Flight Plan Précis
A recent career transition into elearning development has meant that, more than ever, I need to develop my technical skills in authoring programs and learning object design. The practical focus of ETEC 565 fits this need nicely. At the beginning of this course I set our to develop these skills and answer some questions:
- Can learning be designed in Moodle that has application for corporate and workplace learning?
- How can adult learning and communication be sustained in busy work environments?
- How can multimedia be used to build effective learning objects
- What alternative assessment practices are suitable for adult learners?
At the time of asking these questions I had hoped that through the class assignments, readings, discussions, I would move closer to a better understanding of these issues.
Reflection on eLearning Toolkit Experience
The eLearning Toolkit provided an opportunity to try various tools for online instruction. I have an interest in how these tools can improve education and productivity at work. The eLearning Tooklkit was helpful for not only the development of my course, by way of HTML support and universal design, but also for the subject matter of social media.
In this course I began exploring web development in HTML. I have always relied on applications or WYSIWYG editors that allow me to build a site without actually dealing with HTML code. I started the course with almost no knowledge of how websites are coded. As it was suggested to use HTML pages linked in Moodle, I decided to experiment with Dreamweaver. By using the “split” view and exploring the main CSS I began to gain some insight into HTML. Although I was using a template to build in, the template seemed to often caused glitches. I tried looking up lines of code to do things like align images, embed video, and troubleshoot formatting problems. Although Dreamweaver was not an integral part of the course syllabus, I feel that it was the source of much of my learning in this course in an area where I desperately need to learn.
The synchronous communication tools section was also of interest to me as I have worked with an Instructor in the past to set up “virtual” office hours. In that case I encouraged the Instructor to use Elluminate, the web-conferencing program supported at the college. Further thought on this, and review of some of the options in the eLearning Toolkit has lead to to change my approach with synchronous communication tools. I find that robust web-conferencing software like Adobe Connect, Elluminate, DimDim, etc are complicated; perhaps overly. If Instructors are only going to use them occasionally for straightforward conversations with students, they should select tools that will be the simplest to use for them and the students. Also tools already familiar to the students will be better received. Skype is the pioneer in this field. Although there are many more competitors now, the advantage for Skype is that so many people already use the tool and are familiar with it.
The social software, blogs, and wiki sections were a good background to my Moodle course. I enjoy thinking of how and why these “alternative” tools can be embedded in courses. I believe, as ideas like social and informal learning gain momentum in post secondary education and corporate learning, these tools will begin to creep into mainstream online education. Many teachers use them already to supplement their online course hosted on an LMS. Looking further ahead, these tools could, possibley replace the LMS, making course content more authentic and perhaps community-based.
The section on accessibility was useful, in particular the WAI Markup Validation Service . It is very difficult and costly to redesign a course after it has been completed. Colleges and universities will need to develop using guidelines such as the ones provided by the Web Accessibility Initiative. Often, these principles are simply good design, giving options in the way people access content. This section reminded me to be diligent about how I design courses keeping all learners in mind.
The eLearning Toolkit was instrumental in addressing this question for my own work environment: How can adult learning and communication be sustained in busy work environments?
Exploration of the eLearning Toolkit helped me consider how social media tools can help the flow of information in a workplace. In my particular department at Alberta Health Services, the main communication channels are by phone, email, text, and instant messaging through Microsoft Lync. In light of what I learned through research for the Moodle course and the eLearning toolkit, I plan on making the following recommendations for integrating social media into our work flow::
1. Department Head Blog (Blogger)
Our manager currently disseminates information by sending emails to a large list of department members. The emails often apply to certain groups within our department and not others. Often she looks for feedback. The sheer quantity of company wide email has rendered emailing ineffective as there are simply too many emails to manage. Some are important, most are not. A Department Head Blog would be a less intrusive way to send out information giving team members choice in selecting which updates to read, and when to read them. The comments section would allow people to provide feedback without creating long email threads pushed to all employees in the department. Although I am familiar with WordPress I would recommend our manager create her blog with Blogger. It seems very easy to use.
2. Social Bookmarking Group – (Diigo)
Although social bookmarking was not profiled in the eLearning Toolkit, I looked into Diigo and Delicious as part of subject matter for my Moodle course. Members of our team are continuously finding great articles and tools on the web that are often passed around through email. The problem here is that some of this great content is lost and at the very least difficult to retrieve. By creating Diigo accounts and a Diigo group, we can share resources with our comments and archive them so that they are searchable by tags. This will contribute to our group knowledge building and keep information in one place.
3. Department Wiki (Wikispaces)
When I began my job I was given a Styles Guide (pdf) which outlines the formatting for all eLearning slides. The problem was, it was was out of date and everyone was too busy with their own projects to update it. A wiki might make this task less daunting. It would take take the responsibility off a single person, and put it with the group. As programs change the wiki could be updated each time. Also, a wiki could support media objects so rather describing the format of each object a wiki could hold the description and an example object. Rather than waiting for a bi-monthly meetting to discuss a particular issue, this discussion could be ongoing on the wiki page.
Reflection on ETEC 565
ETEC 565 has provided me with an opportunity to focus on technical skills – an area I felt needed improvement. Through the Moodle course development assignment and this Blog ,I feel I developed my own skills in technology selection and evaluation, social media for work, web development, and Moodle. Through using the SECTIONS criteria of Bates and Poole (2003), and Chickering and Ermann’s (1996) seven principles, I have learned to apply an objective theoretical framework to select appropriate technologies for learners.
At the outset of the course I asked the question: Can learning be designed in Moodle that has application for corporate and workplace learning?
The short answer is yes of course. By linking to separate HTML pages and when hosting Moodle on your own server, you can customize the templates to fit your corporate identity. However, I must admit that I am more confused now than ever before about the use of any LMS for workplace learning. Yes, Moodle can link to separate HTML pages that you can create professionally in Dreamweaver or Adobe Captivate. Doesn’t this beg the question, “Why use Moodle at all for corporate learning?” What gap is it filling? Large companies have well supported, robust intranets for hosting and sharing internal content. Discussion forums can be easily embedded into any website with an application like Tal.ki for example, assessments can be built and managed through eLearning authoring tools, and synchronous and asynchronous communication can take place in countless other venues. The LMS, especially for the corporate setting, seems like an artificial learning environment when you consider that people at work are constantly learning through their own research and conversations with others. Yes, I think Moodle can play a role in this natural learning. I wouldn’t yet suggest as Dan Pontefract puts it, “Blow up your LMS. Find a way to integrate it into your collaborative platform” (2009). However, I don’t think the LMS will play an integral role in corporate learning and development programs in the future.
I don’t think I was able to adequately address my other two questions of the Flight Plan: “How can multimedia be used to build effective learning objects?” and “What alternative assessment practices are suitable for adult learners?” I believe I will be able to address these through my occupational role. What I did gain through the course, which is much more valuable, is confidence in developing in the web environment. With some time to research, most technical problems can be resolved. As the case studies implied problem solving and innovation in educational technology is largely framed in “time to complete”.
Next Steps
With some new-found confidence I would like to continue to learn the sophisticated programs typically associated with online learning such as Lectora, Captivate, and Photoshop. These are the programs I now work with on a daily basis but I have a lot of room for growth. I am inspired to continue developing in Dreamweaver, but this may have to be a personal side project as web design is not a part of my professional role. Rather than take courses in these programs I will learn what I can through a DIY mix of independent research, online tutorials, tech blogs, and plain old fashion Google searches.
My passion in learning and development is not with the structured eLearning modules, however. I am much more interested in creating work cultures that foster social and informal learning. Unfortunately, as an emerging field, most corporations are not that interested in this side of workplace learning. In general, they would prefer to see the template approach to eLearning as created by eLearning authoring tools. The conflict I hope to resolve is, can formal and informal learning co-exist in the same program, or, should they be treated as separate entities?
With ETEC 565 under my belt I will have much more confidence in engaging with colleagues about these difficult questions affecting the direction of today’s corporate learning programs. With any luck, I may find some answers.
References
Bates, A. W. and Poole, G. (2003) Chapter 4: a Framework for Selecting and Using Technology. In Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education: Foundations for Success. (pp. 77-105). San Francisco: Jossey Bass Publishers.
Chickering, A.W. & Ehrmann, S.C. (1996). Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 49(2), 3-6.
Pontefract, D. (2009). The standalone LMS is dead. [Weblog]. Retrieved from http://www.danpontefract.com/?p=152
