Running
Head: TECHNICAL SUPPORT FOR MAILBOX MANAGEMENT
Technical Support for Mailbox Management:
A Constructivist Instructional Design Project
by
Anthony Paul Niemann
ELFH 672-50
April 21, 2006, 2006
Technical Support for Mailbox Management:
A Constructivist Instructional Design Project
I
chose to use a constructivist approach for the Technical Support for Mailbox
Management (TSMM) lesson plan. This approach is appropriate for the goals that
I outlined for this training. Deubel (2003) tells us that there is not a single
theoretical model that can be used for all Instructional Design applications.
In the case of this particular lesson plan, I have chosen to use a constructivist
approach and deliver the training synchronously in a face-to-face classroom
setting. Each region in the state has developed different solutions for
handling Personal Folders (pst files) for their users. In some areas pst files
are not used. It is advantageous not to promote the use of these files if users
can perform their job without them.
Many
users find pst files to be essential in performing the duties of their job. The
students for this lesson are Cabinet for Family Services – Office of
Information Technology (CHFS – OIT) technical support personnel. They have
maintained flexibility in deciding how problems are handled in their area of
responsibility. CHFS – OIT employees are computer professionals who have worked
in the field for many years. They are IT professionals who are capable of
understanding and constructing solutions that will work in their areas, and in
unique situations. This is a key characteristic of constructivism, as indicated
in a class handout from
A
list of documents is presented in an arbitrary order that was developed as the
lesson plan developed. A number was assigned to documents that were created. Although
documents were listed in a specified order, the actual development of forms was
constantly evolving throughout the process by using a systematic approach to
design and development. The ADDIE model was used as a guide to insure that all
the visual supports, instructional management devices, and evaluations that
were necessary were included, as discussed in an American Society for Training
and Development (ASTD) Info-line issue (Hoddell, 2002). I started with analysis
and moved toward evaluation using the ADDIE model. Although the ADDIE model
represents a single process, I found myself moving back and forth through the
five stages repetitively in order to fine-tune the entire product. By using a
systematic approach any component of the instruction can be fine-tuned independently
of other components, based on feedback. Any
component refers to factors such as the learners, content, instructors, materials,
methods, learning, and evaluation environments. Because the individual
components support each other, the entire system can be improved by adjusting
one or two components.
As
a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) and a Subject Matter Expert (SME)
the goals for this course were intuitive as a consequence of my understanding of
the issues involved. As a Subject Matter Expert (SME) and an employee of the
CHFS-OIT office I had a great understanding of the problem, students, and
subject matter. Bloom’s taxonomy for action verbs (Miller, 2006b) combined with
a class handout of an article by Kathy Waller (2006) was used to develop
instructional objectives. Specific steps in the lesson plan were developed only
after many revisions. The systems approach block diagram chart in our textbook was
used to insure that all “sets of theories, procedures, and techniques employed
by the instructional designer to design, develop, evaluate, and revise
instruction” (Dick, Carey, and Carey, 2005, p.5) was employed. I began with a
needs analysis and audience analysis so that the instructional goal could be
pinpointed. The lesson plan was completed by developing four documents to
facilitate the evaluation stage. Developing the four evaluation documents was
instrumental in clarifying numerous modifications in the lesson plan. Documents
were numbered beginning with item 15 so
they would not be confused with fourteen
additional documents that were submitted in the Mailbox Management lesson plan.
The ADDIE Instructional Design model (Hoddell, 2002) was coupled with constructivist
learning theory to guide creation of the following documents:
15 Technical
Support for Mailbox Management Needs Analysis
16 Technical
Support for Mailbox Management Audience Analysis
17 Technical
Support for Mailbox Management Goals and Objectives Paper (Handout B)
18 Technical
Support for Mailbox Management Level 0 Evaluation - Sign-in Sheet
19 Standards
for Technical Support for Mailbox Management Lesson Plan
20 Technical
Support for Mailbox Management Lesson Plan
21 Technical
Support for Mailbox Management OIT Policy Statement (Handout A)
22 Technical
Support for Mailbox Management Level 2 Evaluation - Objective Test (Handout C)
23 Technical
Support for Mailbox Management Level 1 Evaluation - Smiley Sheet (Handout D)
24 Technical
Support for Mailbox Management Scoring Rubric
25 Technical
Support for Mailbox Management Level 3 & 4 Evaluation - Post Mortem
Evaluations and ROI Report
26 Design
Paper for the Technical Support for Mailbox Management Lesson Plan
The
first step when using a system approach to instructional design is to identify
instructional goals (Dick, Carey, & Carey, 2005). CHFS employees experience
a decline in productivity due to computers that do not operate correctly. My
position at CHFS as a Network Analyst and as an MCSE qualifies me as an SME. As
an SME, I know that computer technical support personnel are professionals who
have a great understanding of procedures necessary to correct computer
malfunctions and safeguard user data. Microsoft Outlook’s Personal Folders
present unique problems that vary with location, depending on technical
considerations like local area network (LAN) bandwidth and wide area network (WAN)
bandwidth. The goal for this lesson is to increase the student’s ability to
propose multiple solutions for storing and backing up Personal Folders under
unique circumstances. Another goal is to improve student’s ability to assess
the advantages and disadvantages of a given solution. This is best accomplished
if the students discuss or consider solutions developed by other professionals
in this field. Goals can be reached if the objectives for this lesson are met.
In
order to clarify goals and objectives, a needs analysis and an audience
analysis were conducted. Please refer to the Needs Assessment (document 15) and
Audience Analysis (document 16) which accompany the TSMM lesson plan. Goals for
this lesson became apparent immediately after completing these two analyses. In
the audience analysis, students were identified as adult learners from the age
of 25 to 60. Both the needs analysis and the audience analysis were conducted
from two perspectives. First and foremost, they were conducted from a trainer’s
view of needs and an understanding of the target audience. Second, my expertise
as an OIT professional allowed the needs analysis and audience analysis to be
conducted with an added perspective of an SME. An extensive needs analysis was
performed using data extracted from the Remedy
database. Results of data extracted from this database indicate that CHFS
employees from all areas of the state have experienced loss of data due to
computer failure. The Remedy database contains data that allows us to track
computer problems associated with loss of user data. The type of data that is
most frequently lost is the pst file. A needs analysis indicates that the main
reason for data loss is equipment failure in situations where the backup
procedure did not work due to technical limitations of the WAN, LAN,
workstation, server, backup media, or technical support personnel.
The goals and objectives form is included in the TSMM
lesson plan in Handout B (document 17). The goals and objectives were much
easier to construct after conducting the needs analysis. For the reader’s
convenience, I have listed the goals and objectives below:
Goals:
Improve
the student’s ability to propose solutions for storing and backing up Personal
Folders under unique circumstances. Improve student’s ability to assess the
advantages and disadvantages of a solution.
Objectives:
Given a scenario of a CHFS employee who uses
Microsoft Outlook Personal Folders (pst files) the student will email a written
plan to the instructor that evaluates:
…within
twenty-four hours of the completion of the class.
In order to assist the instructor and the CHFS organization in tracking who attends the TSMM lesson, a Level 0 evaluation is performed as the students enter the classroom (Waagen, 2002a). This form (document 18) is designed with the target audience in mind. For example, there is no place for the student’s email address on this form because these addresses are readily available through the state global address list. One critical inclusion on the sign in sheet is a space for the time that students arrive for class. If the student is late s/he will miss a portion of the class. It is critical that the instructor has a record of which students arrive late for class. The portion of the class that is missed may affect the learning process, and therefore should be tracked.
Standards for this lesson plan follow the Level 0 Evaluation document. The 2003 standards proposed by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) is used as a reference for standards that correlate to this lesson. This document is listed as number 19 in my list of documents.
The lesson plan (document 20) appears next in the lesson plan document list, followed by documents that will be used concurrently as the lesson is presented. The lesson plan was revised countless times while creating this document. The documents that follow the TSMM lesson plan are a crucial part of the overall effort. The first document the students will refer to once the lesson gets underway is the OIT Policy Statement, or Handout A (document 21). Handout A itemizes the Office of Information Technology (OIT) policy for Outlook Mailboxes. This policy places responsibility on the employee to clean out their mailbox as soon as possible if they receive a System Administrator message. If employees must move email out of their mailbox, it is moved into Personal Folders. If employees are required to move email out of their mailbox, they should have assurances that the data will be safeguarded from loss caused due to equipment failure.
Evaluation is a critical component of the TSMM constructivist
lesson plan. Actually, evaluation is a critical component of any lesson plan (Waagen, 2002). There
are five documents that accompany this lesson plan that assist instructors in
evaluating whether the learning has taken place. I followed Kirkpatrick’s Four
Level model for evaluating training programs (Kirkpatrick, 1998), adding a Level 0 evaluation (sign-in sheet) which
was explained earlier. I decided that a Level 5 evaluation, training’s effect
on society, as discussed in Rossi, Freeman, and Lipsey’s book about Evaluation
(1999) was unnecessary for this particular lesson.
The second evaluation discussed in this paper is the
Level 2 evaluation (Handout C, document 22) which presents the scenario problem
that the student will answer at the end of the TSMM lesson. Scenarios will vary
for each class that takes the TSMM lesson. The test question uses a
constructivist approach and was designed to have several correct answers. The essay
question requires a detailed explanation for the students’ choices. A scoring
rubric is included in my list of documents that describes how the test item
will be scored, and is listed as document 24. The rubric is included in the
lesson plan and results will be stored for future research. In addition to
scoring the student’s response to the essay question, the students’ comments
for three responses written by their peers will be evaluated through the use of
this rubric. Responses will be posted to the company Intranet site listed in
the lesson plan. Content evaluated in the scenario responses and comments are
appropriate for the objectives listed in the Goals and Objectives document. An
online copy of Microsoft’s TechNet CD will be available under agreement with
Microsoft at http://chfsnet.ky.gov to assist students in gathering research
data for responses and critiques.
The third evaluation used in the TSMM lesson is
sometimes referred to as a smiley sheet (document
23). It is also referred to as a Level 1 evaluation by Kirkpatrick (1998). One
critical component that is included in the selection of the twenty items in
this questionnaire is the assurance that all questions are appropriate for this
specific lesson plan. Responses to each of the twenty questions asked on this Level
1 evaluation will be helpful in revising this lesson. Questions the students
are asked to complete should apply to the content that is presented.
After
the lesson has been presented and a scenario question has been answered, users
will read responses to the scenario question posted by other students and submit
a critique of three peer responses. Students should write a critique in essay
form which tells whether they agree or disagree with the advantages and
disadvantages listed by authors of three responses. The responses will be
available through the intranet at http://chfsnet.ky.gov. Critiques will be
scored using the same rubric (document 24) developed for the responses to the
scenario question. Critiques will also be discussed in a following class by
students. There are many correct responses to the scenario question, depending
on a wide variety of factors, including personal preferences of the CHFS
employees who ‘own’ the pst files. The wishes of CHFS employees whose files the
students will protect cause responses to vary widely. This is an element of Constructivist
Learning Theory that was highlighted in an article by Brenda Mergel (1998) when
she stated that learners eventually construct mental structures that correspond
to or match external structures located in the environment”. Learners will be
exposed to the experiences, insight, requests from the owners of pst files, and
other valid factors that influence solutions selected by their peers. The TSMM
lesson is designed to increase the student’s ability to propose and implement
solutions for storing and backing up Personal Folders in unique environments.
The lesson will improve students’ ability to assess the advantages and
disadvantages of various solutions.
The fourth evaluation in this lesson plan compares
the results recorded on the rubric with Remedy database reports for people who
have lost their pst files. Level 3 evaluates the extent to which “change in
behavior has occurred because the participant has attended the training
program” (Kirkpatrick, 1998, p.20). Level 4 will evaluate the results in
dollars as a result of the students attending the lesson plan by performing a
detailed Return-On-Investment document. It is anticipated that Kirkpatrick’s
Level 3 and Level 4 will be conducted in the future by comparing the scores on
the rubric with data extracted from the Remedy database. Plans for how this
will be accomplished are included in that document, listed as document 25 in
the list. The Remedy database can pinpoint worker locations and match CHFS-OIT
personnel in each area of the state. This information will be helpful in
conducting a detailed Return-On-Investment report within the first year of
implementation of this lesson plan. Database data detailing problems associated
with lost pst files can be compared with rubric scores of OIT employees
responsible for each area within the state.
The final step in the presentation of the TSMM lesson
plan is this Design Paper. It shows others why design decisions were made. It also
causes me to reflect on the decision-making process for each step.
References
Deubel, P. (2003). An investigation of behaviorist and cognitive
approaches to
instructional multimedia
design. Journal of Educational Multimedia and
Hypermedia, 12(1), 63-90. Retrieved March 1, 2006 from http://
www.ct4me.net/ multimedia_design.htm#top
Dick, W., Carey, L., and Carey, J. O. (2005). The
Systematic Design of Instruction (6th
ed.).
Hoddell,
C. (2002). Basics of instructional systems development. In S. Sussan (Ed.),
Infoline: Instructional Systems Development Issues
(pp.1-18).
Kirkpatrick,
D. L. (1998). Evaluating Training
Programs: The Four Levels.
Mergel,
B. (1998). Instructional design and learning theory.
Blackboard. Retrieved March 8, 2006, from https:// blackboardic.louisville.edu/
webapps/ portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin/common/
course.pl?course_id=_109083_1
Miller,
K. (2005a). Lesson II 4 Commentary: Using the constructivist approach to
instructional design. Retrieved
Miller,
K. (2006b). Bloom’s taxonomy-action verbs worksheet.
Blackboard. Retrieved March 8, 2006, from https://blackboardic.louisville.edu/
webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin/common/
course.pl?course_id=_109083_1
Miller,
K. (2006c). Learning theories and
instructional strategies matrix.
University Instructional Technology Program.
Blackboard. Retrieved April 8, 2006, https://blackboard.louisville.edu/
webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin/common/
course.pl?course_id=_109083_1
Rossi,
P. H., Freeman, H. E., and Lipsey, M. W. (1999). Evaluation: A Systematic
Approach.
Waagen,
A. K. (2002). Essentials for Evaluation. In
Instructional systems development issues
(pp.251-288).
Waller,
K. V. (n.d.). Writing instructional objectives.
Retrieved
frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_109083_1