Week 5 Thoughts and Comments

This week has been a stressful one, but a good one nonetheless. I am more accomplished on the other side for having completed some assignments, and started on some others. With regard to my timeline, I have identified some areas of interest. I am thinking I will investigate the new changes and theories developing in the 1940s. I have always been fascinated with this time frame, given the major changes happening in the world at the time.

This week I have been considering the options and opportunities that would be possible if I upped my membership for groups like the e-Learning Guild and the American Society for Training and Development. I think there is some definite benefit here, as I am in the beginnings of my career and the networking might be helpful. The publications, web seminars and conferences could be helpful. but when putting in the money, I want to make sure I really make use of the tools. During my tenure as a special education teacher, I was a member of the Council for Exceptional Children, but really didn't make much use of the journals. I believe I still have them around somewhere, but have not looked at them in about 5-6 years. So I understand the value, but question the cost. It can really pile up!

Other than that, I look forward to beginning my readings. The Learner-Centered framework does appear to be an interesting article. Learner centered instruction is a concept I am seeking to expand upon in my current position. The courses we are making look to instruct our learners about federal regulations and safety principles for the most part. While the corporate sector is resistant to expanding into social learning, I think the potential is there. It will continue to be a push to keep up on the learning curve with new concepts, all while respecting the scope of our audience and the fact that our learners have to complete the courses on their own time outside of working hours.

So we will continue and see where it goes!

Week 4 People Process Product

I found Khan's article interesting. It was a quick read, but I thought it covered a lot of important ground, and gave good graphics as overviews of the people and processes (and products) necessary to make eLearning work. The interesting thing I found is that a lot of the information contained in the essay would have been completely foreign to me about 4 months ago. Since taking on my new job, I have a much better understanding of the systems. Sometimes I still get a little confused as to what specifically my job details on a day to day basis, but this article did help me to lay it out even mentally.

I can only say I wish I had that many people on my team in order to help me produce my courses! Although, too many cooks do spoil the stew. It is interesting that in my relatively short time in the new field, I can see how all of these parts come together to form a successful training situation. Some parts, like the planning process do take place without much input or knowledge from me, but my company does place a strong emphasis on the evaluation stages. While a course is being built, it goes under large amounts of formative evaluation before being deployed. Courses we build are taken during non-billable hours, so we need to ensure the effectiveness of the courses so employees are not wasting their personal time.

One piece I am a little unsure about in my company is the relatively low level of in depth summative evaluation. We do a lot of work on the front end to make a great course, but questionable levels on the back end. I guess it could be said that if accidents and incidents are reduced, the Health and Safety training has done an effective job. It just seems a little weak based on the level of emphasis placed upon this concept during our previous semester.

Second Posting (I finished the reading)

After finishing the article on Blogs and RSS feeds, I actually found myself in the both the shoes of the preservice teachers and those of the instructors. I appreciate what the instructors were trying to do by bringing in the new cool communication features of blogs and RSS feeds, but I also can easily relate to the complications the preservice teachers were experiencing as well. Reading blogs, especially those of other classmates, can be really time consuming. Responding and continuing the discussion can take quite a while as well. I related to the comments from the first semester students who struggled to completely grasp the concept of blogging. How is it different than a discussion board especially? I struggle to really understand the difference.

The one aspect I have found that I like about this medium is the openness to just writing. I never was one to write for extended periods of time in a journal as a kid, but I seem to just start typing and let it flow with the blog. I'm never sure if what I'm writing will make sense or not, but it's a start.

In examining the RSS aspects of the article, I have used RSS feeds before and find them pretty useful. Generally though, I use the feeds to examine websites and newspapers with updated news stories of interest to me. For example, I have New York Times feeds for world stories, NHL.com stories for up to date information, and stories from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to know what's happening in the area I grew up in. I have not yet really embraced the concept of monitoring a blog that is not attached to a credible news agency. This may evolve over time, but I also am conflicted about the time necessary to devote to really make reading and following a discussion valuable.

I look forward to hearing others comments on this, and hope everyone can track me down here. Thanks for reading!

First posting

Hi all,

I have not yet read the Week 3 assignment yet, so I can't comment on it. I just wanted to make sure that my new blog had at least one posting. It has been a difficult week though, as I have created an account for Diigo, but cannot find the group to save my life. I've tried searching a lot, but it's just not working. Sounds like it's a common issue though.

eLearning is an amazing concept, but it's one that does need direction and effective teaching to work, just like classroom learning. Without proper guidance and clear direction, it can become a disaster rather quickly... almost more so than a traditional classroom setting.

I'll comment more later, so check out more from me later on this site once I've finished the reading!