfaction within online courses?

They essentially create an environment where the amount of learning is limitless. Their involvement directly impacts the satisfaction of the course. They have to be learning professionals and take active roles in their learning.

What are the essential elements of online community building?

Environment/area for interaction
Resource lists (i.e. videos, articles, reference material)
Effective facilitation
Initial/follow-on questions
Accessibility
SCORM compliance
Help desk support

Problem based learning scenarios that will contribute to interaction and collaboration.

http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/761/building-an-online-learning-community

How can online learning communities be sustained?

Continuous program improvement, they have to ensure the material stay relevant.

Technology that continues to support the course delivery.

What is the relationship between community building and effective online instruction?

Promotes collaboration which increases the satisfaction of the course
Reinforces learning through self reflection
Promote self directed learning
Create a social presence atmosphere/environment

http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/761/building-an-online-learning-community

References:

Boettcher, J. V., & Conrad, R. (2010). The online teaching survival guide: Simple and practical pedagogical tips. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass

Conrad, R., & Donaldson, J. A. (2011). Engaging the online learner: Activities and resources for creative instruction (Updated ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2010). Evaluating distance learning theory [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Laureate Education (Producer). (2010). Online learning communities [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Busted trying to SCOPE CREEP

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 12 Jun 2015 01:47:00 +0000

Program Manager, Enterprise Product on Demand Service (ePODS)

About: National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) began transforming its mapping, charting, and data management processes from an often outdated, labor- and time-intensive process this program aided in reducing cartographic production time from hundreds of hours to as few as one. The clear success of the project served as an impetus for NGA to modernize nautical and topographic mapping and charting.

I was the Project Manager for this program. I had several customers, who had customers for which these mapping products were being produced. Each release we had competing requirements that had to be balanced. Mitigating "Scope creep" was important as we only had one pot of money, and it had to be used to develop and implement the new mapping product for that release. Each new product introduced a new map and that serviced a different customer. Topographic was for the Army and Marines, Nautical was for the Navy, Aeronautical was for the Air Force or their partners.

I feel as though I did a good job managing scope creep, as each task was tied back to our requirements document/matrix. If it wasn't in there, then it was considered a new requirement and had to go through our Change Control Board (CCB), as well as be impacted against the current requirements and schedule.

At the end of the day, it's all about balance. Balancing requirements against resources, and ensuring your execution matches your plan.

ISD Estimating Resources

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 03 Jun 2015 23:06:00 +0000

Hello team, below are a few links to ISD estimating resources that I have found extremely useful.

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

This is one of the more popular references, I used this to form estimates for ID work projects I was trying to win contracts on. If you can name, he covers it.

https://christytucker.wordpress.com/2014/03/18/time-estimates-for-e-learning-development/

Another good resource which outlines all the different areas/tasks you may need to consider when building/compiling an estimate.

Art of Effective Communication exercise

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 21 May 2015 22:26:00 +0000

Communication

In my opinion all three of the modalities; written text, audio, and f2f all conveyed the same message: Jane needs me (Mark) to complete a report that she gets information from in order to complete her report. Her ability to complete and meet her deadline is dependent upon me. I need to get my report done as soon as possible as to not impact her.

How did your interpretation of the message change from one modality to the next?

I didn’t really see a change between the messages, obviously with the written text I can choose to read it with an attitude, but I didn’t for that message. I (Mark) is in the wrong and needs to get his report done, I don’t know if his report is past due, however it definitely has an impact on Jane’s work.

What factors influenced how you perceived the message?

Tone of voice, my tells me all the time, it’s not what I say, but my tone. 20 years in the Marine Corps has conditioned me to be very direct and matter of fact. I have to be aware of that when communicating to others.

Which form of communication best conveyed the true meaning and intent of the message?

The voicemail and the f2f meeting, because I could hear the tone, it also I see the need she has for me to get my part done.

What are the implications of what you learned from this exercise for communicating effectively with members of a project team?

Messages need to be clearly stated. More importantly due dates need to be established and accountability for completing tasks enforced. If there are dependencies, they should be stated and each person needs to understand the impact they could have on the rest of the team’s ability to complete their tasks.

WBT Project: Post-Mortem

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 15 May 2015 00:53:00 +0000

Hello everyone, this is a project we are in the process of implementing.

Scope: Create a WBT solution that will train analysts how to view images, assess the quality of the image, and assign a rating.

Background: The aerial imaging community utilizes the National Imagery Interpretability Rating Scale (NIIRS) to define and measure the quality of images and performance of imaging systems. Through a process referred to as "rating" an image, the NIIRS is used by imagery analysts to assign a number which indicates the interpretability of a given image. The NIIRS concept provides a means to directly relate the quality of an image to the interpretation tasks for which it may be used. Although the NIIRS has been primarily applied in the evaluation of aerial imagery, it provides a systematic approach to measuring the quality of photographic or digital imagery, the performance of image capture devices, and the effects of image processing algorithms.

What contributed to the project’s success or failure?
The project is going to be implemented, but not as we would like it. Basically the some of the images that where provided for the practical exercises and quizzes were doctored, the SMEs did not go out and get the actual image for the rating as presented. This caused problems for the students taking the course during the pilot phase, as each analyst may have a different monitor with varying settings, so the images do not display at the appropriate NIIRS rating.

Which parts of the PM process, if included, would have made the project more successful?
I don't think there is anything we could have done, we advised them before using the images that they should find real images to use. However, the SMEs stated that the images would work as provided. We therefore loaded the images into the module and during testing it was discovered that they would not be appropriate. This caused about a 3 week delay, because now the SMEs had to go back and get new images.

Hello Everyoone

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 08 May 2015 12:55:00 +0000

Hello everyone, believe it or not, I never blog, this will be a new experience for me.
Will post information shortly.

Derrick