Author Archives: jwgourley

Quite the Benoit’s Choice

I think Benoit needs to take a step back and outline how he wants his course to look online compared to an in person course.  Assuming his face to face course is successful he then needs to choose the best way to recreate the experience for the online environment.

The big question is what functionality does he need in order to present his materials, and in order to deliver his course?   It is a difficult question for anyone, but it sounds like he has no experience in delivering a class online, so I’m not sure he even knows what functionality he would need.

Looking at the Two Solutions

From the description Blackboard Learn doesn’t sound like a great option for a few different reasons.  A big one is limited functionality.  If Benoit isn’t quite sure how he wants his final product to be this could be helpful as it would limit the choices that he has to make to deliver the experience.  The issue however, is the help desk.  Benoit already has the content, he’s just changing the way it’s delivered.  If he gets stuck and needs assistance from the help desk he may be waiting a while before he gets any help.  There is also an assumption that the issue will be resolved on the first try.

Moodle being an open source product has a lot of flexibility and add-ons that can really add to the course experiences.  From the description it sounds like this tool is sanctioned by the university and Benoit doesn’t need to administer the LMS, just the course.  This opens up a great deal of functionality in terms of the activities and enhancements that can be made to engage students, such as digital badging.  It is also important to note that although there is no official help desk, there is a community of users that he is able to tap into for assistance. This exists both in his faculty and in a thriving online Moodle community.

Course Development

Development time is a little tougher as without knowing the course material and the functionality he needs, it is impossible to know how far down the development rabbit hole he is planning to go.  If he keeps things simple it would benefit him as he already has the course material developed, but for the benefit of the students he may want to augment his existing content.  A minimum effort on his part, he could have his course up and running within just a couple of weeks, again he already has the content. It would only benefit him, and his students in the long run to them rework the course week by week to add in interacting and engaging content.

Looking at how much time he has budgeted to create this course, I would be nervous. Yes, he already has content and some of the instructional design which is roughly 35% of the work completed.   There is a good chart from the Association of Talent Development that outlines how long it takes to create training.  I think Benoit is going to have to rethink his time otherwise his students are going to be very disappointed in him next semester.

 

Reference:

Kapp, K. M., & Defelice, R. A. (2009, August 31). Time to Develop One Hour of Training. Retrieved January 21, 2016, from https://www.td.org/Publications/Newsletters/Learning-Circuits/Learning-Circuits-Archives/2009/08/Time-to-Develop-One-Hour-of-Training

Not a Flight, But a Long Road Trip

Filling the Tank

My journey to and through the MET program has been a bit of winding road rather than a straight flight path. Long ago, at least, 15 years ago, I graduated from UBC and started teaching. I liked it, and I still from time to time think what it would be like to still be teaching, but at the time getting a full-time classroom position wasn’t the easiest thing to do. I ended up applying for, and was offered, a position as a Youth and Community Development Specialist with the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Lands. This was my first exposure to developing and delivering education programs outside of the K-12 system. It was a little eye-opening as although I had coached sports developing and delivering educational programs for youth and adults was something new and I was pleasantly surprised at how transferable my skills were outside of a traditional school system.

Then I found myself moving to Ottawa, to be with my now wife. I briefly considered trying to get back into the classroom, but was informed that getting a full time teaching job here could mean years on a supply teacher list. I ended up getting a job with the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council (Now tourism HR Canada). I ended up taking over a program called the Canadian Academy of Travel & Tourism, a secondary school program aimed at promoting careers in tourism and hospitality. Eventually, my role at the council ended up morphing into an instructional design and consultancy role for tourism businesses across Canada and even some international pieces. This role really let me expand my skill set around competency-based training for the workplace and certification development. This is also where I was first able to explore how learning technologies can have an impact on workplace training, and my first experience with a Learning Management System (LMS). For the past year and a half, I have been the Education Manager at the Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CPMA).

As the Education Manager at CPMA I am responsible for developing and maintaining the industry facing elements that we develop. This role is a mix between developing online industry training materials and continuing to offer in-person programs at our annual Convention & Trade Show. The online materials are relatively new for the association and that had brought with it some challenges in both gaining an acceptable level of member engagement with the learning materials and with managing expectations around the development process. I’m responsible for running several programs, building our LMS, developing online training, producing podcasts, webinars, and whatever else seems to come along. I have some support from others in the organization, but I am technically the only member of the Education Department.

The Roadmap

My UBC MET journey has also been a bit of a winding road as well. I’m taking the long road around, one course at a time with a couple of breaks in between. Before I started the program, I wasn’t married, I had no children, and my girlfriend was halfway through her Master of Public Administration. My wife finished a long time ago and we just finished my daughter’s first birthday party. This is my eighth course, and I can’t count the number of skills that I have learned along the way.

Planning the Route

Learning Management Systems (LMS)

Although, I’ve been working with an LMS for a while there always seem to be new developments that I want to explore. In ETEC 522, I had a chance to explore the lite LMS phenomenon that seems to becoming a more popular solution for many companies. At CPMA, I am currently working with Moodle, but it has very much been a learn as I go process. I’m hoping that the chance to work with Moodle as part of ETEC 565A will provide me with the opportunity to solidify some of what I already know, and some of the tricks that I don’t have yet. In addition, I’d like to explore how or if an LMS, like Moodle, can interact with WordPress or other online environment for displaying content. Is this an example of the xAPI, or is it through some other method. I’d like to know the advantages and disadvantages for learners of offering content outside of an LMS.

Assessment

I am of two minds on assessment. From one perspective I want to explore expanding the assessment options that I currently use within the Moodle Platform. I think this can be realized through the ETEC 565A course material. The second, which may be fully outside of the course work, is to adapt the SECTIONS model proposed by Bates to develop a system of evaluating perspective education technologies for my professional life (2014). By using this model to assess and present education technologies to senior staff and volunteer committee members, I can clearly illustrate benefits and challenges for learners, association member, and the organization itself.

Social Software

The emphasis that this course has placed on twitter interactions has allowed me to finally focus on developing a personal twitter strategy. Currently, that strategy is limited to just using twitter more as an information source, and learning how to use it to communicate.

Multimedia

Multimedia is another topic that I have a few difference perspectives that I want to explore. First, I’m always interested in learning about new ways to present information and evaluating them against my current methods. Perhaps this is another adaptation of the SECTIONS method where I could change the emphasis to be on certain parts of the model (Bates, 2014). The second is that I want to see if there is a chance to evaluate and compare hardware in addition to software. How do hardware choices influence the impact on the final multimedia project?

In the end, I do know that “technology is not a panacea that suddenly transforms all learning” (Nel, Dreyer, and Carsten, 2010, p. 253).” It is as much the journey, choices, and experience that builds the learning experience.

References:

Bates, T. (2014). Teaching in digital age, Chapter 8. Retrieved from http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/
Nel, C., Dreyer, C., & Carstens, W. A. M. (2010). Educational technologies: A classification and evaluation. Tydskrif vir letterkunde, 35(4), 238-258. Retrieved from