Describe a project, either personal or professional, that experienced issues related to scope creep. What specific scope creep issues occurred? How did you or other stakeholders deal with those issues at the time? Looking back on the experience now, had you been in the position of managing the project, what could you have done to better manage these issues and control the scope of the project?
When one is working on a project, whether it be as merely a stakeholder or as the Project Manager, scope creep can certainly occur. This can cause previous plans to be restructured and tweaked to fit this new problem, or series of them, which has come up from an unexpected occurrence. Scope creep does not necessarily derail your project, but it is one of those little things that may pop up along the way and cause us to revise, rethink, and to rearrange certain aspects of project. This can range from monetary changes to our budget, adding or removing team members, or even changes in software to minor things like classroom scheduling and other logistics.
Last summer as my team and I initially began to change from the previous English course offering (ENG 80 and 90, Reading 80 and 90) to the current content (Eng 85 and 95) we found that scope creep occurred weekly, if not daily in some cases. It all began as we shuffled team members only a few weeks into our project due to unforeseen circumstances. This caused there to be more English instructors creating modules and caused a deficit in the number of Reading instructors who were to contribute to our final proposal.
We worked around this as I and another former Reading instructor chose to create the bulk of the material which was destined to cover that part of our state competencies. While this allowed us to mold those modules in the ways we wanted it also increased our workload by doubling it. It forced us to push our deadlines back a week or two, but in the end we were better off because of this, in my opinion.
Another type of scope creep that occurred during this project was when our new attendance software killed two computer labs in two days, the first two days of summer school. We were forced to find a better solution in a hurry, and thus turned to the tried and true method of using a traditional sign in sheet. In the end this data was a bit more difficult to gather in this manner, but we dealt with it and I think it made us function better as a team as well.
In conclusion, as I look back at this there are several things I would have done differently as the PM. First and foremost, I would have been more discerning in choosing the team members and secondly I would have made sure that all competency areas were equally covered.
Also I would have tested the software a bit more vigorously and I also would have had a back-up plan in place just in case something did not work. We all learned a lot from this experience and now we have created two functional learning experiences which are now being used at a variety of college campuses across NC.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Week 3 Blog Assignment
How did your interpretation of the message change from one modality to the next?
No matter which version of the three I viewed I was sadly unenthusiastic because for me none of them did a good job of getting the message across. Whoever was attempting to communicate with other group members in this manner has failed miserably. It was best simply as written text. I felt that the video did not really do anything to convey the message that the text version had not already covered. The audio version could have added much to either of the other two, but I was sadly unimpressed with this version as well.
This communication could have certainly been done in a better way, whether it involved mixing several of the methods which were attempted here or not. But the bottom line is that there are certainly better means of communication than the ones used here.
What factors influenced how you perceived the message? Each of us certainly looks at material in different ways. Much of communication is the way that the sender of the message chooses to convey it to their audience. For me personally text along with sound makes for the perfect learning experience, but when we separate the two into one or the other, it can make it a bit more difficult for an audience or student to get the gist of what is being communicated.
As far as video goes, when one is done well this can be the pinnacle of communication; at least one can understand every example etc. when it's done with a video with an audio component as well.
In this case there was not much difference, for me, in the way that the info was given to us as the audience. Once again the text component was the best of three for me personally.
Which form of communication best conveyed the true meaning and intent of the message?
I feel that the text component got across the gist of the exercise because I found both of the others kind of busy as I tried to view and listen to them. The text mode laid out the message and got its point across; whereas, the other two means did more distracting than conveying, in my opinion.
What are the implications of what you learned from this exercise for communicating effectively with members of a project team?
I go back to what I have learned from this, as well as other experiences, in saying the simplest means of communication can be the best. This way your point gets across, the team members know what to do, and everything runs along the way it is intended to. When we try to blend too much audio, video, technology into sending a simple message a lot of times this can skew our message because other team members can get caught up in what they're seeing that we added to supplement our message and in a lot of ways this can distract our team members and thus detract from our message as a whole.
No matter which version of the three I viewed I was sadly unenthusiastic because for me none of them did a good job of getting the message across. Whoever was attempting to communicate with other group members in this manner has failed miserably. It was best simply as written text. I felt that the video did not really do anything to convey the message that the text version had not already covered. The audio version could have added much to either of the other two, but I was sadly unimpressed with this version as well.
This communication could have certainly been done in a better way, whether it involved mixing several of the methods which were attempted here or not. But the bottom line is that there are certainly better means of communication than the ones used here.
What factors influenced how you perceived the message? Each of us certainly looks at material in different ways. Much of communication is the way that the sender of the message chooses to convey it to their audience. For me personally text along with sound makes for the perfect learning experience, but when we separate the two into one or the other, it can make it a bit more difficult for an audience or student to get the gist of what is being communicated.
As far as video goes, when one is done well this can be the pinnacle of communication; at least one can understand every example etc. when it's done with a video with an audio component as well.
In this case there was not much difference, for me, in the way that the info was given to us as the audience. Once again the text component was the best of three for me personally.
Which form of communication best conveyed the true meaning and intent of the message?
I feel that the text component got across the gist of the exercise because I found both of the others kind of busy as I tried to view and listen to them. The text mode laid out the message and got its point across; whereas, the other two means did more distracting than conveying, in my opinion.
What are the implications of what you learned from this exercise for communicating effectively with members of a project team?
I go back to what I have learned from this, as well as other experiences, in saying the simplest means of communication can be the best. This way your point gets across, the team members know what to do, and everything runs along the way it is intended to. When we try to blend too much audio, video, technology into sending a simple message a lot of times this can skew our message because other team members can get caught up in what they're seeing that we added to supplement our message and in a lot of ways this can distract our team members and thus detract from our message as a whole.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Week 2-6145
What processes, project artifacts, or activities did you include in the project that contributed to its success?
Originally, before we chose to revamp our English curriculum for developmental into ENG 85 and 95 we considered merely expanding the four courses-Reading 80 and 90 and English 80 and 90- that the two new ones replaced. The numbering for these courses would have been ENG 85 and 95 and Reading 85 and 95. In retrospect, this pilot program was doomed from its inception. We had six team members as part of the group to whom this task was assigned. This seemed like a good number because we are all competent in our given areas, but in the end this number proved to be our first fatal flaw. In our SOW we broke up the work amongst the group, but due yop our numbers it could not be split up equally, in any way. Next we ran into the problem of redundancy. Because all the courses had a very similar set of goals and such, we soon were faced with the type of overkill that pushed us to want to make a change initially. The software was yet another challenge because we were charged with adding a technology component to these new courses by the college. Due to our different goals and ideas for this program we could never really agree on much of anything, except in the end to scrap this effort and start again fresh with the new ENG 85 and 95 format that we now use regularly.
There was not a lot that could be deemed successful about this initial attempt, but we did narrow it down to two classes and discovered suitable software that could be used for each of those. Also we decided to limit our team members and to install Project Managers for each course. Those were really the only bright spots in this endeavor.
What processes, project artifacts, or activities did you not include in the project that might have made the project more successful?
To have made this offering more successful we could have structured our hierarchy of leadership better, as we did with the second offering. Also we set a schedule with firm deadlines for the completion of modules during this second attempt and this would have helped us a lot in the first offering. Also using a PM for each course seemed to give us a bit more structure and thus more cohesion as we got closer to launching our efforts for our students.
As far as activities go we chose these through our small groups and each of us had an equal vote with the PM as the tie-breaker in that case. This worked well and soon we had completed our task.
If we had chosen to operate in this manner in the first place we could have finished our task of on deadline, but it is probably best that we went through the growing pains of revamping a curriculum because now it will be that much easier if we are ever faced with this obstacle again.
Originally, before we chose to revamp our English curriculum for developmental into ENG 85 and 95 we considered merely expanding the four courses-Reading 80 and 90 and English 80 and 90- that the two new ones replaced. The numbering for these courses would have been ENG 85 and 95 and Reading 85 and 95. In retrospect, this pilot program was doomed from its inception. We had six team members as part of the group to whom this task was assigned. This seemed like a good number because we are all competent in our given areas, but in the end this number proved to be our first fatal flaw. In our SOW we broke up the work amongst the group, but due yop our numbers it could not be split up equally, in any way. Next we ran into the problem of redundancy. Because all the courses had a very similar set of goals and such, we soon were faced with the type of overkill that pushed us to want to make a change initially. The software was yet another challenge because we were charged with adding a technology component to these new courses by the college. Due to our different goals and ideas for this program we could never really agree on much of anything, except in the end to scrap this effort and start again fresh with the new ENG 85 and 95 format that we now use regularly.
There was not a lot that could be deemed successful about this initial attempt, but we did narrow it down to two classes and discovered suitable software that could be used for each of those. Also we decided to limit our team members and to install Project Managers for each course. Those were really the only bright spots in this endeavor.
What processes, project artifacts, or activities did you not include in the project that might have made the project more successful?
To have made this offering more successful we could have structured our hierarchy of leadership better, as we did with the second offering. Also we set a schedule with firm deadlines for the completion of modules during this second attempt and this would have helped us a lot in the first offering. Also using a PM for each course seemed to give us a bit more structure and thus more cohesion as we got closer to launching our efforts for our students.
As far as activities go we chose these through our small groups and each of us had an equal vote with the PM as the tie-breaker in that case. This worked well and soon we had completed our task.
If we had chosen to operate in this manner in the first place we could have finished our task of on deadline, but it is probably best that we went through the growing pains of revamping a curriculum because now it will be that much easier if we are ever faced with this obstacle again.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Reflection
In the next decade I think that distance education will easily outdistance traditional classroom learning due to the many advantages that it offers. It will allow students from across the socio-economic gamut to explore learning that would have been out of the question for them merely five years ago. Thanks to the many technological advances that we see happening around us everyday this new way to teach and learn will clearly dominate the educational landscape over the next decade.
Distance education is definitely the way of the future and it is only going to grow as more students get better with the technology that it requires. Also as education has morphed, as it always does, lawmakers will push more and more funding into this area, thus strengthening this already quickly advancing area of learning and teaching. Over the next 20 years it could very easily replace the traditional classroom in most schools and at many colleges as well. While this day may well be a bit further off than the next 20 years I can easily envision the day when this will occur and so all learning could reasonably be done through distance education. In this way the metamorphosis of the classroom will occur even more fully.
As an ID I can strive to create educational experiences which are beneficial both for the student and the facilitator and that can promote this type of learning at a high level. By planning and planning well I can show that distance education does work and that it can be a beneficial part of any curriculum. As more students are exposed to this type of learning and they become more comfortable with it then one can reasonably infer that most schools will employ this type of program and that possibly this type of learning could eventually supplant that which takes place in the regular traditional classroom.
To be a continuous positive force in the world of education in favor of distance education one must always argue for its inclusion when one is creating any new program as well ensuring that your institution of higher learning has the newest and best technology so as to support both your programs and the students who take part in them to the fullest. Even programs that are a bit older, but that work well for their intended uses, can support a program when it is designed with their best uses in mind.
Overall distance education is the way of the future and thus as ID's we must plan accordingly, so as to keep up with the pace of technological change and ensure that we and our programs and students are not left behind. I feel that it is our responsibilty as ID's to do all this and much more to make sure that we do not get left behind!
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Open Course Essay
Open courses are a great idea for several reasons. First of all, this is a great way for students to experience new material without the constraints of grades. Secondly, this allows one to look into whet6her they are actually interested in pursuing learning in a given area.
In the new technological age, I feel that open courses are a great idea for the student who is seeking knowledge simply to expand their knowledge base. My choice to review open courses was http://oyc.yale.edu/. At this site I was able to review information for a possible future study into classical literature. The course I looked at was Introduction to Ancient Greek History, which was taught by Prof. Donald Kagtan in the fall of 2007. The specific site for the course was http://oyc.yale.edu/classics/introduction-to-ancient-greek-history/content/syllabus.html
This open course seemed to be the perfect place to gather more knowledge to either learn for one’s own sake or to see if one was interested enough in the subject so as to take more courses in the given area.
Yes, the course seemed well planned for both in the classroom lecture and as an open course online. The entire semester was set up in link forms in chronological order which would allow the student to view the entire semester at their own pace, which is one of the most important tenets of distance education, to me.
As far as adhering to the things needed for online education this site holds true to many of the options that are listed in Design for Distance Education such as use a large font, Use few words per line, and use white space to enhance readability (Teaching and Learning at a Distance p134). I found that this made it similar to older distance education formats, but for me these are better.
This site lacked many of the “bells and whistles” that are found on more recently created sites, but sometimes all this can detract from the purpose of the site. The basics are clearly covered here and this makes this a bona fide educational experience, which could certainly parallel those that students get on campus at Yale.
This open course does not meet all of the requirements for online education that are listed in the textbook, but I feel that this site is a good one, even without all of those.
As for whether this site designer used course activities to maximize active learning for the students, I think that the answer is clearly no. This is basically a campus-style lecture course, which has been put online in its barest form. Certainly, it does have the basic requirements for that type of course-ie- lectures, syllabus, grading, etc. But it does not maximize student learning not in the same way that new courses do that not only have lecture videos but also require students to regularly attend a discussion board or maintain a blog or that use any of the other parts of new media to supplement the student learning experience.
Overall, this site uses an antiquated teaching method, which may still appeal to older students but on the other hand it is one that I think that younger students might find boring and hard to hold their attention. It certainly has its merits, but those are few and far between. There is much that I would do differently if I had been given the chance to design this learning experience as an ID. I think that a new generation of learners deserves a new generation of educator, who is willing to find new ways to pass on knowledge to all learners and not just to those of a certain type.
Open courses are a great way to help students expand their knowledge of material in different areas, but I still think that we as ID’s should be certain that these experiences provide a good learning experience for students of different learning styles.
In the new technological age, I feel that open courses are a great idea for the student who is seeking knowledge simply to expand their knowledge base. My choice to review open courses was http://oyc.yale.edu/. At this site I was able to review information for a possible future study into classical literature. The course I looked at was Introduction to Ancient Greek History, which was taught by Prof. Donald Kagtan in the fall of 2007. The specific site for the course was http://oyc.yale.edu/classics/introduction-to-ancient-greek-history/content/syllabus.html
This open course seemed to be the perfect place to gather more knowledge to either learn for one’s own sake or to see if one was interested enough in the subject so as to take more courses in the given area.
Yes, the course seemed well planned for both in the classroom lecture and as an open course online. The entire semester was set up in link forms in chronological order which would allow the student to view the entire semester at their own pace, which is one of the most important tenets of distance education, to me.
As far as adhering to the things needed for online education this site holds true to many of the options that are listed in Design for Distance Education such as use a large font, Use few words per line, and use white space to enhance readability (Teaching and Learning at a Distance p134). I found that this made it similar to older distance education formats, but for me these are better.
This site lacked many of the “bells and whistles” that are found on more recently created sites, but sometimes all this can detract from the purpose of the site. The basics are clearly covered here and this makes this a bona fide educational experience, which could certainly parallel those that students get on campus at Yale.
This open course does not meet all of the requirements for online education that are listed in the textbook, but I feel that this site is a good one, even without all of those.
As for whether this site designer used course activities to maximize active learning for the students, I think that the answer is clearly no. This is basically a campus-style lecture course, which has been put online in its barest form. Certainly, it does have the basic requirements for that type of course-ie- lectures, syllabus, grading, etc. But it does not maximize student learning not in the same way that new courses do that not only have lecture videos but also require students to regularly attend a discussion board or maintain a blog or that use any of the other parts of new media to supplement the student learning experience.
Overall, this site uses an antiquated teaching method, which may still appeal to older students but on the other hand it is one that I think that younger students might find boring and hard to hold their attention. It certainly has its merits, but those are few and far between. There is much that I would do differently if I had been given the chance to design this learning experience as an ID. I think that a new generation of learners deserves a new generation of educator, who is willing to find new ways to pass on knowledge to all learners and not just to those of a certain type.
Open courses are a great way to help students expand their knowledge of material in different areas, but I still think that we as ID’s should be certain that these experiences provide a good learning experience for students of different learning styles.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Scenario 3
The tool that I would use first to set up the entire program would be BlackBoard 9.0. This distance education tool enables an ID to create an entire learning experience which encompasses different learning modules and therefore can cover a variety of topics and in the case of this company I think that this would be the best program to use to include all that one would need to do this sufficiently.
I would use a series of learning modules, each of which would include a different topic which would need to be covered. I might use letters or numbers to show the sequential order that they should follow.These could range from safety issues to safety procedures to the step-by-step priocesses which go into the everyday operation of this company.
I would hope to find a logical starting point and might even set up my learning modules in a manner where each group covered certain areas within smaller lessons which were quite specific within each one. Some means of coherence should be used to connect one module to the next in a logical order.
Using this program would also allow me to add a short test at the end of each module to ensure that students were retaining the information and not just going through them for the sake of doing so. I feel that this would add an extra measure of accountability to the program as a whole.
Another good thing about using this version of BlackBoard is that it shows student's last sign in, as well as time spent on task. Also it could be made available to students both from work or their home computers because the program can be used remotely in either place as long as there is internet access.
Also this program could be helpful in making the information more interesting by using colored fonts and graphics to pep up the modules a bit more.
A second distance education tool that I would use to enhance each of my learning modules would be flickr.com. With this tool I could add engaging videos, which would enhance the topic covered in each module, and this would also ensure that the students/workers would hopefully find this means of adding to the basic information both interesting and informative so as to add a little spice to the information that they were learning from each module. One's favorite cartoon characters, such as the Simpsons, could be used here to enhance the learning module.
Another reason to use this tool is so that the learning experience is not just a series of lecture notes typed into this format. I feel that while that could be beneficial for some learners it would definitely hold a majority back, as they not only might find this boring but also montonous on many fronts as well.
My examples as to how these two tools could be used well together for distance learning are the ways that they are used at Cleveland Community College in the developmental education department. Both of these were used as a part of the new English 85/95 format that I have helped to design for my college.
I would use a series of learning modules, each of which would include a different topic which would need to be covered. I might use letters or numbers to show the sequential order that they should follow.These could range from safety issues to safety procedures to the step-by-step priocesses which go into the everyday operation of this company.
I would hope to find a logical starting point and might even set up my learning modules in a manner where each group covered certain areas within smaller lessons which were quite specific within each one. Some means of coherence should be used to connect one module to the next in a logical order.
Using this program would also allow me to add a short test at the end of each module to ensure that students were retaining the information and not just going through them for the sake of doing so. I feel that this would add an extra measure of accountability to the program as a whole.
Another good thing about using this version of BlackBoard is that it shows student's last sign in, as well as time spent on task. Also it could be made available to students both from work or their home computers because the program can be used remotely in either place as long as there is internet access.
Also this program could be helpful in making the information more interesting by using colored fonts and graphics to pep up the modules a bit more.
A second distance education tool that I would use to enhance each of my learning modules would be flickr.com. With this tool I could add engaging videos, which would enhance the topic covered in each module, and this would also ensure that the students/workers would hopefully find this means of adding to the basic information both interesting and informative so as to add a little spice to the information that they were learning from each module. One's favorite cartoon characters, such as the Simpsons, could be used here to enhance the learning module.
Another reason to use this tool is so that the learning experience is not just a series of lecture notes typed into this format. I feel that while that could be beneficial for some learners it would definitely hold a majority back, as they not only might find this boring but also montonous on many fronts as well.
My examples as to how these two tools could be used well together for distance learning are the ways that they are used at Cleveland Community College in the developmental education department. Both of these were used as a part of the new English 85/95 format that I have helped to design for my college.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Mind map
http://mywebspiration.com/view/534900a36e95
This is the link where where my mind mapping exercise can be found.
This is the link where where my mind mapping exercise can be found.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Distance Learning
Distance education is one of the best things to happen to education since the printed book. It allows students to gain degrees and certificates on their own time and at their own pace. It has opened a whole new world to many individuals.
The great thing about distance education is that it puts a semblance of control into the hand of the each and every student. For example, if they are working in a self-paced course then they have the option of finishing early, or even in a hybrid course they can complete a majority of their work outside the classroom on their own time frame.
I feel that the definition of distance learning is forever changing because distance learning itself changes everyday as well. With the advent and incorporation of new technological advances distance education programs are becoming more common on most college campuses. I feel that the first thing that pushes this metamorphosis is the sheer number of students who are taking part in these programs nowadays. This forces us, as educators, to have technology that can handle a larger number of users at once.
A second change that I feel is related directly to the users is that its designers now work to make this software more navigable, manageable, and easy to use because so many who are attempting to use distance education are doing so with less and less technical knowledge before hand.
Also this is a type of double-edged sword, as we now have software which is easier to use, but for example in developmental because of the advanced ages of some of our students we still must bridge this technological gap. So even though we now have better technology than ever before we are also faced with less experienced students, at least in this manner, who are now attempting to use it.
In conclusion, technology is a great thing and thus so is distance education for many, many reasons, but I think the best part is the promise that it holds for all students to learn and further their own personal storehouse of knowledge.
With the above considerations in mind, post to your blog a 5- to 6-paragraph description of the evolution of distance learning as it relates to your own experiences. Be sure to include the following in your post:
Your personal definition and observations of distance learning
The great thing about distance education is that it puts a semblance of control into the hand of the each and every student. For example, if they are working in a self-paced course then they have the option of finishing early, or even in a hybrid course they can complete a majority of their work outside the classroom on their own time frame.
I feel that the definition of distance learning is forever changing because distance learning itself changes everyday as well. With the advent and incorporation of new technological advances distance education programs are becoming more common on most college campuses. I feel that the first thing that pushes this metamorphosis is the sheer number of students who are taking part in these programs nowadays. This forces us, as educators, to have technology that can handle a larger number of users at once.
A second change that I feel is related directly to the users is that its designers now work to make this software more navigable, manageable, and easy to use because so many who are attempting to use distance education are doing so with less and less technical knowledge before hand.
Also this is a type of double-edged sword, as we now have software which is easier to use, but for example in developmental because of the advanced ages of some of our students we still must bridge this technological gap. So even though we now have better technology than ever before we are also faced with less experienced students, at least in this manner, who are now attempting to use it.
In conclusion, technology is a great thing and thus so is distance education for many, many reasons, but I think the best part is the promise that it holds for all students to learn and further their own personal storehouse of knowledge.
With the above considerations in mind, post to your blog a 5- to 6-paragraph description of the evolution of distance learning as it relates to your own experiences. Be sure to include the following in your post:
Your personal definition and observations of distance learning
Hello All from EDU 6135
Hello All! My name is Wes Anthony and this is my blog. I haven't used it for a while, but this is it!
I teach English at CCC in Shelby, NC. I've recently published my second novel-Binger and Stumpy(Strategic 2010).
More to come.
I teach English at CCC in Shelby, NC. I've recently published my second novel-Binger and Stumpy(Strategic 2010).
More to come.
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