Communicating Effectively

There are many ways to effectively communicate among and between members of a team or group of people working on an assignment or a project. I will look at the three most common means of communication, e-mail, voice-mail, and face-to-face and how these three means can affect the message being conveyed. After all, for effective communication to take place, people need to share the “right messages with the right people in a timely manner” in order to “influence one another’s attitudes, behaviors, and understanding” (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, and Kramer, 2008, p. 357).

First, let me focus on how my interpretation of a message can change from one form of communication to the next, being that the content of a message is the same from one to the next. For example, an e-mail is less personal and can only convey the facts of a situation and from a project team point of view one would have to rely on the hope that these people “are committed to the common goals and who depend on one another to do their jobs” (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, and Kramer, 2008, p. 301). In other words, the reader would need to subjectively interpret a sense of urgency, anger, impatience, etc. or is the e-mail just an informative piece of communication to be dealt with in due time. In a voice-mail, there are clues to the listener that will help them determine their interpretation of the message beyond the content as to the attitude of the sender. For example, in a voice-mail, the listener could key in on voice inflections as a clue to urgency, anger, impatience, etc. Finally, in a face-to-face communication, the parties can not only key in on voice inflection, but also facial expressions as additions to the content of a message.

Next, I would propose that whatever form of communication people on a “team” choose to use the sender must be clear on the intent of the message, whether it is in text, voice only, or face-to-face. I believe that if the intent of a message is strictly informative and there is no call for formality, then text should suffice. However, if the intent of a message is to convey more than content in a less informal manner and less aggressively voice-mail should suffice. Finally, if the intent of a message is to be more formal and a little more powerful (not necessarily confrontational), then face-to-face communication would be my choice, because of the ability to use something other than a vocalized message.

In conclusion, a message’s content can change with additional elements, like voice inflection and facial features to enhance the message content and to possibly bring about better results. The old adage of “it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it” rings true in this instance, because it may not be the content of a message a person keys in on.

Reference:

Portny, S., Mantel, S., Meredith, J., Shafer, S., & Sutton, M. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Learning from a Project “Post-mortem”

The following reflection is part of an assignment for my project management course and is intended to be an account of a personal or professional project I was involved with. In this account I am to focus on what would be a project “post-mortem” where at the end of a project I would “develop a list of lessons learned” so mistakes are not repeated in any future projects (Greer, 2010, p. 42). In completing this assignment, I am to reflect on what things went well to make the project successful and what could have been done to make the project even more successful.

Let me begin by saying that I cannot recall any major professional project I was responsible for being a major player in the development, execution, or completion of. Therefore, I will need to draw upon the account of a personal project to conduct a post project evaluation/reflection. That being said, the personal project I will reflect upon involves me remodeling my in-laws first floor, including the kitchen, bathroom, dining room and hallway over a 6 week period (by the way, their bankroll) . This project was a major accomplishment for me and I am still very proud of, because I acted literally as a contractor would, from working through the pre-planning phases, physically doing the deconstruction and construction, and finally the completion. What makes me proudest is not only the accomplishment, but that my in-laws have a beautifully and professional looking remodeled first floor with new kitchen cabinets, hardwood floors, tile floors, light fixtures, plumbing fixtures, and baseboards (and I did all the work).

In order to pull this project off, my in-laws and I began planning the winter before the summer I actually completed the work. In this planning, I directed my in-laws in what it was going to take to complete the work and they went to the home improvement stores to choose the items they would like for the project and I further directed them on what would work and in what quantities we would need. Once everything was ordered and delivered to their house I would begin work, to include working around my family schedule and other obligations by staying at their house during the week (summer, I’m a teacher). Built into this project were specific benchmarks, to include the date the countertops would arrive and the final completion date, which I met both ahead of schedule and I might add I completed the project within budget.

In all, I was able to work through a major home improvement project from pre-planning, to scheduling, to actual work, to completion, without re-work to a successful completion on time and within budget. However, as is always the case there is always room for improvement and besides taking a 30 year old design and updating the floor plan and the aesthetics I would probably been even more successful if I would have completed the work in a shorter timeframe (for personal reasons – my family).

Reference

Greer, M. (2010). The project management minimalist: Just enough PM to rock your projects!
(Laureate custom ed.). Baltimore: Laureate Education, Inc.

A Summary of Converting Existing Instructional Material to an Online Environment

In brief, there are necessary steps an Instructional Designer (ID) needs to take in order to successfully apply existing material to an online environment. This process is spelled out in more detail in a text created by me in a PDF file following this brief summary However, first an ID should conduct pre-planning, in order to determine the best path or method of converting these materials, beginning with research on potential learners and establishing objectives for the course. Then an ID should develop a road map consisting of a storyboard, syllabus, site map, content that aligns with the goals, chosen delivery method, and the layout of the delivery method. Next, the ID should engage in implementation of the design by expressing the roles of the instructor/facilitator and the student. In all, typically transferring existing “classroom” material to an online environment takes additional work to create an interactive and engaging learning environment devoid of the traditional classroom mechanisms, including physical interaction between students and instructor or student to student interaction.

Guide to Converting Existing Instructional Materials to an Online Environment
By Mark Zatalava
What should you do as the designer?
Preplanning
1. Avoid the craft approach to designing an online learning module.
 In this instance, “ an individual teacher designs and develops the course and the related material based on what has worked for him or her in the traditional classroom and puts it on the web” (as cited in Moller, Forshay, & Huett, 2008, p. 67).
2. Do some research on the potential learners.
 The research should be done either through a Human Resources Department or through a brief survey (preferably both) to determine accessibility, abilities, prior knowledge, and learning styles (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2009).
 Designers should “keep in mind that your audience may be diverse in terms of age, language skills, learning styles, physical abilities, and sensory abilities (AccessIt, 2010).
3. Establish goals and objectives for the course
 “Objectives should state the conditions under which learning should occur, the performance expected of the learner, and the standard to which the performance will be matched” (Simonson, et al., 2009, p. 132).
 “Good instructional goals should form the basis for instruction, regardless of the medium used” (Simonson, et al., 2009, p. 132).
 “Goals and objectives will influence the selection of media” (Simonson, et al., 2009, p. 133).
Planning and Development
1. Develop a Storyboard
 The storyboard needs to break the course down in a flow from content, resources, learning objectives, assignments, and the plotting of the evaluations (Laureate Education Inc., n. d.).
2. Compose a syllabus
 The syllabus will act as an instructional plan for the course and provide the learner with the learning objectives (clearly linked to assignments and
assessments) and provide a preview of the content to be covered (Piskurich & Chaucer, 2010b).
 “An instructor needs to provide enough information within the syllabus that students are able to understand the structure of the course, expectations and assignments, and the assessment process” Simonson, et al., 2009, p. 191).
3. Develop a site map
 This step will illustrate how the learner is intended to navigate the online course environment (Laureate Education Inc., n. d.).
4. Determine the content and assets that are essential and align with the chosen objectives
5. Determine the delivery method and technology to be used
 Examples could include: Course Management Systems (CMS), Learning Management Systems (LMS), Wikis, Podcasts, or HTML‟s (Laureate Education Inc., n. d.).
 Analysis should be done to ensure your chosen delivery method will meet all of the constraints of your course design project (Piskurich & Chaucer, 2010a).
6. Design the layout of the chosen delivery method
 Content and assets should be designed according to the developed site map and storyboard in an intuitive and easily navigated form (Laureate Education Inc., n. d.).
 In an online environment “the instructor may need to de-emphasize the „informative‟ part of the instruction for more „discovery‟ of information” (Simonson et al., 2009).
Implementation
1. Role of the Instructor/Facilitator
 Provide the learners with a syllabus
 Provide learners with necessary technology needs, like URL‟s, sign on instructions and even guide novices through technology issues
 Provide learners with rubrics, guides, timelines, and so on, because “the more information students have about completing assignments, the fewer problems the students and the instructor will experience during the course” (Simonson, et al., 2009, p. 138).
 On site facilitators “can help distribute materials, maintain organization, and keep order, as well as proctor” (Simonson, et al., 209, p. 141).
 The Instructor should (by design) act as a facilitator in discussion groups as a means of ensuring better communication within the course delivery methods.
o In synchronous and asynchronous discussions the instructor must be an architect of a collaborative learning community that stays on track and keeps the learning goals and objectives in mind. This could be best served by requiring the learners to participate in an online discussion where the instructor would pose a problem to the current group that would engage then in some form of discussion to solve the problem, via Wiki, e-mail, or threaded discussion (set-up in a CMS).
o The instructor should facilitate in “enough interaction to keep them on task while encouraging them to explore their learning experiences” (Simonson, et al., 2009, p. 189).
o “Learner-focused systems would enable a person to not only work at his/her own pace, but to also work on authentic, real-world tasks” (Beldarrain, 2006, p. 147).
2. Role of the student/trainee
 Learners are obligated to participate throughout the course in order to have “a classroom culture that promotes shared learning experiences and teamwork” (Simonson, et al., 2009, p. 165).
 In fact, “by collaborating, all students expand their knowledge, skills, and ability to self-assess their own progress” (Simonson, et al., 2009, p. 165).
 “Collaboration and contribution further prepare students to become part of a more expert community, a community of practice” (Beldarrain, 2006, p. 148).

References:

AccessIT. (2010). University of Washington. Retrieved September 29, 2010, from
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/articles?1173

Beldarrain, Y. (2006). Distance Education Trends: Integrating new technologies to foster student
interaction and collaboration. Distance Education, 27(2), 139-153.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (n.d.). Planning and designing online courses
[Multimedia]. Distance Learning. Retrieved on October 5, 2010 from
http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4442081&Survey=1&47=6064455&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=1&bhcp=1.

Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008). The evolution of distance education:
Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 2: Higher
education). TechTrends, 52(4), 66–70.

Piskurich, G. & Chauser, J (2010) Delivery Analysis, Laureate Education, Inc. Video
Production. Extracted from: http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4442081&Survey=1&47=6263153&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=1&bhcp=1

Piskurich, G., & Chaucer, J. (2010) “Planning and Designing Online Courses”, Laureate
Education, Inc. Video Production. Extracted from:
http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4442081&Survey=1&47=6263153&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=1&bhcp=1

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at
a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.