At my job, I am currently supervising thirteen training projects across all different departments: sales, engineering, professional services, customer support, marketing, and human resources. My design project is to build a manager training program for our new managers. I haven't been able to start to build it out past designing the first four modules because the LMS provider my company contracts with can't roll out the software until the beginning of October. I'm stuck in a holding pattern as I wait for that software to on-board. So I guess the biggest challenge at this point in the design process is working in a corporate environment versus working in my own classroom where I would have more control over the process: in a corporate environment, the design process is dependent on other people's schedules and budgets, which often don't align with mine!
But in the past two weeks I've had to use and learn a few other pieces of software which I'll detail here, and discuss how eventually they can be integrated into my final project.
Screencast-o-Matic. Okay, I didn't actually have to learn this one because I've used it before. But in terms of my final project, it's one of the possible programs I will use to record the lectures or PowerPoint narrations for several of the learning modules.
Camtasia. This is another piece of software I might use. I've been familiarizing myself with it, and I like that I can toggle between the webcam and my computer display, insert a screen of the instructor into the larger screen, and draw on the screen. I'm creating a video series with a board member, and if he chooses this software for the series, then I'll learn it and incorporate those skills into my project. I'll use it to record lectures, for the actual direct instruction portion of the training.
Prezi. This is not new software for me, but I've been playing with the animation functions of it a bit. The board member wants to splice video of his lecture into screen shots, quizzes, and clickable content. I'm seeing how well Prezi can support those functions and how smooth I can make the transitions. I do prefer Prezi to PowerPoint just for the smoother transitions. In my final project, I will have to decide if Prezi is the right structure to build the lecture-slide-video format on, or if I should just go with the basic LMS base or Camtasia/Screencast-o-Matic.
NG. This is my company's proprietary software that they sell to retailers so the retailers can build eCommerce websites. I had to learn how to use the software (as the retailer would) so I could train new hires on it in our new hire orientation. I imagine that I'll be incorporating into my final project in the form of screen shots for the managers.
Smart Sheets. Wow...love this software! I've started to use it to keep track of all of the ongoing training and communicating assessment and metrics reporting requirements and deadlines with the training functional leads. I'll be incorporating training on this software into the manager training to show the managers how they can use it to keep in contact with their direct reports and use its features to schedule reports, follow-ups, etc. Interacting with this software has let me know that I need to incorporate a training module just focused on project management/communication channels/tracking communication.
Google Surveys. Another fantastic piece of software that I've already trained some people on how to use. I'll use it in the LMS shell of the training to assess participants' performance, but I'll also incorporate it into the content of the training and show managers how they can use it to poll their direct reports, quiz them to reinforce important points, etc.
Litmos. This is the LMS I purchased for my employer and it will be the home for all of the training I produce. I am currently going through the corporate onboarding training with it which is tedious. I've used other LMSs such as Blackboard and Moodle which were harder and not as intuitive. The software is supposed to be rolled out in the beginning of October -- finally! I can't wait to start to use it to get everything organized. This is the LMS where I will be keeping the training. In terms of project design, I will create modules with it and in those modules upload the videos I create, decks, documents, and design quizzes and surveys and track participation and progression.
Using insights from the course readings, I will reflect on my design process at this point. I am confident of my pedagogical skills and incorporating them into training, so they have not been much of a feature of my thinking about design. But what has been a feature of my thinking has been learning the capabilities and constraints of the software I'll be using. As I encounter new software, the capabilities of it influence my thinking about the design of the project itself -- what the software can do and what kind of training it will support. Razzouk (336) identified this process as sometimes "iterative, exploratory, and sometimes chaotic" -- yes, I would agree with that! It feels very unformed. But I know that eventually it will all come together. For Dorner's article, I feel I'm still in the "cloud" stage. I don't feel ready to verbalize the plan or sketch it out -- in fact, I don't find sketching helpful in general. But, as I mentioned earlier, manipulating the objects so I know all sides of them -- in this case, manipulating the programs so I understand their capabilities and capacities -- is very helpful for me to understand how the pieces fit together and to help me envision the design. One problem I noted with Dorner, however: all of his pronouns are "he." I really have no time for sexist language anymore. Women are designers, too, and I cannot respect a thinker who ignores half of the human population.
But in the past two weeks I've had to use and learn a few other pieces of software which I'll detail here, and discuss how eventually they can be integrated into my final project.
Screencast-o-Matic. Okay, I didn't actually have to learn this one because I've used it before. But in terms of my final project, it's one of the possible programs I will use to record the lectures or PowerPoint narrations for several of the learning modules.
Camtasia. This is another piece of software I might use. I've been familiarizing myself with it, and I like that I can toggle between the webcam and my computer display, insert a screen of the instructor into the larger screen, and draw on the screen. I'm creating a video series with a board member, and if he chooses this software for the series, then I'll learn it and incorporate those skills into my project. I'll use it to record lectures, for the actual direct instruction portion of the training.
Prezi. This is not new software for me, but I've been playing with the animation functions of it a bit. The board member wants to splice video of his lecture into screen shots, quizzes, and clickable content. I'm seeing how well Prezi can support those functions and how smooth I can make the transitions. I do prefer Prezi to PowerPoint just for the smoother transitions. In my final project, I will have to decide if Prezi is the right structure to build the lecture-slide-video format on, or if I should just go with the basic LMS base or Camtasia/Screencast-o-Matic.
NG. This is my company's proprietary software that they sell to retailers so the retailers can build eCommerce websites. I had to learn how to use the software (as the retailer would) so I could train new hires on it in our new hire orientation. I imagine that I'll be incorporating into my final project in the form of screen shots for the managers.
Smart Sheets. Wow...love this software! I've started to use it to keep track of all of the ongoing training and communicating assessment and metrics reporting requirements and deadlines with the training functional leads. I'll be incorporating training on this software into the manager training to show the managers how they can use it to keep in contact with their direct reports and use its features to schedule reports, follow-ups, etc. Interacting with this software has let me know that I need to incorporate a training module just focused on project management/communication channels/tracking communication.
Google Surveys. Another fantastic piece of software that I've already trained some people on how to use. I'll use it in the LMS shell of the training to assess participants' performance, but I'll also incorporate it into the content of the training and show managers how they can use it to poll their direct reports, quiz them to reinforce important points, etc.
Litmos. This is the LMS I purchased for my employer and it will be the home for all of the training I produce. I am currently going through the corporate onboarding training with it which is tedious. I've used other LMSs such as Blackboard and Moodle which were harder and not as intuitive. The software is supposed to be rolled out in the beginning of October -- finally! I can't wait to start to use it to get everything organized. This is the LMS where I will be keeping the training. In terms of project design, I will create modules with it and in those modules upload the videos I create, decks, documents, and design quizzes and surveys and track participation and progression.
Using insights from the course readings, I will reflect on my design process at this point. I am confident of my pedagogical skills and incorporating them into training, so they have not been much of a feature of my thinking about design. But what has been a feature of my thinking has been learning the capabilities and constraints of the software I'll be using. As I encounter new software, the capabilities of it influence my thinking about the design of the project itself -- what the software can do and what kind of training it will support. Razzouk (336) identified this process as sometimes "iterative, exploratory, and sometimes chaotic" -- yes, I would agree with that! It feels very unformed. But I know that eventually it will all come together. For Dorner's article, I feel I'm still in the "cloud" stage. I don't feel ready to verbalize the plan or sketch it out -- in fact, I don't find sketching helpful in general. But, as I mentioned earlier, manipulating the objects so I know all sides of them -- in this case, manipulating the programs so I understand their capabilities and capacities -- is very helpful for me to understand how the pieces fit together and to help me envision the design. One problem I noted with Dorner, however: all of his pronouns are "he." I really have no time for sexist language anymore. Women are designers, too, and I cannot respect a thinker who ignores half of the human population.
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