Content: My students are Michigan State University faculty and staff who use a suite of business software applications to perform financial, business intelligence, and human resource functions for the University. Nearly two years after its introduction, the support areas and help desks continue to get several calls each day from users reporting issues with the business applications -- that end up being determined to be issues with the user’s computer software or settings (not the business applications themselves).
Access to MSU’s business software is through the use of “interface software” (web browsers and Adobe Reader). Very specific requirements exist on the types and versions of interface software (and its configuration) to ensure that it functions properly with the business software applications. There are multiple situations that result in user’s not having compatible/functional software:
• Using unsupported Browsers
• Wrong versions (outdated or too new)
• Browser/Adobe settings not configured properly
While I’ve created and provided online user documentation that specifies software requirements and configurations for optimum use, they may be overlooked, misunderstood, or the user software is updated or changed and no longer is able to do required tasks without errors or other unexpected outcomes.
To reduce support calls and prevent undue user frustration I am providing basic software identification and configuring software settings for MSU users, to ensure their experiences with their software are positive and efficient. Challenges that I face are with a user base that has a wide range of technology skills and knowledge, are of varying ages, and prefer differing methods of learning and understanding. These users are also located across campus, and any solutions must be devised to support distance learning.
Pedagogy: I am looking to invoke behaviorist operant conditioning, by showing how the acquisition of technical software skills can provide the users with skills that allow them to proficiently perform their job tasks and diagnose and correct common errors; and for those that enjoy assisting others they can become an onsite source of technical expertise to others within their team.
I will also focus on creating a cognitive apprenticeship based on the information-processing model, to provide visual content in the form of short interactive lessons that can help users add to their current technical skill sets or begin creating new skills. Ultimately I am focusing on effective solutions that appeal to the wide and diverse base of learners that I am addressing.
Content & Pedagogy: My strategies and solutions must consider and account for a diverse group of learners, where immediate feedback and assessment from skilled technical experts are usually not possible. Recognizing these variables, I want to use multiple pedagogy methods that improve the likelihood that information is provided in ways that engage and motivate understanding. By basing content and the delivery of instruction in multiple modes, I hope to provide scaffolding from the available text-based technical documents to my learners that are located across campus and around the world. A constraint is that my users are not physically located together or near me; how do I check or know that the screencast is being accessed and used?
Technology: I have selected to use a narrated screencast [accessed from a webpage], to visually step through technical processes related to the identification and configuration of browsers and Adobe Reader. In this manner I can provide video coverage of the actual technical steps required, in their proper order. Using narration I will provide markers and clues to help users better understand and retain the information through the multiple ways in which content is provided. This use of web-based instructional media supports multiple methods of delivery and assessment, and a scaffold to the existing set of text-based instructions.
Technology & Pedagogy: Screencasts provide the ability to visually demonstrate technical processes, while the narration can clarify key concepts and technical terms (jargon and acronyms). Content is made assessable for visually and hearing-challenged individuals, and also effectively provides multiple modes of instruction to users where English is not their primary language. Learners already have some level of familiarity with web browsers and Adobe Reader, and through the use of a screencast can connect to, and build upon what they already know (Cognitive Apprenticeship). This instructional method also supports Piaget’s and the Overlapping Waves theory, as it demonstrates actual processes (and potentially new approaches) that learners can follow to be successful in their jobs, though assimilation and accommodation of new concepts. MSU individuals that are interested in being technical “experts” for their team can benefit from having screencast instruction, to support these behavioral strategies.
Technology & Content: Multimedia presentations can be accessed at any time from a network-enabled device, supporting learning whenever it is convenient for the student. Screencasts can be stopped, backed up, and replayed which allow students to control the pace at which they learn, and provide the ability to review difficult topics and content whenever it is necessary. A new skill can be acquired and immediately carried over and performed on the actual job-related software they use, and thus provides a form of “on-the-job, anytime” training and instruction that otherwise might not be available.
Assessment: I will assess my students though the use of short quizzes located at key points within the screencast, after key topics have been demonstrated. Students will receive immediate feedback, and directions as whether to review the current topic again, or proceed on to the next one. I will also contact technical help desk areas, to see if there is a noticeable reduction in browser/Adobe Reader- related calls.
At the end of the screencast a link will be provided to an online questionnaire, which will ask the students to access the effectiveness of the screencast from pedagogical, content and technology perspectives; this will allow me to adjust or update areas in the screencast to be more effective.
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