"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.