Multi Media Interview Assignment

An interview with Dr Mike Prevou

Okay I know what you are thinking….17:47 minute video! What was I thinking? Well, I was thinking I have this rare opportunity to interview a man who has accomplished so much in the field of education and knowledge management that 5 minutes just won’t do him or the subject justice. So, I violated the five-minute limit on the video project and just went for it! I apologize for the length but I hope you hang in there, watch the entire video and get as much out of it as I enjoyed creating it. 

I won't give you too much background on Dr Prevou because I cover it in the introduction of the video but a few highlights of Dr Prevou's career includes:

• Retired US Army LTC
• PhD in Education from the University of Kansas
• Owner and Co-Founder of Strategic Knowledge Solutions, Inc.
• Lead agent for the development of the Army Knowledge Management program
• Author, Speaker, and Presenter
• Avid cyclist and suba diver 

The questions I asked Dr Prevou were…

1. Since you began teaching, can you highlight a few changes you have seen with the integration of technology into curriculum?

2. Do you believe technology integration has enhanced learning? If so, how? 

3. Have you seen technology used for the wrong purpose or outcome? Why do you think this occurs?

4. What technology have you used in your classroom and why did you choose that technology?  

5. Given your vast experience with using technology for teaching, where do you see technology in education going in the future?

Lessons Learned:

Since this was the first time I took on a project of this magnitude, I did some things well and I made a few mistakes. 

Things I would do again:

1.  Lay out a plan for the interview -- what, when, how, with whom.

2. Write the questions out and send them to the interviewee ahead of time.

3. Schedule the actual interview at least a week before the assignment is due to allow for plenty of time to edit the final product.

4. Before posting, send the video to the interviewee to insure he/she agrees with the final product.

Things I would do differently:

1. Try to stay within the time requirement. I went way over the time but had difficulty editing the video down without losing the essence of the topic and the flow of the questions. 

2. When interviewing don't number your questions in the actual video. If you number them you restrict yourself to how you can edit the video. 

3. Make sure the positioning of the chairs, lighting and sound is good. 

4. Continue learning how to use the iMovie editing features so the final video is a more professional product. 

Final thoughts...

This was an assignment that posed some great challenges for me but in the end, I learned a lot about the process of how to make a video, the value of using videos to enhance the learning experience, and I enjoyed talking to an accomplished professional in the field of adult education to get his perspective on integrating technology into curriculum. 

"Audio/Video / Podcast: Pros and Cons for Adult Learners."

So what’s not to love about a Podcast? 

When you sit in an airport or any place people move about all day long, you see earphones protruding out of people’s ears as they seek to tune out the madness around them and tune into music, a book, or their favorite podcast. Listening can be done safely and continuously anywhere, even in a car, so podcasting is an effective medium to transfer information from the sender to the receiver anytime, anywhere, anyplace, and on any subject.  King & Cox (2011) stated that, “podcasts include not only audio books, news shows, talk shows, and lectures but also self-guided museum tours, job training, story telling and historical fiction” (pp. 33-34).

Podcasting is not only used in mainstream media but has permeated the education world and has valuable application in teaching and learning.  Some of the advantages to using podcasts in education are:

• Since a person can listen to a podcast via a mobile device, it is accessible, convenient, and portable.  Learning can occur anytime and anywhere.

• Podcasts can be listened to repeatedly; whereby, allowing students to replay difficult concepts or specific topics they may not have understood the first time around.

• Podcasting can be used as a tutorial providing students with immediate instruction on a particular topic or concept.

• Podcasting can be a great way to supplement or enhance the class using material and presentations from outside experts and sources.

• Podcasting allows users to multi task; whereby, taking advantage of those times when we are on the go; yet are still able to listen to our favorite podcast.

 

I like to listen to NPR or Harvard Business Review on my runs via my MP3 player.  It allows me to both work out and educate myself, killing two important birds with one simple mobile device and a download feature that brings the world to me while I enjoy the outdoors and a little exercise.  Listening to a podcast also takes my mind off the sometimes, painful experience of the run by diverting my attention to something more pleasant. 

There are a few potential cons to podcasting which might include making sure you are aware of copyright and legal issues if you are creating your own podcast. Not having the right permission to use copyright material could get you in legal trouble. Additionally, if planning to use podcasting in a course, the instructor should insure all students have access and means to listen to the podcast so no student is left out of the experience. Walls, Kucsera, Walker, Acee, McVaugh & Robinson (2010) stated two concerns with using podcasts in education; one, using various forms of multimedia simultaneously could potentially contribute to cognitive overload for students and two, podcasting may justify a student’s absence from attending class if the class lecture is accessible via a portable device.

Some of my favorite podcasts are NPR, HBRIdeacast and RunningFree...

NPR News

 HBR IDEACAST

 RunningFree

References:

King, K. & Cox, T.D. (2011).  The Professors Guide to Taming Technology: Leveraging Digital Media, Web 2.0, and More for Learning.  Charlotte: NC, Information Age Publishing.

Walls, S.M., Kucsera, J.V., Walker, J.D., Acee, T.W., McVaugh N. K., & Robinson, D.H.  (2010). Podcasting in education: Are students as ready and eager as we think they are? Computer and Education, 25, pp. 371-378.

"Wikis for Critical Thinking and Contextual Application."

The final Wiki project for the Human Performance Technology course is intended to evaluate student’s ability to analyze a design and provide opportunity to use their evaluation skills for redesign based on their understanding and application of course theories, concepts, and models.  Additionally, the project draws on student teamwork skills and provides an opportunity to work through the group decision-making process to potentially managing conflict, and prioritize tasks, set milestones, and arrive at group consensus on the final project redesign.

Wiki Collaboration Project:

MeddiWare designs custom software for small to medium size companies.  They focus their marketing efforts on international companies in the manufacturing industry that have specific software application needs.  In order to streamline their order-to-design process, MeddiWare want sales reps to capture all requirements during sales calls with clients.  One of your peers has asked you to review their evaluation plan (below):  Comment on the strengths and missed opportunities.

     •      Determine whether sales reps have the right skills for capturing 

         requirements

    •      Define work processes and tools that sales reps will need to capture

         requirements

    •    Design the training (if any)

    •        Pilot test the training with local sales reps only                       

    •        Track participant satisfaction with training

    •        Track whether or not sales reps submit requirements during 

          or just after sales calls

Using the Five Phase Evaluation Framework or any other HPT methodology as appropriate, your team is to identify a methodology for analysis, use the methodology to analyze the current design for strengths and gaps, create a redesign to address all the necessary requirements to train sales reps, and establish performance measures to evaluate redesign effectiveness and outcomes.

                                                                                   

Nominal Group Technique

The template you will use to develop your Wiki page is a Nominal Group Technique.  Johnson & Johnson (2006) as cited in West & West (2009) stated that, “Nominal Group Technique is a systemic group decision-making method that follows a group through the phases of problem solving, idea generation, evaluation and ranking of solutions”(p. 95).  As you evaluate the design above you will need to make group decisions about the method you will use to analyze the design, generate ideas about gaps and strengths in the design, and make group decisions about each phase and what the new design should look like. Since there are numerous decisions that have to be made within each phase of your analysis, evaluation and construction of a new design, you will need to use a ranking system to prioritize your ideas and a voting process to establish group consensus on the final project. Your Wiki page will include the following Nominal Group Technique template. 

Frame:

If your group chooses to use the Five-Phase Evaluation Framework, the phases are as follows:

Set the Goals

Analyze Performance Issues

Design Initiative

Implementation

Sustaining Impact and Performance 

Problem or Question:

Given the information provided, what is the goal?

Idea Generation:

Here is where the group will brainstorm on the goal of the design.

Discussion and Clarification:

This section allows group members to ask questions of one another and get clarification regarding ideas presented in the section above.

Voting Round One:

In this phase you will vote on the ideas presented. West & West (2009) stated that, “in order to calculate the number of votes each student will have, take the number of ideas generated and divide by 3. This is called the N/3 method.”(p. 96). Students will place their initial beside the idea they wish to vote for and then the votes are tallied to rank the ideas.

Voting Round Two:

This round is optional and only used if there are a large number of ideas presented and can not be managed with one voting round.

Final Ranking:

This section allows the group to list the top idea or ideas depending on what the evaluation calls for.

Management Tips:

It is suggested that each member of the group use a coding system so the members know who provided input. Color-coding allows the group members to identify who contributed the ideas posted.

Note: Repeat the framework steps above for each Phase of the Evaluation

Wiki Project will be graded on the following criteria:

Content:

1.  Identification of the strengths and 

     gaps in the current design.

          2. Application of effective strategies and 

              performance measurements.

          3. Links to Course materials and additional

              research.

          4. Redesign supported by analysis and evaluation.

Collaboration & Teamwork

Presentation of content and logical flow of information

Reference:

West, J.A. & West, M.L. (2009). Using Wiki for Online Collaboration: The Power of the Read-Write Web.  San Francisco: CA, Jossey-Bass. 

Wikis for Collaborative Learning and Knowledge Construction

Our mission this week (if we choose to accept it) is to create a lesson plan that incorporates Wikis as a means to construct knowledge collaboratively. I took this opportunity to redesign the lesson plan for a Human Performance Technology (HPT) course, incorporating a final project that requires students to use Wikis for collaboration on evaluating, analyzing, and developing a process redesign. What a great concept! I think I will use this lesson plan for future courses!

Course Title:

 Introduction to Human Performance Technology

Target Audience:

Graduate students enrolled in the Master of Business Administration, Performance Improvement degree program

Course Description:

This course surveys the field of performance improvement by examining foundational concepts, theories, and terminology.  Students study theories and practices while exploring emerging directions of Human Performance Technology (HPT) that connect to their immediate reality.

The course includes weekly discussions, opportunities to share comprehension of course topics, concepts and principles via written assignments and a final team Wiki collaboration project that allows for students to incorporate course learning through an evaluation, analysis and redesign of a process.

Learning Objectives:

•           Understand and apply the foundational theories of 

          Human Performance Technology

•        Distinguish the differences between HPT interventions at the worker/work team

          level vs. workplace/organizational level and their corresponding differences in 

          methodology

•         Develop and evaluate effective performance measurements 

•         Develop and present a final collaborative project in Wiki 

           that reflects an analysis of a current organizational process 

           and an intervention redesign using the concepts, principles, and 

           models of the HPT process.

Required Text and Materials:

•        Mello, Jeffrey, (2010) Strategic Human Resource Management

•      Pershing, James A. (2006).  Handbook of Human Performance Technology, 3rd   

        Edition.  3 ed. Washington D.C.: Pfeiffer. 

•      Course handouts and supplemental materials

Instructional Methods:

This course will take place in a virtual, asynchronous classroom environment.  Students are expected to be present in the classroom no less than four times per week.  The course will also use a Wiki site as established by the instructor to collaborate on the final course project.  Teams of four will be assigned and students are expected to work collaboratively on their Wiki page to address the learning outcomes of the final project.  Details of the final project are provided under the subheading, “Wiki Collaborative Project”.

Wiki Collaboration Project:

MeddiWare designs custom software for small to medium size companies.  The company focuses their marketing efforts mostly on international companies in the manufacturing industry that have specific software application needs.  In order to streamline their order-to-design process, MeddiWare needs sales reps to capture all requirements during sales calls with clients.  One of your peers has asked you to review their design plan (below): Identify the strengths and missed opportunities (gaps) and develop a redesign to better meet the overall goals of the company:

•                Determine whether sales reps have the right skills for capturing requirements

•                Define work processes and tools that sales reps will need to capture

              requirements

•                Design the training 

•                Pilot test the training with local sales reps only

•                Track participant satisfaction with training

•                Track sales rep submission of accurate requirements for software development

Using any of the HPT model(s) as appropriate, your team is to identify a methodology for analysis, use the methodology to evaluate  and analyze the current design for strengths and gaps, create a redesign to address all the necessary requirements to train sales reps, and establish performance measures to evaluate redesign effectiveness and outcomes.

Evaluation Rubric For Wiki Collaboration Project:

	Excellent	Competent	Acceptable	Unacceptable
Identification of the strengths and gaps in the current design	Identifies & understands all of the strengths and gaps in the design	Identifies and understands most of the strengths and gaps in the design	Identifies and understands some of the strengths and gaps in the design	Identifies and understands few of strengths and gaps in the design
Development of a redesign	Insightful & thorough analysis of all the redesign elements	Thorough analysis of most of redesign elements	Superficial analysis of the redesign elements	Incomplete analysis of redesign elements
Development of effective strategies and performance measurements	Well documented and appropriately applied solutions based on course theories and models	Thorough solutions, or proposals for solutions based on course theories and models	Appropriate, well thought out comments about solutions, or proposals for solutions, based on course theories and models	Superficial and/or inappropriate solutions to some of the issues based on course theories and models
Links to Course materials and additional research	Excellent research into the issues with clearly documented links to class readings	Good research and documented links to the material read	Limited research and documented links to any readings	Incomplete research and links to any readings
Collaboration and teamwork	All students contributed to the final project redesign	3 of the four students contributed to the project redesign	2 of the four students contributed to the redesign	One student contributed to the redesign
Presentation of content and logical flow of information	All content is appropriate and information is presented in a clear logical format	Most of the content is appropriate and information is presented in a clear logical format	Some of the content is appropriate and information is presented in a clear logical format	Little of the content is appropriate and information is presented in a clear logical format

"Wikis: Pros and Cons for Adult Learning"

To Wiki or Not To Wiki…  

Remember the old saying, “Three heads are better than one”? If we believe this is true, and I know I do, than a Wiki serves as a place where students can put their heads together and collaborate, collaborate, collaborate.  Therefore, To Wiki it is!

Parker & Chao (2007) as cited in King & Cox (2011) posited that there are two clear reasons to use Wikis in learning: one, cooperation and collaboration occurs in a Wiki and two, the learning approach is constructivist; which allows the learner to construct meaning from the process of information building and application. Using a Wiki provides students an opportunity to not just talk about collaboration but to actually engage in it and build meaning from it. If learning is a social process, as constructivist theorists believe, than a Wiki offers that space to interact and be socially engaged with classmates.

In my opinion, the Cons to using a Wiki are few.  The fact that a Wiki is on a public domain, which makes it accessible to anyone for editing and viewing, can be mitigated with a password that protects against these concerns.  Moreover, some might argue that Wikis might promote a “collective bias” because the Wiki authors must agree on the information presented.  I don’t find merit in this argument as it could also be applied to anything that is produced by a group of people e.g. books, articles, presentations, etc.  

A Wiki provides a virtual space to interact, work together, and ultimately collaborate.  Therefore, the process of engaging in a Wiki serves as a valuable learning tool, allowing opportunity for students to be active in their own learning process and take more ownership of that process.

Reference:

King, K. & Cox, T. (2011).The Professor’s Guide 

    to Taming Technology. Charlotte, NC: Information 

    Age Publishing.