15/5 Report 2/17/06

Each group member contributed screen design ideas this week.  Everyone had great ideas, I really like the one Sondra designed with the animated cork opener.  We all decided that the best way to choose a design is to build off of everyones ideas.  This week has especially been hard for me, but my group members have respected my privacy during this time.  They have also offered many thoughts and prayers, which has made this week a little bit more easier to get through.  I look forward to seeing everyone next week. 

Chapter 15 Reflection

             It is in the development phase where your design is turned into a working program.  This includes all the computer programming necessary to make the project a success; the production of graphics, audio, and video materials; and development of supporting materials, this includes directions, manuals, and learner and instructor guides.  In the process of ongoing evaluation, this is where you do alpha and beta testing to work out the kinks in the project.  After evaluations, client agreement, the project should be a success.  It is important that all successful projects require constant team work, good communication with your client, and budgeting of time and money.  If any of these are taken for granted failure can and will occur.  It is up to the project manager to be cognizant of time constraints and budgeting. 

I am the head evaluator of the Barback’s team.  Although ongoing evaluation is important and is involved in all phases of a projects life, it is in the development phase where testing of the project must be done.  With alpha and beta testing, project teams and their clients can evaluate the project and determine it strengths and weaknesses.  It is with alpha testing that project teams can change any aspects of the project before turning it over to the client for beta testing.

15/5 Reflection 2/10/06

     This week our group worked on the task analysis.  Ronda felt comfortable completing this piece and did a wonderful job.  This next week we will need to start collaborating on the design and development.   I thought it would look nice if we took Ronda’s idea of the martini glass and added it to our logo.  My mistake in doing this was not asking other people in the group for their opinion before talking to Jolanta about it.  However in my defense, it was brought up in a casual conversation and I did not think anything of it.  We all make mistakes.  I feel a little lost in my group right now, because I have not contributed that much.  I have zero knowledge of our topic on this project, but I am anxious about learning it as we go along.  I just keep telling myself that I am the evaluator and my work is still ahead of me.    

 

Chapter 14 Reflection

Chapter 14 Reflection

The purpose of the design phase is to design and articulate details of the instructional program that is to be produced.  In the design process, our goal is to provide the best design that will meet the learner requirements as well as the clients.  The Designer links the intended outcomes to the requirements and constraints of the project.  The designer, therefore, has two distinct roles.  The first, according to the book, is to “create a design of the program that leads to the most effective learning by the target audience.”  The second is to oversee documents that communicate with all interested and active parties. 

According to the text, this design phase is pivotal to the effectiveness of the final product.  The phase calls for the collaboration of the instructional designer, project manager, subject matter expert, clients, learners, and the trainers that will be delivering the final product or program.  This is the phase where there is intense critical thinking, decision making, and brainstorming.   In the design phase, one should provide documents that allow for smooth collaboration between all parties involved in the project.  Second, the design phase allows for brainstorming and decision making of the best ways to facilitate learning.    It is important that any decisions made during this time meet the needs of the target audience.  Use task analysis, content analysis, and flow charts to help design the content to match the learner’s needs. Your target audience is the most important part of this process, and all of them learn differently. 

Documentation should be shared with all parties involved and firmly agreed on. It is only complete when clients sign-off.  This phase sounds like it involves time.  It will be up to Ronda to make sure we stay on target and not get distracted.  The book mentions different levels of flow charts.  Are all levels necessary for our project? 

Chapter 13 Reflection

Chapter 13

Another chapter full of information.  This chapter discusses the stages of the planning phase of the project process.   The first step in the planning phase is to ensure you know the scope of the project.  Beware of scope creep!  This is where adding on to the project work without formal acknowledgment and acceptance of these changes can lead to project overruns and budget overruns.  It is important for the project team and client to understand the scope of the project to avoid this.  Further steps is to look at the learner characteristics.  You will want to profile the learner in the planning stage.   The next step is to establish constraints.  Dr Branch says, the constraints describe the conditions or capabilities that must be met or possessed by the products of the project.  The constraints must also tell of what should be excluded from the project.  The last few steps of the planning phase are to cost the project, produce a style manual, determine and collect resources, brainstorm, define the look and feel, and obtain client sign-off.

Careful planning will lead to a successful project.  Here is how I see it.  Producing a successful project is much like creating a tasty cake.  There are certain ingredients that must be added to the cake for it to work.  If you add too much of an ingredient to your cake, the cake will not turn out that well.  The same for a project, adding on extra material during project without revisions to your scope and main purpose for the project can lead to projects that never quite get off of the ground.  Good planning by the project team will not lead to this problem.

15/5 Report 2/2/06

The team has really pumped it out this week.   What confuses me is the fact that the first learner profile was specific, and the revised profile is so broad and open.  Which one should we use?  We all have seemed to agree that the more broad and open learner profile will best fit.  In terms of the goals, Rhonda did a wonderful job in creating goals and objectives for our team. 

 

I guess in the upcoming week we will be working on a task analysis.  This is my favorite thing to do, not really!  But I know with the help of my other teammates we will create the best task analysis out there.  I am currently optimistic about the success of our project, the key is to not let it get us down and stressed out.  Take it one day at a time and do our best.

Chapter 12

     Like some of my teammates have said, this is a chapter packed full of so much information you may have to read it a few times to really grasp what is all being given to you.  After reading it once, I can feel comfortable in saying that the success of the project comes down to good project management and constant monitoring, revision, and discussion of the project for it to be a complete success.  What I mean to say is good project management and ongoing evaluation is key for the success of a project.  It is also pivotal that with a project you have a good relationship with your client, after all, the client is who you are trying to make happy J

 

            After presenting you with standards of project success, the chapter dives into the stages of planning, design, and development.  It is in the planning stage of the model where you set the stage for the project.  You define the scope and identify learners.  More time should be spent in planning, we are told, for it will lead to a smoother ride on down the line.

 

            In the Design and development phases teams start to design ideas for the project and also develop your project.  It is important that you never loose sight of the scope and never loose contact with the client.  It is important that team members as well as the client share the same goal to maintain the scope of the project.

 

            The chapter ends with tons of information that will be useful for me as an evaluator.  Evaluation should be an ongoing process for projects from beginning to end!  So it should be a good idea of mine to refer back to this chapter as my team continues down our path to project success.

15/5 Report by Lance White

What progress do you make?  This week we all decided on a topic.  This is a tutorial designed to assist homeowners on creating a well-stocked home bar for entertaining.  We also assigned roles.  Ronda is our project manager, Jolanta is our web and graphic designer.  Sondra is our instructional desginer.  I am the Evaluator.

What do you need to do in the coming week?  Hopefully our subject matter expert will collect some research on this topic and have it to the Instructional Designer by friday, so she can provide us with roles in this process.

What assistance/resources would be helpful to reach your goals?  I do not feel comfortable with this project simply for the fact I have little interest or knowledge on this topic.  Although it does sound fun.

 

Chapter 3 Reflection

     Chapter 3 goes into general factors that would apply to all software for learning and instruction.  There are five categories of general feature of software for learning.  They are as follows with a little explanation:

 

• Introduction of the program:  Always provide a title page, directions, and sometimes user identification is warranted to store and retrieve data, especially if the person logs off for some time, only to come back in to finish at a later date. 
• Learner control:  Users should have some control when using a program.  Adults need more control than kids.  Buttons, hyperlinks, and menus are considered methods of control.  Mouse and keyboards are the user’s main modes of control.
• Presentation of information:  Be consistent with text, font, and colors in the program you are creating.  Having common fonts, colors, and text is most important.
  
• Providing help:  Always provide help to your users.  Always keep a help box visible for users to access easily.
  
• Ending the program:  It is important to provide opportunity for users to end the program anywhere throughout the program.  Use safety nets and always allow learners the option to come back in at a later time to finish any business.

    

Our team project is to create a tutorial.  I believe that it is up to us and try to follow the rules given in this chapter.  With our tutorial, we hope to allow freedom for the user to navigate.  We want to present a colorful, fun, and eye catching tutorial that will adhere to the rules and tips provided in chapter 3.  Since tutorials provide instruction, help should always appear for the user.  I know I appreciate when help boxes are available to me.  Hopefully our project will benefit from the tips provided in this chapter. 

Chapter 2 Reflection

     The goal of chapter two was to dive into the wonderful world of learning theory and the concepts of each.   Learning Theory is not simple, because of the many approaches and debate it brings up in the academic world.  The three approaches are behavioral, cognitive, and constructivist.  How do we learn? And what is the best way to learn? Are the questions.  Learning theory started with behavioral psychology and grew to cognitive psychology.  Unfortunately much of what kids still learn today in K-12 is behavioral.  Constructivist theory stands out in this chapter the most, is the most interesting.  Constructivist theory grew out of the cognitive approach and is challenging the cognitive approach with it deep philosophical viewpoint.  Constructivists believe the student is in total control of learning and the need for teaching is nonexistent.  This does not mean that teachers should not be involved in the learning process; they are there to help students correctly interpret the world.

            For me, I believe that our learning is a mixture of all three approaches.  I was asked by a constructivist the other day what I think about his approach, and I told him that sometimes I do not want to work for the answer by myself, sometimes I want to just come to class and be told!

            To answer my question from my previous reflection, my group tutorial would not be supported by constructivist, because to them tutorials do not develop lifelong learning.  Since I believe that learning is a mixture of all three approach, our team should provide some instruction and self-learning techniques in our tutorial to make sure that all learning approaches are being met.  My new question for this chapter is is there any other learning theories out there that are challenging constructivist theory?