EdTech 597 – Final Thoughts

So I am left with a final thought of why I chose to do my blogging plan on teaching about best procurement practices for adult learners.  I truly believe that purchasing professionals have a special and unique position that ties every aspect in sustainability for global supply chain activities.

Reaching out to adult learners who want to develop a set of principles into his or her work ethics in procurement, not only provides a rich opportunity to upgrade his or her skill level set, but to reach out to a community that provides resources on meeting company standards.

In this blog, it is my goal to generate web traffic to reach out to other bloggers, and create a web-based learning activity that will allow me to aggregate my blog postings that will transform adult learners into modern day practices of company culture.

No more of the boring reads, this blog will have interactive, fun, and will be continuously refreshed that will keep you wanting to learn more.  So sit down, grab a nice cup of coffee and get ready to learn and interact!

 

EdTech 597 – September Blog Planner

This is a synopses of the September 2011 Procurement Blog planner.  For this month, audiences have the opportunity to read links that support the Blog Discussion forum and to do self directed research to compare and contrast best purchasing practices.  The Q & A, questions and answers is a group effort for everyone to join in the discussion and blog about his or her own procurement experiences.

September Blog Planner

EdTech 597 – August Blog Planner

I created this PDF blog planner for the month of August.  This is to keep me organized, prepare my audiences of what to expect from the blog posts, and what topics to explore.  The planner can be downloaded for learners to add notes, researched data, and prepare for To Do projects.

August Blog Calendar

Virtual Training on the Job

Second Blog Entry

Corporations are leaning more to human resources for employees that need additional training at the workplace.  The goal is to empower employees to grow and develop in their workplace.  Part of these training and development programs includes evaluating performances, providing feedback, and outline goals for new hires and employees.  Training and development programs in the workplace are geared towards the behaviors of employees to increase efficiencies and productivity.  In my personal experience, workforce development describes training as teaching operational or technical skills to employees to do the job that he or she was hired for.  Development teaches management teams or professional skilled employees to prepare for present and future job skills needed.  These would include reinforcing internal and external behaviors, coaching and mentoring, employee follow up for measurable performances, and modifying business culture to support new skills introduced into the workplace.  To take training and development one step further, imagine if training and development programs cut the cost of training and introduced virtual world role playing for both upper management and skilled employees.

In the article by Gardner Group, universities are jumping on the band wagon to utilize the use of virtual worlds as part of teaching and learning and is predicted that eighty percent of active internet users will have an avatar of some effect.  (Pettey, 2007)   In the workplace, collaborative and community based learning would be more job specific.  For example, accountants would share a common bond with other accountants in relations to workplace conflict, shared identity, and community oriented environment.  A training module would emphasis the use of an avatar to share adult-learning behaviors, adapting to business ethics, and provide open forum for questions and answers.  In real-life, a new hire or employee may feel intimidated and unawares of what the corporation’s expectations are, whereas in a virtual world, the new employee may have a safe haven for social presence behind his or her avatar.  Another added benefit would be geographically.  To illustrate, a new employee was in China, but the company was based in United States, having an avatar to connect with on line would ease the cultural barriers and allow more open dialogue in a comfortable environment.

The benefits of virtual world training, is that the companies would offer more innovative ways to accommodate training and development needs for employees.  In addition to, cutting costs in training and development.

Pettey, C. (2007, April 24). Gartner says 80 percent of active internet users will have a “second life” in the virtual world by the end of 2011. Retrieved from http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=503861

Blogging for a Reason

I think one of the greatest challenges that instructors face is blogging for a reason.  When instructors explore what kind of blogging the learning community needs – it takes time.  This includes research, gathering resources, creativity, and posting regularly scheduled blogs.   When setting goals, the goals must be measurable, attainable, and relevant.

One way to keep audiences interested is the instructor can start off by creating an icebreaker.  Introduce yourself,  state what your goals are, and explain what you hope to get out of your blogging post.  For example, in this post, I am a grad student at Boise State University.  My goals is to illustrate how to captivate my audience in this posting.  What I hope to get out of this blogging is connecting with like-minded readers who have the similar goals and interests in Educational Technology.

Another tool is to keep my posting attractive looking.  Having a visually appealing blog posting enables readers to draw their attention to images, videos, or catch phrases that keep the blog post interesting, entertaining, and challenging.

And finally, keeping up with the Joneses.  There is an overwhelming amount of information out there, it can be hard to recommend to your readers, which RSS (really simple syndication) to filter and feed through.  When providing suggestions to your readers of which blogs to read or not, this helps the readers keep track of the frequently used sites and allows the readers control over which sites to keep or delete.  This is similar to going through a magazine and clipping out your favorite reads to refer back to for inspiration.

To keep the learning community engaged, the blogger has to give reason for the bloggee to be engaged and read the posts.

References:

Andrews, C. (2006, March 24). Keeping current with educational resources [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1813/2723

Christina’s Blogging Poll

 

Final polling activity results:

Martin Luther King’s Audio Blog

We all have a dream…

Ihaveadream

All men are created equal.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a civil rights movement advocator that promoted a speech that would live beyond his years.  He was one of the youngest Nobel Peace prize winner and a great orator.

Vlogging – Online Education for the Deaf

For this week’s assignment, VLOG, or video + blogging has become a popular tool for online Deaf and HOH (hard of hearing) education or commentaries.  Vlogging is usually uploaded on YouTube and can either come with or without closed caption (words supporting sign language).  I’ve attached two videos to provide the HOW TO and an example of online Deaf Vlogging.  For those of you who are expert lip-readers, you will have to repeat on some instructs that may have gone by too fast.

HOW TO VIDEO:

 

DEAF VLOGGING:

Here is a sample of  Deaf Vlogging.  Barb Diloni discusses in her first VLOG about the changes for Deaf Education online and how parents, professors, and other children are getting involved in the new changes for Deaf Education online.

An Honored Guest on my Blog Site

Amanda Olmstead

Instructional Designer, Allen Communication Learning Services, Inc.

M.S., Instructional Performance Technology, Boise State University

The very essence of effective training can be easily summed up in Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction.  As Merrill states, “Learning is promoted when learners are engaged in solving real-world problems.”  But as technology has forced corporations and trainers both to move to the cost-effective scene of Web-Based Training (WBT), instructional designers must keep that principle in mind when designing for an impersonal electronic environment.

How can learners solve real-world problems in front of a computer screen?  In a previous <a href=http://blog.allencomm.com/index.php/2011/07/interface-inspirations-from-games/>blog</a>, I felt inspired by video game interactions.  The goal of the most successful games is total immersion – the kind of game where you look up and realize that it’s way past midnight.  Total immersion in worlds like Second Life attempt to re-create fantasy.  Training scenarios are, in essence, a fantasy – a sample situation that plays out by script.

These concepts seem to lend an obvious choice in instructional development.  Instead of asking a learner what they would do in a situation, why can’t he or she do it?

Boring:

Immersive:

Click the areas indicated by the X to interact with the customer.

Remember, not all interactions are necessary.

 

In the above scenario, learners are faced with an actual customer with human expectations.  You could even design a scenario where the customer is never satisfied – as happens quite often in retail.  Use video.  Use high-quality audio.  Program the scenario to act as realistically as possible.

Instructional designers have hundreds of tools available to them to create immersive, interactive experiences for the learner.  Computers today are more capable than ever to handle large, expansive media, and have the speed to do so online.  Ask your learners to do more, and watch less.  The closer practice is to real-life behavior, the more prepared your learners will be to tackle tasks once they push away from the desk.

References

Merrill, M. D. (2002). First principles of instruction. Educational Technology Research and Development, 50(3), 43-59.

 

Foodies, Only!

How many times have we flipped through a television channel only to be enthralled to a cooking show on how to make an awesome dish?  I have a confession to make.  I am a foodie, a secret chef behind closed doors, a Julia Child’s fan.  Education is not just limited to the classroom or learning just about technology.  Education can arrive right at your kitchen counter.  When we sit for long hours doing homework or going over our taxes only to feed a craving that we have a hankering for.

 

I’ve been guilty of opening the refrigerator and not finding what I am    craving for, only to go back to the fridge ten minutes later and open the fridge door – hoping that something magically appeared.

I see that I have ingredients, but creativity doesn’t come to me.  I’ve turned to the next best thing, surf the internet for inspiration.

 

When I come across a picture that looks appetizing, I want to learn how to make that recipe.

Got greens?  No problem.  Have noodles?  Even better.   And the canned sauces?  A gourmet meal is on the way.

Learning how to cook from how to videos to online cooking courses, there are many options to choose from just to feed a craving or whip up a quick meal.

But it doesn’t stop there.  There are schools promoting healthy eating habits, community forums encouraging students to make healthier choices, and allowing students to be held accountable for making those choices.

  But it doesn’t stop there.  Schools are now getting parents involved to help teach their children to eat healthier.   Things like how to read a food label, what is the calorie content, and what foods are better for a growing and developing child.

 

 

 

 

So when you see an image of food, do you surf the internet to learn how to cook lasagna?  Do you want to know what meals go best with coffee at then end of the main course?