Collaborative Training Environment

Example #1:

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.

After reviewing the challenge, an instructional designer must consider a learning management system that will keep students informed constantly; make the course outcomes and requirements are clear while integrating the power of the web into the course in order to train six regional offices at different times in different locations (Simonson, M., Smaldino, Albright, and Zvacek, 2012). In order to keep cost to a minimum, I would create a podcast series totaling a 30-minute class into three separate learning objects. The podcast series will be stored on the corporate’s website and will be a requirement to complete by a certain date. The final (4^th) scheduled podcast will be live and during the training, students will be asked questions to be answered and surveyed as they are watching.  In order to implement the q&a and survey I would implement Poll Everywhere:

 

 

Poll Everywhere is an online service that allows you to poll an audience through text-messaging or response from a computer.

“I've used Poll Everywhere with a Team-Based Learning class. Students use PE to submit their individual responses to questions before discussing with their teams. The questions are low-stakes (they just need to submit something because the point is to have them think a little on their own before discussing” (Sample, 2012).  In addition, Poll Everywhere can be used to relay announcements in order to get new information to students through text-messaging. The only drawbacks are Poll Everywhere will not allow the student to submit documents and screen captures.  If the students need to submit documents they will be provided an email at the beginning of the final presentation to submit any supporting documents and ensure ongoing collaboration. In some cases, there are students that do not have cell phones and computers and would not be able to participate in Poll Everywhere. If this is the case then the Instructional Designer must analyze the general abilities of the students before implement the course (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright and Zvacek, 2012). If many are without cell phones and computers then the Instructional Designer will have to make the course design basic and more relevant to the students’ immediate needs (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright and Zvacek, 2012).   

 

References:

Sample, Mark (December 13, 2012). Live Polling of Students with Poll Everywhere.

Retrieved from: The Chronicle of Higher Education, http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/live-polling-of-your-students-with-poll-everywhere/44961

 

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education. (