Sunday, September 23, 2012

Week 3 Assignment: Scenario


Scenario 1: Collaborative Training Environment:
A major corporation and needs to be implemented in six regional offices recently purchased 

A new automated staff information system. Unfortunately, the staff is located throughout all the different offices and cannot meet at the same time or in the same location. As an instructional designer for the corporation, you have been charged with implementing a training workshop for these offices. As part of the training, you were advised how imperative it is that the staff members share information, in the form of screen captures and documents, and participate in ongoing collaboration.

When looking at this scenario I first broke it down in to important ideas and objectives that the corporation has.  The phrases “Six regional offices” and “Share information” really stick out as objectives that as an ID I need to meet.  I feel as though the use of Blogs, or Wiki would be great tools to incorporate and implement this during the training. 

A Blog has been defined as an “online journal site where individuals, called Bloggers, post their entries to express their views.” (Laureate Education, n.d.).  With the use of Blogs, the staff from all of the different offices could discuss and share their thoughts on the training and information they are being presented.  All staff can easily comment, and post questions on certain topics. When researching for an outside resource I came across a blog that gives a great overview of the benefits a blog can have for a business. 

On the site Better Business Blogging, found at http://www.betterbusinessblogging.com/what-is-a-blog/#6, introduces many ways that a Blog can be useful for a business.  They focused on internal communications and building relationships between co-workers.  The site stated:
                       
            Internal Communications a blog is an excellent tool to help to share information easily within your company, manage projects, develop teams and hugely improve the internal communications.”

            “Don’t forget that a Business Blog also gives you, your company and those who work for it, a place to collect and share ideas and relevant information with your customers and prospects. This in turn generates mutual trust and builds to a relationship, which is more like a partnership than the typical supplier-customer sales relationship.”

The use of Wiki would allow the staff to share documents and collaborate together.  Each office can upload images, documents and have access to all other offices documents.  It would be a more contained environment than the blog, but still the staff would be able to bounce ideas off of each other. 

In a blog post by Mary O. Foley on Inc. Tech, she states “Fear is one of the obstacles keeping businesses from realizing productivity gains by using internal Wikis. But the business gains -- collaboration, informed employees, sense of community -- may outweigh any risks.”  (Foley, 2007).  Some of her other points that I found to be interesting are the fact that you can go paperless by using a Wiki.  I know that more and more companies want to cut costs.  With using a Wiki you are eliminating paper copies and printing materials.  All staff would have access and the ability to share paperwork and presentations with each other while completing their job.  


Both of these tool can and would be successful when put into the scenario. 


Resources

Laureate Education Inc. N.D.  Multimedia Program: The Technology of Distance Education.


Foley, Mary. 2007. Don’t Fear the Wiki! Business Can Benefit. http://technology.inc.com/2007/12/01/dont-fear-the-wiki-business-can-benefit/


Sunday, September 9, 2012

Mind Map


My Definition

My original definition of Distance Learning was a "learning environment that provides flexibility while still presenting a wonderful education experience."  This definition was based off of my experiences and the experiences that I see DL offering.

This week through our resources the definition of DL that we were presented with was "formal education in which learning (teachers, students, resources) are separated by geography and sometimes by time." (Dr. Simonson, Laureate Education)

When comparing and combining the two, I see the common links being the emphasis on education and the importance of a good education.  There was a big difference about the distance involved.  I did not include anything about distance or separation in mine, where as the definition from Dr. Simonson emphasized the separation aspect.

Of course I thought about separation, but I suppose I did not mention it due to that fact that the distance factor is not as much of an issue these days.  With the technology and society we currently live in the distance seems to become smaller.  With the creation of Web 2.0 technology, blogs and learning environments I feel just as close to my classmates who around the world as I do with the ones in the next city.

In the future I see DL becoming more and more popular and accepted.  I can see the K-12 education world adapting and utilizing DL in their environments. I know that for global reasons, school are already taking a look at DL. At the same time though, schools today are really being hit hard in the budgets cuts.  Teachers are beginning to get frustrated with their work load and pay scale.  If DL becomes adopted then I can see teachers and students jumping on board.



Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Hello.

My name is Candace and I am currently a student at Walden University.  I have created this blog so that I may complete my course work, but at the same time, enjoy the reviews and opinions that you all may have.

The course that I am currently taking is all about distance learning.  We are going to be discussing everything from the challenges, benefits, how to create and build programs and lots more.  I hope that anyone who visits will enjoy what goes on here.

Please feel free to comment and post as you feel you need to.