Instructional Design Perspectives

Sequester

gilluna — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 04:12:49 +0000

If we all had a crystal ball we would all be able to forecast treacherous planning like this. Or could we? Does the US government actually look at cost for training budgets for all of these departments being impacted by it. How does the government measure its return on investment within departments with budgets in excess of millions or even billions of dollars? Because if the government is spending money on the professional development of these individuals then wouldn’t it equate to loss of productivity.

I don’t mean to sound so negative but I have always questioned training and have always looked at the end result. While, working for a large manufacturing company in the southwest I always made sure that the development of my teams were well balanced and that the progression of competency was well documented. Plus, the competency of my teams was aligned towards industry standards that met certification and kept their performance tracked on a regular basis. If my team was performing below standards then a performance support system could flag my gap or even identify where my weaknesses were. This evaluative feedback system would assist with our forecasted development plans which would help us get back on track.

This is where Kirkpatrick’s Four-Level Training Evaluation Model can help you objectively analyze the effectiveness and impact of your training, so that you can improve it in the future. This is where Kirkpatrick’s Four-Level Training Evaluation Model can help you objectively analyze the effectiveness and impact of your training, so that you can improve it in the future.

Of all the levels, measuring the final results of the training is likely to be the most costly and time consuming. The biggest challenges are identifying which outcomes, benefits, or final results are most closely linked to the training, and coming up with an effective way to measure these outcomes over the long term.
Here are some outcomes to consider, depending on the objectives of your training:
Increased employee retention.
Increased production.
Higher morale.
Reduced waste.
Increased sales.
Higher quality ratings.
Increased customer satisfaction.
Fewer staff complaints.

How much of evaluation do organizations ignore or neglect until the burden and cost are too much to recover from. The impact is like the domino effect and once it starts falling it is hard to predict when it will stop falling .

New Years Resolution

gilluna — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 07:14:14 +0000

With the new year upon us I feel we owe it to ourselves to make an effort to make attainable goals to improve our skills in training and development. We all think of how we can improve our health for the new year and we think of how best to accomplish that. We change our diet, we start an exercise routine, we read health books, and sometimes we even purchase workout equipment. And if we are really motivated we join a fitness club or even a gym.

Most of society almost always thinks of losing weight and getting healthy. Why is that? Because we always think of our critical machine which is our body. We know that without our health we are impacted throughout our daily lives. That impacts almost everything we do as functioning members of society.

Now lets look at how we can make a resolution that will improve our development. If you needed to improve on one facet of your professional career what would it be? What would be the equivalent of keeping your body healthy? For me I will be attempting to complete a CPT certification to help me with human performance improvement. Will attempting to complete a certification or attending a conference this year provide healthy nutrients for you to improve your performance at work?

What I have always wanted to propose to my teams is that everyone evaluate their skills and identify the ones that need to be worked on. I liken it to a boot camp for training and development professionals. If you have ever been involved in any kind of team sport you will remember off-season. For example off-season for football players consists of conditioning and weightlifting to keep he body conditioned throughout the winter. So identify the skills that need to be honed and look for programs that can help you achieve those goals.

Quality in Course Development

gilluna — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 03:40:32 +0000

Did you know that no two snowflakes are alike? Snowflakes form in a wide variety of intricate shapes, leading to the popular expression that “no two are alike”. Although statistically possible, it is very unlikely for any two snowflakes to appear exactly alike due to the many changes in temperature and humidity the crystal experiences during its fall to earth. (wikipedia) Because there are so many variables it is unlikely that I will ever see any two snowflakes that look the same. And because we cannot control the environment in which they are produced it very difficult to determine the outcome of its shape let alone try to predict the outcome. Sometimes we as developers (Instructional Designers) or eLearning developers feel bonded by management decisions we cannot control or influence but we can impact the outcome.

With our background experience in training and development and our foundational talents at using psychology to create course material we can still effect how the outcome of our course projects turn out. Unlike the creation of the snowflake we can control the variables in which we design, develop, and create our production material. As Instructional Designers we utilize our expertise in adult learning, development models, evaluative tools, and software implementation to successfully produce good transformative learning material for our clients, customers, and ourselves. As eLearning developers we use a systematic approach to training combined with authoring/development software to create learning online. These professionals use their many talents to work through the matrix of collaboration, decision making, meeting deliverables, and providing the highest quality of production material to train or teach highly skilled employees.

Quality Course Development from WCET Conference 2008

ISD Never Rests

gilluna — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 03:18:15 +0000

When I was a peer-trainer I felt training was easy. Get with your Training Supe. generate a training plan and schedule someone to train. It wasn’t that easy but you get the picture and you can probably imagine the process wasn’t that difficult. Then I became a training certifier and the reponsibility was expanded to where my contribution to a teams development had an impact. As I became qualified to instruct training for a broader audience I had to learn some classroom techniques that would help in delivering my content. With all of this I had yet to experience the true process of instructional system design work. I do recall sitting down with some Training Managers and discussing the development process of some training we were about to embark on in creating some technical training classes.

It wasn’t until I started supporting the development of learning programs for advanced level technicians. I had to learn how to capture the need of the team first and then tie it to the company wants and needs. Our analysis was always driven by either business need, team performance, individual development or new hire. All this work was tracked using a talent management system (TEDS) which was a very dynamic performance support system. The more projects I worked on the more of the ISD process that I was being exposed to during the design and development phases.

Just like any other company that has a training department your job is to conduct training but not interrupt the daily operations of the organization. What I always hated was the fact that we truly didn’t perform evaluation like it was intended. Let me correct that we did evaluate but the correct steps to make it impactful were not followed. How is training to be effective if we don’t listen to our customers which are our students? I never understood that and I always hated getting that bubble feedback form at the end of class knowing that there would not be any follow up to the comments I made. Now that I have spent a few years fully supporting a Training Center as a opposed to a training team I am still learning about ISD and it’s many contributions to course development.

ISD is always questioned if courses don’t make the grade, its questioned if the feedback is poor, its questioned if the instructor designs bad material and so on. So when I say ISD never rests its because the dynamics in course development should always be new and improving. I say don’t be afraid to experiment with blended techniques and explore new technologies so that training and learning are engaging as well as transforming.

Summer School

gilluna — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 02:06:52 +0000

I never had the misfortune of having to attend summer school but unfortunately for me I missed some opportunities to gain some relevant knowledge. What I do know now is that some students take advantage of summer school and work on school credits. So when I was growing up summer school almost always had a negative connotation. But only because we or at least I was not cognizant of any of these lost opportunities. Well with the myriad of technology systems available for learning today getting extra credit for summer courses is more attainable.

Now let’s turn to adult learners and professional development at the workplace. Since we don’t have programs for summer school then managers should consider creating development programs for adults looking to pursue career development. Just like any other student needing to improve on gap skills or defined deficiencies adults need a learning program to assist them with career development. I believe that managers should address these needs to also strengthen their teams productivity. This could be like an adult summer training camp like most NFL teams run before the regular season begins.

Instructional Design Software

gilluna — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:21:30 +0000

Recently, I was tasked to support the implementation of a ISD learning performance system. At first I was interested in the learning the new software but now that I have had time to play with it and use it I don’t really see the advantage to it. There are several applications out there that will support the development of instructional design and actually point the user in the right direction. But you still have to understand the analysis, design, and development of the course development process. The ISD personnel still have those conversations with the SME. They still collaborate with the course managers and work independently to structure the content as well as the assessments that need to be used to develop training. The message we received was that the software would help us streamline the ISD process and make our product more consistent. Well, from a document orgranization point of view I would have to say , Yes. But, if my organization is looking to cut down on the time it takes to fully develop the course content immediately, then No.

The program allows the developer to create an analysis, objectives, and program flow online to be linked to each other and produce a nice clean course. The problem we have is that our job analysis is old, course managers create objectives based on the task matrix and the program is simply an outline of the course. So really not much instructional development goes into creating our courses its merely a form of revision with a good job of updating references. The implementation of this new software is to support the production side of course development but we are not a production facility. I think in the proper environment a LPSS or EPSS tool would benefit a training staff lacking in ISD experience or personnel, but not a staff that has both. I did not mention the software by name for a particular reason but if you want to know more about similar applications do a search for ‘learning performance support systems and instructional design”.

Distance Education or eLearning?

gilluna — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 03:20:56 +0000

What is the difference? In the book “Distance Education, A System’s View” co-authored by Moore and Kearsley, we learn about the systems required to facilitate a distance education experience. In distance education the learner is physically at a distant from the learning environment and the instructor. Thus, the use of distance education in the classroom is totally opposite of what eLearning courses are developed for. In distance education the magic is in the instructional facilitation and the creativeness of the learning institution to create that classroom feeling online. Social presence is one of the key elements that makes the learning transfer very successful. Teaching presence and cognitive presence being the other two. Without these elements then the learning experience becomes a struggle throughout the duration of the course. The technology helps to enhance this phenomena but it is still up to the instructor to utilize all the available tools to conduct a successful class.

In eLearning the learning is self-directed and learner centric. In that the individual wanting to learn more on a particular subject/topic will take it upon themselves to do. Then eLearning becomes a viable tool for this type of learner but the development of the course is very critical in that the delivery must create a learning environment within the technology. There is no facilitation and there is no synchronous communication with the instructor or classmates. The key in eLearning is that the course needs to be built (developed) in such a way that the technology drives the learner to the knowledge and guides him through the learning process. There is distance and there is technology but there is no faciliation to drive the learning. That is the major difference in distance education and eLearning in the aspect of using technology to enhance online learning. I am sure there some arguments for both but I favor the distance education platform more because of the enhancement the technology can bring into the classroom. Like integrating Web 2.0 tools to promote interaction and engagement in a more creative manner.

Instructional Designer

gilluna — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 05:15:50 +0000

I spent close to 20 years in the semiconductor industry working for several competitive memory chip makers and for the world’ largest chip maker. First as a technical operator of the highly engineered equipment that produced the chips then becoming an advanced level equipment engineering technician responsible for leading small dynamic teams in maintaining the availability of these engineering systems. My background consisted of operations, process development, equipment engineering and training. I chose to pursue the Training and Development path because of my background in training, design, development, and technology. What I found out about my less traveled road was that I had a tremendous wealth of knowledge in the industry and enjoyed building successful teams to perform at a high level. As the years passed in the semiconductor industry I became very aware of my background experience and how important it would become for me to utilize that experience to my advantage. I have been asked more than once how I got into Instructional Design from the manufacturing world of semiconductors.

Well, it wasn’t until I was in my first year of graduate school at the University of New Mexico that I could truthfully answer that question with some sense of validity. I had become a self-directed learner and had taken my experience and turned it into a potential career in Training and Development. With the many options that were afforded to me with at my last employer I saw that my interest and career laid in building learning programs for adult learners. As I developed in my career with Intel Corp. I pursued opportunities that would help me learn a new program or some new technology. The combination of these two attributes allowed me the experiences that I would need to complete my degree in Instructional Technology which would include several courses in adult learning and design. So how does all this tie into the title of this post? Well, I am going to tell you just how.

There have been many questions and descriptions of what an Instructional Designer is or does. So, these are some of the roles or tasks that I have had to support in the last couple of years of participating as an Instructional Technologist. Clearly, the main responsibility that I have had to support is the development of either course content, curriculum design, or instructor resources for either classroom training or education instruction. ADDIE has been the development model of choice with Kirkpatrick’s four levels of evaluation as a support tool for measuring feedback. Understanding the five phases of course development has been the most important since this is where the projects begin and are structured. But you have to understand that this process takes months to finalize and long hours of collaboration with course managers and SME’s. So interpersonal skills in communication, listening, leadership, and time management are very important to the partnership with the development team and the success of the project itself.

The most important skill that I have been able to rely on recently has been my experience with using technology tools. Anything from office tools to advanced knowledge of authoring tools has helped me support a couple of extensive projects where I was the project coordinator. Being able to have a background with the use of LMS’s or Knowledge Management Systems is a plus to support more than the daily routine of working on design, development, or analysis tasks to build a course. So, my opinion in defining the requirements of an Instructional Designer is to become adaptive to the needs of your team and capitalize on opportunities that go beyond the ID role in training and development. I guess I am still learning and creating a newer path for my own career development.

Course Managers or Training Instructors

gilluna — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 04:19:28 +0000

Is there a difference in these two positions? I believe there is a huge difference in these two people and I would like to share some insight as to why. For instance a Training Instructor would develop and teach curriculum, maintain a certification or equivalent level of knowledge of content, responsible for safety requirements, develop performance-based initial and continuing training programs, develop and implement academic programs in support of training programs by classroom instruction and on-the-job training using lesson plans, OJT checklists, training checklists, and other training materials, procedures, and programs; Develop, schedule, administer, grade, and evaluate written and oral examinations. Ensure assigned training programs are in compliance with the requirements of program documents, company procedures, training implementation matrices, and training program plans. Evaluate training programs to ascertain that requirements are met and that the programs are vigorous and are accomplishing the goals established for delivery of training that prepares employees to perform their jobs. Conduct self-assessment activities required by company procedures, using results to improve the training programs. Track deficiencies and provide timely completion of actions that correct/mitigate deficiencies. Review technical procedures, reports, proposals, and other appropriate documents in order to determine their impact on the training programs and to make recommendations for implementation or revision based in needs or problems observed during operational or training evolutions. Implement approved recommendations. Develop innovative approaches, concepts, and strategies for training program.

Now someone has to manage all of these instructor requirements and who better to do that than the Course Manager. The CM owns the success of the course therefore is owner of all of these steps that it takes to conduct a succesful course. The CM collaborates with several resources to help him or her gather important information needed to build this course. From the smallest of details and valid data to support the beginning lesson to the final exam. This individuals course material and its significance depends on the contribution of Subject Matter Experts, Instructional System Designers, and their own experience in designing the course content. I believe that Course Managers should have the background knowledge of Adult Learning to be able to produce a competent learning environment in the classroom. Two very contrasting positions within Training and Development with two differing objectives in creating a succesful learning experience.

Manage the Project

gilluna — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 00:21:41 +0000

Well, it looks like it has been some time since I was last on this site. Better get to writing and sharing about my ISD experience. Usually when I post I like to interweave information from the web and link into my experiences. What I am going to do today is just write what I have done and learned in the last couple of months. I recently made a career change and without going into too much detail I was rewarded for my hard work and past experiences. My background lies in semiconductor manufacturing but I always liked Training and Development. So I steered to positions within my company that would allow me the time and experience to fulfill those talents. What I found out about myself was that I had a good skill at meshing talents and created a learning environment for my peers to succeed in. I think it comes from the fact that I was a good athlete while growing up and being on competitive teams just seemed natural.

Just like putting a good team on the field in the business world Human Resources groups should aspire to do the same. This is where people in Training and Development can help in identifying that talent and matching them up to good teams. If you are a good manager then your role as the leader (Coach) should be seemless from one position to another. Being able to identify good talent is one task but then getting that talent to perform as a good team is another. Stroking egos is not so hard its the coaching, mentoring, training and career development of those egos that gets murky. What I mean by that is some individuals feel like they don’t any kind of devleopment so they stagnate and don’t progress with the times.

So create those workshops during slow times, come up with webinars that present new technologies, facilitate conversations among team members for input, and create that Personal Development Plan for the upcoming year. The easy part is getting the team involved the hard part is not doing it. Don’t let your team down. Develop their skills and get them ready to play.